Recent Comments:
Refurb Kindles now available for $329; please, try to contain yourselves {Engadget}
Nov 30th 2008 3:09PM Uh, here's an odd question from a technical writer. Why are these refurbished? At the most, they're a few years old. Are they that brittle? Would I pay hundreds of dollars for a gizmo that breaks so quickly?
Do you realize how many new books I could buy for that money? At a used book store, I could almost buy out their entire stock on any day.
This is, without question, the most unnecessary application of technology yet. Rube Goldberg would be impressed.
Microsoft details pre-beta release of Windows 7 {Engadget}
Oct 28th 2008 1:24PM I'm sorry. I keep trying to read this, but Vista keeps crashing.
Poll: Have you switched carriers due to lack of HD? {Engadget HD}
Oct 25th 2008 11:36PM We switched from Comcrash to DirecTV. Other than the occasional software update that crashes the DVR, DirecTV is a better service all around. Clear picture, lower price, many more HD channels, and HDNet and HDNet Movies. Compared to Comcrash, they are lacking in HD OnDemand.
The best news in a while is they apparently stopped outsourcing their nighttime customer service calls. They appear to handle all calls in the US. Hallelujah!
MSNBC to go HD in the spring {Engadget HD}
Oct 24th 2008 5:52PM If the purpose of the article is to tell us HD is coming to MSNBC, then Ben Drawbaugh, the author, blew it. If the purpose was to show bias, he wins the lipstick-wearing pig.
What I find so funny about the right is how, when you give them a taste of their own medicine, they react like a cat trying to gag up a pill. We learned the technique from you, from Lush Rimjob and the boys at Rupert Murdoch's attempt at monopoly. I wish we didn't have to do it, but when competing against theater of the mind, you have to create some pretty snarky imagery. Worst of all for Faux and Lush, we have something unique on our side: facts.
Now, please, Chumly. Have a look at the following news articles. I should have qualified the ratings statement, though. They beat both CNN and Faux Noise among the 25 - 54 demographic, which is considered the most important by the TV meisters. It turns out even Chris Matthews is kicking elephant in this demographic. If MSNBC was on in major cities like Boston and Denver in the lower-cost tier, I think they'd surpass CNN and Faux in all demographics.
Considering the likely outcome of the election in a few weeks, this should not be a surprise. They decided a year ago to concentrate their programming on all-politics, all-the-time, especially in the evening.
I do agree that MSNBC has a real problem during the middle of the day. But when you add together NBC's ratings for both MSNBC and CNBC, they do well.
And here is a personal story about Faux Noise. Go back to the Columbine High School massacre. I lived only a few blocks from the school. The press came en masse, including Faux. Their booth was about 10 feet from the mourning wall of momentos, letters, and flowers people left in Clement Park nearby.
I was standing there when, in back of me, I heard some moron cussing out somebody in New York over his headset. I turn around, and it's Shepard Smith. I looked at him and said, as quietly as I could, "Please lower your voice. There are people in mourning, here." He looked shocked that I had the temerity to correct him.
I went home, called Faux in New York, and talked to a producer about it. Shepard was not seen again on Faux for weeks.
Does it mean anything now? No. But it told me something about the people who work there, and still do. And I absolutely love Faux and Frauds in the morning: It's like Goebbels, Himmler, and Eva Braun with coffee mugs.
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A Small Sampling of Stories Related to MSNBC's Relegation to the More Expensive Digital Tier:
* http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/11/10/03833/426
* http://mobile.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6448160
* http://getsatisfaction.com/comcast/topics/comcast_charging_more_money_for_channels_like_msnbc
* http://monkeyinmymind.com/2008/08/06/boston-comcast-responds-to-charges-of-political-motivations-behind-removal-of-msnbc-from-standard-cable/
MSNBC Beats O'Reilly, Hannity, and Larry King:
http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSTRE49M3FG20081023
"The cable news channel beat both Fox News Channel and CNN in the adults 25-54 demographic, Nielsen Media Research said Wednesday. MSNBC averaged 786,000 viewers in the key demo between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET, compared with CNN's 710,000 and Fox News Channel's 672,000. But Fox News Channel was still top dog in viewership with 2.8 million pairs of eyeballs to CNN's 1.9 million and MSNBC's 1.9 million."
MSNBC to go HD in the spring {Engadget HD}
Oct 24th 2008 2:04PM What a snarky thing to say about MSNBC. Olbermann and Maddow easily win their time slots every night, which is no small fete, including the reruns throughout the evening.
Why is this not an easy accomplishment?
Because Comcast carries the station in the digital tier. People must have a digital receiver to see it. This is not the case for CNN and Faux Noise. Not all subscribers receive it, as they do the others.
And given how large Comcast is, that translates into a lot few potential viewers from which to draw. Not all ratings are built from the same universe.
And Comcast is clearly playing politics with General Electric.
DirecTV DVR software update hits the stage again, now with slightly less fail {Engadget HD}
Oct 22nd 2008 12:34AM This wiped out three weeks worth of programs we'd recorded while on vacation. It also prevented us from making series recordings and then playing them back.
It looks like they made a quick download at about 4 PM ish Mountain Time today, and the series record and playback appears to work.
Needless to say, I'm asking for compensation. I hope many other subscribers do as well. They wiped out three weeks of my recordings, and I want a credit for three weeks of service. If enough people insist on it, maybe they'll actually beta test this stuff before they wipe out our DVRs with another stroke of genius.
Maybe we should start calling them ACME DirecTV. Wylie E Coyote must be coordinating this stuff somewhere.
Sony's 1,000,000:1 contrast BRAVIAs launch in Japan October 10 {Engadget HD}
Aug 29th 2008 12:39AM There is so much contrast, the blacks are white and the whites black. So sayeth the contrast gods.
Panasonic intros DMR-BR360V Blu-ray / VHS combo player {Engadget HD}
Aug 25th 2008 12:26PM In wonder why they don't make the VHS portion of the machine both analog and digital? By now, D-VHS is an old technology.
Also other than transferring VHS tapes to Blueray, what can this machine do that the average $1,500 computer cannot? I'd rather buy the computer and get the computing power that goes with it. It's now no big deal to integrate a computer into the home entertainment system.
They might have something good on their hands if they sold it for, say $300, which probably still leaves them with a tidy profit. But for $1,500, they're nuts.
Poll: Do you still use component? {Engadget HD}
Aug 21st 2008 5:43PM I would use HDMI, but it doesn't look as good. Grainy. And I've tried three different cables, including a freakingly expensive Monster Cable.
The HDMI cable that got even close to the clarity of the component cables only cost me $10 through Amazon.
Maybe it's the TV. But I don't think so.
MHD / Palladia name change official September 1, but no less confusing {Engadget HD}
Aug 14th 2008 10:15AM How many times can a network show the same program and still be considered viable? At this rate, MHD/Palladia will show enough reruns to give "I Love Lucy" competition.
Truth is, I haven't watched this network in well over a year, once I went through its offerings a few times over. I'd hate to be their sponsors.
There's nothing here to see, folks. Move along.
