The Streaming Battle

NetFlix chart shows Charter Cable as the #1 ISP with great speed when streaming flicks yet, I've had dropped connections when streaming a movie. At times I've had to stop watching and try again later.

If you're thinking I'm exhausting the bandwidth by streaming a movie and surfing the Net, I'm not good at multitasking like that. I do one or the other and no one else in the household is surfing.

My coworker has Time Warner Cable and her son's experiencing major problems streaming Netflix mid-day when most folks are at work. Her adult son works nights and likes to stream content during the day and can't because the stream dies or becomes pixelated with dialog out of sync. Of course, calls to TWC customer support resulted in her being told it's not their problem but Netflix.

This comes at a time when Netflix is under siege by major telcos who say “Show us the money!” The telcos / broadband providers allege that streaming movies taxes their networks costing them more money to deliver gigabytes of movies / tv shows to our homes. They want Netflix to pay for this, as well as you and I.

I'm reminded of the old days when I was sucker punched into paying $17.99 plus for a compact disc of music. Sometimes the CD had only 10 songs with less than 45 minutes of music, but there I was dishing the $$$.

Consumers are much savvier now and we understand that costs are minimal once the infrastructure is in place. The telcos alone have been subsidized by you and I in creating and stabilizing their networks. The greedy telcos still want more.

We are not users of the eighties.

We are unwilling to pay a 150% mark up.

We want to enjoy the media when and how we want.

The barn doors are open and the cows are in the field grazing.

Wake up telcos / broadband providers we're not going to be cheated!

Broadband 2 Go

I haven't used the Virgin Mobile $40 unlimited Broadband2Go for awhile because I haven't needed to. Since Boo bought me the Sprint Evo with web connectivity, I haven't needed to carry my netbook with me.

Also, I haven't been playing FarmVille as I once did so I don't need to login to Facebook to harvest, plow and seed my crops. Sadly, this is one thing that I cannot do with the Evo. It would be rather difficult and tedious to farm on the Evo, nevermind navigate FV.

Still I was surprised when Virgin Mobile announced they were discontinuing the $40 unlimited Broadband2Go option. It scarcely lasted four months and, while the other telcos long ago discontinued their offers, I wondered why Virgin Mobile offered theirs?

Marketing.

Positioning.

Yep, that's why Virgin Mobile offered it. So they could stand out for a few months and hopefully attract new customers who, after being disappointed by the other telcos, would flock to the White Knight that Virgin Mobile positioned itself as.

Well, I'm glad I don't have a need for mobile broadband. I'm glad that I've stopped playing FV. I'm glad that I'm not committed to a 2 year contract with Virgin Mobile or any telco. The no contract or ETF is all they have going for them now.

Virgin Mobile will offer a $40 plan with a 5 gig cap. It may not be clearly stated but once the implied 5 gig cap is exceeded they begin throttling your speed.

Photography Memes and Projects

Back in 2004 I was very active in Photo Memes and Projects because they provided a challenge that spurred me to take photos. The more photos I snapped for each challenge the more familiar I became with my camera and I began seeing ordinary things differently.

One person sees a bed of flowers as "a bed of flowers" where I could appreciate its symmetry and how the variety of colors complemented each other or how the sun cast a shadow making for an interesting shot, you get the picture (no pun intended).

So seven years later I've stopped snapping photos. I still carry my camera but have stopped participating in photo memes. I'm feeling the void.

I spent this morning researching photo meme sites and deciding which ones interested me. My goal in 2011 is to participate in one photo meme each week and, just as in the beginning, simply enjoy snapping photos without getting hung up on perfection.

The more projects I participate in the more experience I will gain. As my experience grows my skill will improve. As my skill improves my confidence grows. Along the way, I will reap enjoyment from from doing something creative and allowing it to flourish!

2011 Photo Project

Are you making any changes this year?

Over the Top TV (OTT)

Back in August 2010 I bought Western Digital's WD TV Live Plus media player at Best Buy. After taking so long to decide on a media player I didn't want to wait for delivery from Amazon and luck was with me that Best Buy matched Amazon's price.

I settled on Western Digital's media player over the Roku because back then the Roku's features and pricing were more expensive than WD's. The WD TV Live Plus (and the features I mention are available only on the Plus) has:

• External USB ports for connecting an external drive for viewing photos, downloaded video podcasts or your home videos.
• Native 1080p HD viewing (meaning I can view Netflix at its native 720p), Netflix is upgrading to 1080p
• Support for HDMI, component and composite video connectivity
• Ethernet connection, wifi connectivity an option with purchase of wifi adapter

A similarly priced Roku offered:

• No external USB port
• Native 720p HD only
• HDMI support only (connectivity to older TVs not supported)
• Wifi and Ethernet connectivity

So buying Western Digital's TV Live Plus gave me more bang for the buck! Almost six months later the feature / price ratio has changed in Roku's favor as the Roku XD has reduced in price and offers:

• An external USB port
• Native 1080p HD
• HDMI, component and composite video connectivity
• Built-in wifi and Ethernet connection
• Suite of native apps for a variety of services like UStream.TV, YouTube, TWIT.TV, Revision3, Blubrry, Netflix, Amazon Video, HuluPlus, blip.TV, The Onion News Network and finally the iTunes Podcasts library among many others.

I know this because in December I wanted another media player for my bedroom and opted for the Roku XD/S which Amazon featured as a Black Friday purchase for $59.00!

Roku has an online database of channels members can elect to add (most are free) to their My Channel feature and, of all the channels I've added, the iTunes Podcast channel has proven the best. I am now able to access all of my favorite video podcasts via the iTunes Podcasts channel easily and conveniently for viewing on my television.

Most of the video podcasts I was viewing on the WD TV Live Plus media player were those I had downloaded to an external drive and then connected to the WD TV Live Plus for viewing on the TV.

However Roku makes it so convenient and easy that I no longer need to download my video podcasts, save them to an external drive and then connect the USB drive to the Roku. I simply select iTunes Podcasts channel and begin watching!

Happy New Year!

So it's obvious that I've done a lousy job of blogging in 2010 and have plenty of room for improvement. The irony is that I have at least one idea per week that I could easily expand on if I'd simply login and blog.

Why I don't do so has less to do with time and everything to do with laziness and lack of discipline. I'm a huge procrastinator whose mantra is: "I'll do it later." Of course, later never comes and blogging goes undone.

Now I'm not making a resolution to blog weekly because we know that's a sure fire recipe for failure. Does anyone you know end up keeping a resolution? No one I know has ever succeeded. Everyone I know begins with good intentions but ends in failure.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a terrific start in the New Year. There's a saying about how one ends the year defining how the New Year will progress.

I ended mine with friends laughing, eating, chatting up a storm and sober, which I feel bodes well for 2011. I spent New Year's Day with family laughing, eating, looking at photos, chatting more, playing board games and feeling loved. I appreciated having my family together in good health and spirit.

How did you end 2010 and herald the New Year?