Five Things I'd Rather Read About Instead of Jon & Kate+8

- The TSA's list of things you can't bring on a plane

- AT&T's Terms of Service contract

- A research paper on toothbrush design

- The ingredients list on the side of a can of Spam

and last, but not least...

- Paris Hilton's auto-biography

Mac mini Media Center

Over the past few months I've gradually been scaling back my Comcast "experience." 1) Ditch the DVR box: Check. The monthly rental cost of a Comcast DVR box is outrageous and adds up over time. And you can't even export the video you record with it! 2) Switch to basic channel lineup: Check. The Sopranos was the only premium channel show I ever watched and the prices for all the premium and plus channels are exorbitant! So, with no DVR and on-demand rentals, TV in my living room was pretty boring. Even worse, I was watching more and more TV on Hulu because I was missing my shows when they aired. So, I decided to try to setup one of these Mac mini media centers that I've been reading and hearing about. I figured the investment would eventually pay for itself given the amount of money I'm now saving each month on my cable bill.

Step One: I needed a Mac mini, so I ordered one of the new ones, the 2.0 GHz, with bare bones RAM and hard drive. Got myself a good deal on 4 GB of RAM and picked up a 320 GB 7200 RPM 2.5" SATA hard drive and got those installed. Bought a mini audio cable to plug the mini's headphone jack into my stereo input as well as a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI connector for the HDTV. I had a NewerTech MiniStack hard drive enclosure sitting around so I dropped a 500GB hard drive in it and set that up under the Mac mini to be the Time Machine backup, plugged in via USB. Turned everything on, and it worked great. I was up and running on the internet, able to watch Hulu, universalsports.com, YouTube, etc.

Step Two: Get my MASSIVE iTunes library that occupies my DROBO running on my new Mac mini. I had the DROBO connected to my desktop computer, but wanted to be able to use the mini as my main iTunes library and share from there since it will be running 24-7. Moved the DROBO next to the mini and plugged it in via FW 800. Option-started iTunes on the mini and created a new iTunes library in a new folder on the DROBO. Then I waited several hours as it imported all my media from the old iTunes library folder to the new one. This literally doubled the used space on the DROBO (fortunately I was only at 30% used when I started the operation). After that was done, I just needed to tweak a few settings, and bada-bing bada-boom, I was using iTunes via FrontRow on my HDTV. When I was sure everything had copied over I deleted the old library, freeing up space on the DROBO. Now I can listen to music, podcasts, audiobooks, watch TV Shows, movies, and video podcasts... all on my home stereo and HDTV.

Step Three: Get my cable TV playing on my Mac mini and be able to pause, rewind, fast-forward, record, and export. Solution: Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus. This was the easiest part of the entire setup. Just plugged the coax cable into the dongle and plugged the dongle into the mini via USB. Installed the software, created a free Titan TV account, downloaded a local programming guide through Titan TV, and then let the software auto-tune all my cable TV stations. It comes with a little IR remote that lets you adjust the channel, volume, search the programming guide, pause, rewind, fast-forward, and record. I can even schedule programs to record when I'm not there. The recordings are in a format that is easily recognized by all the popular Mac video conversion tools so I can edit and export my recordings to my iTunes library.

Step Four: Final Touches. I tested all the parts of the media center and haven't had any problems yet. It's been running non-stop for over a month now (aside from software updates that require a restart). I acquired a bluetooth mouse and keyboard so I can manipulate the OS from the comfort of my couch, but usually only need to use the mouse since all the websites I visit are bookmarked in the Bookmarks Bar in Safari. I can watch TV episodes on Hulu and other websites in full-screen mode and it looks just like regular TV. All my iTunes content is also easily playable in full-screen mode. And EyeTV is awesome! The last thing I added to the setup was a UPS. This way, everything doesn't crash when there is a power outage (which happens frequently in the summertime in Colorado with all the thunderstorms we get). Also, if EyeTV is in the middle of recording something and a power outage occurs, it is still able to record on battery (for at least 30-minutes before it has to shutdown because the battery gets low). Overall, it's a nice setup and after a little familiarization time becomes very user-friendly. I really like the freedom of being able to have a DVR that's mine, no rental fees. Also, whatever I record on the DVR isn't locked down. I can edit it and export it whenever and however I want.

Quality Control

I know it's a catch-22, and I'm not an economist, but I still can't help but scratch my head and gripe about this. Quality Control in U.S. industry is all but dead. The recent salmonella outbreak in what is being called the biggest food recall in U.S. history is just the latest example. This case of irresponsibility not only points a finger at the factory at fault, but also the state agency that kept turning a blind eye to it during its periodic inspections. Americans are sitting down to their nightly news and reacting with disgust and resentment towards the people responsible for this. Really? Take a look inside yourself, America.

Do you want to know why Americans are buying more foreign-made cars and trucks? Because they are engineered to higher standards and are manufactured to last longer. Do you want to know why most personal computers we buy are manufactured overseas? Because the people working in the overseas factories do a better job of putting them together and testing them before shipping. The list goes on. Every year I see more goods and services out-sourced to countries other than our own because they can do it faster and better than we can.

So, here's the catch-22. U.S. industries are complaining that even if they could reclaim goods and services facilities here in the states, it's not nearly as affordable as out-sourcing it. The foreign countries are not only doing it better and faster than us, they are doing it exponentially cheaper too! It's like a downward spiral. The more jobs we ship overseas, the harder it becomes to bring those jobs back and the more difficult it becomes to keep the domestic jobs we still have. And further the downward spiral...

So, I ask you this, America:

Is this the American Dream?

It's obvious that to save our economy in despair, we need to create and keep good jobs here in the homeland. But unless:

a) U.S. industries find a way to sustain well-paying domestic jobs and still make a profit,

and,

b) U.S. workers actually DO a good job,

this economy won't see any real growth any time soon.

My First AT&T Wi-Fi iPhone Experience

I know it's not new, but I just tried the free AT&T Wi-Fi service for the iPhone at my local Starbucks. Here's a brief rundown of the experience.

First, I turned on Wi-Fi on my iPhone. After seeing the attwifi network appear on the list of available networks, I selected it, the iPhone received an IP address, and I exited the Setting page on the phone and opened Safari web browser. I was immediately redirected to an SSL page asking for my 10-digit iPhone phone number. Then, I entered my phone number, agreed to the Terms of Service, and pressed the submit button. The following web page then appeared:

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Followed by, a few seconds later, this text message:

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I opened the full SMS message on my iPhone, clicked the link, and was directed to this final web page from AT&T:

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The internet was fast, but I think that's because only one other Starbucks customer appeared to be using it. Fewer users means faster speed. Regardless, I browsed for a few minutes and then left.

The only complaint I had was the signal kept cutting out, even though I was sitting in the lounge, where I should have a good signal. It's possible there was some local interference, maybe from a microwave oven or nearby cordless phone. If the microwave oven that Starbucks uses to heat up their breakfast sandwiches is causing the interference, they could fix this problem this by moving the wireless router closer to the lounge, away from the kitchen.

Overall, it was a pretty seamless experience, start to finish.

Too Disturbing For Commentary

What is Comcast Smoking?

I've got a couple of gripes about Comcast's new 250 GB monthly bandwidth limit.

First, 250 GB may seem like a lot of data to some big-shot Comcast executive that's trying to find a way to make oodles of money for the company as well as keep its customers happy, but if you break it down, it's not all that much. If you're a technology and internet junkie, like me, that doesn't use any type of "torrent" application, but just legally downloads audiobooks, podcasts, HD video podcasts, video-on-demand, uploads & downloads to YouTube and online photo libraries, and downloads giant software and OS patches, well, that's a lot of data usage each month. Furthermore, if you multiply that monthly data usage by the number of people who do this in your household, let's say 4 people, 250 GB can come and go pretty quick in a month. My point: Comcast needs to pony up and raise this limit to at least 1 TB per month... NOW... not two years from now when 250 GB is as relatively puny as a 1999 PC hard drive.

Also, to the idiots at Comcast who are imposing a monthly bandwidth limit on its customers without providing them with a free tool to measure their data usage... well, not even the cell phone companies do that! Even AT&T allows me to easily check how many minutes, text messages, and bits of data I've used each month.

Get it together before you get slapped with a class-action lawsuit.

TextExpander in Terminal

I realized there is another great way to use SmileOnMyMac's TextExpander. If you often use Mac OS X's utility Terminal, you know how important it is to get the syntax correct when typing in commands. One small error can cause a mountain of mayhem to come crashing down on you, possibly rendering your system FUBAR. If you use TextExpander, you can create snippets for Terminal and use them there. That way you don't have to keep copying and pasting them from a text file or sticky note, or worse, trying to produce them from memory and hoping you get them correct. With TextExpander, you can just create a snippet for a Terminal command, give it a memorable name, and trigger it in Terminal the next time you need to run the command. TextExpander has a free trial version available, so you can go ahead and try this out and see if it is worth your while.

iPhone App: Caissa Chess

No one in their right mind would pay $10 to play chess on their iPhone, right? Well, die-hard chess players aren't always in their right mind. Anyway, if you're a chess player and looking for a good A.I. chess application for your iPhone, Caissa Chess is a good choice.

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I took the plunge and paid for it just based off of the reviews it received on iTunes. Although not always accurate, the reviews were pretty much dead-on with this particular app. Caissa takes about 5 seconds to start on my 1st Gen iPhone and I have noticed that it doesn't eat up too much battery power, unlike some games on the iPhone. It's a completely stand-alone application, no internet connection required, which makes it perfect for playing on-board an airplane or in the subway. The only downside to this is that you are stuck either playing the computer (on one of fourteen different levels) or another person who is right there with you (in manual game mode).

You can choose to be black or white, toggle the board coordinates on/off, toggle sound on/off, and there's a wide range of board and piece design and color customization options. The game can be made to auto-save on exit, which is perfect if you get a phone call or need to stop playing abruptly. The A.I. is quite good actually. I'm about an 1100 rated player and have no trouble beating the computer on the lower levels but am definitely challenged on the higher levels. If you're not very good, the game has a hint button that tells you a decent next move. It also allows you to save multiple games and then reload them later. There is a "flip" button to flip the board around, as well as a "back" button to undo your previous blunder(s). The bottom of the screen tracks what pieces have been captured while also keeping a record of moves by both players in the game.

All in all, Caissa Chess is the best A.I. chess application I've seen for the iPhone, so far. I'd say it's worth the $10 if you want to play chess while you're on-the-go.

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CNET Tackles Passwords

CNET has posted a good article about passwords. Well worth the long read.

EU Cracks Down on SMS Prices

It appears that SMS (texting) prices may become cheaper in Europe sometime in the near future. The BBC has the story.