Atlanta ASP.Net MVC Developer/ Architect
IPTV
iTunes 4.9 has podcast support
Jun 29th
For about two months I have been really looking forward to the 4.9 version of iTunes
- I expected seamless podcast support and most importantly auto conversion to bookmarkable
aac files. When you listen to number of podcasts I do you want a good podcast receiver.
So what did I find:
- Intergration with iTunes is OK – a true GUI directory is sweet although it is
more basic than corporate GUIs I churned out in 1994 on 16 bit 386 machines - No bittorrent support – this means podcast providers hosting bills will skyrocket if
many users move away from iPodder - We cannot paste custom urls when a podcast is not in Apple’s directory, like My’lanta for
instance - There is no Auto conversion to bookmarked files (aac) -aargh, bookmarks
are why I bought an iPod in the first place - No playlist per podcast – all podcasts are dumped into the same playlist. Do Apple
not realize many people use their iPods solely for podcasts and don’t want to be scrolling
through 100+ files at 90mph on the highway while simultaneously riding the bumper
of a 911 and flipping off the SUV that they just cut up?
Ok enough of a rant already. I tried the Primetime
Podcast Receiver a month ago which looked promising but turned out to be
a little buggy with no bittorrent support either. Hopefully it will improve or iPodder
will add auto bookmarkable aac conversion. It is quite tempting to write something
myself building on my two week hack of my MP3
Jukebox (it looks rubbish but functionally was better than any commercial
MP3 Jukebox in 2001) .
Star Wars Relevations professional fan film
May 16th
Update: Installation of Aureus from SourceForge and
waiting a little over a day left Revelations.iso on my HD. Minutes later a DVD-RW
was burned and placed in my DVD player. If you are downloading Revelations wait
for the DVD download. The effects are still impressive but at DVD quality
they do look like effects since they are too clean.
Bittorent coupled with non commercial content like this movie and the twenty plus
podcasts I listen to each week must surely have media companies rethinking their future.
How long until even my basic cable subscription is not necessary? Already cable TV
would be redundant if I (illegally) download the Simpsons etc – I know more than one
person with a modded Xbox who is doing this. Personally I prefer to stay on the right
side of the law for $40/ month, but is it really worth $40/month for a handful of
shows? Micro-payments for legal downloads of ABC News and the Simpsons would have
me calling Comcast tomorrow. I know first hand that Atlanta based cable companies
hire smart developers. I hope their strategic planners are just as smart. It interesting
to note that the BBC is already
producing podcasts – doubt I’ll listen to live radio ever again.
News of Star
Wars Revelations is exploding. Yesterday I finally got around to downloading it
and was pleasantly surprised.
Apparently Mr. Lucas is fine with fans making Star Wars films, so long as they are
not for profit. Take a look at the screen captures below (darn Media Player got me
for a while with overlay mode so I swiftly installed BS
Player on the laptop + switched to RGB mode).
Any more questions on why, how much and how did you achieve this for little cash etc
are answered on the creator’s faq:
www.panicstruckpro.com/revelations/revelations_faq.html
The film is free – you will soon find torrents and direct downloads all over the web.
My mini review: sets are stellar, spacecraft are better than any of the original three
films and you will see some familiar faces like storm troopers, R2D2, regulars of
the cantina bar etc. The plots was a little weak, but if you like Star Wars you must
take a look – good luck downloading it though, my torrent did not even start whereas
podcasts often come down at up to 800k/s.
