All About High Definition (and how to get it for free!)

So Santa brought you a shiny new big screen for Christmas, but you're still watching standard definition television? It might be time to take the plunge. By February of next year, the FCC has required that all of the networks will be required to shut off their current analog signals and begin broadcasting digital signals exclusively. 

What does this mean to you? It means 100% free, crystal-clear television. I'll explain:

With analog television (what you get when you hook up the rabbit ears to your old tv) the signal was subject to a lot of noise and signal loss—that's why you would find yourself wrapping aluminum foil around a coat hanger while making your little brother stand on one foot and hold it in the air just to watch The A Team. 

But with digital television, it's different—hook up those same rabbit ears to a new digital TV, and you either get the signal clear as day, or you don't get it at all. There's no snow, no interference, no static. In other words, it's just as good as the signal you get from satellite or cable (actually, it's better, but that's another discussion altogether).

All you need is a television with a "ATSC" tuner (a.k.a. high-def tuner), and a UHF antenna. Where you live will dictate what you can receive for free "over the air." Currently, only FOX-31 and WB-2 are the only networks broadcasting from the towers on Lookout Mountain. Broadcasts from that location will reach as far north as Ft. Collins, and as far south as Colorado Springs. PBS-6 broadcasts from Squaw Mountain near Evergreen. The remaining channels (4, 7, 9 and 20) are broadcasting from downtown Denver, so unless you live IN the city, you're probably out of luck right now. However, this spring they will all be moving to the new super-tower on Lookout Mountain. Then, anyone in the metro area will be able to get free HD programming.

If you're like me, you are cheap, impatient and live in Boulder. I want all of my local channels in HD, don't want to wait until this spring to get them, and can't get a signal from the towers in downtown Denver. Well, I have a solution that covers most of that. If you have a TV with a "QAM" tuner (a slightly fancier version of a high-def tuner) you can get Comcast's most basic cable package for $13 a month, and get all of the local HD channels for free.

Just plug in the cable from the wall (no converter box), turn your TV over to digital mode and scan for the available channels. My set picked up 355 channels, though all but two dozen were not broadcasting anything. BUT, I am getting 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 20 and 31 in high definition. Comcast generally charges $10 a month extra for the HD channels (on top of their $50/month 'digital' cable package (which isn't really digital)). 

Enjoy!

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iTunes Rentals

I rented my first movie via iTunes rentals this weekend. Overall it was a fairly positive experience. I browsed the catalog, picked my movie, clicked the rent button, and with in about 20 minutes I was watching the movie (Superbad - hilarious!). The way it works is you have 30 days to watch the movie once you download it. However, once you click play, you have 24 hours to watch it before it is automatically deleted. I'm not a huge fan of that. If your movie it interrupted, you either have to watch the rest of it as soon as you are done with your interruption, or you have 24 hours (or 22 or 21) to complete it which is not always feasible.

So Apple, if you have your finger on the pulse of the blogosphere, change it to 36 or even 72 hours. That way we have the whole weekend to watch it.

At the end of the day as long as the video it output to a device (like a tv) the content can be captured, which makes the whole DRM/Deletion scheme mute.

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Goodbye Canon, Hello HP!

Today we say goodbye to our old friends, the Canon printers. Despite the frustrations they caused to many of us, the served a long and useful life at SRG. Collectively those 3 printers printed almost 3,000,000 copies. I'd break down after a while as well. Be well as we send you off to the twilight of your printing years. The Canons will be going to a sunny locale in retiree friendly South Florida.

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The Keyboard of Shame

With the recent outbreak of keyboard spillings, something had to be done. As a result, we have introduced the keyboard of shame. If you spill water on your keyboard, you have to use the keyboard of shame. They keyboard of shame is water/coffee/thanksgiving dinner/warren proof, and says to the world "I'm using the keyboard of shame."

Warren Ng, you are the first not-so-proud recipient of the keyboard of shame.

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Sony's Thoughts On the MacBook Air: They did it First/Better

During the Keynote, Jobs compared the Macbook Air to Sony's TZ ultraportable, implying it had a small keyboard and screen, was too thick, and was not that good. Here's what Sony thinks of the Apple MacBook Air:
Read Here.

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Email Spoofing

There have been a rash of particularly irritating viagra related email making it past our spam filters over the past month or so. The most irritating part is that they are spoofing email addresses, meaning putting someone else's email address in the from field even though it did not come from that person. Like spam itself, there is no way to prevent spammers from spoofing. The best thing you can do is educate yourself and know how to spot a fake. This article should be a good place to start. Read more.

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Free Beer!

Whenever I meet someone new, and they ask what I do for a living, the next questions is usually something computer related.

Matt: "I'm the IT Manager for an ad agency in boulder"

Person: "Oh, really, I have computer question for you."

Usually people offer nothing in return for my expertise. Once in a while my wisdom is appreciated and repaid with things like free dinners, concert tickets, and indentured servitude.

Today I got a call from an old friend at the New Belgium Brewery. She said that if I answered a few questions from her IT Guy, she'd give me my weight in beer. All of a sudden I'm wishing I wasn't so skinny.

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