Following the Middle East online

American news channels have a well deserved criticism. The most watched channel is the right wing hack that is Fox "News", which has less facts than Jon Stewart's satiric show. Another problem is of course the lack of reporters. CNN & others, including most newspapers, have cut staffing over the years, spending more time covering entertainment & silly stuff, like Obama's birth certificate.

But if you want to watch an outside source there is another issue. Namely the lack of availability. Most cable companies & satellite operators carry BBC America. While this sounds good, the reality is very little news is shown. Part of this is the time difference. 8PM on the west coast translates to 4AM in Britain. Now while they could replay a news show from earlier, they prefer not to. Instead BBC America would rather show Star Trek TNG or a heavily edited rerun of The Tudors (a sexy Showtime series with fictional or just plain bad history).

So we go to the internet. Sad to say, the BBC has never allowed broadcast of their television newscasts to go overseas. Radio broadcasts, yes. I have never understood this. There are also multiple BBC news podcasts available on iTunes, but those are, of course, several hours old.

Then there's Al Jazeera. This Qatar based satellite channel is basically the BBC or CNN of the middle east. There is a feeling among some on the right that it is islamist or anti-american, a view expressed by George W Bush. But it's website is the only one with live TV coverage Americans can get.

You can watch it directly, or through a website called livestation. Interestingly, most anchors are British. According to Wikipedia most came from the BBC or Sky News (Murdoch's satellite channel), or even CNN International, another channel I wish was available in the US.

It looks a lot like what we are used to. Interviews with analysts, a rolling bar of info at the bottom, lot's of reports from different reporters. However I have noticed that if I watch too, long, I start to see the same report rerun. So apparently they show reports on a half hour basis. Still, I shouldn't have to go here. But I notice CNN showing regularly scheduled programs, partially because they don't have the people & have decided that Americans don't care. Well, we should. As for Fox: are you serious? They're probably blaming the protests on Obama.

Depeche Mode's anti iPod album

I'm a long time fan of this great techno pop group from the 80's, & recently put the 3 CD's that I own on my iPod. I was thinking of borrowing another Cd from the public library & doing the same. Imagine my disgust when reading on Wikipedia that the 2004 Cd "Playing the Angel" was released as a "controlled copy" disc.

This was a rather infamous attempt by EMI & Sony to prevent owners of these CD's from copying them. Supposedly to prevent illegal file sharing, but what it really does is prevent you from doing anything with the disc, including putting on an iPod. I once borrowed a Jimi Hendrix compilation from the library, & when I put it in the computer's Cd drive it made a lot of rattling sounds & would not play. I was afraid it was going to damage the drive. Thanks a lot jerks.

I am amazed that this nonsense was allowed. There was an issue where these type of discs wouldn't play in a car stereo. Nice. The backlash this stunt created is the reason it isn't used anymore. And remember that iTunes doesn't sell DRM downloads anymore. Again the backlash from the public overshadowed any worth the scheme had.

I don't steal music, although the RIAA believes borrowing CD's from the library is theft. I guarantee you 100% of all people who borrow CD's load them onto iPods. Just like in the past they would copy them to tape. Piracy is not why sales are down, inflated download prices are. I just spent $10 to buy 7 songs from iTunes. That's obscene.

Backups & labels in iTunes

I always make CD's of the songs I buy from iTunes. This is what Apple tells you to do since they won't let you re-download songs if you have a problem. No problem. It's a good idea. Especially if you buy a new computer as I did. I just used the burned CD's to add to the new version of iTunes.

Today I decided it would be a good idea to see if I could combine some of those CD's so I don't have so many. Besides if I continue to buy downloads I'm going to have quite a collection anyway.

Then I decided to see if I could print labels for these new CD's. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could. Why they print in blue with white writing, IDK. But they look good. Now my new computer has Lightscribe, which is a technology that allows you to print track listings directly on the disc. But you have to have special CD's to do that, & since I already had a cylinder of regular blank CD's, I wasn't about to go out & spend extra money just to try out that technology. I will eventually, but I don't burn enough Cd's to justify it.

Anyway, it was fun being able to do this. I still have too many burned CD's. but that's because I have enough downloads that they take up several CD's. I could burn them to DVD but I don't know if iTunes would recognize & reload those.

Why people ditch phone service

When I opened my phone bill I was surprised to see it had gone up $5. Why? I hadn't made any calls, or at least didn't remember. So I got out last month's bill & checked it. Thanks AT&T. They raised the flat rate charge $4 without informing me. How nice.

This is, of course, for the land line. Young people, or at least a lot of them, don't have landlines, only cell phones. But those can be very expensive ($70-$100 for smartphones, because of the data charges). What I hate are all the ticky tack taxes. What exactly is wire pro & why did it go up 50 cents? Why do I get charged $8 for long distance when I never make a long distance call?

My bill is now $74, but that includes $28 for 1.5mbps internet. Of course in some countries you may pay that & get 50mbps. But we invented computers so let's make sure our speeds are pathetic. Oh brother.

But we like to spend money, even in this economy. This morning I went to Trader Joe's, which is across the street from a brand new, humungous Whole Foods. Or as it is called, Whole Paycheck. Went in there once, right after it opened, saw the prices & said to myself "holy @##$%!" But Trader Joe's was almost empty, something I had never seen before. You mean you would rather pay triple at Whole Foods what you could get across the street for much less. Must be a lot of rich people in that neighborhood. Or just think they are. Or can only shop at the new place.

Welcome to a site you didn't join

Gotta love the internet. I read about Groupon, which Google tried to buy. So I decided to look at it. They wanted an e-mail address to look, so I used one I never use, because it's loaded with spam. But the thing is, I didn't actually join up. Mainly because I didn't see what I thought I would, namely lots of offers. Plus spending $10 to get $20 worth of stuff is, well, not that great.


I get weekly coupon offers from another site that is part of a brick & mortar store that's in my mall. Sign up was free, & the coupons are free ( 33%-40% off on stuff). now which would you consider a better deal? And frankly I'm more likely to buy something at that store than some of the obscure deals from companies I've never heard of that Groupon does.


But the point is, I didn't actually join, but because I gave them an e-mail address, they think I did. Ooops. Sorry. But I doubt I'll ever use your service. Pay attention to what someone is actually doing.

Comcast/NBC deal's first victim-Olbermann

This was never a good idea. Letting a cable provider buy a network. A Republican owned cable provider. But money talks. So on top of the possibility of Comcast attempting to deny access to NBC to competing providers (TW, Cablevision, Directv), we now have the firing of the most popular MSNBC host, who is responsible for the cable network's current success (plus bringing Rachel Maddow on the network).

Comcast has already denied involvement, but the right wing has denied that vicious retoric was responsible for Tucson. In other words, bogus nonsense. Let's see how long Maddow, Ed Schulz & Lawrence O'Donnell last. This is technology at it's worst. Like Conan, Olbermann will now be off the air for an extended time.

Also remember, he was on NBC Sunday Night Football because of his background as a sports anchor, but was removed from that, undoubtably because his liberal political views didn't mesh with the suits who believe that football fans are conservative, & wouldn't watch if he was on. Really? So no liberal likes football. Good luck with that one.

One silly rumor is that Olbermann will create a Huffington Post like blog or network. This makes no sense. He would have to have a large staff to do that. A podcast might be a possibility. He wouldn't have to worry about censorship, but how would he make money & what would the viewership be? It will be interesting to see where this leads.

You Tube shows incompetence

I like the TWITTV podcasts. I wanted to listen to the most recent TNT, which should be on there, but stupid You Tube can't find it. Why is that? Every other episode is on there. BTW- NOT in chronological order, which is stupid. Now, I should be able to find it by typing in the exact episode number, but nooooo. That doesn't work.

Seriously, what is the problem/ I will now have to go on iTunes & download it , filling up space on my harddrive, just because for one day, You Tube didn't know what it was doing. But , of course, I can always find that video of a cat using a toilet or chasing a roll of toilet paper. Gawd, what's wrong with people?

Using You Tube to find music

You can listen to commercial radio, satellite radio or internet radio. Or even things like Pandora. One thing you can't do is decide what song or artist to play next, unless you're playing your own stuff. That's what i use you tube for.

If I know someone I like has a new album out, I can put on a station that plays that format & wait for them to play a song, but how long will that take, & will they only play one song? The solution is to go on You Tube, type in the artists name & search through the videos looking for ones from the new album.

I just did this. I found out that Arcade fire had a new album out. Their last CD I have on my iPod. I had never heard of them before, but was reading an article on Wikipedia about alternative rock, & had seen their CD at my public library, so I borrowed it & really liked it.
Now I find out they are becoming more successful & have a new CD. But there isn't any place around here selling CD's. It's all about downloads now. Target, Walmart & Best Buy have all butchered their music sections.

So I go on You Tube, find the new stuff, listen to it, & it's damn good! It sounds like their previous CD but different. Hopefully these guys will become big sellers, but I doubt that, because even U2 couldn't sell more than 3 M copies of their last CD. It seems to be all about singles now. My suggestion: Go on You Tube, listen to a bunch of songs, if you like them, then buy the Cd. Doesn't matter what group or singer. If you only like one or two songs, then feel free to download that song. If you like every song you hear, find a store that actually sells CD's & buy it. Here that means driving 10 miles to campbell to one of two new/used CD stores (the only shops with a CD section more than one rack).

Directv raising rates again

This is frustrating. Satellite TV is cheaper than cable, but it's getting closer every day. I just got an e-mail telling me that my rates are going up another $3 next month. It seems that this happens every year. Of course part of it is greedy stations raising their fees to the distributors like Directv, Dish & cable companies. ESPN is known to be a major source of this.

I have what is called a "legacy package". That means the package I have is no longer offered by Directv, but I get to keep it. It has channels that are no longer in the base package, but actually in higher packages. For instance, I have Speed TV, which shows Formula One races live all season, plus Moto GP (European bike racing), & ALMS.

According to the website I have channels I'm not supposed to have like ESPN!!! Plus I have a couple of channels that are part of the Showtime package that I have always had despite not subscribing to Showtime. (Go ahead, take them away, I have never watched them in 3 years). Plus it claims I don't have Comcast Sportsnet. Uh, it's always been on. That's how I watch the Sharks (well, not recently, they've been sucking big time).

Needless to say, I will be keeping an eye on my package in case I have to upgrade. What am I going to do, only watch network? I think not.

CBS Removes Videos From Website

I am very angry right now. I don't have a VCR. The only way I get to watch episodes of David Letterman or Craig Ferguson is online. I watched the first 10 minutes of last Thursdays episode, & then suddenly the screen goes blank & I get this phony baloney crap "the video you are watching has expired". Excuse me? It was the 2nd most recent video on there.

This garbage needs to stop. CBS pulls this crap at least once a year. I am sick & tired of it. Of course if you try to complain nobody responds. There are articles on the web about CBS doing this to various shows, but the posts are a year old. Like I said this network pulls this at least once a year.

I don't have a DVR or on demand. This is how I keep up with various shows. This seems to be the only network that pulls this crap. Hell every BCS game is on ESPN's site, no problem. I can watch House or 30 Rock on Hulu, but I can't watch Letterman WTF?

This is obviously the worst network as far as how they treat the audience. It's inexcusable. They think because they're #1 they can piss on the audience. Well guess again. I'll find another station to watch. I would also suggest not watching reruns of CBS shows on cable because they get money for them. Grow up & quit treating the audience like garbage.

Burning CD's for no fun & little profit

So I made the mistake of telling someone at work that i have an Elvis CD. So now he wants me to burn it for him. Oh brother. Like he can't go to a used CD store & buy it for, o say, $6. Yeah, he has no money. But goes to the bar at least once a week. Whatever.

So I'll do it. But take my time. I have 4 days off this week. Today is day 3. Haven't done it yet. I set up a playlist. Hmmm. The entire first Cd only takes 43 minutes. Maybe I can put it all on one, or edit the double Cd to get the majority of the songs on it. The only issue is putting the songs in the same order they are on the Cd, since they're on itunes in alphabetical order.

I really don't understand itunes sometimes. On my ipod, if I click on albums, sometimes the songs aren't in the right order. I found this out the other day when i clicked on Led Zeppelin II. I also have that album on a playlist in the order they originally were. Different than "albums". Huh? I've seen this before. Must be some glitch in the software. Who knows? But then again, itunes lists 2 U2 albums as "alternative" & 1 as "rock", The Beatles as "pop", but Elton John as "rock".

Now if only I could burn DVD's. But I've yet to come across any site that let's you. If I could burn ESPN full sports like football or soccer matches, I would get a new DVD player, so I could watch on my TV. Or episodes of Letterman or Ferguson, but you can only stream those, thus I have to watch while sitting in front of my computer. Oh well.

Website forgets you can print photos

In my paper today there is an article about a new website started by a father who wants to preserve his kids photos. he was afraid that if he put them on a website like Facebook or on a disc, they might get lost. If he kept them on his computer maybe the harddrive would crash.

Here's my problem with people today. Yes, that can happen. And yes, a photo site might go out of business, & yes Kodak dumped Kodachrome. But that's not the only type of film. And guess what? If you print the photos, they will last a long time. I have 30 year old color prints in a photo album. I have 70 year old black and white prints. Does everything have to be online?

Seriously. People are so into technology that they forget there are other ways to preserve memories. It's like books. Last summer I saw at my local branch of the public library very old editions of multiple volumes of the Rise & Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbons. They were obviously old, so I looked inside. They were printed in the 1920's! The actual Declaration of Independence is in Washington. You can preserve real stuff. The obsession with "the cloud" is silly.

Yes, let's preserve stuff digitally. But let's not pretend if you don't it will go away. Physical is always better. What happens if a new format comes along & all these digitally preserved things are suddenly no longer available?

Computer fan hates sleep mode

My 7 month old computer has an issue with sleep mode. Why, I don't know. This has happened at least twice. I will be using my machine, put it into sleep, go away, remember something & wake up the computer. This is after it's been off only a couple of minutes. Apparently my HP doesn't like this, so the fan goes nuts. Starts racing really fast. I end up shutting it down & rebooting it.

Now my old computer never did this in the two years I used that 8 year old that I bought used for $100. This is a brand new $600 machine, with obviously a much larger Hard Drive, memory, & faster processor. And why is it heating up, needing the fan? I don't do much more than  surf or watch video. Plus now it's winter & the house isn't exactly 90°, plus it never did that in the summer when it was hot.

I can avoid some of this by using my USB stick that has Ubuntu on it, but then what's the point of having a new computer running Windows 7? Plus, as I have said in previous posts, Ubuntu has a number of issues relating to video. I guess I will go over to Best Buy tomorrow & ask someone. Doesn't mean they know anything, but it's close by, unlike godawful Fry's. Heck I asked someone at work ( a high tech company) & they didn't know what I was talking about!

No Script's whitelist

I decided to look today at my whitelist. I have No Script because it's a good safety measure to have on your computer. Anything that prevents an outsider from gaining access to my machine is a good thing to have. It prevents people from using javascript to read your site unseen, prevents  cross scripting attacks & clickjacking.

The problem, of course, is the ability to use sites that use javascript & flash. I find myself having to allow sites just to use the site, even if it's a site I may never use again. So I went in options & found probably a hundred sites on the whitelist.

One of the problems is that these sites put javascript on multiple pages. I would have 2 or maybe 3 listings that appeared to be the same site. Maybe a dot org & a dot com. Maybe the same address but with small differences in the address, like an additional word or letter. For instance I have in my whitelist 7, count them, 7 different listings for Google! Google.com, Googleapis (huh?), Googlecode, Googlesyndication. Get it? This is what I'm talking about. And they're not the only ones. So you need these to read content, & of course, to watch video.

You could get rid of No Script. But the point of having it to keep a watch on my system. I'm sure it slows down my computer, but most sites insist on using this format It's also why I use AdBlock Plus. And that can be a bigger pain, because some sites won't even allow you to watch video without the ads loading first. CBS sometimes lets you, but I've also at times had to allow ads to watch. And interestingly, they will have 3 ads at once & only show 1 ad, & simply count down the seconds on the others before going back to the program. ESPN3 doesn't even show the ads, just a page reading "Your event will return shortly", which is actually kind of weird because it lasts the length of the ad.

So protecting your computer can be a hassle. Sometimes I use my 4GB USB stick that has Ubuntu on it if all I want to do is surf, because video sucks on Linux. Full screen hardly works at all. So you're damned if you do, & damned if you don't.

iPhone users oversleep on New Years

Seriously, this is an issue? I continue to be amazed by a generation of fools who have this attitude that anything that didn't come out yesterday is "old fashioned" & "uncool". How about "it works". I don't own an iPhone & never will. The only cell phone I own is a prepaid flip phone that does nothing but send & receive calls. What a concept!

I don't oversleep or miss appointments because I own an actual alarm clock. Imagine that! It even plays the radio. But not my iPod. That's right. I actually own an iPod nano. Just in case you thought I was a luddite. I'm not. Heck, I'm writing a blog ain't I?

The whole thing is silly. Like people who overslept because of the end of Daylight Savings Time. Uh, you didn't change your clocks? Technology is great, but it doesn't set itself. Makes me think the geek culture is lazy. I'm surprised they're able to use computers or download stuff because they have to do something. I guess I'm just an old fogey.

TV online fails on New Years

There is a lot of talk about people watching TV on the internet. I do it myself. The problem is when it doesn't work form whatever reason, or is not acceptable. Two examples from today. Watching the Rose Parade via KTLA's website. This is a local LA station that has long had the best coverage of the parade. No commercials, shows the entire parade instead of cutting away to go to a football game, no silly guest appearances from stars of network shows. Broadcast in the bay area on an independent station.

I decided to watch online. Blurry picture, or a choppy picture. I had to close my browser several times, & then relaunch it, then I had a good picture. I have plenty of RAM. My computer has 4 GB & a 3.07 GHZ processor, so there shouldn't be an issue.

Then this afternoon I decided to try watching the Rose Bowl online. Now I've watched plenty of college football online. This is the first time I have had an issue. Not a blurry picture. A different issue. Namely the broadcast freezing up. Not once, but rather several times. Once in the middle of a pass. saw the ball in the air about to be caught. Ridiculous.

Now granted, every other time I have watched a game online, it was after the fact, & I was watching video a couple of days late. This time I was watching live. But that's supposed to be the point, allowing you to watch a live event online. Are too many people watching & that's why there's a problem? If that's the case why is the picture so good? Of course, there is also the possibility that if I was watching on TV it would be the same. But if that's the case, why? Is there a satellite problem? The game's in sunny LA, not the blizzard racked northeast.

You would think by now these issues would be gone, but clearly not. Things are better than 10 years ago, but there still are transmission issues, or my ISP is unable to deal with holiday internet traffic.