Ryan Cleary

It’s a good thing I pay the “Apple Tax” and use the iPod, AppleTV, and iTunes…

Link to article on ARS Technica

Around midnight Pacific time last night, 30GB Zunes began restarting and locking up at their boot screens. Reports have swamped official forums and fan sites, and Microsoft has yet to officially comment on the reason for this pre-New-Year’s Zune apocalypse.

As reported by hundreds of owners in forum threads at Zune.net and other sites, one of which already has over 1,000 replies, the 30GB model of Microsoft’s Zune digital media player—and apparently only the 30GB model—entered a coma last night. Whether a Zune was sitting idle or was in the middle of playing a song, users report that the device either shut itself off or restarted and then locked up at its boot screen.

"i was on the computer my zune was hooked up charging all of the sudden it reset it self and froze on the zune loading logo screen !!!" said ISUZU RODEO on the Zune.net forums. "Same thing just happened to me!" replied momogirl. "Except mine wasn’t hooked up to the computer, I was playing music and all of sudden the music stopped and it shut off. I turned the Zune back on and it loaded to 100% but then froze and none of the reset combinations are working."

Some accounts claim that this does not happen on 30GB Zunes that run firmware previous to the 3.1 release in November, but one such Zune with 3.0 firmware in the Ars Orbiting HQ has locked up like the rest. Another staff member with an 80GB Zune, however, is still rocking out to the social, and a third staffer has no problems with either 120GB or 8GB models.

Another thread in the Zune.net forums is already calling for compensation from Microsoft over the issue in the form of free Zune Passes or album downloads. One user even went so far as to suggest the option of a free iPod touch, while others issued calls for reason and hunkered down to hear a solution from the Microsoft mothership.

As of this writing, Microsoft has yet to respond to Ars Technica’s request for comment on the problem, but one thing is clear: when your music player is already the punch line to numerous Internet jokes, having a digital angel of death sweep over the firstborn first model en masse isn’t going to help the situation.

That chortling sound you hear is laughter emanating from the iPod design team in Cupertino.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson tells Ars, "We are aware that customers with the Zune 30GB are experiencing issues with their Zune device. We are actively working now to isolate the issue and develop a solution to address it. We will keep customers informed on next steps via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support)."

Update 2: These 30GB Zune comas may be caused by 3.x firmware. At least one Ars reader, Dasgooch, says that a 30GB Zune still running firmware 2.2 "didn’t brick." 

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I love the headline… We’ll see what happens… Don’t forget to set your clocks forward by one second and while you are at it change the battery in your smoke detector…

Link to article on CNN.com

LONDON, England (CNN) — Always short of time? Not enough moments in the day? Tonight you’ll get an extra second to enjoy 2008. Use it wisely; perhaps an extra long smooch is called for.

An extra second will be added to 2008 to align clocks with variations in the Earth’s time.

Immediately before midnight a leap second — the first for three years — will be added to atomic clocks around the world by official timekeepers.

Peter Whibberley, a senior research scientist at Britain’s National Physical Laboratory, said the Earth’s erratic rotation meant an extra second needed to be added.

"The difference between atomic time and Earth time has now built up to the point where it needs to be corrected, so this New Year’s Eve we will experience a rare 61 second minute at the very end of 2008 and revelers… will have an extra second to celebrate."

Traditionally time has been based on the passage of the Sun across the sky — a modern version of this is still used by astronomers to track distant stars and spacecraft.

However, since 1967, an atomic timescale — the extremely accurate Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) — has been the world’s official clock and is used for broadcasting time signals across the world.

The accuracy of UTC is essential for the smooth running of GPS and the Internet.

By comparison, the Earth is far less reliable. It does not rotate at a constant speed — it can even wobble — and disruptions to its core, extreme weather, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can influence the length of a day.

Therefore, leap seconds are occasionally added to align atomic time with astronomical time and ensure that the Sun remains overhead at noon.

Whibberley told British media anyone sober enough and who had a digital clock that picked up leap second information from a reliable source, would see the final seconds of 2008 as 57, 58, 59, 60, 00 — with 60 being the extra second.

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This is just another page in my book of why I dropped Comcast. While this is Time Warner, it is common across the board with all cable companies.

Link to article from NAB 360 (National Association of Broadcasters newsletter)

December 31, 2008 – LOS ANGELES – "SpongeBob SquarePants" may be getting squeezed off of Time Warner Cable.

Media giant Viacom Inc. said its Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and 16 other channels will go dark on Time Warner Cable Inc. at 12:01 a.m. Thursday if a new carriage fee deal is not agreed upon by then.

The impasse over carriage fee hikes would mean "SpongeBob" and other shows like "The Daily Show" will be cut off to 13 million subscribers, said spokesman Alex Dudley, a vice president at Time Warner Cable. The nation’s second-largest cable operator primarily serves customers in New York state, the Carolinas, Ohio, Southern California and Texas.

Viacom has asked for fee increases of between 22 percent and 36 percent per channel, an amount that could increase customers’ cable bills, Dudley said. Viacom spokeswoman Kelly McAndrew said the requested increase was in the very low double-digit percentage range.

"The issue is that they have asked for an exorbitant increase in their carriage fees and their network ratings are sagging," he said. "Basically we’re trying to hold the line for our customer."

Viacom said the increases would cost an extra 23 cents a month per subscriber – which works out to $35.9 million more in total. It said that Americans spend a fifth of their TV time watching Viacom shows but its fees make up less than 2.5 percent of the Time Warner cable bill.

"We make this request because Time Warner Cable has so greatly undervalued our channels for so long," it said.

"Ultimately, however, if Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and the rest of our programming is discontinued – over less than a penny per day – we believe viewers will see this behavior by their cable company as outrageous," it said.

Tense negotiations are continuing at the highest level, Dudley said.

Viacom accused Time Warner Cable of not negotiating.

"It is our sincere hope that they will come to the table and negotiate a deal," said McAndrew. The network operator also intends to tell viewers about the dispute in TV ads in 11 major markets.

Part of the disagreement is that most of the popular shows are rerun on Web sites where Viacom collects advertising revenue that it does not share with Time Warner, Dudley said.

"We don’t think that’s fair," he said. "They’re trying to have their cake and eat it too online, where anybody can get it for free."

Viacom has staked much of its revenue-growth prospects on its ability to extract higher carriage rates out of its cable and satellite affiliates despite an ad slowdown and weak ratings.

In the third quarter, media network revenue, which accounts for about two-thirds of the total, grew 6 percent to $2.1 billion, despite global ad revenue falling 2 percent, largely because of double-digit percentage growth in affiliate fees and the success of its "Rock Band" video game.

Viacom shares rose 69 cents, or 3.7 percent, to close at $19.26 on Tuesday, while Time Warner Cable shares added $1.56, or 7.7 percent, to $21.76.

The channels that would be affected are: Comedy Central, CMT: Pure Country, Logo, Palladia, MTV, MTV 2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, MTV Tr3s, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nick 2, Nicktoons, Spike, The N, TV Land, VH1, VH1 Classic, and VH1 Soul.

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NASA released the final report on what happened to Columbia. We all know that foam fell off the tank during liftoff and damaged the wing allowing hot gases to burn through the shuttle. This report is well put together with text and narrated video. It’s a very interesting time killer if you have some…

Link to NASA Columbia Report

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I found this over at www.jasonalford.com. It had to be one of my favorites. I would do anything to be apart of a church that could pull this off. NO ONE in Rome can. It has been tried. I love where we are at now and out band could certainly do it, but it takes allot more than that. The technical aspects of the video are astounding for a church. A church in Rome could never be that good technically because some “volunteer” on the “sound committee” would want to go to Radio Shack for something. Trust me, I’ve been there, done that and it doesn’t work. I can say that where we are at now is great! Nick and the band really have it together, and we could do so much more if given the opportunity. I have been sound for them for about a year and a half now and I have never worked with a church band that understands their role and will listen to a sound engineer that does it for a living until I met these guys. It is such a pleasure to show up on Sunday mornings and work with these guys.

I don’t want to sound like I am ranting, but this is something that has really hit home with me. From my experiences in general in Rome, they must teach high level audio, lighting, and video engineering at seminary because pastors always know everything about the subject.

Link to the band at FUMC.

Link to post @ jasonalford.com

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ok… Understand that I don’t post things unless they are amusing to me or something like that. Knowing that my wife reads this site and we have one kid and one on the way, I am going to hold back my comments. The only thing I would say is that if i worked at Facebook, I would be the guy in the back cubicle standing up and letting everyone know that they might not want to go there… Just read it for yourself…

Link to article on ARS Technica

If there’s any one thing that social networks consistently facilitate, it’s Internet drama. This time, the social network in question is Facebook, and the Internet drama involves boobies. Nursing boobies. Moderators at Facebook made the grave mistake of upsetting a handful of new mothers by removing images of breastfeeding babies from the site, sparking outrage across the Internet and even an in-person protest.

The hubbub got started when Facebook user Heather Farley uploaded photos in late October of herself breastfeeding her child. The photos were removed not long thereafter, with Farley receiving a warning from the site that her account could be closed if she did not remove another photo that she had uploaded. Irritated at the site’s apparent no-breastfeeding policy, Farley joined a Facebook group called "Hey Facebook breastfeeding is not obscene" and eventually organized a protest that occurred over the weekend in front of Facebook’s Palo Alto headquarters.

"I don’t want future moms to feel that breast-feeding is shameful," Farley told the San Jose Mercury News. "It might keep them from breast-feeding."

The protest was organized in conjunction with the Mothers International Lactation Campaign, a group that fights for mothers’ rights to breastfeed in public, among other things. At the protest on Saturday, the group apparently sang songs and breastfed their children while marching outside of Facebook’s headquarters. According to the Mercury News, the protest didn’t exactly draw crowds, but the message got out to at least a few passers-by.

As per site policy, Facebook does not allow images depicting female nipples or areolas anywhere on the social network, though this does not include breastfeeding photos. Facebook does, however, remove photos that are reported by users as obscene, which is apparently what happened in Farley’s (and other mothers’) cases. Farley says that the baby covered the nipple and areola in her photos, but that apparently didn’t stop other members from reporting the pictures to Facebook.

Of course, there are multiple views on this topic, with some arguing that Facebook is merely doing mothers a favor by protecting them from online predators. After all, someone could see a photo of a child breastfeeding and do… something. Others argue back, saying that Facebook allows far more outrageous photos to stay on the site, such as those hosted by numerous Facebook groups about young girls and women flashing, binge drinking, and everything in between and beyond.

Either way, we hope that the dispute over breastfeeding on Facebook gets nipped in the bud before more photos get unfairly cleaved from the site.

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This was in today’s Rome News-Tribune. This is so ironic to me that they would publish this in Rome. I can’t think of a more boring night life… The City of Rome would do away with all bars and social gathering places if they could get away with it. They city commission is only worried about pleasing two things. That is the 55 and older crowd and the “old money”. Don’t get me started on the Alcohol Control Commission… I remember awhile back I heard that the City was wanting to levy a tax on iTunes downloads and the like. If they are going to do that then they need to tax Centrum and bingo games as well.

Link to Rome News-tribune article

From AJC.com
Lackluster nightlife may cost Atlanta
When it comes to efforts to lure conventioneers, Atlanta’s got the hotels, the easy access to the city via the nation’s busiest airport and even the attractions with the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola. Now what the city needs is a little more nightlife. That’s one of the challenges hospitality officials are facing as they look at how to strengthen the city’s hand in 2009, which many expect to be a very tough economic year.
Click here to read the story

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It’s about Damn Time! Excuse my French… I am 100% on board with this. This was the last straw for me when I ditched Comcast. They took the History Channel off of analog forcing me to use a Digital cable box that I have to rent from them in addition to my normal monthly cable service plan. I fully understand from a technical stand point why Comcast wants to move channels to digital, but to make it where I have to rent a cable box to watch a “basic cable” channel is complete B*** S***!

There is no reason they cannot put History in the clear while still on digital so my digital tuner in my TV can pick it up. They do that now with about 25 or 30 digital channels in Rome now. If you have a digital tuner in your TV than you can get them, no cable card and no cable box. My guess is that they are trying to hide these moves in all the confusion with the “Digital Change Over”. I can assure you this has nothing to do what that. I just put this in my book of “why Comcast can go to hell.”

It is wishful thinking, but wouldn’t it be great if this got Class-Action status and Comcast had to refund all of their customers cable box rentals!? HA!!

Link to article on ARS Technica 

Cheryl Corralejo is mad as hell at Comcast, and she isn’t going to take it anymore. The object of her righteous crusade? Cable box rentals. Corralejo wants to own her box outright, and she has filed a class action complaint on behalf of all other Californians who desperately want to stop paying monthly fees just for a bit of decryption equipment.

The case, filed in federal court in California, began in late November and was recently unearthed by Multichannel News. Comcast has yet to respond.

The gist of the case, according to a copy of the complaint seen by Ars Technica, is rental fees. Corralejo argues that Comcast has a monopoly over video service in her area and that it uses that monopoly power to force her to use decryption equipment, which Corralejo cannot purchase outright. After only a few months, alleges the complaint, end users have already paid Comcast more than the box is worth.

Reading the complaint through is an odd experience, because the first pages sound like something written when the whole CableCARD debate was pending before the Federal Communications Commission. In the end, the FCC forced the industry to separate out its decryption equipment into a physical CableCARD that could be acquired separately from a cable company box and could be inserted into any third-party video gear that supported it. In other words, renting a cable box has not actually been a requirement of cable operators for years.

On page six, the complaint finally gets around to the point, acknowledging it but arguing that CableCARDs aren’t the equivalent of set-top boxes. The complaint quotes from Comcast’s own website, which points out that "the full range of interactive services" may not be available with a CableCARD, as current host devices generally support only one-way operation.

In addition, Corralejo complains that the CableCARD still has to be rented from the company; it cannot be purchased outright. There’s simply no way to avoid some form of rental fee. (Comcast’s website indicates that the first CableCARD a customer needs is included in the monthly bill, however; only additional CableCARDs cost money, currently "up to $2.05" a month.)

These practices are called "unlawful tying" under the Sherman Antitrust Act, as well as a violation of California’s business and professions code.

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I will have to admit, I give my sister a pretty hard time, but this time she made me laugh. This is what she gave dad for Christmas.

Incase you don’t watch movies, this is what Buddy the Elf loved to eat in the movie Elf. It consists of Noodles, Maple Syrup, M&M’s, and Marshmallows.

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Now this is funny. I can think of a few people that I would do this to. Now… Here’s the big question. Won’t a simple database check show that the plate should be displayed on a different car, because my bet is is that the kids are not matching the car type and color to the one that they are trying to “punk”. I guess the tickets are sent out automatically and you could prove it invalid once you get to court. This would still be a big hassle even if you didn’t have to pay the fine. HA!

Link to article on arstechnica.com

Whenever a new, relatively unpopular technology hits the streets, you can always count on teenagers to try and exploit it for their own gain. Such is the case with speed cameras, as high school students in Maryland have begun playing the "Speed Camera Pimping Game," wherein they attempt to punk the not-so-accurate cameras by creating faux license plates that can be traced back to peers and teachers they have it out for. The trend has parents and law officials worried, and it raises even more questions about the cameras’ usefulness.

Students at Montgomery High School in Maryland have discovered that they can duplicate the license plates of their archenemies by printing a Maryland plate template on a sheet of glossy photo paper and digging up a handy license plate character font, according to a parent speaking to The Sentinel (via /.). This may sound like a janky craft project at first, but these cameras are not sensitive enough to pick up the differences between these paper license plates and the real things. The students then tape the faux plate over their own and purposefully speed in order to be caught by the speed camera, causing the real owner of the license plate to receive a $40 citation in the mail.

"This game is very disturbing," the parent told the newspaper. "Especially since unsuspecting parents will also be victimized through receipt of unwarranted photo speed tickets. I hope the public at large will complain loudly enough that local Montgomery County government officials will change their policy of using these cameras for monetary gain. The practice of sending speeding tickets to faceless recipients without any type of verification is unwarranted and an exploitation of our rights."

Red-light and speed cameras continue to be part of a controversial trend rolling across the US as more municipalities attempt to "increase safety" by photographing alleged law-breakers in order to ticket them later. Some cities have been caught shortening their yellow light times in order to catch more people running red lights (and therefore generate more revenue), not to mention that speed cameras have been known to be wildly inaccurate at times. That hasn’t stopped numerous municipalities from setting them up at every major intersection and side road, usually despite continued protests from citizens.

Unsurprisingly, the Montgomery County police said that they had never heard of the Speed Camera Pimping Game, but that they would begin keeping an eye out for it. Montgomery County Council President Phil Andrews, however, appears to see the further-reaching implications of the game. "It will cause potential problems for the Speed Camera Program in terms of the confidence in it," he said.

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