Posts Tagged ‘DVR’

Digital Rights Management (DRM) and the iPad

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Apr 18, 2011 at 2:28 pm

On Monday mornings, I typically scan the trades for news from the “outside world” that affects our business.  There’s lots of news these days; long overdue telephone intercarrier compensation reform with the FCC , universal service reform for both telephone and data, internet network neutrality, etc.  And all of these things are important, complex, and weighty issues.  But one item caught my eye this morning that might actually be of interest to the readership of our technical blog, though, strictly speaking, is not a technical issue.

It appears that one of our competitors, Time Warner Cable has gotten into some hot water by offering an iPad app to customers for viewing content they pay for in their homes. Apparently, Viacom, Discovery, and Fox sent cease and desist letters to TWC, demanding that their content be pulled from the iPad application they began offering last month.  Time Warner countered with legal maneuvers of its own, filing a request for summary judgement in a U.S. District Court in southern New York.

In a statement, Time Warner Cable’s executive VP and General Counsel said, “We have steadfastly maintained that we have the rights to allow our customers to view this programming in their homes, over our cable systems, without artificial limits on the screens they can use to do so, and we are asking the court to confirm our view.”  Further, TWC launched the very next day an additional 17 channels from content providers who apparently had no problem with the iPad app Time Warner released.

It appears to me that technology should trump the “old school” thinking on this issue.  If the assumed goal of a content provider is to have as many eyes as possible viewing content it produces, why would it want to limit any screen that a paying customer owns from viewing content ?  Go figure.

Regardless of your point of view on this issue, it promises to be hotly debated for the next several weeks.  This issue is also emblematic of many other issues where technology that is widely embraced by the public ends up trumping industry policy.

When the VCR was first introduced many years ago, the video content creation industry reacted by petitioning the US Congress to ban the devices outright.  When that failed, they tried to push through a “tax” on blank video tapes that would discourage their use.  Virtually the same playbook was read in the audio content industry when digital audio recorders (DAT) were introduced in the early ’90’s.  Complex legal maneuvers, copy protection schemes, petitions to government authority, and ultimately the technologies themselves came and went.  None of the histrionics of a slightly paranoid industry made it off the block.

Here’s the thing.  Most people understand that the creation of quality content costs money, and are willing to pay for quality entertainment, whether music or video production. Those very very few that are bent on bootlegging or infringing copyrights will likely find a way to do so, in spite of DRM protections.

Until next time….

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Last Minute Gift Ideas for Geeks

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Dec 15, 2010 at 8:53 am

In the spirit of “Tech gifts, Pt. One and Pt. Two“, I thought I would offer a couple of last minute ideas for those geeks on your list who love technology.  By the way, I consider myself a “geek” and wear the term proudly.  The only difference between a “geek” and an “older geek” (me) is that I’ve finally gained the fashion sense not to wear a pocket protector.  Still have all the pens, but if they wear out the shirt, they wear out the shirt and I buy a new one ;)

Here goes:

Multi-tools–Any true geek loves the ability to fix something on-the-spot.  This “MacGuyver” like ability requires either hauling around a toolkit, or an effective “multitool” which can be carried in your pocket or small belt pouch.  Here are my favorites:

Leatherman tool–comes in all kinds of sizes, capabilities and price ranges.  Shop at Amazon or direct from Leatherman

Swiss Army–Been around forever–still build quality tools.  Generally lighter and less robust than Leatherman, they have the advantage of (generally) being small enough that you really can carry them in your pocket.  Comes in all sizes, styles and price ranges–One actually has well over 100 functions and costs around $1400!  Other than the $1400 model (which I would not recommend regardless of your budget), these are widely distributed from a number of retail outlets. My favorites are these:

Victorinox Swiss Army Champion–about $40

Victorinox Swiss Army Trekker–about $30

Pens–Geeks like pens and mechanical pencils to fill up all those pocket protectors.  Preferably Japanese or German, and the more industrial looking, the better.

Portable Hard Drives–Pocket drives that use the USB port on a laptop for the power source are terrific for moving data around from computer to computer.  Flash drives generally don’t have the capacity to satisfy any self respecting geek’s data needs.  Look for a size of at least 500 Gb or greater and stick with a well known brand–Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, and Maxtor.  Expect to pay between $60~$100.

Killer Remotes–managing all the remote controls in a typical geek’s life can be truly daunting.  Universal programmable remotes can consolidate all that remote clutter into a single device–one that will operate the TV, sound system, Blu-Ray, and WOW! DVR, as well as any other device in the home theatre.  The Logitech “Harmony” series gets great reviews generally.  Be sure to purchase one that will “learn” codes from existing remotes.  It will save lots of time in set up.

Until next time…

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To Power off….or not?

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Oct 06, 2010 at 8:06 am

Power management of electronic equipment grows increasingly complex in today’s world.  Certainly, consumers are concerned about energy costs, and there is increasing concern from a public policy standpoint over carbon-based energy production and its potential impact on the environment.

Regardless of the reason, it is a fact that electronic equipment generally is quite energy efficient these days, but some is better than others.  There are a number of design criteria for an engineer to consider:

1)  What is the overall wattage consumption when fully on versus a potential sleep mode?

2)  Does sleep mode, if applicable, have other benefits vs. turning the equipment completely off?

3)  What is the convenience factor associated with effective power management if any?

4)  What are the power management factors that contribute to product longevity?

Why the concentration on “sleep mode”?  The fact is that most electronic equipment doesn’t really like an initial power surge coursing through its semiconductors like some unbridled testosterone rush.  Most of us are aware of sleep modes on computers (particularly laptops), and perhaps displays, but in fact most electronic equipment is designed this way these days, including televisions (both CRT and flat panel), sound equipment, DVR’s, and logic processors of all kinds, whether they are in refrigerators, microwaves, hard drives, phones, etc.  Soft power switches are the norm now rather than the exception.

There are several good reasons for designs of this type:

Longevity–electronic circuitry that is “always on”, even at a significantly reduced power level, has been shown to last longer and retain its operating characteristics more consistently over the life of the device when compared with designs that use a “hard power” approach.

Convenience–in many designs, the time interval from “sleep” to “full on” is much less than from “off” to “on”–most of us have experienced that with our computers, but it really applies to other devices as well.

Less Energy Usage–wouldn’t any device with a hard power switch save energy in the long run?  Not necessarily.  Most devices which carry the coveted Energy Star® rating are usually soft switch designs, integrating intelligent power management that doesn’t depend on our “remembering to turn it on or off”.

A couple of general recommendations:

If you are using a power strip as an on/off switch for televisions, computers, cable modems, EMTA, sound equipment, DVR, etc., DON’T–All of that careful circuit saving power engineering is bypassed when you use this “sledgehammer on a thumbtack” approach.  And while I agree this is relatively convenient, it just generally isn’t the best thing for your equipment or your power bill.  Don’t “power down hard” (power strip, pulling the plug, etc.) any electronic equipment unless other circumstances force the issue.  (An intense lightning storm raging outside IS a good reason).

That said, if your computer locks up for example, many times the only way to “get it back” is with a hard reboot/hard power reset.  Most circuitry with built in logic is the same way, whether in a DVR or a clock radio.  If there is a need to “reset” that logic, because of soft power engineering, many times pushing the power button will be inadequate for this task, and the “plug must be pulled”.  Again, use this option with caution, but be aware that this will reset most electronic logic that has lost its way for whatever reason.  If you find yourself doing this all the time with the same component, service is probably going to be required on the device.

May the road rise up to meet you, and your logic devices never stray from their design criteria!

Until next time….

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Water

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Sep 22, 2010 at 8:58 am

Several years ago, I bought my wife a MacBook Pro for her personal use.  After “sharing” computers with me and the heavy college/HS student population of our household at that point, it was time for her own machine–one that someone had to ask her permission to use instead of the other way around.  Probably several years too late, but that’s another discussion…

About two months after the purchase, I came home from work to find the computer open and sitting up on the kitchen table on its end, as though it were a book on display atop a library shelf.  An odd position.  Scratched my head a bit, but didn’t worry too much about it until she returned from her errands and walked through the door.  I could tell from her face that something wasn’t right.  It had been a no good, very bad day…

She tearfully told me that in the process of her work that morning, she had spilled a glass of water at the table, some of which had splashed onto the keyboard of the MacBook.  She was unsure how much, but it was enough to freeze the machine and make the screen go dark.  She had disconnected the power supply, shook what she could out of the Mac, and left it on its end to “drain and dry”.  Since it had been several hours, we ventured to try and restart the machine.  Nope…it was now a very expensive brushed aluminum brick.

I called Apple and told them the situation, complete with the disclosure on the potential water entry.  They suggested I send it back to them in a prepaid box they would send me, and told me that if the repair was determined to be water damage, they would let me know the charges before repairs were made.  I steeled myself for that phone call.  Instead of hearing from them, precisely two days after we had sent the machine to Apple, it was back on our doorstep fully repaired and functional.  Apple had replaced the logic board at no charge to the Stanfill family.  Parenthetically, Apple has always received more than its share of my discretionary income precisely because of its more-than-helpful attitude towards me as a customer.

The outcome could have been much different.  Apple had no legal obligation under the terms of its warranty to fix the computer at no charge.  Many of us have had experiences with water and electronic devices which did not end nearly so well.

Here’s the thing…Water is a conductor of electricity (pure water is a very poor conductor, but in today’s world, most water contains ions of sodium or other elements that make it much more conductive than it is naturally), and putting water in contact with electronic circuitry will cause carefully engineered circuit paths to be redirected to places they should not go.  Even worse are other water based drinks that have intentional “impurities” introduced to the mix–coffee, tea, soft drinks, etc.  These drinks are highly conductive and even worse, leave a residue on electronic parts that can remain conductive even after the moisture is gone.

At the risk of displaying a Profound Mastery of the Obvious (PMO), here are a couple of rules to keep your gear running well:

1)  Don’t eat or drink in close proximity to your computer or other electronic gear.  Do not think that “it will never happen to me”.

2)  Don’t use your set top box or DVR as a support for a houseplant. Duh.

3)  When moving digital cameras, computers, ipods, etc. from a cool dry environment to a warm humid environment, allow them to remain in their case until temperature is normalized within.  Condensation from moisture in the air is as bad as dumping water inside the device.  Jumping outside with your digital camera from an air conditioned space into an Evansville summer day is not a good idea.

and, finally with tongue squarely in cheek,

4)  Don’t allow pets to “nest” on electronic gear.  A couple of years ago, a customer came in for a set top box replacement.  No problem.  Two weeks later she was in again.  The WOW! service rep quizzically asked if there was any reason she knew of why the set top boxes would be failing, whereupon the customer responded that her cat had a habit of peeing into the top (vented portion) of the box.  Apparently didn’t like the programming.  True story.

Until next time….

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It’s That Time of Year – Fall TV Is Back!

In: Entertainment

By: Libby Pawlick on Sep 13, 2010 at 4:39 pm

I love this time of year and it’s not because I dislike summer.  It’s because I love fall TV!  The new fall TV shows and my returning favorites are like my version of a new school year.  Last night I was going through my cable guide setting up my DVR recordings making sure I didn’t miss one.  I monopolize every single box to make sure that I always have something to watch.  And, when Glee first debuted, I DVR’ed it but later deleted them because I was running out of space and regretted once I discovered how great a show it was.  I am making sure never to make that mistake again.

So, now that I have hyped up how excited I am for fall TV, you are probably dying to know what is on my watch list.  Don’t lie, I know you are.

Mondays

  • Gossip Girl
  • Dancing with the Stars
  • Lone Star
  • Chuck
  • The Event
  • Little People, Big World (So sad that it is the last season!

Tuesday

  • The Good Wife
  • Life Unexpected
  • Glee
  • Running Wilde
  • Parenthood

Wednesday

  • Better with You
  • Modern Family
  • Cougar Town
  • Hellcats
  • Lie to Me
  • Hell’s Kitchen
  • South Park

Thursday

  • My Generation
  • S#*! My Dad Says
  • Outsourced
  • The Apprentice
  • The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Friday

  • Outlaw

Sunday

  • Undercover Boss

What are you looking forward to watching this fall?

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