The MacCast PodCast is one of my regular subscriptions. Over Thanksgiving they put out a special edition podcast that was different than their typical Podcast since it concentrated on one topic and guest. It was titled FrontRow Special and concentrated on using a Mac Mini as an media library centering on Front Row in Leopard. Ara Derderian from the HDTV Podcast is the guest. Awhile back I had hooked up a PPC, and pre-FrontRow, Mac Mini running Tiger to my TV. While the video quality was fine it was too [...] Read the rest »
Google Video Sales To Cease
Google will be exiting the video sales business. Those few people who purchase videos from Google Video can’t watch them after August 15th due to the joys of DRM. As compensation Google is giving people two bucks to spend via Google checkout. On the positive side, it’s unlikely many people bought videos since the site is shutting down. Another reason to avoid DRM, as if one was needed. Read the rest »
Apple TV Adds YouTube and Security
Apple has released version 1.1 of the software for Apple TV. The software includes a security update and support for YouTube videos. I covered my impressions of Apple TV in this post. The software update is only available through Apple TV’s software update feature. Apple TV checks for updates on a weekly basis so Apple TV’s should all be updated within a week. You can also trigger an immediate update by selecting Settings -> Update Software in Apple TV. The update will restart Apple TV. YouTube is encoding the videos [...] Read the rest »
Apple TV First Impressions
I bought an Apple TV a couple of weeks ago and I figured I’d give my first impressions. I’ll jump to the bottom line first to make things easier since the general slant of the review will be positive but the bottom line is less than positive and the Apple TV may not be for you (yet). I bought the Apple TV with birthday money I received. In such cases I like to get something I usually wouldn’t get and the Apple TV fit the bill (and the money just [...] Read the rest »
Is Cable TV Obsolete?
Ok, I guess the obvious answer is no. But I began to examine whether or not I really need cable TV. I’m not talking about switching to satellite to save money to get the same stuff, I talking about dropping the whole concept. This was driven by three main events. First, I’ve been getting more and more of my entertainment from my PC and the internet. This includes content on my iPod which I can take almost anywhere. I’ve also been watching DVDs on my computer while I do other [...] Read the rest »
Categories: Random Access - Tags: commentary, video