ATLChris.com http://atlchris.com Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:22:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Atlchrishttp://feedburner.google.com COOL: The Wilderness Downtown Project http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Atlchris/~3/VCNcvOwzqMo/ http://atlchris.com/1781/the-wilderness-downtown-project/#comments Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:12:27 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1781 The Wilderness Downtown ProjectOK, I don’t normally post short posts on this site, but this is worth sharing. The Wilderness Downtown Project, might be one of the coolest most creative websites I have ever come across on the web. It is an HTML 5 interactive Google Maps film that is customized for you.

When you get to the site, enter the address you grew up in then click search. An HTML5 video like you have never seen before will begin playing.

Just trust me, browse over to http://thewildernessdowntown.com in an HTML 5 browser and be amazed!

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1781/the-wilderness-downtown-project/feed/ 2 http://atlchris.com/1781/the-wilderness-downtown-project/ My Apple TV / iTV Theory http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Atlchris/~3/Hu74mEY6Lro/ http://atlchris.com/1768/my-apple-tv-itv-theory/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:04:55 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1768 OK, just wanted to make a quick post about a little theory I have regarding Apple and the unannounced Aug/Sept event. This has nothing todo with iPod, I mean I am sure they will introduce new iPod Touches, but that is a given. My Theory is regarding the iTV. A lot of people have been speculating that Apple is going to refresh the Apple TV. There are also rumors going around about a new mystery iLife application.

My theory is that the new mystery iLife application is going to be iTV. They just released a Mac Mini with HDMI out, they have an iMac large enough to use as a TV, and they have a new input device, the Magic Trackpad. I think they are going to scrap Apple TV as a hardware device and introduce a new couch/remote friendly application called iTV to the iLife suite. Yes, I know they already have Front Row, but seriously, who uses that, it is total crap.

I personally am all for this, I currently have a Mac Mini hooked up to my 50″ Plasma and am currently running Plex, a great Media Center application. Apple has hinted that streaming movies would hit the cloud before streaming music, so could the new mystery data center and the mystery iLife application be connected to allow us to download and stream TV Shows and Movies in a whole new way?

What are your thoughts? Would you use this?

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1768/my-apple-tv-itv-theory/feed/ 3 http://atlchris.com/1768/my-apple-tv-itv-theory/ iPhone 4 Case Program Launched http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Atlchris/~3/SHtz-AmCodo/ http://atlchris.com/1745/iphone-4-case-program-launched/#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:02:35 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1745

Well, as promised Apple has activated the iPhone 4 FREE case program. If you already purchased a bumper from Apple, you will automatically get your refund. Emails concerning this have already been floating around.

How about those that didn’t buy a bump? It looks like Apple is going to be handling this through an iPhone app. The application you have to download is called “iPhone 4 Case Program” and it is currently available in the app store. Pretty much, you just open the app, login with your iTunes credentials, then you are presented with a list of cases. Pick which one you want, and vola, it will show up in the mail soon.

iPhone 4 Case Program Details

UPDATE 1: The iPhone application currently lists all cases as “Ships 3-5 weeks”.

UPDATE 2: In app pictures below:

UPDATE 3: I ordered the InCase Snap (Smoke) case. It seemed like a pretty solid pick out of the group. I was impressed though with the selection they had. I will do a full review on the case when it is received.

Stay tuned, I will post further details about shipping times and the overall ordering process.

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1745/iphone-4-case-program-launched/feed/ 4 http://atlchris.com/1745/iphone-4-case-program-launched/ Hulu Plus Announced (With Support for iPhone & iPad) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Atlchris/~3/GGEZxL1MO_o/ http://atlchris.com/1724/hulu-plus-announced/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:38:20 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1724 Today, Hulu officially announced their new premium service, Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus is a premium service that is going to be offered for $9.99 a month. No launch date for the new service is available at this time, but some are reporting the private beta preview is under way. So, what exactly do you get for this premium $9.99/month price tag, well you get a lot:

  • Access via many new devices including: iPhone, iPad, iPod, Internet Connected TV’s, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and more…
  • Current season tickets to popular current TV shows including: Glee, The Office, Modern Family, Grey’s Anatomy, Family Guy, and more…
  • Full series back cateloges of current and past TV Series including: Heroes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Arrest and Development, and more…

There is no word yet whether this premium service will be ad free or not ad-supported. I would hope that paying would remove the ads completely. Currently the service is in private beta. You can request an invite at http://www.hulu.com/plus. There is no ETA on when the service will launch publicly or when “Requested Invites” will beging to roll out. Check out the introduction video below which showcases all the new content the service has to offer.

I personally will sign up for the service, in fact it might be the final nail-in-the-coffin for my cable services I currently have will Charter Communications. One thing I would love to see, is the addition of premium cable series, i.e. Entourage, True Blood, … I would be willing to add another $5.00 a month if I could get some of those shows. I am also curious to whether they will be beefing up their movie catelog offerings.

Would you be willing to pay $9.99 for this service?

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1724/hulu-plus-announced/feed/ 2 http://atlchris.com/1724/hulu-plus-announced/ iOS 4 Detects Shipment Tracking Numbers http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Atlchris/~3/yGOL0-Mi93c/ http://atlchris.com/1713/ios-4-detects-shipment-tracking-numbers/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:31:01 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1713 I opened my email today on my iPhone 4 and discovered that iOS 4 now detects various tracking numbers and links them to the appropriate tracking website. Not a huge find, but defiantly useful hidden feature of iOS 4. Click on a tracking number in your email, and Apple will present you with the following screen. When you click “Track Shipment” iOS 4 will figure out which shipping provider the number applies to and will link you to the appropriate tracking website.

Have you found any not so well known features in iOS 4?

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1713/ios-4-detects-shipment-tracking-numbers/feed/ 14 http://atlchris.com/1713/ios-4-detects-shipment-tracking-numbers/ How-To: Create Custom Share Buttons For All The Popular Social Services http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Atlchris/~3/FSoO3srqR2U/ http://atlchris.com/1665/how-to-create-custom-share-buttons-for-all-the-popular-social-services/#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:03:53 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1665 For those of you that follow me, you are probably already know that I recently redesigned my post footer. For those that don’t know a post footer is the area just below this post with the “Share It!” and “Related Post” sections. I took it on myself to create a completely custom footer area with share links to many of the popular social services available today. I like my blog to be different from the other gazillion out there, so I choose to minimize my plugin use and create custom solutions.

Most of the popular social service out there offer pre-made javascript buttons that allow you share your pages or articles on their service. While this does make it easy, there is one problem with using their code generating methods; you are stuck with their styles and icons. I wanted to use a custom style with a different set of icons. To accomplish this, I had to take advantage of the services various “URL” submission methods. All the services offer this method, but most of them are poorly documented and are hard to find details on. After spending hours browsing the web for the various “URL” submission methods, I decided that once I finished I would post them all together in one place so people can easily find them and create their own custom share buttons.

Below, I am going to offer you the various services URL’s and teach you how to use them on your site.

Twitter

http://twitter.com/home?status=[TITLE]+[URL]

Digg

http://www.digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=[URL]&title=[TITLE]

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=[URL]&title=[TITLE]

StumbleUpon 
http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=[URL]&title=[TITLE]

Delicious

http://del.icio.us/post?url=[URL]&title=[TITLE]]&notes=[DESCRIPTION]

Google Buzz

http://www.google.com/reader/link?title=[TITLE]&url=[URL]

Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=[URL]&title=[TITLE]&source=[SOURCE/DOMAIN]

Slashdot

http://slashdot.org/bookmark.pl?url=[URL]&title=[TITLE]

Technorati

http://technorati.com/faves?add=[URL]&title=[TITLE]

Posterous

http://posterous.com/share?linkto=[URL]

Tumblr

http://www.tumblr.com/share?v=3&u=[URL]&t=[TITLE]

Reddit

http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=[URL]&title=[TITLE]

Google Bookmarks

http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=edit&bkmk=[URL]&title=[title]&annotation=[DESCRIPTION]

Newsvine

http://www.newsvine.com/_tools/seed&save?u=[URL]&h=[TITLE]

Ping.fm

http://ping.fm/ref/?link=[URL]&title=[TITLE]&body=[DESCRIPTION]

Evernote

http://www.evernote.com/clip.action?url=[URL]&title=[TITLE]

Friendfeed

http://www.friendfeed.com/share?url=[URL]&title=[TITLE]

Those are the URL's you need to know, now, I know some of you are say what do I do with them? These are the URL you link your social icons too. Replace [TITLE] with the title of the page or article. Replace [URL] with the link back to the page or article. Both of these values need to be URL in encoded for the submissions to process correctly. If you are using php, you can easily URL encode anything with:

<?PHP echo urlencode("VARIBLE"); ?>

If you are using WordPress, you can easily substitue the [URL] and [TITLE] values with WordPress codex functions. Below is the code you can use to replace the [TITLE] value:

<?php print(urlencode(the_title())); ?>

Now, the the code to replace the [URL] value:

<?php print(urlencode(get_permalink())); ?>

Now, lets take a look at it all put together for a general page with a "Share on Twitter" button:

<a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=This is the blog title.+http%3A%2F%2Fatlchris.com%2F1656%2Flink-to-page">
<img src="http://atlchris.com/wp-content/themes/ATLChris/images/twitter.png" height="18" width="18" alt="Share On Twitter" />
</a>

Now, a wordpress example. This example substitutes the [TITLE] and [URL] values automatically with the current articles information with URL encoding:

<a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=<?php print(urlencode(get_permalink())); ?>+<?php print(urlencode(the_title())); ?>">
<img src="http://atlchris.com/wp-content/themes/ATLChris/images/twitter.png" height="18" width="18" alt="Share On Twitter" />
</a>

I hope this helps to you create your very own custom share buttons. If you have any questions, please ask them below and I will answer them to the best of my ability. If I missed a service that you would like me to add, please leave a comment below.

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1665/how-to-create-custom-share-buttons-for-all-the-popular-social-services/feed/ 22 http://atlchris.com/1665/how-to-create-custom-share-buttons-for-all-the-popular-social-services/ Apple’s New Mobile Store Suffers Downtime On Release Day http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Atlchris/~3/GfrelleArfA/ http://atlchris.com/1656/apples-new-mobile-store-suffers-downtime-on-release-day/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:48:48 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1656 This morning, I was reading all about the new Apple mobile store on my RSS feeds. Leave it up to Apple to figure out another damn way for me to spend to much money. Anyways, what I found interesting is that once I installed the application from the App Store, I was greeted with this beautiful store front:

Apple Mobile Store Suffers From Downtime On Release Day

I don’t know about you all, but I am pretty sure Apple would never allow a third-party application to go live in the App Store if it was not working as advertised.

Should Apple hold themselves responsible for the same standards they hold their third-party developers responsible for?

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1656/apples-new-mobile-store-suffers-downtime-on-release-day/feed/ 6 http://atlchris.com/1656/apples-new-mobile-store-suffers-downtime-on-release-day/ WWDC Keynote Wrap-Up (iPhone 4, iOS, FaceTime, …) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Atlchris/~3/7JkgJepvtRM/ http://atlchris.com/1623/wwdc-keynote-wrap-up-iphone-4-ios-facetime/#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 01:21:34 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1623

This morning Steve took the stage at the annual World Wide Developers Conference. I know a gazillion tech blogs have already over covered today’s announcements, but I wanted to chime in and give my two cents on some of the new ones. For you who are looking for more detailed coverage of todays news, browse on over to Engadget, Mashable, and ArsTechnica.

  • iPhone 4—New Design, Longer Battery Life, 5MP Camera (back), VGA Camera (forward), Retina Display, Apple A4 Processor, and a Gyroscope. I must say, I am pretty stoked about what the new iPhone has to offer. The new design is beautiful, the 5MP Camera is capable of shooting HD 720 Video, which is a huge plus for me. My Flip camera broke since about 6 months and I have been missing having a camera for a long time. Being able to whip out a 720p capable camera at anytime is going to be amazing. Know, I know it wont be true 720p, but it will still be better than nothing! The Retina Display looks absolutely stunning, I am hoping a lot of the applications will update their graphics to look stunning at the new resolution.

  • iOS—The details of iOS have been known for sometime. I am stoked about iOS for 4 main reasons. First, multi-tasking. While it is not true multi-tasking, I think it will be an OK solution. While I wish it was full multi-tasking, I think Apple’s points about battery life and speed are legit concerns. Second, folders. I wont use folders all that much, but one area I do look forward to using it is in the static bar. I plan to use folders to have additional icons in the static bar (i.e. messages: SMS, Email, Twitter | Calling: phone, FaceTime, Skype). Three, background image. One of my big gripes with the iPhone 3G I have had for 2 years now, has been the boring visual design. From what I have seen in the screenshots, adding a background image has really changed the visual style of the iOS. The final reason, is the unified inbox. I have over 9 email addresses and it is a pain in the butt to stay on top of them all when I have about 4 button presses every time I want to look at a email on another account.

  • FaceTime—For those that don’t know, FaceTime is going to be a new application that will allow iPhone 4 users to video chat with other iPhone 4 users over WiFi. OK, that is great. I am a little disappointed it is only over WiFi, but I understand that might not be in Apple’s control. Plus with the new AT&T limitations, not having it over 3G might be a good thing for those crazy overages. What I am really excited about is not the FaceTime app, but the fact that the front-facing camera is going to be open for other applications, e.g. Skype! My girl friend and I talk over Skype all the time, and it will be nice to not have to whip out my laptop every time I want to talk to her. I am really excited to see how this will be used by other applications. Also, you know the 10k fart applications that have been released in the App Store? I call it now, expect a huge swarm of “Mirror” Applications!!!

  • iAds—Yes, I am excited for this! Why? Well, the reason most developers don’t give away their applications, is because they want some revenue for their widely used apps. Now that they can just flip a switch and get iAds, I think we will see a large amount of applications go free soon that are $0.99 now . I know a lot of people are not liking the idea of having ads widely used on the iPhone, but I think having quality Apple approved ads is much better than some of the crap that shows in current ads. I also see this new form of revenue as a chance for new developers to shine. I think we will see some pretty amazing apps being developed that will go for free in the App Store with iAd support.

Those are just a few of the new features I am most excited about. Now, some general notes about the upcoming iPhone 4. First off, it surprised me that they didn’t go any further into the new gaming network that is suppose to be included in in the new iOS. Has this been pushed back? Can someone with the developer preview tell me if it is there? I thought this would be huge, but Apple has not said much about it. Also, all you whiners crying about no Verizon iPhone, SHUT THE HELL UP! AT&T works great for me. If the iPhone goes to Verizon, the Verizon network will cripple, just like the AT&T network did, once all these heavy data users move over there. Also, do you all understand that Verizon is a CDMA network which means you can’t access data and cell network at the same time? So that means no browsing while on the phone! I love Verizon and I have demo’d a lot of devices for them, but their network is not perfect either, in fact, no network is perfect—any network you go to is going to have low signal areas and dropped calls. Stop complaining about it!

One final thing I want to discuss, is the lack of a 64GB version??? I am looking to shoot a decent bit of video with this device, and I am a little worried that an iPhone with all my music on it wont allow for much room to record video. I was really hoping to see a 64GB version when they said HD video.

A few days ago, in my HTC Incredible review, I said I would be switching to Android if Apple didn’t come up with some good stuff at the WWDC keynote. Well, Apple showed off a pretty awesome product, and I can tell you all now that I will be sticking with the iPhone. Android is coming up strong, but they are not surpassing Apple just yet. If the quality of Android apps improve, and AT&T picks up some better Android devices, I might consider Android in the future, but right now, the iPhone still claims my heart. I will pre-order my 32GB iPhone 4 (black) on June 15th, when pre-orders start, and I will choose to pick it up at the store if they allow that option when pre-ordering. As for the price and date, if you don’t already know it, iOS comes out June 21st and iPhone 4 comes on June 24th (pre-orders start on June 15th). The 16GB version will be $199.00 w/ 2 year contract and the 32GB will be $299.00 w/ 2 year contract.

What are your thoughts on iPhone 4, iOS, or any of the other new Apple news? What tops your excited list? Are you going to get one? Will you wait in line and get it right away, or will you wait for the storm to pass and pick it up once AT&T allows you to upgrade?

More information on iPhone 4 can be found here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/
Watch the keynote video: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1006ad9g4hjk/event/index.html


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]]> http://atlchris.com/1623/wwdc-keynote-wrap-up-iphone-4-ios-facetime/feed/ 11 http://atlchris.com/1623/wwdc-keynote-wrap-up-iphone-4-ios-facetime/ HTC Incredible Reviewed http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Atlchris/~3/3jTWqG17GgY/ http://atlchris.com/1598/htc-incredible-reviewed/#comments Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:07:06 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1598 HTC Incredible - Android - Verizon WirelessThe HTC Incredible on the Verizon Wireless network is one of the newest and most fully featured handsets on the market. The Incredible features a Qualcomm® QSD8650, 1 GHz Snapdragon™ CPU, Android 2.1, 8 GB of internal flash memory, a 3.7″ AMOLED screen (480 x 800), and a 8 megapixel camera w/autofocus and flash. The device measures around 4.63 x 2.30 x 0.47 inches and features three physical buttons and five touch buttons. The physical buttons consist of a wake/sleep/off button on the top of the device, a volume rocker button on the left, and a general-use physical button on the front of the device (used for taking pictures and video). The touch buttons include the common Android buttons (home, menu, back, and search) plus one additional general-use button on the front. The general-use button on the front of the device is both a physical button and a touch sensitive button that allows you to scroll with out having to touch the screen. The touch part of the general-use buttons reminds me a lot of the Blackberry Pearl button, but touch sensitive, not rolling.

HTC Incredible - Android - Verizon WirelessIn general, I am very impressed with the hardware the HTC Incredible features. The front is almost completely flat, which makes for a very comfortable feeling when I hold the device to my ear. The back of the device has specially designed ridges that prevent the device from sitting flat on a table. This allows you to still hear the speaker at a reasonable volume even when the device is sitting flat on a table. One issue I have with the design of the phone, is the camera; it sticks out the furthest of everything on the back, which leaves it at a greater risk of being scratched, but I did not experience any scratching issues in the two weeks I had the device. The only other issue I had with this device is the call quality. I found the quality to be just OK. Voices sounded somewhat scratchy and I would occasionally hear minor popping noises.

One last thing I want to point out is the physical back button found on all Android devices, including the HTC Incredible. One of my biggest gripes with the iPhone OS is that every app has to take up valuable screen resolution for a back button, and it is never in the same place. I find it so incredibly useful to have a physical back button, plus it opens up the screen to the actual guts of the applications.

Android 2.1 and HTC’s Sense UI

The HTC Incredible comes loaded with Android 2.1 and HTC’s Sense UI. While this is not my first time using Android, it is my first time using HTC’s Sense UI, and I must say I am very impressed. The Sense UI has a very clean, simple, and polished user interface. It is just as easy to navigate as the iPhone OS, plus it offers some added goodies that take it beyond the now outdated iPhone UI. The Sense UI comes with some wonderful built-in widgets that really give the phone added functionality in a fresh and very polished manner. As for Android 2.1 they have really made some decent improvements over Android 2.0. Some of the new features found in Android 2.1 include live wallpaper, voice typing in all fields, updated home navigation, and a 3D view in the photo gallery, just to name a few.

The Applications

Applications have always been the low point of the Android OS. Well, I can say that this is not so much the case anymore. I was able to find Android versions of almost all of my favorite iPhone apps. The apps found in the Android Marketplace are really starting to take form and become very polished functionally. Some of the apps I tested include The Weather Channel, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Barcode Scanner, Mint.com, Google Voice, and Waze, just to name a few. The Google Voice app — in fact, all the Google apps — are amazing, offering high levels of integration that really allow you to take advantage of the Google Web Apps locally on your phone. I even found both The Weather Cannel and the Foursquare apps to triumph over their iPhone counterparts. Overall, I like how the Android Marketplace and the applications in it are starting to come of age. I believe the openness of the Android Marketplace is really going to allow it to outgrow the iTunes App Store, and soon.

Final Thoughts

The HTC Incredible, is a great phone. In fact, it is Incredible (Ha, ha. Sorry, I had to do that!). A lot of thought and advanced engineering went into the physical design of the device, and it shows. The only minor design flaw I could find, was the camera lens sticks out, leaving it open to possible scratching. Other areas I think HTC could improve on are the lack of a HD video camera and a possible front-facing camera. The Sense UI, which is found on all HTC devices, is incredibly beautiful. It adds a needed level of beauty and polish to the Android OS. The Android OS is improving greatly with every new release, and I see it as the definite winner when you compare Android to iPhone OS. Google might be a search company, but they sure do know what users want, and they deliver it. Last but not least, are the applications. Android applications have really come a long way in the last few months, and I found a decent number of the applications in the Android Marketplace to be as polished and functional as the same apps found in the iTunes App Store.

Will I be making the switch to Android from iPhone? Well, as of right now, the answer is yes no (see why: WWDC Keynote Wrap-Up), but that might change soon. For those of you that don’t know, on Minday, June 7, 2010, Steve Jobs is set introduce the new iPhone 4/HD at WWDC. There has been a bunch of information leaked about this new iPhone, most of which I am not very impressed by. If Steve announces only what has been leaked so far with no new surprises, than yes, I will switch to Android in June when my AT&T contract expires. If Steve comes out with a big new surprise about the new iPhone, then I might have to reconsider switching, but as it stands now, I do plan to go Android very soon.

One additional thing I want to add concerns Verizon Wireless service. Tons and tons of people complain about the horrible AT&T service, but I can honestly say that I experience far more low-signal areas on the HTC Incredible (Verizon) than I did on the iPhone (AT&T). While I do plan to switch to Android, I will be sticking with AT&T, as it seems to be a much better service provider.

Demo Video

Below are 2 demo video’s showing the quality to the HTC Incredible video camera. I would recommend you watch them on YouTube and bump the quality to 480p to see it in its true quality.

Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ljSLdmdOx8

Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrMs-DLXhO8

What are your thoughts on the HTC handsets and the Android vs. iPhone showdown? Who do you side with?

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1598/htc-incredible-reviewed/feed/ 5 http://atlchris.com/1598/htc-incredible-reviewed/ Building The Ultimate Media Center PC: Part 1 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Atlchris/~3/1i0SFB4gzro/ http://atlchris.com/1586/building-the-ultimate-media-center-pc-part-1/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 14:52:29 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1586 About 2 months ago, I decided to take it on to myself to build the ultimate Media Center PC setup. As many of you know, I am a huge movie/film buff. My massive DVD collection currently stands at about 400 DVD’s. In an attempt simply my living room, I decided to build a home theater PC that would allow me to rip my entire DVD collection to a series of hard drives and easily control everything with a remote control from the comfort of my couch.

In this first post, I will briefly introduce you to the hardware and the software I have used to build my home theater PC. I will review all aspects of my home theater PC in greater detail with a series of posts over the next few weeks.

The Computer

For about a week, I researched different home theater PC options. I looked into PC’s, Mac’s, and the possibility of building my own machine. After much thought and research, I decided the best solution was a top of the line Mac Mini. I purchased the 2.53 GHz – 4GB – 320GB HDD Mac Mini from Amazon for $769.89.

You can purchase the Mac Mini for $777.17 on Amazon.

Additional Hardware

Aside from the computer, I needed a few extra items to really maximize the potential of my home theater computer. For storage, I decided to purchase a Drobo S. For those of you that don’t know, a Drobo is a box that contains multiple hard drive bays. You can insert different size/brands of hard drives into the Drobo and it will spread your data across the various drives. Ultimately what this means, is if a drive in your Drobo fails, you simply take that drive out of the Drobo and put in a new one, and no data will be lost. For TV viewing, I decided to checkout the Elgato Eye TV Hybrid. This is a USB TV turner that allows you to plug a cable or TV antenna wire into your computer. To control everything, I decided to go with the beautiful and incredibly functional Logitech Harmony One remote control.

You can purchase the Drobo S for $637.71 on Amazon.

You can purchase the EyeTV Hybrid for $134.90 on Amazon.

You can purchase the Harmony One Remote for $177.91 on Amazon.

The Software

One of the reasons I decided to go with a Mac instead of a PC was the availability of amazing home theater geared software. For playing my ripped DVD’s and other content on my Drobo S I decided to go with an application called Plex. Plex is a wonderful application that takes your content, organizes it into a nice “remote friendly” interface, and ever downloads movie posters, synopsis information, cast and crew information and fanart (menu background images associated with that film). It works with Movies, TV Shows, and Music. It also offers a library of handy plugins to help you easily access content from Hulu and Netflix.

While Plex does offer plugins for internet content, I decided to go with the increasingly popular Boxee for my online content. Boxee is a great application that organizes all of the popular online video content into an easy “remote friendly” interface. What I love about Boxee, is you can access the most popular TV Shows from across the web from inside the Boxee interface, no need to browse to 10 different websites to get your content. Some of the content available includes Hulu, NBC, ABC, Netflix, MLB, YouTube, and even Pandora.

For watching live TV, I opted to go with the Elgato Eye TV Hybrid and the Eye TV 3 software. The Eye TV software works with EyeTV hardware to bring live TV to your Mac. You can browse through channel guides from TV Guide, setup shows to record, manage reoccurring season recordings, and of course watch live TV and channel surf like on your normal cable box.

Now, I have all this great software, how am I controlling it all? I could just use my wonderful Apple remote, but that is a bit to simple for me. I didn’t want to have a different remote for my media center, my TV, and my surround sound system. I opted to go with a Logitech Harmony One remote and the amazing Remote Buddy software from IOSPiRIT. Essentially, what Remote Buddy does, is it allows you to control almost any aspect of your computer from a remote control. You can launch applications, change control panel settings, do program specific activities, and even write custom Applescripts to accomplish almost anything. Most opt to go with the simple setup and use the Remote Buddy menu to accomplish mosts tasks. Being the hardcore geek that I am, I opted to get into the more advanced functionality of Remote Buddy. I will do a full post on my Remote Buddy setup in the near future.

Final Thoughts

The information above, is just a glimpse of what is to come. I am going to walk you through my setup, in great detail, over the next couple of weeks. Some of the information I am going to go into greater detail about, is formal reviews of all of the software and hardware above, how everything is connected, and some of the more advanced geeky customizations I have made. Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed, so you don’t miss out on any of this series of posts.

* The prices above are what the various products cost at the time this post. Some of them may change by the time you are reading this.

If you have any specific questions you would like me to answer about my setup, please ask them in the comments section below. I will try to answer all of your questions as I write the more detailed posts. When I answer a question, I will reply letting you know that I answered it, and will link you to where you can find the answer.

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