Bill

Lisa and I recently decided to remove some additional expenses from our life such as cable tv (we use the Dish Network); between the various receivers, the HD package, and the DVR capabilities it has been costing us close to $90/month. However, we still like to watch a little TV and we like having family movie nights. Furthermore, we have fallen in love with the capabilities of a DVR. Pausing, rewinding, and recording TV shows is just awesome. It makes the entire TV viewing experience infinitely more enjoyable. Therefore, once we decided to cut back our monthly expenses we decided to investigate how we could still meet our small list of aforementioned tv entertainment requirements. The answer we settled on was a Home Theater PC - or an HTPC.

At it's simplest an HTPC is a computer with a tv capture card and, optionally, a dvd player built into it. Ideally you also need it to have an HDMI video/audio output so you can connect it to your modern TV and it should have some good software installed on it for managing your media and providing DVR capabilities.

In order for us to have an HTPC I actually had to buy a new computer. I haven't bought myself a computer since I was in University, so maybe 1999. I decided to build one from the ground up with the best parts I could afford. Here is my parts list:

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• Gigabyte Motherboard : GA-880GMA-UD2H R - this thing is pretty awesome.  It has a nice video card built in that can do HD decoding and it has a nice audio card that provides dolby digital surround sound.
  
• HAUPPAUGE TV Tuner : 1229 HVR-2250 - Has a dual tuner capability that hooks right up to our over the air HD antennae (we already owned) which lets us watch a show while recording something else.
  
• LG DVD Burner : GH23NS50 - It's cheap, only $20, and it works.  Plus it has a black face so it fits into the overall aesthetic.
  
• Seasonic Power Supply : S12II 530 Bronze RT - Super quiet and has all the cables I could ask for.   I can't stress how important super quiet is - don't skimp on your power supply
  
• AMD Athalon II CPU : ATH II x2 230E 2.8G AM3 RT - A nice dual core cpu that supports 64 bit operating systems.  However, the best part of this bad boy is the paltry 45W power consumption.  Since this computer will be on all the time it needs to be a miser with energy and this CPU fits the bill.
  
• 4 Gigs of RAM : Kingston ValueRAM 2x 2 GB (2x1GB) DDR 3 SDRAM - I bought 2 of this package to fill all of my memory slots.  I could have gone for more RAM but considering this computer will have a sole task of managing our media I think 4G will be enough.  I had actually seen some people recommend only 2 GB but I am a big believer in more RAM is better.
  
• Western Digital Green HardDrive - 1 TB WD10EARS 64M - The Western Digital Green harddrives are lower power consumption, super quiet drives made specifically for this purpose.  This was a no brainer.
  
• LianLi Case : PC-V351B RT - I picked a case I thought would look good in the "home theater" decor.  It is fairly cubicle in shape so it looks a bit like a subwoofer. I could have gotten something shorter and wider, like a stereo receiver shape, but I liked the space in this one while working in it - plus it still looks nice.  This case is all aluminum which, supposedly, will help keep the whole system cooler as well.  Plus it has some nice, but silent, fans inside the front to help keep everything cool as well.
  

The final price on this was $625 and I have, what I believe, will be a kick ass machine for our purposes.  I realize, $625 is a bunch of money but, in the course of a year we pay close to $1080 for the dish network (90x12).  Thus this outlay will save us, in the first year, about $400.

My initial plan was to use Linux and MythTV in conjunction with Boxee to provide us with DVR capabilities (Myth) and access to Hulu and Netflix (Boxee).  However, the video drivers for my graphics card on Linux aren't very good (pretty typical experience for me) and I couldn't get the HD decoding to work (tough I was able to watch some standard definition TV and pause/record it).  However, since I was not happy with the overall quality I decided to go to Windows 7 professional, 64 bit (another $150) which has a pretty feature rich media center built in.  After using it for just one evening,without internet access yet, I'm pretty happy with my choice.  It picked up all, but one, of our local channels and is pushing them out to our TV in full High Definition.   Once I get the internet setup on it I'll try out Boxee and Hulu Desktop to see what I want to settle on for internet TV.  Plus, we will be resubscribing to Netflix for $10 month ($120 year) which we can use to stream movies and we can get DVDs of various past seasons of TV shows and other movies.  We'll also be able to stream netflix to our other TV via the Wii which is a nice bonus.

After the Windows 7 purchase and Netflix our savings in the first year will be reduced to about $150.  However, each following year will result in a net savings of closer to $950 and we will still have all of the TV entertainment we like; plus we will have the flexibility to amend to the feature set as we go.  Overall I'm pretty happy with the decision.

Before going this route we had to make a couple other changes that aren't directly related to our TV.  First, and foremost, we had to change internet service providers.  When Verizon left WV and gave over control to Frontier our quality of service dipped substantially.  We ended up only realizing about a 200Kb/s data rate instead of the 3M/b (3,000Kb)/s rate we were paying for.  So we switched to Comcast and a cable modem with a contracted rate of 11 Mb/s - we have been seeing that and better since we had it installed.  I also bought a cable modem (Motorola SB6120) for $83 instead of renting one from comcast for $5/month.  That will end up in realized savings in just over a year.    Finally, I also opted to buy a new, and much better, wireless router (Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH) since many parts of our house have had deadspots with the old router.  The new router also supported being modified with the highly acclaimed open source router firmware DD-WRT.  After installing this new router not only did we no longer have any deadspots but I can, if I choose, walk across the street to the park and stay online.  While we won't realize any savings with the new router we will definitely avoid a lot of our past frustration so it was worth the $70.

#Geekiness #Entertainment

Today is Ada Lovelace Day. Don't tell me you don't know who she is! She was the very first computer programmer. Not just the first female programmer but the first of any kind. She was hacking before a computer even existed! In fact, most of her work remained purely theoretical because the first computer engineer, Charles Babbage, didn't finish making his machine. But that doesn't change the fact that Ada Lovelace is badass.

As part of Ada Lovelace day a challenge was sent out to get people to blog about your "tech heroin" so that's what I'm building up towards here. Now this may seem strange since most people who come across this blog won't know her but Bonnie Fewtrell is my tech heroine. Oh, she isn't some super woman of technology; she isn't a heralded physicist, mathematician, or even logicistician. She's my mom.

Bonnie helps people for a living and is a pretty average computer user so you may be wondering how she is my computing heroine. Well, to start, she used to work for the Forest Service and programmed computers with Punch Cards and I can't help but be impressed with anyone who survived that kind of craziness. Then, when I was in my senior year of High School she encouraged me to take a Robotics Class (and helped me get a waiver to get into it because I didn't meet the prerequisites). Without her involvement at that point of my life I may not have eventually taken up software development as a career.

If I had to pick women in the field it would be much harder. I guess I'd fall back to Ada Lovelace. It was the language named after her that, thanks to my knowing it, helped land me my first post-collegiate job. But, I imagine, picking her is kind of a cop out on the day devoted to her.

#Geekiness #AdaLovelaceDay09

If you read my blog(s) and you use a feed reader but think you might be missing one or more of my blogs then I have the solution for you. Subscribe to the feed at

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=am_M2cwP3hG08SwHrbQIDg&_render=rss

Once you do you will have tapped all of my content publishers. This includes (at a minimum) this blog, my tech blog, my bits blog, my book blog, and my news blog.

To use it with Google Reader, just copy the url, go to Google Reader, click "Add Subscription" and paste this address in the field. Finally, click the "Add" button.

#Geekiness

[caption id="attachment_872" align="alignleft" width="131" caption="The Kindle 2"][/caption]Pretty much everyone that knows me knows I love to read. When the first Kindle came out I was not enthused by the clunky look of the device and the big, obtrusive, page turning buttons. However, the screen was sweet. Thus, I began looking at all the different e-book reader devices out there thinking, maybe, someday, I'll buy one. I'm still not firmly decided on which reader I would buy but the new Kindle is a huge improvement over the last one. In fact, if you're considering buying me a $360 gift you could buy me a Kindle 2 and I would be pretty happy. The image alongside this paragraph represents the new Kindle while the next image is the uglier, bulkier, Kindle.

The new Kindle looks much better and they resized the page turning buttons so they won't be as obtrusive. They have made it substantially thinner and removed the odd clunky angles. Plus, beyond the obvious cosmetic improvements they've incrementally improved the systems performance and battery life. Not too bad considering it costs the same as the older, uglier, less desirable device. I imagine this one will sell much better than the last so long as they can keep up with demand. The Kindle was always on back order. It will be interesting to see how well Amazon prepares for demand this time around.

[caption id="attachment_873" width="383" caption="The Kindle 1"][/caption]

It might be hard to tell but the new Kindle and the old are both the same apx height and width but the new one is 1/3 as thick as the old.

#Books #General #Geekiness #Entertainment

Today I gave up on my broken blackberry pearl and got a new phone - an iPhone 3g. I'm going to try it for a month and if I don't like it I'll trade it for a blackberry bold.

I'll keep you updated as the month passes with my impressions but the initial ones are positive though the keyboard is taking some getting used to. I may also end up missing having a google talk application seperate from the browser.

#Geekiness

Look, I know I've talked about this before but, if you read this blog (which, obviously you do since you're seeing this email) you should start using Google Reader. It is really easy to use and it helps you keep up with posts on the blogs (or other sites) you read really simple. Now, I've tried to explain it before but I've gotten that glassy eyed look from most of you before where all my intelligent relatives and friends suddenly lose all capacity for thought - so I'm going to try and let the Google guys explain how to use Google Reader in a couple short videos. Please watch them and try Reader out. You'll probably be glad you did.

Google Reader in Plain English

Getting Started With Google Reader

Reading Feeds With Google Reader

Please note that the frame shown in the below video is of a man holding his hands around a cat. The black bands on his right wrist are a bracelet.

Sharing Items with Google Reader

#General #Geekiness

Did you know I have what amounts to four blogs on the web? You probably didn't. More than likely you are only familiar with this one; the one where I plop all my family updates and stuff. Truth be told this one blog is probably sufficient and I could probably figure out a way to consolidate all my other stuff into this one - but I kind of like the other ones I have and each has its own purpose. You might even be interested in some of the others. With that in mind I am going to tell you about each of them and then, possibly, introduce you to a cool bit of technology that will help you keep up to date on each that you are interested in.

My newest blog is at bits.rawlinson.us and it is a small "tumble blog aka tumblog" where I just stick interesting stuff I find on the web. Generally you won't see big long postings like this one there. Nor will you see much origional content by me. However, I will stick all sorts of stuff there that I think are interesting or worthwhile - mostly videos and quotes of other people. Generally I will be in agreement with the content or I will at least find it highly entertaining. The tumblog format is ideal for these kind of posts and it helps me keep the focus of this blog, primarily, on my family.

In the past I have posted some observational essays about politics or whatever on this site as well. However, overtime I have also been dual posting many of these to a site called Newsvine. Newsvine gets a lot more traffic there so my opinion can reach a broad audience, and thus, I get far more feedback from people there. I won't say I like the direction Newsvine has been heading in lately (as far as the belligerent and rude crowd goes) but overall there are still a lot of bright people there who give back some great comments and criticisims of my opinions that help me figure out where I really stand on the issue. I've actually had the headlines of things I put on newsvine being shown on the homepage of this site for a long time as well.

Way back when I first started this blog I had about as many technically jaron laced posts as I did personal ones yet the majority of my audience wasn't that interested in my tech postings so I ended up starting a second blog In The Trenches that deals almost entirely with more technical stuff relating to my job. That blog is still going strong though, at times, I get as bad about posting there as I do here.

The reason I decided to write this post was because I want to find a way to share the stuff in my tumblog with the people who also read this blog - or at least give my readers a chance to opt into seeing what I've recently discovered. However, there isn't a clean cut easy way for me to integrate the tumblog with the automatic emails that get sent by this site and I really don't want to spam anyone with additional emails. In fact, I don't really like spamming your inbox with my blog updates all that much either. I'd rather help you read my blog(s) at your leisure without getting in your way at all. Fortunately there is a technology that solves this specific problem and does it well; it's called RSS. RSS is a "news feed" where each item I post on any of my blogs would be considered a news item. So, basically, you could subscribe to any of my blogs (or really any blog at all) and use that news feed to keep up with the blogs content without ever having to actually visit the blog.

Basically each blog has a unique web address for it's news feed. So, for instance, this blogs news feed is at http://feeds.feedburner.com/rawlinson-us. This address can then be used with a feed reader, like Google Reader, to organize and track all of the news feeds you are interested in. You'd be amazed at how many sites (almost everyone I go to) have a news feed. I use Google Reader to track all of the feeds I like to read (about 100). The thing is you don't have to read everything that comes through in every feed - I just skim the contents till I see an article I'm interested in then read it, and then mark the rest as "read" and move on. It is a really great system.

Some of you may already be familiar with RSS - in fact I already have five people who are subscribed to my feed and that's without me having any advertisement for it at all. However, if you aren't, even if you don't want to subscribe to any of my feeds, I'd suggest you explore it a little. The technology, in the long run, will make your life on the net a bit easier.

Here are my various news feeds.

This Site

http://feeds.feedburner.com/rawlinson-us

Tumblog

http://bits.rawlinson.us/rss

Tech Blog

http://feeds.feedburner.com/InTheTrenches

Newsvine

http://finalcut.newsvine.com/_feeds/rss2/master?articles

You can subscribe to each or all of these in your feed reader and then categorize them all as "Bills Stuff" or something and viola you have all my writings on the web in one handy place that you can go to at your leisure and read. If you need any help getting this setup please just let me know and I'll be glad to help.

#General #Geekiness #Entertainment #ThisSite

As you might know I dig on the science and I secretly hope that my kids will be intrigued by the world around them as they grow up to the point where they really want to investigate and try things out. Today I was turned to a fantastic site called Howtoons aimed at kids ages 8-12 (though, I think it could easily span a greater age range) that is designed to do precisely what I hope for - getting kids hooked on hacking the world around them. It's presented in a really cool format - a bunch of cartoons. Each cartoon has a story but within that story is a set of plans or a lesson on how to do something cool. The first couple cartoons alone get kids making mobius strips and stilts! I put a little video presentation of Howtoons up on a new part of the site I'm working on - check it out.

On the same note, but from a more computer oriented vein, comes Hackety-Hack - a cool little tool that will help kids learn to program (using Ruby). Even if kids don't want to end up being programmers I think learning a bit about it would be beneficial in this day and age as they will get a better feel for how computers work in general and they learn to think about things a from a more logical standpoint at times. The guy who made Hackety Hack, who goes by the moniker of "Why" writes all of his stuff from a pretty accessible level and he has a pretty good sense of humor - such as his Poignant Guide To Ruby which is suitable for pretty much any age.

So go on show your kids these cool sites and let them start to discover the world in some new and fun ways. Shannon will be seeing Howtoons tonight.

#Ruby #Commentary #Geekiness

In this day of social websites where nearly every site you go to has a social-networking component a new and dangerous trend is developing; websites asking their users for their email password. Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror just did a good summary of why this is bad and I can't agree more. If you are at any site that isn't your actual email account don't give out your email password. It may seem like a good convenient way for the site to help you find your friends on the site but trust me, in the long run, it isn't worth it. Email your friends separately and find out if they have an account the site. If nothing else in the Atwood article makes an impression please realize the possibly serious repercussions of sharing this password.

The best way to illustrate the problem is to consider the following scenario. If you use online banking at all and you, for some reason, can't successfully login to the online banking site what do you do? You typically need to reset your password and, in doing so, the bank would email your password. Anyone who knows your email address and password could do the same thing and bam they now have access to your online bank account. Not a pretty picture! Granted a lot of places also make you answer special questions etc in order to reset your password but not all sites do so it just isn't worth the risk simply to find your friends on a social site.

#Commentary #General #Geekiness

I have the "lifestream" page on this site which gives you all sorts of information about the things I'm doing online. And now, I have an even more complete picture of my activities via my "FriendFeed". This is basically a lifestream that you can have sent right to your computer via one of many applications. I use Twhirl.

Why would you want to follow me? I'm not entirely sure but if you are interested in my life it might be a good idea. If you have a friend feed account already and I actually know you I'd love to know about it so I can add you to my list of friends and I can keep up with you.

FriendFeed is currently aggregating at least the following of my online activities: twitter, amazon wishlist, google feed reader shared items, both of my blogs, last.fm, del.icio.us, digg, mag.nolia, upcoming.org, youtube, and picasaweb. So this serves as your one stop shop for my publicly shared online activity. The only thing it is missing is my newsvine writings.

#MyLife #General #Geekiness