preload
May 22

I think many critics of Google TV are missing what Google is truly trying to do with Google TV. Google TV isn’t meant for the viewer though the viewer will greatly benefit from its arrival. Creating an interface for the view will fail, it always has failed it always will fail. Google (I think) is creating something much more genius and they are thinking on a much bigger scale. They are creating a device to make TV (and by proxy internet video) ads more relevant to the viewer. This device will act as a trojan horse but on many fronts. I believe Google has just declared war on entertainment as we know it.

Trojan Horse to the Viewer

Ok as a geek I am itching to get an internet connected TV because I can’t stop seeing the benefits for myself. I mean just to be able to watch netflix and other internet media from the comfort of my living room couch without having to explain to my wife or anyone else how to set it up is brilliant all on its own. Hell I was looking at purchasing a Vizio Internet Apps TV just for the features it offered. But Google is taking that a step further.

Of course I want a Google TV device because of all they have pledged to do to converge the internet and the TV, so I and many others will usher this box into our houses with open arms and connect it to as many other devices as we can but lets stop and think about what all of this does.

You connect your Google TV to you network of course, as well as to your TV, Cable Box/DVR, DVD Player, and whatever else it can plug into. At the moment you finish setting everything up Google knows so many major things about you before you start viewing your first TV show. It knows what TV service you have (cable, sat, fios, uverse, or Overt The Air (OTA)). It knows what TV you have (if you have an IR Blaster then it know basically what TV you have just by entering in this info). It knows what brand of DVD player you have. It also knows about your internet activities.

This is where it gets interesting, see once you have hooked up a Google TV device onto your network it now is behind your firewall firewall. It can see all of the traffic that goes on within your network, its in! See before Google had to wait on you to invoke Google so it could learn about you, now your searches (from home) will become even more relevant, heck spookily relevant because google will know what your internet habits truly are. Do you play WoW (World of Warcraft) till the wee hours of the morning? Do you share music across your network, what music do you share? Do you play other online games via PS3 or XBox360?

With this information alone google will have a wealth of information and you don’t have to tell google anything, it could use your IP information to serve you relevant ads no matter if you use google account. But remember Google is going to offer you a better experience on your TV too… so you are going to be all to willing to give up your google account information to set up Google TV even further. Then boom, it takes what could be random information and attaches it to what it already knows about you (search history, email, ect..). Now google has a much better view of what you like and dislike, your habits, a wealth of information that it didn’t know about you and this is information that it of course will use to better target ads directly to you.

But they aren’t done, now you are also going to tell google about everything you like entertainment wise. It starts with just searching for TV shows, and movies, but also what type of youtube videos you like to watch, and what you like to do while your watching TV. I say this last thing because this is where third party developers come in.

Imagine how twitter will be when you can tweet or even group tweet based on input device, during a sporting event, a popular tv show, or even the news. Google may not have access to twitters “fire hose” but it would have access to any data sent from its devices and just from my recent usage of twitter I can tell you many people twitter and watch TV at the same time. Though I am sure that google will make this very easy to do using buzz and allowing you to link your buzzes and tweets together.

Now onto the issue of Google not knowing whats on your DVR because its using an IR blaster, I call BS. Google may not know whats on there currently but it will, because you are going to tell it when to record and what to record. I say this because if google does this correctly you won’t need to directly access your DVR you will use Google TV to program and playback your DVR programming, as well as to clear it off once it reaches capacity. Granted yes this could be better using bluetooth or wifi but Google has to start with the technology that’s currently available, give them some time!

Think about it, Google will make a much easier interface for navigating your DVR than what most already have, most of those are cumbersome interfaces. Google has the ability to make a unified interface so no matter what brand of DVR you have you already know how to program it. Now you can program your DVR while anywhere in the world just by going into your Google TV account and saying record this program. Google will handle all the interface stuff, behind the scenes and you don’t have to worry about anything else. Google will know the capacity of your DVR (because you told them) and can warn you if your nearing capacity, then even ask you if you would like to get rid of something thats already saved. It can also ad subtle reminders to your google calendar about when your favorite shows will be on and a small button to record. All the while google is gaining more insight to what makes you tick. When you like to view saved recordings and if you tweet about it (with the multiple user interface) who you like to watch it with.

Once Google gets this box in your house it will know almost everything about you… we only have a few months to wait till the first android car rolls off the lots. Just remember we will welcome this trojan horse with open arms. I just pray Google sticks to their “Do No Evil” mantra because they are going to have us by the short and curly’s with all the information we are about to willingly give over.

I think many critics of Google TV are missing what Google is truly trying to do with Google TV. Google TV isn’t meant for the viewer though the viewer will greatly benefit from its arrival. Creating an interface for the view will fail, it always has failed it always will fail. Google (I think) is creating something much more genius and they are thinking on a much bigger scale. They are creating a device to make TV (and by proxy internet video) ads more relevant to the viewer. This device will act as a trojan horse but on many fronts. I believe Google has just declared war on entertainment as we know it.

This was originally intended as one post but it got way too long so I broke it up a little, look forward to part 2 focusing on how it Google TV changes things for the Networks coming soon.

Tagged with:
Apr 05

Just a warning if you haven’t seen the movie and want to, stop reading now and see the movie.  This review is for people who already have seen the movie, I will be saying a lot that hasn’t been said yet and could potentially ruin the movie for you.

I know this review is going to attract some anger or at least some questions, because when I look across the internet all I see is high praise  for this movie but honestly I felt let down by it.  To me this movie seemed like payback to anyone who had ever bootlegged or watched a bootlegged Tyler Perry play.  Actually now that I think about it, every one of his “Movies” seem like they have just been an excuse to make you pay for a script that you have already seen before.
The actors were amazing and heck if this was a television mini-series it may not get the same type of feelings from me.  I mean look at it this way, its approximately a 2 hour movie, so we didn’t have to take the time to really get to know any characters except for Troy, and I kind of like the way that the movie teased at all of the other couples issues.  But thats ultimately my problem as well, it only teased.  In the first movie we were greeted to problems and resolutions, in this one we were just given 2 hours of drama.  The plot holes are enormous when you actually take time to point them out.
Angela and Marcus
We are greeted to Marcus thru a quick glance at his TV show, but how in the 2 years that passed was Marcus able to pull off getting a prominent position on this “weekend” sports cast?  As I recall he didn’t spend very long in the NFL, and at least from the last movie it didn’t seem like he spent much time around the NFL, I mean I do recall him cutting hair in Angela’s salon.  I’m not saying that its not possible, and yeah maybe it wasn’t meant for explanation in the context of this movie, but it does make you wonder how he was able to keep his job after Angela’s antics on live TV.
Now to Angela, who seems to be an advocate for drinking, acting out, and I guess its okay to fire a gun within your own house, without so much as a question from the police.  While it may be a bit funny in a play when Madea fires off a clearly fake pop gun for comic relief, it a totally different thing when a clearly upset woman is firing off a real gun a what she thinks is her husband in their bed.  Honestly neither of these characters did anything to add anything but comedic relief at best or (at least in Angela’s case) playing up negative stereotypes which have plagued our community.
Terry and Diane
I guess they had to throw in some cheating some where even if was a possible non issue.  I don’t know but it seemed like Terry wasn’t really that excited about finding out the truth.  Its funny how if it was a man in this situation in any other movie would have been doubted and tracked as if he was America’s most wanted.  It feels like there was more to this story that was never explored.
Sheila and Troy
Way to rehash a plot line straight from Soul Food.  Just a question though, did Sheila have a job?  I think it was pretty clear that in the first movie she didn’t have a job until she started working at Troy’s store.  Futhermore, you mean to tell me that a man that served in an elected position as a Sheriff couldn’t get a walk on job with the Atlanta Police, State Police, Highway Patrol, Park Police, Security for the falcons games? I understand that times are tough but they were saying he had been out of work for months.  I know this may focus around its not what you know but who you know, but getting elected into a position is one of the best resume items you can have simply because a majority of people wanted you to serve publicly in a position.  Also, who moves somewhere (that seemed to be a planned move) and doesn’t scout the job market first?  I mean really, how much more difficult would it have been to I don’t know… call ahead maybe and see where they may be hiring?  Also, I know Sheila had a big heart but going to Mike’s house… yeah that seemed perfectly built for this movie with nothing but a… he has cancer thrown in almost as an after thought, because up until that point there really wasn’t much basis for any long term drama between the two of them.
Gavin and Patricia
I understand they were having there issues, but we never really seem to see or hear what those issues are.  Yes the loss of their son was a strain on them, but I would have really liked to hear what the conversation/argument they were having at the beach house was all about.  Also with her being a therapist one would think she would be the first to recommend that they seek marriage counseling.  It seemed like Gavin’s final scene was put in to do nothing more than wrap up these loose ends so that they could end the movie, otherwise this easily could have run on for a few more hours getting everyones problem to the point of resolution.
Final Thoughts
I am not saying that the movie was horrible, I just expected more from what was such a powerful movie the first go round.  This seemed more to me like a reunion where they were just wanting to put all of the old actors on screen together again.  I guess I may be spoiled because I was a fan of the Soul Food Series, and they tackled all of these issues in more in depth, and maybe thats what Tyler Perry is trying to do, use this movie as a backdoor pilot to Showtime or HBO for a series based on these characters (or some facsimile of these characters).
Ultimately for me this movie left me with more questions than answers and I just felt like there was very little effort put forth by the writers to clean up the script enough for a movie, this script would have been allowed to play out in a play or thru a series, but for a movie it was poor (in my opinion) put together.
All that aside I do think the actors played their characters wonderfully, but I think it could have been even better with a decent storyline for them to play out, which is why I felt let down
Jan 20

I know being a soldier I really shouldn’t be critical of the way our systems our setup but I think if we aren’t vocal about things like this they never get changed and they ultimately get worse.

Someone please explain to me why the military waits until one day to put out all of the active duty W-2’s for the Army Navy and Airforce? 

I wonder if the people running MyPay understand what a denial of service attack is, because I am sure thats whats happening today, but wait I am getting ahead of myself.  Today I went to get check to see if my W-2 was posted since they had been anouncing that they would be posted on the 20th of January (Today) for all active duty Army, Navy, and Air Force Service members.  Now I am a computer geek and it didn’t even cross my mind about what this meant, but basically there are hundreds of thousands of military personell and spouses trying to check MyPay right now to get their W-2’s so that they can get started on filing their taxes.

Now for my explaination of a Denial of Service attack (DoS) (fellow geeks please don’t beat me up but I am going to try to make this understandable for everyone). 

A Denial of Service attack is basically what someone would to, to bring down a website, you see most web servers can only handle a certain amount of traffic at one time, and if you exceed that amount of traffic the website can not be accessed by anyone new trying to access the site.  This can happen naturally (most times called the digg effect) when a site is really popular in a short period of time.  However a person can also do this to maliciously bring down a site using a botnet (think of it as a lot of computers that they can control remotely) thus making it unaccessable.

Well my point is why in the world would you post the W-2’s of a few hundred thousand service memebers on the same day, why not spread it out over the course of a few days I am sure thier servers do not scale and their IT guys are having one heck of a time keeping up with the server load.

Ok I guess my rant is over but if you work for or know someone who works for MyPay please talk to them about this issue I am sure it only happens like this one day a year and by at least spreading out the deployment of W-2’s they can avoid having outages without having to spend more taxpayer money on servers or bandwidth.

Jan 11

I hate that it took an event like losing a friend to make me realize how many amazing people their are in my life.

I mean I remember being in high school and hearing from older people that when they came back their friends were still in the same place doing the same things they did in high school… locked up… or worse.  Which makes me very proud to say that I can’t think of more than a handful off people that I went to high school with that those words would apply to.  We are going on 13 years since graduating and it seems like everyone has done some amazing things with their lives.  I just want to thank all of the Fairmont Heights class of 1997 as well as the classes before and after us for setting the standard high.  While we walked the halls of the Heights together we believed that there wasn’t any school better than us and it still rings true today, and for that I love you all!  I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us!

Jan 10

This is going to have a lot to do with a future blog post I am doing…

You know me, self branding is probably the most important promotion that we can do for ourselves. Though I am guilty of downplaying myself as well.

But here goes… Nate strives to be the best person he can be, looking out for others before himself, I am a tech geek and can solve nearly every problem I am faced with!

On a side note dealing with branding…

I am trying to get a job as a defense attache and my uncle was telling me that I may want to tone down or take down my facebook, blog and twitter accounts. Because it may “brand” me in the wrong light. But I feel like I represent myself fairly well with my online persona so I am keeping it up and hoping for the best!



Originally posted as a comment
by sgtmcclain
on Tales of a Literary Nobody using DISQUS.

Jan 06

Ok I know this is my first blog post of the new year, but I didn’t know what to write about.  Every time I would start to write I couldn’t find the words because I couldn’t get my thoughts off of my dearly departed friends.  Truth be told I have been beating myself up for not being a better friend to them, and being so distant from them when the time came for them to leave this earth.  Its taken me many days of soul searching to realize that they were my friends and I have no doubts that if they were still here and we were to see each other we would pick up like there was no time lost what so ever.

I know that their is a lot of grieving happening over on facebook, and while I know I cross post from here to twitter I feel that this is a slightly better forum for me so that I don’t step on any feelings over there.  If you have been following my blog posts you know that I have a certain respect for facebook as a public space, but this here is my personal space so this is where I am going to do my grieving for them.

I know this is the time of Earls passing but the close proximity brought back a lot of what I had tried suppress from Helen’s passing and I mean no disrespect to Earls memory.

I don’t think I can say anything more about Helen that I haven’t already said I really really miss her.

To Earl Glover, man we had some good times together, JROTC, skipping school to have water fights, the graduation party in your moms basement…. LOL I still remember the line on the wall down there from where people were dancing up against it.  I know that some of the things I did made you question my loyalty but in that situation I don’t know what the best choice was but I was torn between 3 good friends, and from the way things turned out I ultimately think it worked out for the best.  I know we hadn’t talked in many years but you looked out for my sisters down there in Florida and for that I am eternally grateful.  Know that you are missed and loved down here bro!

Finally I wrote this… as a way to clear everything that was in my head… I am posting it because maybe others are feeling similarly… but know I am not a poet

———–
With a heavy heart I write
as I try my best to make sense of this life
I mean are our days truly as short as they seem
Does it even make sense to try to accomplish our dreams
When life can be ended without any notice
I swear its hard for me to sit here and focus
I’m a military man so death is no stranger
I put boots the sand to protect home from danger
I’ve woken to sounds of bombs going off
Looked into craters where many lives were lost
But I never thought not in my wildest dreams
That death would strike near my heart so close to home
See I’ve looked in the eyes of people that wanted me to die
I’ve gone far from home to defend a lie
Just to come home to hear that it wasn’t enough
That life back here was still looking rough
But the pains of the country still take a backseat
I sit here today with my head hung in grief
In the past 4 months I’ve lost two good friends
and I can’t help but wonder GOD WHY THEM?
I mean… I’m the one thats out here risking my life
Spending years of my life to make other folks problems right
stealing years from my kids for some cause or another
so why should their kids lose their father and mother
And I know people say, “Its all God’s plan”
Well thats just something I can’t understand
Why allow suffering pain and grief
why steal them away like a house robbing thief
But the longer I sit here I start to understand my pain
its not an anger at God, I think I am to blame
I know I didn’t do things to put them in ground
But I can’t stop thinking I wish I had been around
Their lives had much value and the earthly jobs done
This part of their fight has already been won
I can’t sit around being upset or angry
I may miss the lesson that God set up plainly
I shouldn’t be upset over the time I’ve been away
In this life we all have our own roles to play
Our friendships were strong and written in stone
So on that sweet day when God calls me home
I know they will be there waiting next to his throne

One Sweet Day – Acapella Version

Tagged with:
Dec 15

Well I didn’t think a part two to this post would come this soon but I have been made aware of something special thanks to the wonderful The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Subject: Operation Chokehold
On Friday, December 18, at noon Pacific time, we will attempt to overwhelm the AT&T data network and bring it to its knees. The goal is to have every iPhone user (or as many as we can) turn on a data intensive app and run that app for one solid hour. Send the message to AT&T that we are sick of their substandard network and sick of their abusive comments. The idea is we’ll create a digital flash mob. We’re calling it in Operation Chokehold. Join us and speak truth to power!

If you are an iPhone user or just happen to be on the AT&T network I encourage you to participate, lets show AT&T that we they can have our iPhone data when they pry it from our cold dead hands!  I personally will be streaming Sirius/XM or some other radio station, wait… I do that already, LOL… I guess its time for me to purchase the Slingbox App!!!

Dec 11

Ok I am probably the biggest AT&T and the iPhone, but if this news I just read becomes true I will be turning my back on AT&T forever.

They are saying that they may put a clamp-down and raise prices on people who use a lot of bandwidth on their iphone’s, well I know I am easily a target, because I use my iphone so much that I need two different backup batteries during the day. 

But last I checked I paid for an unlimited data package.

Now if I am not mistaken, unlimited means no freaking limit, not a limit so high that most people would never get to it.  I am already painfully aware of the 5GB CAP that they (AT&T) has already.  I know that this isn’t just an AT&T problem its a wireless provider problem and if people don’t start letting their wireless companies know that its a problem they will continue to keep these dishonest practices.

The funny thing is that I believe that they may be using an All-You-Can-Eat restaurant mentality about data consumption.  However, while a restaurant can cut you off for over consumption it is still against the law to charge someone more than the posted price for all you can eat.

Needless to say, the day this goes into effect I will argue that my contract is null and void and leave AT&T once and for all… I hate to do it but I have to draw the line somewhere. 

So if their are any readers out there that do use something other than the iPhone and AT&T tell me what you have and how you think its better than the iPhone.  I don’t wanna leave but I think this may be the only way.

BTW – I am thinking of getting a droid, and a myfi from verizon so that I can still use my iPhone, but more on that if and when it happens.

Dec 10

This isn’t mine, I received it in an email and I just wanted to share it with everyone.  Enjoy!


‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
THEY LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.
I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I’D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN’T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
“SANTA DON’T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON’T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS.”

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN’T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT’S CHILL.

I DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, “CARRY ON SANTA,
IT’S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE.”

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT,”

Dec 07

I know I am late with this, but I am currently watching “Steal this film” for the first time if you haven’t seen this movie please take the time to watch it when you have a free hour or so. However you don’t need to watch it to understand this post so I will save it for the end.

First of all I want to say, I don’t pay for cable or satellite TV anymore. I watch all of the TV I am going to watch over the internet… well I take it back I do have a slingbox hooked up at my fathers so that I can watch the Redskins (yeah I’m hurting right now) games. My point though is that I personally think that the way that we have traditionally consumed media is coming to an end soon, and traditional media will have to come around…

The domino’s are already falling, traditional over the air broadcasters… CBS, ABC, FOX are all streaming their shows online for free. However Movies Studios are still slow to come around to this model… and this is why people still download movies illegally. I argue that if more movies were made available online for a nominal cost then people would pay to see these movies.

I think Hollywood is getting greedy. Have you seen the cost of a movie ticket these days? $10 at least to view a movie in a crowded movie theater where you have to sit in relatively uncomfortable chairs around people you don’t know, and heaven forbid you drink too much of you 5 dollar bladder buster soda because its not like you can pause the movie and come back to it, you are captive to your money spent, and to see the part you missed you now either have to pay another $10 just to see the part you missed. Mind you that I and many of you have a more comfortable higher quality theater set up in the comfort of your home.

I have an idea that could fix this for the studios that would save them a bunch of money and make a bunch of money at the same time. Why not offer the movie in a stream and the 1st week that it comes out it cost $50 to access the stream, this way people can have movie parties at their house, kind of like pay-per-view fights (who by the way make millions from their products) then after the first week or month you take $10 or $15 off the cost of the movie, then after about 3 months you release the DVD’s, Blue-Ray, or download for between $10 or $20. I understand that this would kill the movie theater business, though it doesn’t completely have to because they could still distribute their movies in the streaming fashion and people that just wanted to go out to a movie could, though it would greatly reduce the amount of movie theaters around… Or are they “too large to fail”? This model of distribution would save the studios money in distribution and advertising because it cost very little to offer these streams over the internet.

I argue that the people who download movies and music weren’t going to pay for it anyway in most cases and in the other cases its all about access. There are people that are in places where they can’t get to a theater but they have access to the internet. I am sure that these people, if given the option to buy a movie at a high quality when the movie comes out would gladly pay for it, but they don’t have the access. So when they get the opportunity to obtain a movie that they wanted to see at low quality for free or very low cost they will get it that way just because its available.

I hope that the studios learn what the over the air television studios have learned and the music industry is starting to learn, the information age is about availability, if you can reach your customers they will gladly pay a fair price for your product, but if you make it hard to access or make it too expensive your customers will find other (free or really low cost) methods of getting your product, and its not because they are thieves or “pirates” its because you have placed your product out of their reach.

Please enjoy the movie below, its runtime is about 1 hour.

BTW – Thank you hulu for allowing us to view and repost your content anywhere legally!!!