36 channels and nothing to watch

(Or why there is nothing on TV anymore.)

For quite a few years now, the amount of television programs we watch at home as dwindled to the point that we now only watch the evening news. And even that gets skipped now and then. It is the same with almost everyone I talk to about it. My colleagues don't watch television and neither do most of my friends.

So if you don't watch TV, then why buy a new set you ask? Good question. Our kids use it to watch movies and play GameCube, we use it to play Wii.

Currently we have 36 different channels on our cable to choose from and that is where the main problem lies. In our small country, with less than 17 million inhabitants there are about 10 different channels vying for the advertising euros. The way they do this is by targeting that audience that is most likely to spend their money on advertised goods. And the way to do this is of course by having programs that appeal to this audience. So if one channel has a hit on its hand, the others copy it and try to innovate on it to the point that all channels run the same program on the same day on the same time. And if you happen not to like that program, there is no other channel to go to, because they are broadcasting the same thing. It's all Dancing With The Stars and Ice Dancing With The Stars and I Want To Be A Celebrity Pop Star. And it's all with people famous for being famous.

So because we have more to choose from, we have less to choose. This might be the reason that YouTube is so popular. It is not that it is worth watching, but it is something completely different from what is offered on TV that makes it worth it.

Zaaf

To HD or not, is that a question?

Since a few weeks I'm the proud owner of a 720p HD television. And I have to say, the images look marvelous compared to my old CRT. Especially when watching HD content. The big question however would be whether or not it enhances the viewing experience. Does it get you into the story of the movie quicker? Are all those extra details adding to the movie, are they just distracting or won't you notice them after a while when you're entranced with the story.
For me it's the latter. And as a test, I put an old movie into my VCR to watch it. The first thing I noticed is that I really hated the picture quality. It looked so incredibly bad when compared to a good DVD that it almost made me cringe. But after watching it for a few minutes, the story took over and I was forgetting that I was watching an old VHS cassette tape. I really enjoyed the movie.

So if watching a less than Standard Definition movie is enjoyable in spite of the picture quality, a High Definition movie should be equally enjoyable even though the picture quality is much higher.

To HD or not, for me there is no question.

Zaaf

Wii are happy

This is a small message created from my couch by using my Wii. It is a bit slow entering text with the Wiimote by pointing on the screen, but it seems to work ok. There is a qwerty-keyboard displayed on the screen and all I have to do is point and click. The highlighted key zooms out for easier typing. I'm estimating that I can type at a speed of about 90 characters a minute with an accuracy of 98%, or two mistakes per hundred letters. The Wiimote vibrates on passing every key to help you guide the pointer. The A-button I need to press for every letter gives tactile feedback, and each pressed key makes a keyboard like sound. They even gave the space bar and the shift-key separate sounds, just like a normal keyboard would have.

Do the Album Shuffle

For the past twenty years or so, I've been carrying my music with me. First I had cassette tapes on various walkmans, then I carried CDs with me on portable CD players. Five years ago I bought my first iPod. The big change was that in the years BiP (Before iPod), I had to choose which music to take with me. AiP I could have it all. Every morning BiP I stood in front of my CD collection, or my cassette collection before that, and chose the albums to take with me. I've always been an album person and I rarely bought best-of albums. The main reason for this is that I like to hear all the numbers in the context the artist intended them to be. That's also the reason why I do not like shuffle mode on CD players. It messes with the artist intent. And so, BiP, I listened to complete albums sequentially before changing them in my player. AiP, after I switched everything to my iPod, I continued to listen to complete albums, manually selecting them from the menu. That is until I discovered that I could select shuffle per album. Now the tedious task of standing in front of my CD collection was taken over by the iPod. When I now click shuffle songs on my iPod, I get a randomly selected album which I then can enjoy. And because I have only my music on my iPod, its all good music. So it doesn't matter what album it selects.

In the past week I received my Apple-TV. This device contains everything that iTunes contains plus all my pictures. In fact it contains everything my 5.5G iPod has. It has my movies, TV-shows, podcasts, pictures and of course, it has all my music. And naturally it has shuffle. Unfortunately, I cannot shuffle per album. So now I run the risk of getting Led Zeppelin straight after a Bach recital. Hopefully Apple will address this issue soon.

Zaaf

Safari for Windows

Why would Apple Inc. make their web-browser Safari available for Windows? Apple is a hardware company that makes great software. Their income is from the hardware they make. So when Apple releases software it is with the expectation that it will sell them more hardware and thus make them a bigger profit. That is why they created Mac OS X: to sell computers. That is why they created iTunes: to sell iPods. That is why iTunes is a windows programme, so they can sell iPods to Windows users.

So if Apple creates software to sell more hardware, the question is then: "Why do they release Safari for Windows?" Do they have a new hardware product that will sell better because of the fact that Safari is available for Windows? The only new hardware on the horizon is the iPhone and one of its key selling points is that it runs the full version of Safari. However, the biggest problem with Safari is compatibility with some websites. This is because the web and especially the corporate web is geared towards Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher. My guess is that by releasing Safari for Windows, Apple is trying to get a higher market share for its browser. This will then cause companies to hopefully make their website more standards compliant, so that it runs perfectly in Safari.

Because it would be great if you could use your Internet Banking site straight from your iPhone while walking in the Mall?

Zaaf

New router

When my router died (see here), I phoned my ISP. Unfortunately they wouldn't replace it, telling me instead to buy a new one. A colleague overheard me and immediately offered one of his spare routers for which he didn't have any use anymore. Luckily it was meant to be used for the same ISP so it connected directly. The only thing that I changed was the userid / password to access the ISP part of the network. I also protected the router with a userid / password to prevent accidental changes to its settings.

It's good to be connected again!

Zaaf

Bank for sale (II)

The bank I work for is still for sale. The highest bid currently is roughly € 71 billion. I have a lot of emotions regarding the bank being sold off. One of them is pride. I'm very proud to be part of an organization that is being valued so highly. And the value is because of the assets the bank has. Part of that is because we have money on our balance sheet and that needs to be paid for, but mainly it is being paid for the way we do our business. And that is due solely to the employees of the bank. At the end of 2006, the latest released figures, there were 105,000 of them. If you were to apportion the bid of € 71 billion per employee, you'd get:

7.1 * 10¹⁰ / 1.05 * 10⁵ = 6.8 * 10⁵

Or roughly € 680.000,- per employee. If you deduct the group capital of € 45 billion from the offer, which is a questionable thing to do because the group capital is needed to perform the business done by the employees, you get:

(7.1 * 10¹⁰-4.1 * 10¹⁰) / 1.05 * 10⁵ = 2.5 * 10⁵

Or roughly € 250.000 per employee.

Zaaf

DS Healed

Two weeks ago, my son broke my Nintendo DS. Last Friday, I finally had the time to send it to Nintendo and yesterday, only four days later, I received it back, for free. And the L and R buttons aren't coloured slightly pink like mine and I'm missing a few familiar scratches on the outside. So it seems I got a brand new DS from Nintendo, for free. It was replaced under warranty. I'm impressed both by the fact that I got a replacement and by the speed of their service: I sent it on Friday, they received it on Monday and I received a replacement unit on Tuesday.

Now I need to teach my kids how to use it without the screen opened up completely. And I need to take it with me more for my daily commute. Practice a bit on my Starfox Command.

Zaaf

When is a modem not a modem

By the way, what is it with all these DSL companies calling their Wan / Lan routers a Modem? Modem is short for MOdulator - DEModulator after the way it translates analog sounds send over the phone line as speech, to digital signals understandable by a computer and vice-versa. A DSL connection utilizes a different part of the available spectrum on the phone line and it uses digital signals all the way. There is no modulation going on at all. The thing just connects to separate networks and it works at the OSI Network Layer. Therefore it is a router.

Zaaf

Wan / Lan Router routed

Last night while I was happily surfing along, my router, an Alcatel SpeedTouch 510, lost its connection. This happens every now and then and it's a simple reboot of the Wan / Lan router to get going again. Last night was a different story. The router was very hot to the touch and instead of rebooting, one of its green led lights started blinking red. This morning, the router had cooled down considerably, but it did not reboot at all. A call to the ISP helpdesk confirmed what I already thought. The router is bereft of live, has ceased to exist and has gone to meet its maker.

So now I need to get myself a new one and hopefully I can recall the settings, especially the password that allows access to the DSL network of my ISP. I'll find out tomorrow.


Zaaf

Lost Game (not over)

I'm the proud owner of the iPod game LOST, which I bought because my wife and I are watching the series. We've currently finished watching season 1 and The Hatch has just been blown of. The game starts on the beach and pretty much follows the plot of the series, meaning that the tasks you get set to perform in the game are those that Jack has to do in the television series. This also means that you can get ahead of the game story by advancing in the game.
Up till now, the game has been pretty straightforward because I've seen the episodes. Now, however, I'm getting to the point where the game play is getting ahead of the TV play and it's decision time. Do I play the game ahead of the TV or not? I guess it all boils down to what holds more entertainment value:

1. Play the game to get ahead on the TV or,
2. Watch the TV and play the game until you've advanced to the TV story.

To me, watching LOST on the TV holds more value than playing the game on my iPod. This is mainly because I don't like the excellent storytelling of the TV series be spoiled by knowing things in advance. So, for now I'm going for option 2.

Zaaf