two of the worst pieces of half-assed technology i’ve been struggling with today have earned so many curses i thought i’d come here and write about it – just in case you happen to be a future traveler of the web who has decided to read a few reviews before making an informed purchase.
1. The Dreambox – a half-assed TiVo / Sky+ box. It runs on linux and picks up whatever channels you want it to. Problem is its a bloody waste of space, the whole setup from tounge-in-cheek firmware (that the user manually downloads as images from forums and ftp sites) to the joke of an ‘operating system’ it runs on; Linux, at least a linux hack. So how has it failed me: it doesn’t work. at all. it requires hours of setup to recieve a handfull of (ussually) foreign channels, mostly badly decoded and fairly useless by this distressing hunk of plastic. 1/10 – the one is for the LCD at the front which doubles up as a clock when the box is off.
2. EyeTV (itself a grand application, beatifully thought through but the hardware…) its Terratec Cinergy XS (I believe I have a Hybrid “usb” variation) which is utter balls. 30 minutes of setup time, as an OS X user I expect drag-drop and open :D, after those 30 minutes; questions, so many questions – where am I located, what have i just bought, activation code, registration, what input am I using, would i like newsletters… and then 15 minutes of scanning the airwaves and – boom. Nothing.
I started one hour ago, with the intent of recording the entire “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy” the BBC Adaptation. I started on WinTV but I’m not going to bitch about it because it ran on Windows XP and I really didn’t expect that to work (it didn’t…. it really DIDN’T). When I gave up on that I went to the dreambox, but all it offered was Al-Jazeera in german. Next that waste of space Terratec USB dongle, all I can say is don’t cheap out – get the Slingbox or the EyeTV seems great, but don’t go with the dongle, get the box, i hear the “500″ is great, couldn’t tell you where to find it.
UPDATE: sorry, this is not supposed to be my personal cry zone, EyeTV didn’t work too well for me because i was in too much of a hurry to configure it properly. the dreambox for sure is a waste of space- but if you have a keen interest in satellite television or a taste for european television (i’m not saying i don’t) then maybe its for you, its a hobby not a piece of everyday technology.
The video above was filmed in early January. Billy and Stephen (who are now somewhere in South America) and myself are sitting down to breakfast the night after our freezing hike into Derry Cairngorm. Photos on Flickr. I’m guessing it was around -5′ C, but we’re not letting on. And we’re mocking William because his parents wouldn’t let him come, luck him.
1. s’all kool (everythings cool, its all cool – said in a Rastafarian accent)
2. wat? (easy man)
3. get off me! (someone’s aproaching or ‘don’t mess with me’)
4. just stop it
5. critical!
makes a lot more sense in a rasta accent, mon. miss adam and joe? i really do – where the hell can i torrent the whole TV Series’, all i have is the best-of DVD and it doesn’t have the Crystal Maze sketch i’ve heard so much of… give the Adam and Joe Podcast a go. tis damn good.
their latest: here is particularly old-school a&j stylee, adam has a problem with the jaffas… and people are eating 15-20 packets a day. oh the joys of “funlines”.
also, adam has a blog it pretty open about his career. seems a nice fella all round and the template is pretty nice, thinking of losing my default K2 Blue, ooh- K2 has gone all 0.9 on us n’ stuff; link!
published on August 25, 2006 » filed under Music, Photos
oh my.
thom yorke told me the ice age was comin’ and i couldn’t say no to his wonky little face… oh yea’ i did dance like a mudda-fukka’. well i danced like a thom yorke to be exact. photos on flickr.
to paraphrase the wonky-faced midget: “this is a song from when radio one had balls… not that there’s anything wrong with J-lo, i’m sure she means well”. women and children first.
published on August 16, 2006 » filed under Macintosh, Tech
when people talk about DRM, why does no one ever bring up the activation process and licence code palava that is Microsoft Windows, i’m home for the week – not only does the pc (used less and less these days for work, more for games and defraging / gathering dust) get a virus, which 24 hours on is getting to the point of “ah, lets re-install”, it also required me, for the THIRD time, PROVE to microsoft that we own the license.
1. proved that we owned the software during installation “Product Key”
2. by Activation, on the phone as I recall – where I had to tell someone that “yes, we’ve had to reformat the computer because Windows got a virus, or something” – they couldn’t help with that of course… just making sure I wasn’t selling ‘their’ software to anyone.
3. (this weekend) when i tried to do a software update… i know i’m months late – but wtf; enter another code, phone them- again!
so, yeah- DRM; see microsoft. OS X does not require activation or any phone calling, nor do the updates require me to punch in a 40 digit code to prove my worthyness. i hate iTunes DRM as much as the next informed user, I understand it to: both how to get around it and why it IS nessasary (for iTMS to exist, at least). i think the lack of DRM on the Apple OS / Hardware throws this post off.
