04 January 2009

Linkpost: 01/04/09

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/04/09 21:23 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)


31 December 2008

Bye bye 2008

That's just about enough of 2008.

On to 2009!

Happy New Year's everyone.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/31/08 23:08 | Other | Technorati | Comments (3)


27 December 2008

A few Prague photos posted

In mid-December, Callie and I spent a few days in Prague with our friend Ethan.

I've finally posted some of the photos here.

Prague was well worth visiting, and surprisingly affordable for Europe. Highlights included:

We stayed at the Hotel Metropol, which was smallish but suited our needs perfectly (right down to the complimentary high speed internet). We splurged on a ride to/from the airport -- the young lady (Alena) with this service did a great job, so give her a shout if you're hitting the Prague airport.

I would definitely hit Prague again, although preferably sans the cold I came down with towards the end.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/27/08 13:09 | Travel | Technorati | Comments (4)


24 December 2008

Merry Christmas...

or whatever you celebrate.

:)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/24/08 20:27 | Other | Technorati | Comments (1)


22 December 2008

Linkpost: 12/22/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/22/08 07:48 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)


19 December 2008

Linkpost: "Back but no time to catch up" edition

I've been back a few days, but the combination of lots of work and a bug I picked up towards the end of my trip have kept me away from my blog(s) and twitter. Here's a quick dump to clear the backlog a bit. :)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/19/08 07:46 | Links | Technorati | Comments (5)


10 December 2008

Radio Silence

I'm heading away for a few days (assuming the wintry weather lets me).

Net access will be sporadic at best, and I won't be updating here. Maybe a random tweet, we'll see. See ya next week!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/10/08 15:32 | Other | Technorati | Comments (2)


07 December 2008

Linkpost: 12/07/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/07/08 16:16 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)


05 December 2008

Linkpost: 12/05/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/05/08 21:36 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)


03 December 2008

Linkpost: 12/03/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/08 22:26 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)


01 December 2008

Linkpost: 12/01/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/01/08 23:10 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)


Pylon FAIL

PictureMail

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/01/08 21:48 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (1)


27 November 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

The relative calm of Oklahoma has been nice over the last few days, compared to the madness of the big city.

Today, I give thanks for Greenberg smoked Turkey, Dallas Cowboys football, and family -- not necessarily in that order. :)

Here's wishing everyone a good turkey day!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/27/08 08:04 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)


26 November 2008

Mumbai attacks

I'm streaming this site and following realtime updates on Twitter.

Talk about the net changing everything...

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/26/08 13:00 | International | Technorati | Comments (0)


25 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/25/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/25/08 19:04 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)


23 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/23/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/23/08 16:39 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)


Ten Second Review: AT&T U-Verse

Wednesday, I had AT&T U-Verse IPTV and internet installed, with the goal of ditching my Dish Network/Comcast Internet combo if everything worked satisfactorily.

I'm really pleased with the U-Verse service so far, and canceled the Dish/Comcast combo over the weekend.

Here are some quick thoughts comparing U-Verse and Dish/Comcast:

Video: The quality of the Dish HD streams is a little higher than the AT&T HD streams -- but only slightly (probably not discernible to many), and neither is quite as good as OTA HD; the U-Verse SD streams seem a little better than Dish. The nearly instantaneous channel change of U-Verse beats the 2-3 second lag of Dish. I liked the Dish programming guide a little better, but that's subjective. I had comparable channel lineups with both services (although the Dish Sirius radio channels were better than whatever service U-Verse uses). I have noticed an occasional stutter with the U-Verse stream, but I also had occasional stutters with Dish (more frequent during heavy rain, which obviously won't be a problem with U-Verse), so that's a wash. I initially had some sporadic audio issues with my Toshiba HDTV hooked to U-Verse DVR via HDMI cable, but fiddling with the Toshiba settings resolved the problem.

DVR: Dish has a GREAT DVR, with really good program guide info and scheduling of recordings. U-Verse DVR is close (including a 30 second advance/7 second rewind popularized by Dish), but scheduling series recording is a bit buggy (Dish was GREAT at recording new shows only; U-Verse DVR seems to miss some new shows, so it's wise to set it to record all). The ability to schedule a recording over the web is a big plus for U-Verse, though. Both systems allow for a remote television to watch recorded DVR programs.

Streams: U-Verse allows for four video streams (2 HD) at once at this time (that's an increase over what was initially offered, and could easily increase if AT&T fattens their pipe). Dish two-room DVR allows for two streams total plus one OTA stream if you have an antenna connected. Advantage U-Verse.

Internet: I signed up for the U-Verse 6M/1M service (they now offer 10M and 18M down). The connection has been rock solid and right up to spec, with consistent speeds and consistent ping times at different times of the day. The 2Wire residential gateway provided by AT&T is highly configurable -- after suffering a few wifi disconnect/reconnects, I changed the broadcast channel and it has worked well since. The Comcast Powerboost feature was nice, but the U-Verse overall performance seems more consistent/stable. And for people who want to pay for much more speed, it's available.

Installation: My installation window was 2-4 pm. The tech called just before 3pm and said he was on his way. He arrived at 3pm, scoped out my wiring situation, and by 4:30pm, the install was complete and I had a working system. The tech tapped into my existing coax cable wiring, which is effectively being used as the IPTV network through the townhouse, so my install was pretty easy (no new wiring required). The tech was pleasant, and it was interesting chatting with him about the technology.

Price: The U-Verse package beats the Dish/Comcast combo by about $20/month, which is pretty sweet. There was also a $200 rebate promotion when I signed up.

As I said above, I'm really pleased with the switch so far (although I had no real complaints with Dish/Comcast). I'll update the post if any issues pop up along the way.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/23/08 12:25 | Tech | Technorati | Comments (2)


20 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/20/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/20/08 22:16 | Links | Technorati | Comments (1)


18 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/08/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/18/08 22:27 | Links | Technorati | Comments (1)


17 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/17/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/08 22:59 | Links | Technorati | Comments (2)


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