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VOD over Broadband…

Well – not exactly, but pretty damn close. With the help of a high speed connection and some handy applications it is very possible to download tv programs and movies. Sure this is not new news to many technical users, but in the past week or so, I’ve been experimenting and the results are quite excellent.

I use Poisoned, which beats the pants off most P2P apps I’ve tried as it lets you use giftd, FastTrack, Gnutella and OpenFT all at the same time. I have not heard of a few of these but searching them all at once in one app is great. I’ve grabbed episodes of The Simpsons, South Park and Larry David, Curb your Enthusiasm and am pulling down a bunch of the more recent episodes of Alias as well. I actually forgot to record last nights key episode and am currently searching it out…

I’ve been trying to use Bit Torrent now as another source which is great if you can figure it out. Bit Torrent seems to be intentionally complex which makes it less desirable to use, though the content that seems to be available is amazing. The way it works is you search on google for Torrents – there are sites with trackers for these as well as single files. These are like bookmarks to the real files on the network. By opening them with Bit Torrent, you then connect to a few sources like in a usual P2P manner and download the file or files.

While Quicktime can handle the usual .Mov or .Mpg files I highly recommend VLC which will more easily play .Avi files encoded in Divx which many of these files are. VLC works like more like the Apple DVD Player than Quicktime, with a floating controller and a playlist manager. You can easily load up a few episodes in succession and watch them all in a sitting. VLC is a very slick free piece of software…

The more I’ve used this system, if you can call it that, the more I’ve realized how much a video iPod would be a killer unit. Sure, you don’t get the instant gratification like you on iTunes since the files usually take a fair bit of time to download, the end result is the same.

I should add, that what I am doing is a bit gray legally speaking. In my mind, however, I could capture the video myself with a DVR or a VCR and transfer things to my computer. I could even use a computer based DVR top make the transfer process much faster. The point is that I don’t need to since many others have already taken the steps for me. I can focus my time on searching for the files instead, which suits me just fine.

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Ecto

Ecto is the newly revised Blog Editor formerly known as Kung Log. I’ve been beta testing it and think it is very nice. The main issue any editor will have getting me out of NetNewsWire is the RSS NewsReader integration. Many of my posts initiate from something I’ve just read in my newsreader.

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SpamSieve 2.1.1 released

Upgraded mine earlier today…

SpamSieve 2.1.1 offers faster message processing, improved accuracy with the Panther version of Apple’s Mail.app, better interaction with Eudora and Entourage, and a statistics window that show percentages instead of ratios, among other fixes. [Mac Net Journal]

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The challenges of synching

I predicted the other day that synching would appear in lots of newsreaders in 2004. (Some have it already, yes, but they don’t have it as I’ve defined it below.)

A good question would be: why isn’t synching already a feature of every newsreader already? It can’t be that hard, right—just read and write from a file somewhere that two copies of your newsreader can access. [inessential.com]

Aggregator Sync will be what IMAP is to mail. Being able to move seamlessly between clients (mobile, desktop, laptop, platform, etc…) and maintain an already read and to keep list will be very worth the wait.

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Net-based RSS Aggregators

This is an area where there seems to be plenty of action of late. Bloglines, myFeedster, FastBuzz, MyWireService and Kinja coming up. I still use our Info Aggregator, with all the feeds delivered to an IMAP mailbox and which I then read in my mail client. [E M E R G I C . o r g]

No idea why this is such a hot topic to blog on, or why there are so many services coming out. I’ve tried them all and keep coming back to NetNewsWire. I guess I like the read to post in my blog feature too much. I also like the way my feeds are managed into groups.

Ideally, I’d like to see a desktop-webbased-palm system so I could read the same feeds in multiple places, keeping track of course of what was read and unread.

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nice hack for Mail

I tried to search this one out as I read it yesterday, but was unable
to actually track down the source…

With my setup, I POP multiple accounts through Spam Intercepter, which pulls mail from 2 different accounts. I have the second (my .Mac) account disabled in Mail since the messages come through when I POP into SI. Because the account is disabled it is not that simple to initiate a new message from it without manually activating it each time… until now.

By simply adding the email addresses you want to use separated by a comma in the account config, (in the email address field) you can bring back the pull-down in Mail which lets you pick which address to use. Pretty cool and very simple.

BTW — I DO NOT HACK MAIL ACCOUNTS. I cannot offer you any password assistance.

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Decuma Releasing Handwriting Recognition Software for Palm OS and Pocket PC

Decuma has just announced its new OnSpot Handwriting Recognition Software for Pocket PC and Palm OS 5 devices. [Brighthand]

Looks good, but for 30 bucks, I’d really like to see a demo before thinking about buying.

Update – Thanks to a Post and comment by Steven I learned that Handango has a demo of the app. i have it a shot last night and while it looks nice I was not please with how it works on screen. You select keyboard ( shortcut – /K) and you then get the Decuma screen which takes over whatever app you were in. I was hoping it would replace the virtual graffiti area on my T3 while it was running.

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An Unencrypted Look at FileVault

FileVault has generated as much discussion as any of Panther’s new features. Is it right for you? François Joseph de Kermadec unlocks this new feature and shows you around. [O’Reilly MacDevCenter.com]

Highly recommended read… I still don’t think I have the nerve to use it, though File Vault sounds like an excellent security feature.

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Syndicated Audio Messaging with RSS

Harold Gilchrist is working on an RSS-based protocol for audioblogging. I want to be able to subscribe to audioblogs and other audio delivered by RSS, but I want an RSS reader that automatically downloads the audio into iTunes folders for one-click downloading into my iPod. I want to just pickup my iPod as I’m running out the door, and discover all the blogs and programs I subscribe to already neatly organized, ready to listen to. (I also wish the iPod had a way to mark tracks as having been read, so I could tell it to just play or show new material.) [Doug Kaye: Web Services Strategies]

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Free ArcSoft PhotoStudio X for .Mac members

Apple has added two more exclusive offers for .Mac members — a free coy of ArcSoft’s PhotoStudio X and a 20 percent discount on ArcSoft’s Panorama Maker… [MacMinute]

You can easily now find the free stuff for .Mac right on your iDisk. If you keep it mounted and synced just go to the software folder then into Members Only. It’s all there…

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Push or Pull? Who cares!

The maker of operating systems for mobile devices and Research In Motion announce plans to collaborate on software that will enable Palm OS-based handhelds to use RIM’s BlackBerry wireless service. [CNET News.com]

I am not exactly sure what the connectivity is on T-Mobile’s site, but it lets you get Enterprise mail directly on a device – Phone or PDA. The Palm/RIM deal is interesting, and helps those corporate users get true support from IT. My setup was not officially supported by my (former) company’s IT group. For the small or solo user, I can’t see how this announcement helps. You can easily get email now, just not “push.”

I am not sure how much push really matters… I get plenty of email on a daily basis. When I am out and want to stay connected I simply set SnapperMail to auto-check every XX minutes – usually 30 minutes. This automatically initiates a bluetooth connection to my phone, which then connects via GPRS on the T-Mobile network and then allows my Palm to POP into my mail server to send and retrieve messages. I can always override this schedule with a manual connection as well. This is a very practical and relatively simple set-up that works VERY reliably.

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MacUpdate Will No Longer Be Free

As announced, MacUpdate will begin to charge a $20/yr subscription fee in January 2004. New features will include the ability to turn off ads and use a desktop application that will scan your hard drive for applications and notify you of updates. These new features place MacUpdate next to VersionTracker Pro, which currently has a $49.95/yr price tag.
[MacMerc]

Hmmm… it’s been a good free ride…time to pay. I love MacUpdate and rely on the menu bar widget and email updates to keep me up to speed on the ever evolving software landscape.

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Mobile Download Managers

Anil linked to PalmOne’s new Addit app which I think is awesome. It allows you to view and choose from a list of PalmApps, which you can then download and run immediately or “Over The Air”/OTA. This is an awesome step for the Palm platform, which up until now has always assumed that you would have a PC available to install applications. [Russell Beattie Notebook]

This looks great and if you install and register now, you can SplashClock free which is a 9.95 value. I’d really like to take advantage of this deal and the app, but unfortunately PalmOne and Bluefishwireless (the provider of the app) have decided to only release an .exe installer which comes with the PC conduit. It would be nice for wirelessly enabled apps to come just as PRC files or just .zip files which would give you the option of actually using the conduit if you wanted, or if your system supported it.

I’ve got an email into support… we’ll see how it goes.

Update – Apparently, March will be when we can expect to see a Mac version with a wireless only download about a month earlier. Stay Tuned…

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Prince of Persia

I picked up Prince of Persia tonight and dusted off my PS2. Been a while since I felt I could really spend some time gaming and I guess I feel pretty cool about it now that I am officially not working. All work makes… yeah yeah.

Anyway – Prince of Persia is an amazing game. It’s beautifully designed, not too hard to play and has a cool combination of fighting and adventure. It’s kind of like Tomb Raider, but with some serious tweaks.

I also recently downloaded a demo of Indiana Jones, which looks much closer to Tomb Raider. Have not played it yet, just watched the movie online and immediately downloaded.

Game on!

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Google delivers parcel search

A new feature on the search site lets people type in their package tracking numbers to turn up shipping information directly from FedEx or UPS Web pages. [CNET News.com]

This is very cool – fedex/ups/airborne + tracking number = your search. It’s definitely quicker than going to each site you might have to normally visit.