Mike Zupan Photography

Amazon Video on Demand $0.99 movie rentals

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:44:00 +0000

Some great deals on rentals at Amazon Video on Demand to take you through the weekend.

$0.99 RENTALS
Stargate: Continuum
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Made of Honor
Deception
Son of Rambow

$1.99 RENTALS
Girl Next Door
Saw
Saw II

Great deals on Amazon Video on Demand

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:56:00 +0000

There are quite a few excellent deals available for Amazon Video on Demand rentals and purchases. These are just a few of the ones that I found while browsing the site. Not sure how long they will last, so grab them while you can!

UPDATE 11/8/2008: It appears that the movies that were on sale for $1.99 are back to their regular prices. Apparently the prices were only good for Friday because those movies were not that price on Thursday. I will continue to monitor this and see if it is a regular event.

$0.99 RENTALS:
Serenity
Idiocracy

$1.99 PURCHASES
~~Battlestar Galactica: Razor~~
~~Ghostbusters~~
~~Dreamcatcher~~
~~The Happening~~
~~Sex and the City~~
~~Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone~~
~~Speed Racer~~
~~The Mummy Returns~~
~~Troy - Director's Cut~~
~~Last Samurai~~
~~Superman: The Movie~~
~~Superman Returns~~
~~Outbreak~~
~~The Matrix Revolutions~~
~~Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines~~
~~The Matrix Revolutions~~
~~One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest~~
~~Blazing Saddles~~
~~Goodfellas~~
~~Unforgiven~~
~~Full Metal Jacket~~

Comcast CableCards in TiVo = poor customer experience

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:50:00 +0000

I am extremely frustrated with Comcast's customer service and their inability to get CableCards to work in my two TiVo boxes. I have had two technicians out and have had to call their technical support four times so far resulting in several hours of my time wasted as well as theirs.

I have had Comcast Internet for quite a while with my own personal cable modem. It took Comcast about two weeks to get that working, but it has worked well ever since.

For the past year I have been using an indoor antenna to get over the air HD signals into my TiVo Series 3. I wanted to see some shows on cable so I called up Comcast to see what kind of deals they have. This is my experience so far.

October 2, 2008 - Initial Call

When I called Comcast, the person that I spoke with seemed pretty confused about the fact that I wanted to get four CableCards total to go into two TiVo boxes. However, one of the very first things he said was that they don't get very many calls for CableCards in TiVo boxes.

I was on the phone for about 30 minutes with him and then we got disconnected. I'm not sure if it was on his end or mine. I figured that he'd call me back since we were in the middle of a transaction, but he didn't and I called back right away.

CALL-BACKS: Why is it that Comcast Technical Support does not call their customer's back if they get disconnected? It's very frustrating to have to start over from scratch. This happened with Sales and Technical Support.

As I mentioned, I called back and luckly there was no wait. The exact same person answered the call, so he knew what I was calling about. I was on the phone for another 60 minutes, most of which I was on hold or sitting there in silence. The problem was that he could not locate the codes to enter for the CableCards. However, he was polite and he presented me with a good deal, so I was happy. He scheduled the technician to come install the CableCards on Monday evening.

October 6, 2008 - Technician Visit #1

My scheduled window for cable installation was 6pm to 9pm. The technician called around lunch time and said that he was in the area and asked if I was available earlier. I couldn't get away from work, so I kept the same time, but I thought it was a nice gesture. I called him back at about 5pm and he was at my place at around 5:30pm.

The first thing he said to me was that he had never installed CableCards in a TiVo before.

TRAINING: There are only three TiVo models that accept CableCards: the TiVo Series 3, the TiVo HD, and the new TiVo HD XL. You would think that Comcast would train their installers and Technical Support how to install and troubleshoot CableCards in these three popular TiVo boxes. I mean, there's only three of them! Comcast should know which of their CableCards work best in each of these three TiVo models and be able to get them configured and working in minutes. There is no excuse for not being prepared.

Rather than working on them one at a time, the technician installed all of the cards at once. The TiVo documentation which I had printed out for the technician clearly explained that Slot 1 of each box should be configured before adding another card to Slot 2, but he all he did was set the instructions aside. I thought this was funny (at my own expense) since he had already told me he had never done this before.

One of the CableCards in my main TiVo was constantly giving an error. I suspected that card was bad, but let him do his job without interfering. He called the office several times to activate the cards but the cards would not activate.

The photo above is of the 'SA CableCARD CP Screen' on my TiVo (same for all cards).

Scientific Atlanta CableCARD

CP Information

----------

Auth Status: Waiting for CP Auth

Prog number: 0

CCI byte: 0x00

ECM count: 0

EMM count: 0

Decryption status: OK

PowerKey status: Not Ready - Waiting for Time

EID: 0x0

MKS period: 60 seconds

KSE count: 0

He wanted to look outside to make sure that the cable was set up correctly coming into my home. I let him out back figuring that he knew his way around. He walked the wrong way and then I told him that it was in a fenced in area in back. He walked that direction and I went back inside. He was back in my place within seconds and I knew that he couldn't possibly have checked the line.

I told him that the line going into my living room was good because my cable modem has been working there fine, however that I didn't know if the cable connector in the bedroom worked or not because I had never had cable in there. He absorbed (or ignored) that information for now.

He worked on it for a while longer and made a couple more calls to the cable company to activate the CableCards. The cards were still not being activated.

Then, he told me that they had figured out what the problem was. He said that when they set up my cable installation that they set it up wrong. Something about improper codes were entered. He told me that everything was set up properly and all I had to do was call Comcast to get the account fixed and then everything would work.

He had been at my place for about two hours now, so I had a strong suspician that this was just a cop-out so he could leave. It seemed extremely odd that he couldn't have had the person he was speaking with on the phone fix that while he was on the phone.

At this point, he was hurridly gathering his things and put the work order sheet in front of me to sign so he could leave. I asked him to confirm that by signing the work order that I was not confirming that everything was working. He said that it was only confirming that he arrived on time and that he installed the cards, but that it was not confirming that the service was working. Hesitantly, I signed it.

Before he left, I asked him if he was sure that the cable line going into the bedroom was working. I had not seen him bring in a line tester to verify that it was receiving a cable signal. However, he assured me that it was working and then he drove away.

After he left, I hooked up my cable modem again because I had been using that cable to get through the cable installation. Now, my Internet didn't work either! I knew that the Internet line was good because my TiVo's were connecting to the TiVo service over the network. And I was able to ping external web addresses, such as the Google website. But when I tried to open websites on my computer I was just taken to a Comcast service activation page.

October 6, 2008 - Technical Support Call #1

Shortly after the technician left, I called up Technical Support to get my account straightened out. I think I went straight to an outsourced support center and I had extreme difficulty understanding the person that I was speaking with.

The support representitive that I spoke with had no idea what a TiVo box was. I had to repeatedly explain to him what was happening and that all I needed was to have them fix my account so the CableCards could be authorized.

Naturally, there were no notes on my account of what was previously discussed.

After about 45 minutes on the phone with this person, and being placed on hold for most of it, he informed me that they fixed the problem and that everything would be working in about 10 minutes. I was pleased to hear this and we ended the call.

10 minutes went by... 20 minutes... 30 minutes... still broke!

October 6, 2008 - Technical Support Call #2

After 30 minutes of waiting for my cable to start working, I called Technical Support again. Once again my call was answered by someone I had extreme difficulty understanding. I asked him to check my account for notes of my previous call so I wouldn't have to start over from scratch.

Once again, there was no record of my previous call.

I was on the phone with this person for at least 45 minutes. As with the first person I spoke with, this guy had no clue what TiVo was. He kept wanting to know the serial number off the back of my box, and I kept explaining to him that it was a TiVo box, not a Comcast box.

He asked me why I wanted to use the TiVo box and why I wasn't using a Comcast box. I'm not sure why that was relevant. It really upset me when he asked that because it seemed like this was a message being pushed by Comcast.

It feel like Comcast's internal corporate message is that they clearly do not want to support CableCards in TiVo boxes.

I told the technician that I was not interested in troubleshooting any further and that he didn't need the serial number of my TiVo box in order to troubleshoot this issue. I told him that they need to fix this.

He then started telling me that he found that there was an outage in my area and that this is why my cable and Internet were not working. This was clearly a BS response to get me off the phone. I told him that my issues were definately not due to an outage in my area.

He put me on hold for a few minutes to do some more research. This person was clearly not going to solve my issue with false excuses so I hung up.

Once again... no call-back from Comcast after being unexpectidly disconnected (as far as they were aware). Why would a support team invest so much time with a customer and not call them if the call was disconnected? To be honest, I'm glad that this one didn't call me back.

October 6, 2008 - Technical Support Call #3

I gave myself a short breather and then I called back one more time. This time I finally reached someone who sounded like they were in my own country! She was very polite and a pleasure to speak with after the previous two calls.

I was not surprised to find out that there were still no notes on my account of previous calls.

I had give her a brief explanation of my situation. This lady was familiar with what TiVo was and seemed to understand my situation. I explained that the installation technician told me that there was something wrong with my account. She checked my account and confirmed that nothing was wrong. She indicated that it may have just been an excuse for the technician to leave. We laughed that that was probably the case, although we both knew that that kind of tactic was clearly unacceptable.

She scheduled a senior tech to come out on Wednesday. I was tired of phone calls, and I just wanted someone else to come back out and fix it anyways.

I didn't get her name, but this lady really understood customer service! If anyone from Comcast reads this, please check my account to see who scheduled the senior tech to come out and hire more people like her!

October 8, 2008 - Technician Visit #2

I took some time off of work to wait for the senior technician (I assume) to arrive in the morning. When she arrived, she had someone with her that was not wearing a Comcast shirt. I don't know if he was even a Comcast employee or not, but it made me a little uncomfortable.

Before they arrived, I had already fumbled my way through my Internet issue and managed to activate it again. I'm not sure why it had to be activated again, but I got it working... on my own.

This technican seemed to know what she was doing and I was much more comfortable with her knowledge and experience than the first technician. She even knew that it takes several minutes for these TiVo boxes to reboot, which told me that she had some experience with setting up CableCards in TiVo boxes.

She did ask me at some point why I would choose to use a TiVo box instead of a Comcast one. I am getting tired of Comcast employees asking me that. It makes me feel unwelcomed.

After trying to get the cards to work for about 30-45 minutes, she spoke with someone at Comcast and insisted that the issue be escalated. I could tell that she was getting some resistance from the person on the other end of the phone, but she kept telling them to escalate it.

I also let her know that I wasn't sure if the bedroom cable outlet was good and asked her to check it. She had her helper (?) get the tester out of the truck and she had him test it. He said that it wasn't getting a signal, but he also didn't seem very confident/experienced with the line tester so I am not 100% comfortable with that analysis. However, I told her about my experience with the previous technician and that he ensured me that it was working but that I hadn't seen him actually test it. She agreed that he was probabaly just trying to get out of there.

She informed me that the issue had been escalated and told me to call the office later that afternoon, at about 4:00pm to check on the status of the escalation. I asked her if there would be notes on my account so that I wouldn't have to explain everything. She assured me that there would be notes on my account about it.

October 8, 2008 - Technical Support Call #4

I called at about 5:30pm to check on the status of the escalation. I was pleased to once again speak to someone in my own country. I informed her that the technician escalated my issue and that it should all be in the notes on my account.

Yet again... no notes were on my account indicating what I would be calling about.

I gave her a brief explanation and let her know (in a polite and civil manner) that I was extremely frustrated over this whole experience. She asked me if I knew who the senior tech had spoken with to escalate the issue, but I did not know (how could I?). She put me on hold for a few minutes to investigate this further on her side.

When she came back, she let me know that her supervisor/manager had started an email thread and would find out from the technician who they escalated the issue to and would get it all sorted out. She informed me that it should be resolved by around lunch time the next day.

I specifically asked her if someone would be calling me. She said "yes". I asked for confirmation that I would hear from someone by around 1:00pm on Thursday, October 9. She said that someone would call by about that time. We ended the call with that understanding. As with the other lady, this person was very pleasant to speak with and seemed to care about me... the customer.

It is now 9:50pm on Thursday, October 9, and I have not received the phone call that was promised to me.

What's Next?

I don't know what I am going to do next.

I am frustrated with calling Comcast and them having absolutely no record of my previous calls and interactions.
I am frustrated with their Technical Support team for not having the courtesy to call the customer back if the call is disconnected, forcing the customer to start over from scratch.
I am frustrated with Comcast's lack of training on installing and configuring CableCards in TiVo boxes.
I am frustrated that I was told a supervisor/manager would call me by a specific time/date and they did not.

I am just frustrated with this whole experience.

I am considering just canceling the whole order and going back to using an antenna until FIOS is available. Verizon already buried the FIOS cables in my neighborhood a few months ago, so it shouldn't be much longer before service is available.

I will give Comcast two more chances to correct this.

1) A Comcast representitive reached out to me by leaving a comment to a post I made in my other blog. If I do not hear from someone by tomorrow morning, I am going to accept their offer and email them requesting assistance resolving this issue.

Since there are no notes on my account with any record of my phone calls, I am using this post as a personal record of my interactions so that they have something to review.

2) If I don't hear from the supervisor/manager that was supposed to call me today, I will give them a call tomorrow afternoon. However, I suspect that nobody will know anything about an escalation or a promised phone call.

This isn't a new issue for Comcast. There are many other stories out there from frustred TiVo owners due to Comcast's customer service issues and lack of experience installing CableCards into TiVo boxes.

I'll keep everyone updated on the progress. Hopefully Comcast will come through and we'll be past this so my next post will be a positive one. I also hope that Comcast hears my concerns and treats them not as an attack, but as an opportunity to fix the areas of concern. I have worked in customer service (tecnnical support and IT) for most of my adult life, and this has without hesitation been one of my worst customer service experiences ever. There's simply no excuse for so many missed opportunities, and I hope that they use this information to work on their own internal processes so that other customers have a better experience. I can tell you that as someone experienced in customer service, it is much more enjoyable to be able to help a customer resolve the issue than it is to have a broken support process which causes the customer frustration and disappointment.

Microsoft MCDST certification

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:07:00 +0000

I have been devoting a lot of my time over the past couple months to getting my MCDST certification. Today I passed the first of two exams needed for that certification. The MCDST certification is for a new IT job which I will be starting soon.

Updates will probably continue to be slow as I hit the books for the second exam. If I focus, I should be ready for the test in about a month. I could probably use a fast track method to be ready sooner, but I'm going to be expected to know this stuff and I would look pretty stupid if I didn't. A lot of people are book smart, but book smart doesn't always cut it... you have to have experience so you know how to handle the situation when it comes up in the real world.

On the photography front... I have been dabbling in HDR. Real HDR... not the fake HDR using single image in Lightroom that I posted about earlier. I don't have any images to share just yet, but I'll post something soon.

Studying and getting my Wii Fit on

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:28:00 +0000

It's been a couple weeks since my last post. I've been really busy with some other things and haven't had much time to just sit back and relax.

I am starting a new IT job soon, which I am very excited about. I have been hitting the books hard studying up for the Microsoft MCDST certification exams. The MCDST certification consists of two tests. I am taking the first test on Monday and then I'll start studying for the second. I am pretty confident that I will pass. I was already comfortable with most aspects of troubleshooting Windows XP, but I have learned a lot, so it has been time well spent.

I have also been focusing on exercising to get in better shape and lose weight. I decided to make an experiment of it by using Wii Fit on my Nintendo Wii. I have committed to using Wii Fit for 90 consecutive days to see how well it works. I have created a blog so that anyone can track my progress, and hopefully it will enspire others to exercise. Please come check it out: Wii Fit 90 Day Experience

How to fix an iPhone which fails restore

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:05:00 +0000

Apple released the iPhone 2.1 Software Update today. When I got home, I immediately put my iPhone in its dock, launched iTunes, and clicked Check for Updates. There it was... the iPhone 2.1 Software Update waiting to be downloaded. I told it to continue and then I popped in a movie because these updates tend to take a while.

A while later, I went back to my computer to find a message stating that the update had failed and the iPhone would have to be restored. That sucked, but I didn't give it a second thought (since there were no other options presented to me) and chose the Restore option.

As the progress bar reached the end, I was presented with this fun message:

The iPhone "iPhone" could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (6).

When I clicked OK, it told me that iTunes found my iPhone in a safe mode state and I repeated the process of clicking Restore which led me right back to this same error. I went through this a third time (third time's a charm... right?) but had the same results. My phone was officially bricked!

I clicked the Help button and that took me to the "Update and restore error messages on the iPhone and iPod touch" article on Apple's support site.

I have worked in technical support for most of my adult life, and I could tell immediately that this is your very typical 'all-in-one' BS article that does not resolve the issue. I didn't even have to try the steps mentioned. Someone at Apple needs to take a good look at their knowledge base and review answers such as these. It is rediculous that you would have your customers jump through a lengthy string of hoops only to not resolve the issue or be told to call support (we all know how long those phone calls can be).

The REAL problem was that the file that iTunes downloaded was corrupt. The problem, however, is that once your iPhone is bricked there is no way to tell iTunes to re-download it.

(Note: These steps worked for me. I don't claim that this will work for everyone. I am not responsible if these steps make your situation worse, but let's face it... at this point your iPhone is already bricked so how much worse could it get?)

STEPS TO RESOLVE:

Manually download the appropriate iPhone 2.1 firmware from Apple (iPhone 2G / iPhone 3G).
On the iPhone screen in iTunes, hold down the 'Option' key ('Shift' on PC) and click the Restore button. In the file selection window, point it to the file you downloaded in step 1 and click OK.
After the firmware is installed, it will ask you whether you want to (1) set your phone up as a new iPhone, or if you want to (2) restore from a backup of . Choosing the latter will restore your phone to it's previous condition.

If you want, you can delete the original file that iTunes downloaded and replace it with the good file that you downloaded for safe keeping.

Mac OSX: ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates

That's it! Now why couldn't Apple provide a simple soution such as that instead of making their customers get frustrated spending hours going through troubleshooting steps that are not going to resolve their issue or having to call support? Their support team surely doesn't need the extra workload! The customer is already frustrated and upset. They just want a quick and easy solution.

Google updates Picasa and Picasa Web Albums

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:11:00 +0000

Google had a busy day today! The Google Chrome web browser release was the shot heard around the world. But in the shadow of Chrome's news, Google also released updates to it's Picasa line of photo editing and sharing products... Picasa 3 and Picasa Web Albums.

Picasa 3

Picasa 3 is Google's latest release of their photo organizer and editor software for Windows. I use Adobe Lightroom for my needs, but I am warming up to Picasa and tend to recommend it to friends and family who have a Windows computer but don't need the features of Lightroom. I didn't care for the first version of Picasa because it just seemed awkward and difficult for a novice to use.

Picasa 2 addressed many of my concerns and I installed it on my parents computer when they got a digital camera a few months ago. Picasa was simple enough that they learned how to use it to import and organize/display photos. They can also upload photos to Picasa Web to share with family and friends.

The release of Picasa 3 brings several new features. Here are some of my favorites:

Add multiple word tags: Enter 'New York' as a tag instead of entering 'New' and 'York' as separate words.
Capture screen: You can now press the Print Screen button and have the screenshot automatically put into Picasa.
Retouch images: Ability to remove blemishes from an image. Similar to the clone tool in Lightroom and Photoshop.
Add text or watermark: Easily add text or a watermark to a photo. You can set the text attributes and easily choose the location and angle of the text.
Create movies: Picasa 3 includes a movie editor so you can create movies from your video clips. I don't have any videos to try this out, but it appears to be very simple to use.

There are several other features. Visit the What's New and What's Changed pages to see what has changed. Google also released the following video to explain what's new in Picasa 3.

Picasa Web Albums

Google also updated their Picasa Web Albums photo sharing service today with a couple of new features. I have been a longtime Flickr user, and I feel that it is the superior service for it's community aspects, but Yahoo! sorely needs to invest in updating the Flickr technology or they are going to lose ground to Picasa Web Albums and other services. With these latest changes that Google has made, I may be recommending friends and family that aren't involved in the community aspect to use Picasa Web Albums instead of Flickr.

Name tags: Name tags use clustering technology to identify photos with similar faces so that you can tag those photos quickly and easily. You can then display groups of photos with a specific person or set of people.

Explore page: The new Explore page displays recent photo contributions from people around the globe. There is a slideshow of new photos from members around the world, and you can also display photos by popular tags. There is also a fun game called 'Where in the World?' where you are presented with a string of photos and have to place a pin on a map of where you think that each photo was taken. You are given points based on how close you are to the actual location. I don't know the object of this game (besides to earn points), but I quit after a few rounds.

I think that Google is headed in the right direction with Picasa Web Albums. In some ways they have surpassed Flickr, but overall they are still quite far behind. In addition to the lack of community (which they appear to be working on), Google really needs to re-evaluate the amount of storage they provide.

You get 1 GB for free with Picasa Web Albums. Adding 10 GB of shared storage (used by all Google products) will cost you $20/year. Other annual plans include: 40 GB for $75; 150 GB for $250; 400 GB for $500. With online storage services such as ADrive providing 50 GB storage free, Google's pricing needs to change if they want to stay competitive.

Jim Henson's Fantastic World

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 01:56:00 +0000

On Wednesday, my sister and I took my niece down to Washington, D.C. to the Jim Henson's Fantastic World exhibit at the Smithsonian's International Gallery. Having grown up watching Jim Henson TV shows such as The Muppet Show and Seseme Street, and enjoying Henson movies such as The Dark Crystal, The Muppet Movie, and Labrinth, the opportunity to see an exhibit of Henson's work excited me.

Unfortunately, photography is not allowed in the exhibit. I was disappointed by this, but respected their wishes and didn't try to sneak any shots with my iPhone (my DSLR would have been less than conspicuous). That said, I have found a few photos on Flickr that show a few of the displays. You can also listen to the official podcast (very informative) which is meant to be listened to as you walk through the exhibit.

As you enter the exhibit, you are immediately greeted by Kermit the Frog sitting on a log inside a display case. It is really interesting to look at these puppets (err Muppets) up close and being able to walk around the display case 360 degrees to view all sides. The only area that you can't see is the area where the hand is inserted. I never realized this, but the blacks of the eyes are made of a fabric (probably felt). I had always assumed that they were painted on.

Other Muppets on display include Rowlf the Dog, Bert and Ernie, Wilkins and Wontkins, King Goshposh and Featherstone, and Mahna Mahna and The Snowths (I may be missing a couple others). I don't know anyone who doesn't know or has never heard the Mahna Mahna song. It's a classic!

Other displays included props and clothing worn by the puppets in The Dark Crystal. There were also wall displays with original drawings and storyboards, as well as a wealth of information and behind-the-scenes photos. One photo showed Jim controlling a Muppet outside that was as taller than the building. They also had several videos on display.

My sister and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and everything kept the attention of my 16 month old niece.

October 5, 2008 is the final day of the exhibit at the Smithsonian. I highly recommend checking it out if you are in the D.C. area! I may even go back a second time before it's gone. The exhibit will be traveling to several other cities around the U.S., so check out the tour schedule to see if it is coming to a city near you.

Lightroom HDR simulation and desaturation templates

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:05:00 +0000

In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned a quick and easy way to simulate HDR from a single image in Lightroom. That post was a popular one, and I have had a few requests for the preset, so I have decided to post it here.

I am also including a simple desaturation preset to give you one-click desaturation of an image to give you a base for a black and white photo. This is one of my most used presets. I don't know why Adobe doesn't include this as a standard preset.

HDR simulation preset
Desaturation preset

Matt Kloskowski has an excellent video on installing presets over on his Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips site.

Comcast instituting a 250 GB bandwidth cap

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:44:00 +0000

Just a few days ago, I posted about some online data backup services. These services allow you to back up unlimited amounts of data for a single computer. I also mentioned how my ISP, Comcast, was in the news recently for throttling traffic.

Well, yesterday Comcast announced that starting October 1, they are implementing a bandwidth cap of 250 GB/month for residential customers.

250 GB/month is an extremely large amount of data, much more than a typical residential customer uses on a monthly basis. Currently, the median monthly data usage by our residential customers is approximately 2 - 3 GB. To put 250 GB of monthly usage in perspective, a customer would have to do any one of the following:

Send 50 million emails (at 0.05 KB/email)

Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song)

Download 125 standard-definition movies (at 2 GB/movie)

Upload 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos (at 10 MB/photo)

Not only are they implementing a 250 GB/month bandwidth cap, but they don't provide you with the tools to monitor your own usage!

Obviously, that can greatly interfere with online backup services such as Mozy and Carbonite if you have a lot of data to back up.

But it also hinders digital distribution growth for things such as: music, movies, TV shows, video games, and software. Digital distribution helps the environment because it eliminates the need for the plastic and cardboard boxes that the retail products are sold in. Digital distribution also does not rely on fossel fuel for shipment/delivery of these items.

So by instituting a bandwidth cap, Comcast is basically saying that they aren't concerned about the environment or growth of digital distribution.

Now, I want to be very clear on one thing... I do not download illegal files (copyrighted music, movies, software, etc.). As far as I'm concerned, that is stealing because you are taking something without permission or payment. But I do prefer to obtain as much as possible digitally rather than purchasing the physical product in a store. In this digital era that we are entering, 250 GB can be used up in the blink of an eye.

My Fantasy Football Team

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:34:00 +0000

We had our draft for my Fantasy Football league last night. I've got to say, while functional... I was not impressed with the official NFL Fantasy Football draft website. It was very bland looking (there were two colors... black... and you guessed it... white) and the chat application had some lag and really tiny text. I think next year I will try one of the other fantasy football sites, like EA, ESPN, or Yahoo. I want something

Now, I present to you... the Crazed Meerkats:

Brett Farve (QB) - Jets
Clinton Portis (RB) - Redskins
Kevin Smith (RB) - Lions
Santana Moss (WR) - Redskins
Chris Chambers (WR) - Chargers
Lee Evans (WR) - Bills
Chris Cooley (TE) - Redskins
Josh Brown (K) - Rams
Patriots (DEFENSE)

RESERVE
Philip Rivers (QB) - Chargers
DeAngelo Williams (RB) - Panthers
Vincent Jackson (WR) - Chargers
Owen Daniels (TE) - Texans
Chiefs (DEFENSE)

Even with the disappointing site, I had a lot of fun picking my players. I'm looking forward to the coming weeks to see how my team does.

Backing Up Your Data Online

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:54:00 +0000

Do you back up the data on your computer, such as your photos, music, and documents? If so, you deserve a gold star!
But here's the more relevant question... do you have an offisite backup of your data? If your home burned down, or your computer was stolen, or even if the hard drive in your computer went bad, would you lose years of precious unrecoverable memories and hard work?

So many people simply do not back up their data. Many of the backup software options out there are simply too complex for the average user, and they involve purchasing yet another expensive box to sit on the already crowded computer desk.

I back up my Mac Pro to an external hard drive using Time Machine. Macs are known for their simplicity, and Time Machine is no exception. You just attach a hard drive and click the Enable button for Time Machine and it does the rest for you. This is a great local storage option for any Mac user. But Time Machine doesn't store data offsite/online, and there isn't a PC version.

I was looking for an online backup solution to back up the data on my computer, as well as my sister's and parents computers. While I am proud of my parents for learning to use a computer for email and Internet, setting up and maintaining backups is not something they would be comfortable with.

There are two online backup solutions that stand out as the leaders which I would trust with my data... Carbonite and Mozy. Each will run you about $50 per year, which is much cheaper and less frustrating than purchasing an external hard drive and backup software.

I chose to subscribe my parent's computer to Carbonite. And as with most technologies, I went with the wrong one first (yes, I picked HD-DVD before Blu-ray finally won the HD format war). No, I'm not saying that that the service is bad. It was simple to set up and my parents aren't even aware that it's there. One thing that sets Carbonite apart from Mozy is that Carbonite adds a little green, yellow, or red dot on each of your file icons. This is a good visual indication of which files are included in the backup and the color indicates if the file has been successfully backed up or not. But I also find those dots to be a bit distracting. I wish there was another method of viewing the files included in the backup and their status. If you are a Mac user, you're out of luck. They claim to be working on a Mac client and allow you to email if you want to be included in the beta. I sent in my email about three months ago and haven't heard from them since.

After waiting not hearing a peep about the Mac client beta, I decided to give Mozy a try since they DO have a Mac client. It installed on my Mac Pro and told it what files I want backed up (I just selected my entire home folder, but you can choose individual files and folders if you choose) and it started backing up immediately.

Security: Both Carbonite and Mozy provide a security encryption key, but Mozy also provides the option to create your own key at no additional cost. It makes me feel good knowing that if my data were ever stolen from Mozy's datacenter, or if Mozy had to provide data to another party access to their servers as a part of a legal issue, that my data is encrypted with a unique encryption key that only I have access to decrypt. Choosing your own encryption key is simple. You just type some characters that you won't forget, and it uses that simple word or phrase to generate a key. Make sure that you don't forget that word or phrase though, because unlike using the Mozy provided key, they can't decrypt the files if you happen to forget your key information.

Speed: Now one thing that you will find with either service is that it can be a slow process. If you have less than 10-20 GB to back up, it can take anywhere from a few days to a 1-2 weeks. But my photos alone are 85 GB (I shoot in RAW), and my music is another 83 GB. Add in my documents and other information i wanted backed up and it came out to about 210 GB. Carbonite can handle this, but it takes an eternity to complete at approximately 350 Kbits/sec. It's currently been about 3 weeks, and I'm only up to 36 GB backed up. I think that part of the problem is that I have Comcast, who is known to throttle the speeds for high usage customers. FIOS is about to become available in my neighborhood, so that should help.

Website: The Mozy website is hands-down easier to use than the Carbonite website. The Carbonite website doesn't show you how much data you have backed up, so you can't monitor your usage or identify if the backup has stalled on one of the computers on your account. Mozy lets you see how much data has been backed up for each computer on your account. I also found that it was impossible to open a Carbonite account from a Mac computer. It kept telling me that my computer was unsupported (since it was a Mac), but all I wanted to do was open the account and pay for the subscription for my parents account, so that it would save some time when I went to install it on their computer. However, once the account is created and paid for, you can log into the account on the website from a Mac.

I installed Mozy on my sister's computer too. She doesn't like to have to worry about things like backing up her data or keeping her virus scanner up to date. I set these things up to be as unobtrusive as possible. I was also able to password protect Mozy's settings so that she doesn't accidently get in there and change the settings. I disable all of the notifications to make it less obtrusive. If I hadn't told her that I installed backup software on her computer, she would never know its there. Once my parents Carbonite subscription runs out, I'll switch them over to Mozy too.

Bottom line... I recommend Mozy over Carbonite for two reasons. Mozy has a Mac client, and they allow you to use your own encryption key. However, if neither of those concern you then you can't go wrong with either one. At $50 per year (Mozy also offers a $4.95/mo payment option) there really is no excuse not to back up your data!

Joined A Fantasy Football League

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:05:00 +0000

I was invited to play in a Fantasy Football league with some friends at work. I've never played Fantasy Football, so I decided to give it a shot. Sounds like it will be fun! The draft is this coming Wednesday. I'll post updates on my progress. I'm such a newb!

Switched From Wordpress To Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:53:00 +0000

Google sure doesn't seem to want to make it easy for Wordpress users to switch to Blogger.

I just went through the tedious process of copying and pasting all of the posts from my self-hosted Wordpress blog over to this Blogger blog. As expected, several posts will need to be fixed where a Wordpress plugin was used, but I've got the frustrating part done now by manually copying all of my posts over.

Google really needs to make it a high priority to create an import tool that imports blog exports from Wordpress, TypePad, and other competitors if they want people to switch. I have read comments from several others wanting to switch from Wordpress to Blogger, but Blogger's lack of a tool to import Wordpress exports is preventing them from doing so. I should be able to export my blog from any blog service and import it into any other blog service. It should be portable and easy to switch. Instead, it is anything but.

I will probably point my personal URL to this blog in a week or so and then get rid of Wordpress and cancel my hosted service.

Lightroom 2 Released

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:33:00 +0000

Adobe released Lightroom 2 early this morning. This is Adobe's first 64-bit program for Mac and Windows. The full version is $299, but existing Lightroom owners can upgrade for $99.

If you are a NAPP member, don't forget to take advantage of your 15% member discount. See the member area of the NAPP website for details.

The original Lightroom came with a decent manual, so I went ahead and ordered the boxed product to see if they delivered a good manual again.

In the meantime, I installed the 30-day trial. It installed without a hitch and upgraded my existing Lightroom library. This will tide me over until I receive the boxed product to get my product activation key.

IndyCar Races Through Richmond

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:05:00 +0000

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Saturday night's SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway was my first time attending an IndyCar race. The first time that I had even watched an Indy race was about a week prior to this race. Sexy driver Danica Patrick (#7 Motorla/GoDaddy car)peaked my interest to check it out and now I'm officially hooked!

I used to be a smoker (can't stand it now) and occasionally get promotional offers from Marlboro. I usually pass them up, but this time it was two free tickets for the SunTrust Indy Challenge in Richmond. When I claimed my tickets (normally $37 each) at the race, they also provided two nice mesh bags, binoculars, a disposable camera, ear plugs, a lighter case, and two headsets (normally $60) to listen to the drivers and pit crew. I guess all those years of smoking paid off!

The first half of the race was plagued with yellow flags. 102 of the 300 laps were under caution. That's the second most in IndyCar racing history! The record is 116 laps under caution during a 2002 race at Nazareth. Most of the yellow flags took place during the first 200 laps of Saturday's race. The last 100 were relatively flag free.

Some guy attempted to throw his hat over the fence and onto the race track. I don't think the police realized who did it, so what did the guy do? He went and picked up the hat and attempted to throw it over the fence again! He then resisted when the police officer tried to escort him out, so the officer signaled for his buddies and about five other cops arrived and persuaded the guy out of the race area.

I've never photographed a race before... much less one at night, so I didn't quite know what to expect. Poor lighting, cars flying by at high speeds, and the fence were all interesting hurdles. They don't let you stand next to the fence to photograph the race, so I had to take pictures from the stands. Half of my shots were perfectly in focus... if your focus was the fence links! I had to do a lot of manual focusing that night.

7-Eleven car (#11) driver Tony Kanaan won the race. It was his 13th career victory. Danica Patrick finished 6th.

Here's a few of the shots from the race. Enjoy!

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Switching from Canon to Nikon

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:51:00 +0000

I am going to make the switch from Canon to Nikon for my DSLR in the coming months. The Nikon D300 has captured my interest and envy.

I have been thinking about upgrading my Canon EOS 30D for quite some time. The Canon EOS 40D has some really nice features that I would like, but the improvements just aren't enough to justify the cost to upgrade.

So I have been holding out for the mythical Canon EOS 5D replacement to be announced to see what that brings to the table. Every few months you see an uproar of posts on the Flickr forums about the imminent release of the 5D replacement. We're all still waiting... and waiting.

Recently I started evaluating whether Canon was the best choice for *me*. I am certainly not saying that Canon is a bad product. Quite the contrary... I have been extremely happy with my camera. You can't go wrong with either Canon or Nikon for DSLRs. Those are the only two DSLR brands that I would recommend to my friends.

However, my friends and family (that have a DSLR) all use Nikon cameras. Most of the pro/semi-pro photographers that I follow use Nikon cameras. If they all had Canon cameras I wouldn't be questioning which brand is right for me.

One of the things that influenced me to choose Canon was the famous white professional lenses that you see at football games. I have one of those lenses: the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. It's my favorite lens, but it draws a lot of attention. So much so that it's turned me off of the 'white' lens envy. I wish now that it were black. I will definitely be purchasing the Nikon equivalent of this lens.

I have to recover from a recent home repair, so I've got some time to think it through. But that Nikon D300 is drawing me in like a moth to a flame.

Geotagging Photos With The 3G iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:27:00 +0000

In my last post, I mentioned that I hoped the GPS built-into the 3G iPhone would permit me to use the iPhone for geotagging photos. Apparently Apple already had that in mind. However, it is not clear whether this can only be done for photos taken with the iPhone's built-in camera or if you can use this feature with a real camera too.

Here's an excerpt from the 3G iPhone GPS information page:

iPhone 3G provides GPS-powered location feeds to built-in applications as well as to applications available on the App Store. Take a photo with the camera, for example, and iPhone can geotag it with GPS location information. That way, when you share photos online, friends and family can see where every snapshot was taken. And you can shop the App Store for GPS-enabled applications such as mobile friend finders or interactive city guides.

3G iPhone announced today

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:10:00 +0000

To no surprise, Apple announced the 3G iPhone today. I remember waiting in line for a few hours to get my iPhone the day it was released approximately one year ago today. It has easily been my favorite and most useful gadget that I have ever purchased, although I can't get a signal inside my home without running to a window on the opposite side of the house. Damn you AT&T! I had excellent reception in the same location when I had Verizon. But life's not perfect. I could get a signal repeater but it's just been a minor inconvenience. If I had to go outside to take a call then it would be a different story.

The 3G iPhone has everything that my current iPhone has PLUS the 3G speeds and built-in GPS. The 3G network speeds are nice, but the built-in GPS is what I am really looking forward to!

It will be interesting to see how the GPS can be used. Obviously, it can be utilized with the iPhone's Google Maps software. But can it be used for geotagging photos? I hope that if it is possible that someone create an iPhone program to do so. That would be worth it's weight in gold!

The only real thing that I feel is lacking now is an SD memory card slot. As it is now, there is no way to add additional memory. If you want more memory then you have to purchase a new iPhone with a higher capacity (if there even is one). That doesn't seem like a huge deal now, but once the iPhone apps are released I suspect that they can fill up the memory fast, leaving less room for your music and videos. And a file browser (sorry... that's two things).

I am disappointed that they chose plastic for the back of the case rather than aluminum used on the current iPhone. The aluminum was a draw because it can be easily recycled.

I am also interested to find out what people are to do with their perfectly good 1st gen iPhone that is being replaced. I think that Apple should create a way for iPhone owners to disable the phone features to convert their iPhone to an iPod Touch for use without phone/data service. It's basically the same equipment. I'd like to give my iPhone to my sister once I upgrade. She needs a good iPod, but has no use for an iPhone since she is locked into a contract already with another phone carrier.

The 3G iPhone will be released on July 11 and requires a 2-year contract with AT&T.

Obi Wan Kenobi

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:49:00 +0000

Obi Wan Kenobi, originally uploaded by JodieBean.

Don't let the cuteness fool you. He's using the Jedi mind trick! You can't look away, can you?

The weather has been uncomfortably hot and humid lately so I have been spending some extra time in Flickr, where I found this little fella.

My Favorite Photography Subject

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:18:00 +0000

I have long considered nature and wildlife as my favorite subjects to photograph. I don't like photographing people very much because there is too much pressure on making them look good because they expect every shot I take to be a miracle shot.

However, now I have a new favorite subject. My niece, Mackenzie, was born 13 months ago and she has captured my heart and focus. She is incredibly active and photogenic! Last Friday she had to hold onto things to walk around. Then when I went to visit her a few days later, she was walking all by herself! She's growing up so fast.

Here are a few shots of her first birthday taken last week. I used Lightroom to apply filters to some for interesting effects. You can see additional photos at my Flickr page.

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Apple TV 'Take Two' software update

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:21:00 +0000

It's been a while since I've posted anything. The weather has been too bad to get in some photography outings, so there just hasn't been much on the photography side.

However, today Apple released the free 'Take Two' software update for Apple TV. I can't express how pleased I am with this update! I have always enjoyed my Apple TV, but this update has turned it from a novelty to a 'must have' component for my living room.

The user interface has changed completely. Everyone knows that the big addition is the ability to rent standard and HD movies directly from the Apple TV. That's nice and all, but there are other features that really excite me.

You can now view photos from Flickr or a .Mac photo album. I use Flickr extensively, so this peaked my interest. But not only can you view your photos/albums, but you can also browse your friends photos (and their friends), and bookmark their photo stream for easy viewing. And here's the kicker... you can make any of these photo albums your Apple TV screensaver/slideshow! That is my absolute favorite feature of the 'Take Two' update. I currently have my sister's 'Recent Additions' photos from her Flickr account set as my Apple TV screen saver.

In the video settings, you can now set your Apple TV to display at 1080p! I haven't noticed this documented anywhere, but then again I have not been doing a lot of research on it either.

The line between local and streaming content has been blurred. You no longer see only what is stored on the Apple TV. You see the entire contents of your iTunes collection on your computer. Before this update, you had to navigate to a special area hidden deep in the menus just to stream items from your computer's iTunes. The process of viewing local content (stored on Apple TV) and viewing streamed content (stored on your computer) was very distinct. You had to jump through hoops to do it. Not anymore! Now it just works!

I did experience some movie preview buffering issues when I was trying it out earlier today, but I think that's just due to the increased traffic to the Apple servers as a result of the update. I'm sure that will clear up.

If you don't have an Apple TV, go to an Apple Store and try one out! I can feel confident about recommending one to my family and friends now. Overnight, the Apple TV has turned into a major contender in the media center/hub market.

Photos make great Christmas gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:18:00 +0000

It's been a while since I've posted something photography related. I did get the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Image Stabilizer USM lens, but the weather has been so bad/cold here that I haven't had a chance to get out and use it yet. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be sunny and around 65 F, so I am taking those days off from work to get out and enjoy the warmer weather and make use of this monster.

For Christmas, I usually do something photography related for my family. I usually create a calendar for my parents and sister. Last year the calendar was all photos that I had taken over the course of the year.

This year, I decided to do something different with the calendar. I have been teaching myself photo restoration and have made a project of restoring several boxes of my mother's old photos. For this year's calendar, I chose my sister and I as the theme. I sifted through 38 years of photos and picked out about 24 of my favorites to restore for the calendar. It was quite a time intensive project, but it turned out very nice and my sister and parents loved it!

I also chose to restore a 37 year old portrait of my grandparents (who are no longer with us) to give to my mother, her sisters (my aunts), and each of the grandchildren (my sister and cousins). I think that this really moved them. They had this picture already, but it was old and faded. I was glad that I could bring them so much joy and memories. This was a tough project because of the state of the photo, but I think my hard work on it paid off.

I used an Epson Perfection V700 Photo scanner, VueScan scanning software, Adobe Lightroom, and Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended for all photo restoration work.

Hopefully I will have some photos to share on Monday or Tuesday. I will probably hit the National Zoo and the Smithsonian area in Washington D.C.. I may even head out to Arlington National Cemetery. I haven't been out there in a few months.

My thoughts on the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:23:00 +0000

I have been a relatively quiet supporter of HD DVD since the release of the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. Most of my favorite movies and TV shows were available on HD DVD. The fact that Battlestar Galactica was available exclusively on HD DVD sealed the deal for me.

Signs seemed good for HD DVD. Most movies/shows that were available on both formats were typically selling better in HD DVD according to Amazon.com's top 100 'Bestsellers in DVD' list. I usually use Panet Earth as the benchmark for HD format performance. If you haven't viewed this show in HD then you haven't experienced HD! For months, the HD DVD version was outselling the Blu-ray version. Within the past week or two, the Blu-ray version has jumped slightly ahead of the HD DVD version. I should also note that the regular DVD version has continuously outsold both.

But back to the 'Bestsellers in DVD' list. Just before Christmas, Amazon.com launched a 'Buy One, Get One Free' sale for HD DVD discs from a list. That put about 10-15 HD DVD discs in the top 100 DVDs list. It seemed like things were looking good for HD DVD because there were only about five Blu-ray discs in the list.

However, Amazon.com has now launched a 'Buy One, Get One Free' sale for Blu-ray. As of this posting, Blu-ray currently has 34 titles listed in the top 100 discs from all formats, whereas HD DVD only has three titles in the top 100. For the first time (that I am aware of), Blu-ray titles are even outselling regular DVD titles. The first four Harry Potter movies in Blu-ray format are the top four titles in the list.

Yesterday, Warner Bros. Entertainment announced that they were going to drop HD DVD support at the end of May 2008 and move exclusively to Blu-ray. Until that date, they will release HD DVD titles after the standard DVD and Blu-ray releases.

"Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008."

There was a follow-up announcement which stated that New Line Cinema was also switching to Blu-ray exclusively. At this time, it is unknown whether HBO will follow suit.

In response to this announcement, the HD DVD Promotions Group has decided to cancel Sunday's CES Press Conference.

Even though I have been an HD DVD supporter, I view these recent events as a welcome defeat. Sure, I hate to think about the money I spent on HD DVD discs. But I had only purchased a few 'must-have' titles because I was waiting to see how things turned out in the "format war". But I have really enjoyed watching HD DVD titles from Netflix over the past 1 1/2 years so I have no regrets.

If the HD DVD Promotions Group really wants to do what is right for the consumers, they should take this opportunity to end the format war. They should release the final two major studios (NBC/Universal and Paramount) from their exclusivity contracts, or let those studios buy their way out of the contract. I wouldn't be surprised if those studios had a clause in the contract for scenarios such as this.

I had high hopes for HD DVD, but in the end I really just wanted one format to be decided upon so I didn't waste a lot of money on dead technology. I just ordered my first four Blu-ray discs from Amazon.com's 'Buy One, Get One Free' sale. Guess which ones.

OpenID enabled for site comments

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:22:00 +0000

I have enabled the ability to use an OpenID identification to leave comments on this blog.

OpenID is a digital identity which allows you to log into many different websites without having to create a new login & password for each website. It's kind of like having a drivers license that can be used to identify yourself at various locations.

OpenID is not proprietary and is completely free. Additional information about what OpenID is and its benefits can be found here.

You can obtain an OpenID from several providers. I got mine from myOpenID. You might already have an OpenID and not even know it. Each of the following services automatically include an OpenID: AOL, LiveDoor, LiveJournal, Orange (France Telecom), SmugMug, Technorati, Vox, and WordPress.com.