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When I was a kid, watching TV programs meant watching what was on at a particular time and you had to know when your favorite shows were on and be ready to watch at that time, or have it recorded to tape (those antique things), or you’d miss out on that day or week. I remember some channels had bad reception in our area too.

I lived through the fall of the corner video stores (RIP Blockbuster and Hollywood Video), so the slow(!) change to the on-demand delivery of content was not unforeseeable. These days, I rarely turn on a TV to watch a broadcast channel. Usually, I’m just using the display to watch something on Netflix or Crunchyroll, or even streamed off my phone.

I can totally see a day when the cable that brings broadcast shows into the home will only be used instead for internet access and to watch live event streams as needed.

News programs still seem to dominate broadcast channels, or that’s at least what is on during prime times when I see my parents watching. It’s either that or shows about hoarders or house hunters I see most often, with the occasional movie.

As for the news, there’s just so many more options online and it’s super easy to focus on specific topics from multiple sources. TV just doesn’t offer such flexibility, and that’s why it’s super worrisome that there’s still a large number of people that only get news information primarily from TV, and from the big networks. Sure, some of them are doing a good job, but, there’s often these days stories that break online, with all the big networks scrambling to catch up or even just copy-pasting social media posts.

It’s a different world these days and it’s getting more online-centered. I wonder if anybody reading this is out of range for some of this, like in a rural area or something. I wonder what people in those areas think of all this. Do they even notice?

 

Photo credit: Sven Scheuermeier

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Developer Manton Reece is on a mission to take back short form content for the open web by providing better tools for independent microblogging. Most short form content today is posted through centralized social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where posts are mixed with promoted content and users have no control of their…

via WordPress Tavern

I spotted this in my reader today, and I decided to add a quick note. This is not the first such service I’ve seen (App.net still exists, after all), but it’s always worth checking out when another contender comes along to give the existing incumbents reason to sit up in their chairs. We’ll see how this shakes out once the service rolls out. What do you think? Will you try Micro.blog? I’ll reserve my handle, of course.

Kickstarter for Micro.blog

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Managing time is a bit like a game for me. I have a work calendar, which stays relatively simple, and a set of personal calendars. Some of the personal ones are basically like the old paper ones many used to use: they store things like birthdays and anniversaries.

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Not my calendar. 🙂

Some calendars, such as the social ones, are automatically generated- there’s one for Facebook, another for a travel site. Even Google now detects events in emails and creates calendar events on the same account’s calendar. That feature is pretty neat because I sometimes forget to go through my emails and create calendar events for social engagements, like concerts and conventions.

I’m not the best at time management, but I’m getting better at it.

prompt: Time Management

Photo Credit: the ryan king via Compfight cc

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I already mentioned that my current iPhone and I are nearly inseparable, but where did my attachment begin? It started, for me, with the iPhone 3GS.

The iPhone 3GS was my first smartphone, and basically began what seems to be a long-term relationship with highly connected technology. Before I had it, my phone was a pretty basic flip-phone from LG. That phone was OK, not great (call dropped too easily and often), so I was finally fed up by the time the third generations of iPhone was released.

I’d seen a few of the first and second generation phones among friends, but could not quite understand how the apps available could justify such a steep cost jump for a communication device. Then, I played with one in a local Apple store. That’s when, I think, I “got it”. There weren’t just the dumbed-down apps many “feature” phones had, but, instead, you could have a solid web browser, “visual” voicemail (much easier to work with than regular), and some apps that just didn’t really do much on “dumb” phones (twitter, for example was originally something designed for text-only).

I’m not sure if I’m saying this right, but the iPhone felt more like a flexible communication tool than just a phone you could carry in your pocket. I could quickly(!) search for information, and have the answers while others were waiting for 411 to even pick up sometimes. I remember checking movie showtimes using the (now defunct) 777-FILM number for Moviefone (miss that voice), but an app (actually, multiple apps) did the job better, and, faster.

Without that iPhone, I probably would have waited even longer or even dabbled in the Android cloud of devices. Even back then, before Android was released, I often heard friends lament they had to reboot their phones again and again. I really wondered how instability could be tolerated, but it really came down to cost, in most cases. Paying for quality is sometimes a good investment. It means you usually buy less often. Even now, I usually skip at least one generation before thinking about an upgrade. A new phone every year still doesn’t make sense to me.

When did you get your first smart phone? What was it and why did you choose that one? And how has your opinion and perspective around mobile devices changed since that eventful day?

via Daily Post – 1.18.2015 – Daily Writing – Desk Community.

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I admit it. I’m a bit chaotic with managing my own tasks. It’s why some fairly routine, and regular tasks, like renewing my car registration, have, in the past, been delayed, when they could easily be done as soon as a few moments are set aside.

I looked at various systems, such as Getting Things Done, and even bounced around with multiple tools, such as the basic reminders of my computers and devices. I’m also aware that it is as simple as putting pen to paper, but I am very reluctant to

Recently, I think I’ve settled, once again, on a set of tools, in the Things apps for desktop and phone. I know it might be overkill, but it feels “right” without having to learn any particular method. I’ll see how it goes.

Any Things or even just GTD users out there, or what other systems do people use to remind themselves about what to do?

Photo Credit: Pete Boyd via Compfight cc
Photo Credit: Pete Boyd via Compfight cc
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eBay listing, November 4, 2214:

 

Vintage Laptop Hard Disk 500GB

 

That’s the likely listing heading, when it goes up for sale online for lovers of old techknowldgy in 2214. What the buyer will find on it, will likely be of interest to a historian of culture and technology. There’s a few things that might stand out from the mundane data that most disks contain. Examples:

 

  • A folder for an old massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft, which was released 210 years ago and was very successful for its era.
  • transcripts from text-based chat software. A relic of pre-telepathic communications.
  • A relatively small Music folder. Unsurprising, as the era of storing personal media files locally was on the decline with increasing cloud-based storage gaining popularity.
  • The remaining used space (the drive is 75% full) is taken up by the other application software, mostly prouctivity and software development applications, and a few otheer notable games such as the sandbox of Minecraft, and even the first popular game library managers (Steam, and Battle.net).
  • Last, but not least is the operating system itself (Mac OS X, a flavor of the ancient UNIX family of software which was popular with not just academics, but this one had many creatives using it as well).

This drive is in surprisingly good condition, considering drives of its kind had a useful operating lifetime of roughly 10-20 years, depending on usage and environment. This one sems to have seen light usage before being taken out, likely to use a much higher capacity drive, or even one with no moving parts. The drive was only powered on after being recovered from a “time capsule” to check its usability and contents. A real collector’s item, but there’s still no reserve because it’s value speaks for itself. Thanks for checking this listing out!

—END LISTING-

 

I’m participating in Blogging 101. Here’s today’s prompt:

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/buyers-beware/

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There’s still not an official date for Mac or Linux releases of Chrome, but at least there’s some information on how the building and testing process is going. Hopefully, I won’t have to run Chrome in emulation too much longer.

As these versions stabilize, we will create official betas, much as we are now for the Windows version. While we can’t give any dates yet, we’ll keep everyone informed as we get closer.

via Official Google Mac Blog