Hulu!!! Internet Browers get ready!

Okay, okay, okay - I admit it - I'm a TV-aholic. Give me a solid TV series in a DVD box set and I'll devour through with it an insatiable appetite. First there was the Sopranos, then 24, The Office, Arrested Development, Entourage, Family Guy, (Ughk, err a brief rendez-vous with Grey's Anatomy), The OC, and lately House and Heroes. I've even found myself scraping through youtube.com looking for clips, browsing through tv.com to find out when the next episodes are going to air. I'm A TV JUNKIE!!

Alright, so where am I going with this?? TV, it's viral, it's addictive, its entertaining, intense, it gives you that oh so good point of momentary escape from reality. There's no doubt that TV is a popular thing, for me, its really easy to see why. Well, what happens when you bring it to the Internet?? Look at shows like www.purepwnage.com, they're viral, easy to access, and instantly available! No wonder all the telco's and cable companies want in on the action. However, on demand content is not without challenges its fair share of challenges. Distribution means, Distribution rights, which all have to be scalable - how do you supply a large population with on-demand content??

Joost has their innovative p2p solution which helps to solve the distribution problem (I mean, look at Skype and Kazaa) - why not use the technology that's used to help people "obtain" content, to distribute legitimate content. Sorry, I love your interface Joost, however, your severely missing content, there are only so many hours of music videos and Robot Chicken I can take.

Then there's Comcast on demand, Amazon + Tivo, Apple TV, stage6.com oh the list goes on and on and on... however, I think there's a diamond in the rough, awaiting a nice cut and polish.. wait for it.. HULU! Quite simply, it's badass!

Features:
1) Content
2) CONtent
3) CONTENT!!
4) Search-able CONTENT
5) Reasonably frequently updated with CONTENT
6) User friendly interface, no install, nice presentation and all the things we've grown to love about youtube.com

How did they do this?? We'll a quick look at trusty 'ol wikipedia tells that those generous studios and networks have been stepping in with the funding to get this puppy up and running.

Well, what does this mean to me?? It means - I never sleep! There's so much to catch up on! Simpson's, Family Guy, JourneyMan, Heroes!, House! Hulu's even nice enough to help index shows from other networks in their search engine - like CBS' Jericho, ABC's According to Jim and Clips of Extras!

OKAY! I'm hooked - "wait a minute.. it's a closed beta... how did you get access??" Well it's all about being one of the first few to public beta invites - luckily a buddy of mine help direct one in my direction via GigaOM's open 2500 invites.

Now.. it isn't perfect - what do you need.. hd content, less intrusive ads (overlaid like Joost, and cut the commercials), personalization! We need more factors like "What did my friends watch?" "How do i rave about the last epi??" "What's going to happen to Dr. Jack Sheppard??" - yayayaya... there are those "add user review" buttons, and ya, I can create a profile etc - but it's really missing the whole community thing - more importantly, a community with my friends.

Otherwise... I'm soooooooo close to saying good-bye to cable. Hulu, keep it coming :)

The effects of urbanization, p2p and wifi!

Man, WiFi in the city isn't what it used to be, that's for sure. I'm here hanging out in a trusty late night coffee house, hoping to borrow some bandwidth for my internet addiction. To my dismay, this damn thing is slow!!! I'm lucky if i get 3kb/s here. The latency, ughk, is terrible.

After a quick scan with trusty 'ol iStumbler its easy to see that there's a lot of wifi congestion.

WTF!



I wonder if things will improve if say other bandwidths become available and say a certain 700Mhz provider comes into the picture, will my coffee house experience improve. In the meantime, I have to sit here and suck up this crappy ass connection.

How to seal your tiles!

After just buying a new place (*yeppie*), you start having to make trips to various home improvement/hardware places like ahem.. Home Depot. Strangely, new constructions will typically cover everything from touching the ceiling up to repairing scratches on the floor. However, one of the few things they don't do is seal the grout in your tiles. :O I'm not sure why that is.

Anyway, after a few quick search engine queries, I happened to come across this article about tile sealing. After two days and two passes, I'm still left with semi-sealed grout. I think I'll need a third or forth pass to get it to actually take.

I find it weird that the consistency of the sealer is about the same as water. I guess the theory goes, that it's supposed to really get into that porous grout. *sigh* alas, time to seal the tiles once more.

Web 2.0 is so cool! www.deezer.com

Youtube meet iTunes = http://www.deezer.com/

It's so cool!

Finally!! The stereo type fulfilled...

Who'd a figure.. blogging on Macbook @ a Seattle coffee shop, but hey! I'm running Windows Vista :)

Holy Exchange Rate Batman!

On Friday, for the first time the Canadian Dollar surpasses the USD! [link] What the crap is going on with the US economy?? and kudos to the Canadian economy for being so strong. *sniff* I want that strong US dollar that we had way back in 2000.


Here's a sad screen shot from the Bank of Canada.

Japanese theatrical performances are soo cool!

http://www.noob.us/humor/japanese-human-art-why-is-my-girlfriend-mad/

More in a bit...

Fad of the Blog - Anderson welcome to Web2.0

Threadless.com - shamelessly I bought three shirts tonight, they're just absolutely cool. While at work one day, I noticed two buddies at work weary seemingly trendy/hip shirts. One thing lead to another and now I happily wait for my shipment to arrive.

I mean, who wouldn't love their witty, sarcastic and humorous t-shirts. MMmmm Delicious for example. Also, their ajax, web 2.0, blog-like interface is perfect for the Blogging-Generation. Complete with community ratings, comments and "self-shots" modeling your own warez. Hey - you can even find a picture of Zach Braff up there.

Now I await patiently...

CBC.ca says piss off to NHL fans outside Canada

Do or Die Big Game 5 Sens v. Ducks... Fine, I admit I'm a Leafs fan. However no harm in checking out how Ontario's other team is doing.

Lo and behold.... Screenshot says it all:



Ah well.. back to reading text play by plays on www.nhl.com. COME-ON SENS you can do it!

Northwest Folklife... Seattle meets Earthy

Anderson's Blog, Sunday, May 27 2007. There was some ruckus outside near the Seattle center, so I called a couple of friends to check it out. It turned out to be the Northwest Folklife: http://www.nwfolklife.org/.

A very down to earth and amateurish festival, bringing together merchants, ethnic cuisines and folk music.

I had my first taste of African food, now I know what African Sponge bread tastes like. It's quite filling too! I had some Lukuluul (Chicken, with some red veggies + curried cabbage) and some Sambusas (resembled a Samosa w/ African spices).

It was a very humble experience. More pictures on the way...

Joost is incredible!

Joost! say bye-bye cable TV and say hello IP TV. Joost is absolutely incredible! Much credit goes to the co-owners of Skype Friis and Zennström, Joost delivers. With over 27 channels available and a plethora of "On Demand" content.

1. The download & installation [link]

A very standard download and installation experience, shuttling the user through a series of straight forward steps and Nullsoft Install System installation wizard (Although requires Administrator elevation, it's worth the install and on top of that it works on Vista :))

2. Setup

Dramatically easily, just create a user, or log on if you already have a username and password and away you go :)

3. Usage

The translucent UI, smooth acceleration menu transitions is a wonderful modern software touch. Check out these hot screens.




These controls fade away once you click on the screen. Fullscreen display is available with a mere double click of the mouse :)



Old school channel surfing is always available...



The new way to surf, "Search"!



Dunno what to watch, check out the Channel Catalog, here you can Discover, Explore and Decide what to watch.

The only lack luster element to Joost is the lack of content, bleeding edge, Jack Bauer, Heroes defying Lost content. After acquiring expensive licenses from blockbuster movie studios and nation-wide TV networks, I can see services like Joost soon rendering devices like TiVo and Media Centric software obsolete.

Bring on Joost!

Entourage, A kick-ass show

There's just that something about the glitzy glamorous life of celebs that seem to draw people. Catching a moment of what life is like for the rich, the famous, a life of partying, hot attractive people and amazing cars and gadgets. Entourage is now already on it's Fourth Season and off to a enticing dramatic Medien plot line.

PCs I've been with...

Lemme think... just recounting all the PCs I've ever owned.

Intel:
1x 486Mhz DX2 66, 8MB ram, 520MB hdd, ATI Mach32 4MB
3x Pentium 166Mhz, 16, 32MB ram, 1GB, 2GB hdd, ATI Mach64 8MB
1x Pentium 2 266Mhz, 32MB ram, 2GB, 4GB Hdd, S3 8MB,
1x Pentium 2 333Mhz, 128MB ram, 700GB hdd, ATI Mach64 16MB
1x Pentium 2 450Mhz, 256MB ram, 10GB hdd, ATI Rage 128 32MB
1x Pentium 3 850Mhz, 384MB ram, 30GB hdd, ATI 128 mobile 16MB
1x Pentium D 2.8Ghz, 3GB ram, 250GB hdd, nVidia 7300LE 128MB

AMD:
1x 2000+XP, 1GB ram, 80 GB hdd, ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128MB
1x 2400+XP, 1.5GB ram, 200GB hdd, ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128MB

Funny enough, my first encounter with a computer (~1987) has been with a Apple IIe, Mac Plus, and Mac Classics. It wasn't until 1994 before I got my hands on a PC, and I've never gone back.

Tulips!

Went up to Skagit (pronounced: 'ska-j&t ) this weekend to check out the Tulip Festival. It's really cool if you like: "the outdoors", flowers (specifically tulips) and checking out beautiful mountain scenery. The Mount Vernon area is quaint and reminiscent of a rural agricultural town. Hey! They also have an Anderson Rd.


[Olympic Flame] - Vibrant and Fire-y!


[Ile de France] - quite magnificent in terms of the depth of red they radiate.

Sorry Hetero-Males in Seattle

Wow From February's National Geographic issue [reference found here], Singles Map across the USA. According to the map there are over 40,000 more single males than females in Seattle and LA. OUCH!

dSLR: Bye bye dust bunnies

After shooting pics at a really small aperature, I noticed dust bunnies in my shot. :(

Much web searching, talking to the pro shop dudes and digi-photo book skimming here's what I've found.

1. For large dust particles, use a hand held rocket with the mirror flipped up to dislodge some of the dust.

Nikon's Professional Cleaning kit video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPcvaJl-eS4

2. For those more problematic dust bunnies checkout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2yfZL0edqs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDsLUX2aveA

Applicable sensor kits:



[Link]

Visibledust makes some fine products as well.


Now to put this knowledge to test... wish me luck.

Google thinks i'm a Virus!!!

Just doing some research on a couple of registry keys: notably HKCU\SessionInformation and this popped up. Google thinks i'm a VIRUS *shock*. I hope Anti-Viruses don't come by to clean me out ;^)

Music I Like: Put your hands up!

Artist: Fedde Le Grande
Song: Put your hands up!

Put your hands up! Put your hands up! For Detroit! I love this city!

Photo editiing: Want to fix barrel distortion?

Ever have those pictures that just don't quite seem right, how they seem distorted. Well I came across an interesting DPreview Article that guides a person through, to correct this aberration.

Reference Image:

PanoTools:

http://www.all-in-one.ee/~dersch/

Nikkor 18-200mm VR initial take

I noticed some barrel distortion when I was framing on wide (18mm) shots. I think I may have to keep my 18-55mm lense just incase I want to mitaget that. Similarly, I noticed more distortion at ~55mm on the 18-200mm VR compared to the kit lense.

I need to use this lense more extensively before I can make a conclusive review. As of now, this is a beasty and heavy compact super zoom lense.