The Five Remaining Google TV Questions

Google launched the Google TV minisite yesterday ahead of the official launch. It answered a bunch of questions, but not all of them. In some ways, it brought up some topics I previously hadn’t thought about as well like if it will playback content from local network shares and what content partnerships are in place.

While it’s clear that Google is on the right path, I’m not entirely sure Google TV is going to be the revolutionary hero we all want it to be. Right now it doesn’t feel like anything special. Unless of course you want to Twatter from your HDTV while streaming Netflix. I’m not sold yet.

Where’s The Major Network Partnerships?

The TV world is a crazy place and I have no idea how it really works. One thing is clear in that everyone wants to make money on their own terms. The networks, content providers, and studios don’t care about you and I. Nope, they’re in the business to make money. That’s it.

Google TV hasn’t officially announced any content partners yet. However, there are some networks prominently shown on the just-launched Google TV minisite: CNN, TBS, TNT, CNBC, Cartoon Network and HBO — all Time Warner stations. Important channels no doubt, but that list is missing stations from the other major media outlets of Walt Disney, News Corp., Viacom, and NBC Universal.

Now, it’s entirely possible that Google simply used the Time Warner stations per some random content agreement on the minisite. Other networks might be on board, but perhaps wanted to keep the partnership under wraps until the official unveiling. Whatever the case is, Google TV will be severally limited with the backing of just one media outlet.

Local Or Network Playback?

How can Google instantly alienate the enthusiast crowd? Restrict local playback to only from Android devices. There’s no mention of any sort of local network playback anywhere on the Google TV minisite besides the Fling feature that allows content from an Android phone to be flung onto the Google TV.

A good chunk of Google TV’s target demographic downloads content. That’s impossible to deny and while it looks good on a mission statement to limit the playback of pirated material, it looks awful on the bottom line.

But it isn’t just pirated material either. Google TV seems impressive in many ways, but the new Apple TV has it beat in the content sharing department. The minisite only lists the capability to share photos through online media services like Flickr and Picasa, not from a local share besides an Android phone. This could be a big hole Google TV’s strategy.

Is It Going To Run Smooth?

Pretty interfaces are easy to make, but they require good hardware. I’m nervous that the first generation Google TV boxes like the Logitech Revue will not be powerful enough to provide a smooth experience. The UI outside of the homescreen just feels like Flash and anyone that’s used a TiVo Premiere can attest that Flash makes for poor user interaction on sub-par hardware.

Now I could be wrong. Blip.tv’s Google TV app apparently uses HTML 5, which would no doubt be better suited for the task. But with or without Flash, Google TV better be as smooth as Apple TV or Boxee right out of the gate.

Is It Just Going To Be Another Box?

Part of me feels that Google TV is the next big thing. This part is saying that it will do to the TV industry what the iPhone did to the smartphone market — that it will revolutionize how we consume content in the livingroom. But then logic kicks.

The cable industry is ruled by only a few players and that doesn’t include Google. This revolution I dream about probably won’t happen on Google’s terms, but rather Comcast’s and Motorola’s as the former providers the content while the later controls the user experience. Until those two companies jointly buy into Google’s ideals, Google TV will be nothing more than a hobby and simply another box to sit alongside the cable box, Wii, DVD player, and a proper local media playback device like a WD TV.

What About Ads?

You can’t tell me that Google TV will be ad-free. Ads are a huge revenue source for Google and you can bet that they will be present somehow within Google TV. I can’t find a single one on any of the Google TV screenshots or video demos but that doesn’t really mean anything. It’s not like Google would show-off the dirty side of Google TV anyway.

I fully expect Google to out a sort of enhanced advertisement like iAd that leverages the larger screen. Ads will be in Google TV somehow but hopefully they will done in a way like TiVos where they’re unobtrusive.

So far no one has successfully brought Internet video to the big screen in a way that satisfies consumers and content markers. I’m not entirely sure even Google can accomplish that task. However, Google TV feels like it’s a big step forward in the right direction.

via crunchgear.com

Posted via email from ://allthings-bare

Other Ways to Use Your PC When Your Internet Dies

Nothing is more annoying than getting your Internet connection shut down, due to weather, or perhaps forgetting to pay your bill. Let’s take a look at some ways you can be productive and entertained without the Internet.

While a lot of people rely on the Internet daily for their work, like we do here at How-to Geek…if you lose your connection for a while, you’ll still have ways to finish work, listen to music, watch movies, and play PC games. The things you won’t have access to is your email, IM, Social Networking sites, online documents, and browsing in general. Here we’ve put together a list of suggestions of what you can do while your Internet connection is down.

Perform PC Maintenance Tasks

Since the Internet provides so many distractions, you might have neglected system maintenance and file organization for a while. Go through and uninstall programs you no longer use or need. One of the best ways to clean up old programs and leftover items is with Revo Uninstaller Pro or Revo Uninstaller Free edition. Hopefully it is already installed on your hard drive or thumb drive.

If you don’t have it installed you can certainly still use the Programs and Features option in Control Panel in Vista and Windows 7 (Add or Remove Programs in XP) to remove them. But this will leave a lot of leftover folders and registry settings, especially if you’re trying to completely remove iTunes and everything associated with it.

Other maintenance tasks you might want to catch up on is making room on your hard drive by doing a Disk Cleanup. Before doing the disk cleanup, save any work you have open and close out of all programs. Then click on Start and type %temp% into the Search Box or Run line in XP and hit Enter.

 

Then hit Ctrl+A to select all of the files then hit Delete. This will clear out the Temp folder, which Disk Cleanup often misses.

After that empty the Recycle Bin and run Disk Cleanup.

You can also run a computer cleanup utility such as CCleaner…either the full installed version or the portable version.

If you decide to clean up the Registry, scan for issues, then click Fix Selected Issues. CCleaner allows you to backup the Registry before fixing the issues it found, which you definitely want to do in case something doesn’t work and you need to restore it.

If you don’t have Windows set to automatically defrag the hard drive, this might be a good time to run the process or set it up on a schedule. In Windows 7 type disk defrag into the Search box in the Start Menu and hit Enter.

Now you can Turn on a schedule, analyze the amount of fragmentation, and kick off the defrag process.

Here is an example of setting up a schedule for for the Disk Defragmenter. For more on using Disk Defrag check our article on how to configure disk defragmenter in Vista or Windows 7.

If you don’t want to use the built in defrag utility, there are other 3rd party apps that run more quickly like Auslogics Defrag or Defraggler.

Clean Out the Physical Desktop and Laptop Hardware

Over time your desktop collects dust and it’s important to blow out the case periodically. Get some Canned Air, and clean out all the dust bunnies in the machine. Also, this is a good time to reseat the systems RAM, check cable connections, Video & sound Card…etc.

Photo by: pointytilly

Another thing you might want to do is clean your keyboard and mouse. If you haven’t done it recently, you’ll be surprised how much dust, crumbs of food, or perhaps cat hair that is lodged between the keys. Again you can use Canned Air for this, or if you want to be very thorough, take out each key and get all the junk out of there.

Speaking of cats, if you are tired of seeing your computer running when it should be asleep because your cat has an attraction to the keyboard, check out our article on how to stop the mouse or keyboard from waking your computer from Sleep Mode.

Photo by:  –Amelie-

Productivity

Even with your Internet being down you can still be productive. Here are a few suggestions on ways to still be productive with no Internet. Provided you have local copies of Office Documents, you can certainly still work on them. Maybe you have a PowerPoint, Word Document, or Excel Spreadsheet to work on or review.

Organize your To Do Lists and Notes

You can use this time to organize your notes and To Do list without any distractions. Since Evernote and OneNote keep your notes synced between your machine and “The Cloud” hopefully you’ll have what you need to work on.

Update your To Do List…a nice free app for this that we’ve previously covered is Doomi. It’s light on system resources and is easy to work with from your desktop.

Use the Time to Brainstorm

While you have some downtime from the web, you can use the time to brainstorm ideas for work projects, your website, or other collaborations you’re working on. You can use simple apps like Notepad, Word, or more complex apps like Action Outline.

Clean Up Your Inbox

While you won’t be able to send or Receive any emails, you can take the time to clean it up if your using an email client such as Outlook or Thunderbird. Go through and delete unneeded messages, clean out your Deleted Items, and run Auto Archive. This will help you to get better organized when you connection comes back.

You can also take the time to help speed up Outlook following suggestions in The Geek’s guide on how to make Outlook faster by disabling unnecessary addins.

Get to Know Portable Apps

If you have a thumb drive with PortableApps or Lupo PenSuite, it would be a good time to explore the apps and find ways to use them to make you more productive while on the go.

Entertainment

While your Internet is down you can also find ways to be entertained while waiting to get it back. You can watch or listen to whatever is currently on your hard drive like Podcasts, Movies, Music, eBooks…etc.

You can take this time to organize your local photo collection with tools like Picassa or Windows Live Photo Gallery.

If you subscribe to Podcasts, chances are there are a few that have been downloaded prior to your Internet connection going down. Use this as an opportunity to get caught up on them.

If you have a TV Tuner card or HTPC setup you can still watch Over the Air broadcasting, or your cable channels (provided the cable isn’t down as well). But you should still be able to get Over the Air channels at least by hooking up an HD Antenna.

Of course you can still watch movies and other videos you have ripped or downloaded to your hard drive. Or you can do it the old fashioned way and just pop in a DVD.

PC Video Games

A lot of PC games require you to be online for multiplayer action, but a lot also include a single player mode that doesn’t require you to be online. Go through and have fun with the story line of single player mode.

Or go back and relive the enjoyment you experienced with older games.

eBooks

If you have Kindle for PC or Barnes & Noble’s Nook for PC you might want to take the time to get caught up on your reading lists.

Take the time to organize your music collection in WMP or whatever your favorite desktop music player is. Remove DRM, convert music file formats, and find duplicates in your collection using TuneClone, Audio Dedupe, or AudialsOne.

Go to a Public Wi-Fi Hotspot

If you just can’t stay away from being online to complete work, check out Facebook, or find the latest Lady Gaga videos, you might want to bring your Laptop, Netbook, iOS, or Android device to a location with Public Wi-Fi. If you do, make sure to follow our guide on staying safe while on a Public Wi-Fi Network.

Photo by: Nebraska Library Commission

Take Time Away from Your PC

As geeks, most of us spend far too much time on the computer anyway, so take a break from it! Get outside and go for a walk, read a book, hit the treadmill, work on neglected house chores. Sometimes it’s nice to get away from anything to do with technology for a while to clear our heads.

There’s actually a real world out there to be explored. You can use Internet downtime to use your geek skills to get out and meet new people. 

Photo by: Andrea Rose Marie

These are just a few suggestions on how you can still use your PC even when your Internet connection goes down for a prolonged period of time. Or use it as an opportunity to get outside and meet people. Most of us don’t know how we got by without the Internet, but when the unthinkable happens, you can still use your PC for productivity and entertainment. What about you guys? What things do you do with your PC when your Internet connection is down? Leave us a comment and let us know!

via howtogeek.com

Posted via email from ://allthings-bare

Ask the Readers: How Fast is Your Internet Connection?

Ask the Readers: How Fast is Your Internet Connection?: "
The federal government recently announced a broadband initiative that calls for 260 million homes to have 100Mbps Internet connections by the year 2020. This got us wondering, how fast is your current Internet connection?

Photo by roland



When it comes to the speed of our Internet connection, we all want the maximum possible. The FCC recently announced their National Broadband Plan, which is an initiative to improve the Internet infrastructure in the United States and provide higher speeds to everyone. You’ve also undoubtedly heard the news about Google getting into the mix with their program to bring ultra high-speed fiber broadband to 50,000 users in select cities.

While we wait for those programs to come into fruition, we thought it would be cool to check out what kinds of speeds you’re getting now.

Test Your Internet Connection Speed

There are several sites out there you can use to test your Internet speeds, but probably the best site is Speedtest.net. It’s easy to use, and allows you test download and upload speeds to and from various locations in the US and throughout the world.



If you already know the speeds you’re getting leave a comment and let us know. If you use Speedtest.com, just keep in mind that our comment system won’t allow you to copy their result links, but you can simply tell us what you get in the results. We’re especially interested in the results of those of you who have Verizon FIOS or Comcast’s “Ultra” service. Leave a comment and join in the discussion!

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It’s all well and good to demand secure electronic medical records, but when has your data ever been secure in the first place?

It’s all well and good to demand secure electronic medical records, but when has your data ever been secure in the first place?: "


Pretty much spot-on, this. There’s an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that argues that Americans should badger Congress and the president, asking them to hold off on doling out stimulus dollars to electronic medical record systems that don’t have appropriate privacy safeguards in place. As it stands, electronic medial records aren’t exactly sealed—insurance companies can peek at them, as can pharmaceutical companies. So, let’s instead focus on creating an electronic medical record system that’s as foolproof as possible. Slight issue: when is your data, medical or otherwise, ever truly secure?

Before I get into this, let the record show that I’m pretty much in full agreement with the op-ed, which was written by a psychiatrist. Thirty-five years on the job gives her a pretty strong leg to stand on.

The main argument is that today’s electronic medial records, as set by the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, are as porous as something porous. High-minded, yes. Not every Joe can see what medicine you’re taking, but in some cases your employer can, or your insurance company can.

“What? Johnson’s on Prozac? Keep an eye on him, Mack.”

“Will do, boss.”

Granted, that’s a Doomsday scenario, but it’s certainly something that can happen given the nature of electronic medical records.

So that’s that part of the equation, that electronic medial records as we have them today aren’t fully respectful of the privacy that every patient expects.

Here’s the thing, and again I say that I agree with the op-ed: your data is never safe, anywhere. Electronic medical records falling in the hands of, well, anyone other than you and your doctor, is simply par for the course.

How many times do we hear of big box merchants losing credit card records? How many times do we hear stories of dumb kids putting comprising photos of themselves on Facebook, then their schools or employers find out? For that matter, how many Facebook accounts have been hacked in recent months? (Ever get a Facebook message from a “friend” saying that he’s stranded in London and needs $2,000 as soon as possible?) How many e-mail and bank accounts are phished every day, creating a complete nightmare for the victim?

It’s sorta the nature of electronic data as a thing, that makes it easier for it to fall into the wrong hands.

It’s pretty much impossible for The Man to get a hold of your medical records when they’re physically in a safe at your doctor’s office. Unless the insurance company, or your icky boss, Metal Gear Solids his way into the office, you can pretty much assume that no one untoward is going to see said records. That’s not the case when these records are a mere few keystrokes away from anyone on the planet.

Of course, the benefits of electronic medical records are manifest: your primary care physician can zip them on over to the specialist you’re going to see later today in no time at all. Storage costs go way down: how much does it cost to store reams of paper versus a couple of files on a hard drive?

I should probbly mention that I haven’t been to a doctor in years, so they might be using robots and dark matter to look at patients these days for all I know.

So yeah, it’s tricky. Electronic medical records, by their very nature, as far more easily accessible than paper-based ones. We need to ensure that the proper safeguards are in place before embracing them full steam ahead, while keeping in mind all of the advantages of an electronic system.

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The Lab Vs. The Real World: Product Testing Is Hard

The Lab Vs. The Real World: Product Testing Is Hard: "Unless you've been living under a rock for the last couple months, you know that Toyota has had problems with sudden acceleration of some of its vehicles. Apparently, the root cause of the problem is still unknown, which is a little troubling to the average consumer. Toyota claims to be doing everything they can to investigate, but that doesn't seem to be enough. Now everyone and their brother are suddenly product design engineers and have the gall to tell Toyota what to do and how to do it.

Witness this opinion piece in the LA Times by David M. Cummings entitled 'Haven't found that software glitch, Toyota? Keep trying'. Mr. Cummings worked on the Mars Pathfinder project for NASA, so he has some credibility to his name when it comes to software design and product testing. But his opinion piece seems to completely miss the point of the PR nightmare that Toyota is dealing with.

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