General – Page 25 – LIVEdigitally

JT at Studio 8H

Posted on October 12, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Back when I was old enough to start watching TV (watching, as in, non-animated stuff), there was this show Saturday Night Live. And my parents used to watch it, and it was good. But when I came of age, with the exception of a single episode, it was fairly, well, poor. In fact, it wasn’t until the end of high school that the show finally became bearable again, and it may have even hit a second peak whilst I was in college (ooh, whilst!). That said, it doesn’t really seem to matter whether the show has a “good” year or a bad year – somewhere deep down inside we all want Saturday Night Live to excel. We yearn for its funny (yup, I’m using funny as an adverb). In fact, we seem to want it so bad that this year we’ve seen the arrival of two new shows (both of which have titles with numbers, and both numbers are multipliers of 30, by the way) on the topic.

So when a friend of mine told me during dinner that he was going to take myself and Steven Jones (from Techlore, SlingCommunity, and the International Owen Wilson Fan Club, or IOWFC for short) on a quick walkthrough of NBC studios, and we walked onto the illustrious set of SNL, I was thrilled.

The set itself was much smaller in person than I expected, and I have a newfound respect for all the people behind the scenes who pull off the show each week. I haven’t gotten to watch a shooting or anything, but it seems like it’s quite a logistical nightmare to rotate everything through such a small area. But then again, I don’t really know the first thing about producing a TV show, so who am I to talk?

I also got a little peak at some of the other sets and newsrooms (got a great pic of the 21st century newsroom, but am not sure if I can put it online or not, so I’ll take the safe approach), and it was a pretty cool little romp through NBC! Thanks, friend (you know who you are, and I’ll leave the name out just in case it matters)!

My first PS3 glimpse: gaming for the elite

Posted on October 12, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

While at a media event last night, I got my first in-person dose of the PlayStation 3. Without any question, the games looked amazing. Uh-MAY-zing! Here are a couple of pictures I took (by the way, if anyone knows what setting I need to put on my camera so the ‘fast-action’ is good enough to get video games, please let me know, because “NBA Ghost Basketball 2007” doesn’t quite look right to me):

It was also my first time to actually see the PS3 unit in person. I’ve got to say, I’m not as big a fan here. It seems like there are a few different design teams at Sony, and whichever one is pushing out these new vertical “split-shell” (I made that up) styles, well, it doesn’t do it for me.

First and foremost, any device that is going to get touched a lot should NOT have a high glossy finish, because it turns into a big CSI fingerprint lab (the Samsung Q1 has the same problem).

Secondly, I found the unit itself much bigger than I was hoping and expecting. I haven’t seen it with an Xbox 360 side-by-side, but it looks bigger and more intrusive. Not exactly what I’d really like to plop down next to my Pioneer Elite plasma (you know, the one I don’t have, but if I did, well, you get the point).

Keep in mind, those comments are more about the design of the unit than anything else. Gameplay looked phenomenal. Fast fast motion. Beautiful HD picture. Awesomeness on that front. I wonder how Kaboom would look on it?

I did a little reading up on the PS3 this morning, and I was stunned to read about the market predictions for the system:

According to the study by Los Angeles based Interpret, 8.9 million U.S consumers ‘are prepared’ to pay full price ($500 or $600) for the PlayStation 3 this fall, compared to 5.7 million consumers who are willing to buy Wii at $250 and just 800,000 people who are willing to pay full price for Xbox 360 ($300 to $400).

Wow. I can’t tell if this is just a “polling error” or if that really indicates the potential success here. Without delving too far, I make well above the average income in this country, and have HDTV at home, and would never ever ever spend $500 or $600 to buy a video game console. And I like video games!

Unfortunately, I think Robert Scoble is right when he posts:

Let me tell you how it works in the US of A. You walk into Best Buy. Ask for a credit application. Fill it out. They approve you for $10,000 on the spot (as long as you’ve paid all your credit card bills on time). You head over to the big screen department, pick out your $4,000 big screen and your $600 Playstation 3, and a $500 HD-DVD drive. Then you pay something like $140 per month in payments.

At first I thought he was being ironic, or satirical. But I don’t think he is (although Robert, if you are, nicely done). The sad truth in “the US of A” is poor and average income households are going to get themselves further into debt this fall, just to get their kids a prettier looking video game.

So, first glimpse of the PS3: beautiful picture (Sony guts!), but I sure hope there’s a rebate offer or a set of free steak knives when you buy it!

Get Your Dash Learn On. NOW.

Posted on October 11, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

I’ll share my own thoughts on this amazing new phone from HTC/T-Mobile in a few days, but reviews started trickling in from Engadget and Gizmodo today, and at least one of them is a must-read. I’ve felt BlackBerry was living on borrowed time when the legal snafu happened last year, and while the Pearl is hands-down a solid device, I see the juggernaut that is Microsoft (via Windows Mobile) coming down the mountain.

The HTC Dash (aka the Excalibur) is basically a smaller, nicer, and in almost every way better version of the Motorola Q phone. The Q has the edge by using EVDO instead of edge services for Internet connectivity, but the Dash wins in every other category. It’s coming soon, it’s under $200, and you’re gonna love it. And if they have a UMTS or EVDO version next year, I’m gonna adopt one myself.

By the way, it’s a lot better looking in person, it might be the best-looking, least-photogenic phone I’ve ever seen.

My disturbing lack of cellphone

Posted on October 10, 2006 by Guest Contributor

Well, ok, it’s still HERE, but it’s lying inert over there in the jumble of crud cluttering my desk. Sadly, it ran out of batteries this morning. Now, of course, under normal circumstances something so trivial would be no roadblock; plug it in, let it suck up some electric love for a bit, and all is well. Unfortunately my charger is in San Francisco where I forgot it over the weekend and I can’t seem to find anyone on campus with a compatible one for me to borrow.
You silly old Nokia phone, you. Why aren’t you a Razr or an LG? Then there would be plenty of hip and trendy chargers just waiting to zip you up!!

Now, now, don’t get me wrong. I love my phone and it has served me well. It’s just frustrating when people say, “Oh, my MOM has that kind, or at least she did. I bet she still has the charger…[in LA.]” NO MY PHONE DOESN’T TAKE PICTURES SORRY! I have a digicam for that. Ah well…

The thing that really gets me is how lonely and disconnected I feel. And how frustrating it is! I think to myself, “Oh I should really call the health center to cancel that appointment,” but OH–not happening. I think to myself, “Hmm, maybe I will call so ‘n so to see if they want to hit the dining hall with me,” but OH again–so not happening. I can’t call my mom, or my boyfriend, or anyone. It’s the only phone I’ve got.

Surprisingly, even though I can e-mail all of those people perfectly well, I still have this feeling that the world is not right. There’s just some function lacking in my life if my cell’s screen is dead. I’ll continue to ask around for a charger, but if all else fails I’ll have mine back by Saturday at the latest. Just feels like so far away…

The best intentions

Posted on October 10, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

I am traveling this week from San Francisco to Boston to New York, then back (more on the trip some other time), and had booked a simple itinerary to get around. While in Boston, two colleagues of mine mentioned they much preferred the train to NYC over the flight, since it ends up being about the same amount of time. As a frequent traveler, I’m all for anything that is an easier journey, and the described train ride sounded quite blissful.

It took less than 10 minutes from leaving the station (maybe less than 5) for me to realize how much of a bad decision this was for me. I’m sure many folks find it more relaxing, less rushed, etc etc. I am sitting here pulling hairs out of my beard, one at a time.

First, I can’t do email because the bumpiness is causing a ton of retyping and this is about all I can bear.

Tried watching TV using my Sprint PPC6700 tethered to my Vaio to watch my Slingbox. Was painful, but killed an hour until I couldn’t deal with the dropouts anymore.

I’m sitting at an angle, because I’m too tall to have the laptop right in front of me, so I’m sure I’m putting a nice crick in my back.

I had a hot dog for dinner (Hebrew National at least).

It’s just one of those things where you realize how different people are. Me? I’m perfectly fine with a drive to the airport, dealing with security, boarding, flying, etc. Maybe I’ve just done it so much (~175K miles on the year). Maybe I like “the action” of it.

I think, at the end of the day, when you have a short flight you may spend “as much” time as you might on the train, but you only have to kill an hour or so. The ~4 hours on Amtrak is just too much for me.

Plus I think I feel a little safer in the air.

ps – to make matters worse, I forgot my DVD pack at home, so the only thing I have to watch is Monty Python and the Holy Grail – great flick, but you do have to be in the right mood for it. I’m listening to the Director’s Commentary this time through.

GoogleTube – it's official

Posted on October 9, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

The rumors are all over the place (no fewer than twenty-five entries on techmeme today), but the AP reported a few minutes ago that YouTube was acquired for $1.65 billion.

The price makes YouTube, a still-unprofitable startup, by far the most expensive purchase made by Google during its eight-year history.

Holy cow, color me stunned. I am blown away by this. I had just finished reading Mark Cuban’s weekend post on the topic, and really didn’t think it was going to happen. Congrats to Hurley and his team – job well done.

Can the GreedTube guys do it too, ya think?

Geek Dinner ][+

Posted on October 9, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

After Geek Dinner 1.0 was such a jolly good time, I knew I’d have to approach it the way a network approaches a mediocre sitcom with decent ratings: keep doing it for 7 years, then 5 more good years in syndication.

For Geek Dinner 2 we moved to a different venue (Indigo, reservation courtesy of OpenTable), where we had tasty wine, and if memory serves, all but one person had one of the specials. As food was served, we did our ’round the horn’ intros (starting on the left):

Ryan Block (writes for some little blog)
Veronica Belmont (yes, we have a genuine geekette!)
Brian Curtis (VC/entrepreneur with a keen eye on China)
Jeff Hagan (banker in the technology/digital media space)
Ron “the thinker” Hirson (redefining the telephone and professional kiteboarder)
Brad Dietrich (builds media streaming technology just for fun)
Dave Mathews (likes to take on inappropriate bets)
Jeremy Toeman (consumer technology guru and dinner planner extraordinaire)
Nicholas Menaker (still not completely sure what he does, but I know he does it well)

This week conversations roamed across the board. An interesting topic was regarding Adobe adding VoIP to Flash. Feelings were mixed, some felt it was a move toward getting easier adoption of VoIP (by cutting out install time), others thought it was part of a wider, mobile strategy. And a few of us guessed it was because Acrobat and Photoshop are already about as bloated as possible, and they only offer so many other products (zing! ouch… sorry, Adobe, I love your stuff, but why does Acrobat 7 take almost a minute to load on my dual-core laptop???).

Another fun topic was everyone’s “ultimate wishlist gadget” – if money were no object, what would you want for Hanukah or Christmas (or Winter Solstice or whatever)? Answers included:

Helicopter (a specific model was mentioned, but I don’t remember it) – specifically to speed up commuting, something that makes perfect sense in my book.
Macbook
HTC Excalibur
50″ Pioneer Elite plasma
A ride on SpaceShipOne (which didn’t technically count, since it wasn’t a specific gadget, but it was a cool thought)

I can’t really remember the others, but maybe everyone can chime in on the comments if they recall. One thing was for sure – everybody wanted a Slingbox Pro. Ok, I’m just kidding, but at least one person did!!!

Many other fun conversations ensued, we laughed, we cried, we laughed some more. Until we got distracted by the bunny. Look at the bunny!

As we all left, I walked with Brad to his car to get a ride home, and saw the following, horrible sight:

Turns out Brad accidentally left his laptop case in the footwell of the passenger seat. This means, on a very busy street in San Francisco, between the hours of 7-10pm, some miscreant had the time to walk car to car, peering into the window to find anything that looked valuable. He also had time to bash a window, reach in, and grab the case and (presumably) run off, all without anyone noticing.

I guess I just want to know how much more I need to pay in taxes to get rid of the car vandalism here, because I’d fork it over.

Accidentally Dugg?

Posted on October 6, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

The other day I put up a fairly innocuous post on seeing a prop of the Batmobile from Batman Begins when I was down in LA a few weeks ago. If you read the post all the way through the very end, you’ll notice the final line is “No scoop for JT.”

Well, in a moment of near-perfect irony, a few people out there thought I did see something new! I think it started here, because the next thing I knew, I was on the front page of Digg with this post.

Here’s the results of my site traffic logs:

Getting Dugg

And since I do my photo hosting and sharing with flickr, here’s my updated “most popular photos” page (note that before this week, the #1 photo was viewed roughly 400 times):

Flickr stats

So there you have it – a non-rumor becomes a rumor, and it’s all because of my Internets. For more good reading on the impact of “getting dugg”, read this article by Ed Kohler.

I (heart) OpenTable

Posted on October 5, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

So the scenario looks a little something like this: Having Geek Dinner 2 tonight and needed to find a place to seat 8 people, preferably in a quieter location where we can chat. Gotta find a spot. Where do I go? OpenTable.com.

I know they’ve been around since 1998, but they made it through the dot-collapse, and while I won’t say they vanished, they aren’t ‘exciting and new’ anymore. But I also know that there’s a lot of folks out there who haven’t heard of them, so I figured I’d give them a little shout-out.

Bottom line is it’s about the easiest site in the world to use. No need to register (although you can and there is a good incentive to do so, which I’ll mention in a moment), you can just start searching. For tonight’s dinner, I clicked on San Francisco and was given a very simple search page.

I selected a few options, including party size and price point, and clicked Search. One really nice option in their search system is grouping – most search engines require you to pick one or another option (e.g. all 2-star restaurants), but they intelligently include grouped options (e.g. up to 2-star restaurants).

Results come back quite quickly, and are presented in a very appealing layout, with simple easy-to-use search and sort options. Not only that, in addition to searching your target time, the OpenTable system automatically displays Earlier and Later options for each result:

Results

I picked my choice, and gave my phone number and email address. I was also able to add comments (such as “we’d like a private room if possible”) which go straight to the maitre d. Also, I’m given the option to register, which gets me “opentable points”. Again, if I don’t want to register, I’m all done, reservation made, voila.

For every reservation you make (and keep – because anyone can make reservations, but it’s keeping them that matters), you get 100 points. Every time you hit 2000 points, you can get a dining check for $20. That’s it, no fees, no nothing.

That’s it – I guess I’m 8 years late on reviewing the service (although I’ve been using it for 3), but hey, I’m not always the first on the block for things. I would like to see a tighter integration with CitySearch (or, yawn, Yelp, I guess), since they have that relationship already. Would be nice to see instant reviews, recommendations, etc all on the same place, but hey, I can always open another window or tab, right?

I wonder if I need a “food” category? 😉

Right under my nose

Posted on October 4, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

I was (and remain) a huge fan of the original BBC show The Office. Huge. Watched em all multiple times (and while I may rewatch movies often, I rarely rewatch TV shows), never failed to enjoy.

When the NBC version started, I really had to force myself to stick with it, as the first few episodes seemed to be “weak” versions of the UK original. But then somewhere mid-season, all of a sudden the show changed. As if the actors and writers woke up one morning and decided to make their own show. I became a loyal fan, I even watched some of the Webisodes this summer (also great, but almost frustrating due to the shortness).

Anyhow, last season ended with a cliffhanger (for those catching up via DVD I won’t discuss plotlines or anything), and I was quite excited for the season premiere two weeks ago. While vacationing in Montreal I fired up my Slingbox, connected to my Comcast DVR, and there it was, right after My Name Is Earl, an episode of Globe Trekker. Huh?

Turns out, for whatever reason, the DVR missed it. Maybe it was marked as a repeat, I dunno. Not there. Nothing. Crap-all. So I panic, accuse the wife of deleting it, you know, all the usual things.

Next, I called all my friends, none of whom record it. While their whimsical agreement that the show’s pretty good was nice to hear, it most certainly didn’t put the episode in front of my eyes!

A ha! I remember a coworker also watches it, call to check. Yup, he has a Season Pass(TM). Awesome. Guess what? His DVR didn’t get it either! I felt like Charlie Brown playing football with Lucy!

Back at work, I mentioned my dilemma to my officemate who reminds me it’s on iTunes. Yes! She downloads it with the intent to burn it to a DVD so I can watch it on my flight today. Of course the download doesn’t end up on her office PC, but on her home PC, so it takes another day before she can bring it in. And there we have it, the “book on tape” equivalent of the show. Her suggestion that I act it out in my head while I listen didn’t quite help, but it did make me chuckle. Or growl, I can’t remember.

Another friend of mine offered to find it online, using one of those Internet tubes or something. A week goes by, no luck.

I’m about ready to give in, and then when my wife turned on the Comcast OnDemand channel today, I noticed “network shows”. My heartbeat raced. I selected it, then saw the channel lineup. Oh my, there’s NBC! Glory glory hallelujah. Two remote buttons later, and there it is. The Office, Season 3, Episode 1.

$0.99? no problem (although if I’m paying for a show that was already aired for free I don’t really like seeing the ad at the beginning – either make it paid-for or free, not both, but then again, right now I’m a beggar, not a chooser).

It was there the whole time, right under my nose.

Digital Life – perfect for those who Live Digitally

Posted on October 4, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Digital Life logo Yeah, I know it’s a silly post title, but some things are too hard to resist. A couple of years back, Ziff Davis started the DigitalLife conference in New York City as a very hands-on, consumer-focused event. The idea was to take the cool technology the people in the industry see and play with at ‘industry events’ and bring it directly in front of consumers.

The event is October 12-15 at the Javits Center in New York City. The best part is this year, it’s free to attend! All you have to do is go to their tickets page, and enter the code “INSIDER” – pretty easy.

It’s a fun show, I went last year. Lots of good stuff for any video game enthusiast, they even had quite a few tournaments that anyone could enter, with real prizes. Additionally, there are tons of exhibitors, ranging from SLAPPA (my favorite CD/DVD case manufacturer) to TiVo (I’ve got to assume we’ll see a Series3 there) to WowWee (wanna robot?) to ifrogz (okay, I don’t know what they do – but I’m sure going to find out).

If you’re going to make it, drop me a line (or leave a comment) and we can meet up. I’m sure there’s going to be a Sling demo going on there somewhere as well…

JT and the Batmobile

Posted on October 3, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

So check this out. Last month I was in LA attending the CTIA conference, and as I’m walking to my hotel, I see a trailer truck drive by carrying the Batmobile (the one from Batman Begins). I see it, and think to myself, “Self. Is that the Batmobile? It sure is! And I’m here in LA. And they are making a sequel to Batman Begins (Batman Begins Again). That must be a prop from the new movie. Suh-weet!” (sp?)

I happened to be carrying my good ol Canon SD700 (with its wonderfully amazing shutter speed), and grabbed a bunch of pictures. I’m figuring I’ve got one of them there “movie scoops” and get closer and closer. To my utter amazement, the truck stops about a half a block down from my hotel!