Archive for fun
December 22, 2008 at 11:44 am · Filed under fun, it, media, music
Stacey Higginbotham has done a short writeup of Christos Lagomichos’ comments on standalone set top boxes.
Getting content from the web to your TV is driving the release of several new set-top boxes such as the Roku, Apple TV and ZeeVee. And yet one of the top chipmakers in the set-top box market doesn’t see those types of appliances winning out over the set-top boxes you get from video service providers (cable, telco, satellite, etc.) anytime soon.
I both agree and disagree with the comments, and the angle. No, it’s not fence-sitting, it’s a case of “different horses for different courses”.
A highly-evolved set top box needs to earn its place in the livingroom of today. Most consumers I talk with, from all walks of life, have a good understanding of what they want, and what might be possible, for a “converged TV” experience.
The carriers and TV companies want to you go into their very vertical, tightly-controlled product lineups: and stay there! The independents, or meta-TV operators, would like you to pick their particular flavour of vertical, tightly-controlled product range.
And the hackers have to stand alone, or find a provider for the in-between. “What if,” they say, “I could have a box that works with my chosen TV bouquet, yet can see and use all the media in my home, and can give me some options for having-it-my-way?”.
For your chance to win a CD, make a sensible, helpful, decent comment on this post, which might help a fellow reader with a tried-and-tested-and-not-made-of-Unobtanium answer. The subjectively-best/most creative answer before midnight AEDST wins two CDs. Read the rest of this entry »
December 22, 2008 at 6:55 am · Filed under fun, music
There are four more CDs to be given away in the pre-Christmas giveaway bonanza!
Two are shrinkwrapped mini-albums from a band with a Very Imposing Natural Phenomenon Name.
One is an exclusive, pre-release, EP/sampler from a well-known Australian artist.
And the last is a CD Single from a female artist…which will be randomly inserted into a winner’s pack.
December 2, 2008 at 1:49 pm · Filed under fun, media
Courtesy of Peter Wells, your buzzword-bingo-style card to accompany your viewing of the movie ‘Australia’.
June 19, 2008 at 10:49 am · Filed under fun, it
I wandered down to the Sydney Apple Store opening queue. Yes, there’s only 4 hours to go now before people get their chance to walk the polished boards, gaze outwards from the steel-bracketed glass facade, and to ask premature questions about iPhone 3G.
I lent @decryption my spare MacBook Pro 15″ battery: he’s number 8 in the queue, which means he’s had a large number of cold hours sitting on a foldout chair.
The second part of the queue heads west up King Street, and probably takes the number of people well over 50.
The store looks great. I’m from a family of architects and designers, and I feel the building’s remodeling has a nice 2007/2008 feel, with some French/German modern glass-and-steel aesthetic thrown in. Being directly opposite the Telstra T-Life store is a masterstroke for design, town planning, marketing and sale potential.
The TV crews are there, just cooling their heels inbetween breakfast TV live crosses, and small magazine-style pieces about the type of geek who would camp out for a t-shirt and the chance to perhaps see Mr. Jobs who is rumoured to appear. Yes, it’s most surely just a rumour right now. If he steps off his jet this morning and appears at the ExecuJet terminal, I’ll try to let you know.
I chatted to a a few people while I sarcastically wore my ten-year-old Rhapsody Developer t-shirt: everyone was in great spirits, including the security staff.
June 6, 2008 at 9:54 am · Filed under fun
Intercepted this memo.
Analysis suggests coffee at 1100hrs at some known-safe house. Use passphrase “zbender” to interrogate.
coffeeintercept [PDF link]
« Previous entries ·
Next entries »
