Blu-Ray Player Updates Equals Fail
Recently, I helped my mom setup a home entertainment system. She made a comment that she would never have been able to set it up herself. I realize there are companies out there she could’ve hired to do the work, but that’s not what got me thinking about writing this article.
What did was the fact that this happened right around the same time time Avatar was released, specifically the Blu-ray (BD) version.
What’s the connection? Shortly after getting Avatar from Best Buy, I received an email from them stating a firmware upgrade to my Blu-ray player may be necessary to watch the movie.
Sure enough, my Sharp BD-HP21 was one of many players needing an update. Articles here, here, and here summarize.
Luckily I found a forum thread which included a link to an available firmware upgrade from Sharp Canada, which went smoothly and all was well.
So back to my mom. I realize this seems relatively easy for some of us, but not someone like her. She wouldn’t search for an update, throw it on a flash drive, and upgrade her player.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the advantage of new features, and I actually appreciate that my Blu Ray player didn’t just become obsolete. And the picture quality is no doubt, outstanding.
But are these firmware updates too much for regular consumers? Could this be a reason that the Blu Ray format could fail? Or will internet-connected devices solve some of these issues? Or is physical media already dead, regardless?
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Microsoft Vista Restore Not Accepting Product Key
I recently had a client whose Toshiba A205 laptop had a hard drive failure. After replacing the hard drive and running a system restore from the DVDs, Windows Vista would not accept the system key, regardless if the laptop was hooked up to the internet or not. It just kept saying that the system key appeared to be invalid.
After doing some research, I found KB articles from Microsoft which talked about the need to have Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed in similar cases. Sure enough, once SP1 was installed and the system was rebooted, Windows accepted the system key and the system was validated.
I’m also guessing that this probably only applies to restore media that may have been issued prior to SP1. For example, I know that if you purchase replacement restore media from HP, they include many updates that have been released since the system was first released.
I’m hopeful that Microsoft has corrected this problem in Windows 7 so that a fresh install doesn’t require consumers to hire a computer technican to complete a system restore.
| Title | Votes | Rating | Review |
| NASCAR Shuts Down iPhone Application | 8 | 4.4 | -1.0 |
Conversations Used as Marketing
At the recent Bakersfield Business Referral Network meet up–there were discussions started regarding what marketing and tools other owners use to find new business and clients.
There was some great brainstorming going on, but not nearly enough time to discuss the massive changes and shifts happening on the Internet. Thus, the reason I was inspired to share some ideas about what I see coming.
How do you deal with Content Overload?
Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out how to deal with personal content overload. I searched for similar articles and found a couple here and here. And while tools to make it easier is one solution, I’m coming to the realization that it’s more of a discipline issue more than anything.
What I mean is that while I find myself using iPhone applications such as Tweetie and FaceBook to quickly upload some content, that doesn’t work when taking pictures with my SLR, shooting video with the Vado, or recording audio with my iRiver.
So until I have a device that has both quality and the ability to instantly upload to the cloud in an easy way, I’m going to have to focus of making myself process the content.
And one thing I have realized when it comes to processing content, is the longer I wait to deal with it, the less chance this task has of being completed.
In other words, for me, what I’ve found that works best is to transfer and upload the content as soon as possible afterwards. If I wait longer than 2-3 weeks I usually won’t deal with it.
For example, WordCamp San Francisco was almost 3 weeks ago as of this writing, so unless I process the audio and video I captured this coming weekend, more than likely it will never get done.
I guess this is not much different from other tasks in life–but it just seems like with so many devices and content becoming part of our daily lives, it makes it seem so overwhelming sometimes. So how do you deal with content overload?
Future Volume of In-House PC Warranty Repair
Recently, some in-house warranty customers have been asking me if the economy has reduced volume. Right off the bat, I realized that in the majority of these calls this does not currently affect me because in terms of the computers I usually work on, I’m somewhat living in the past.
In other words, when it comes to making a claim on an extended warranty, in most cases, one year has already passed, otherwise the service claim would be made with the manufacturer.
Secondly, I think you can just add-in the factor that computer faliures are going to be rare during the first few years of a computer if it’s maintained correctly.
So what’s interesting to me is what is going to happen in the next 2-3 years–will volume drop off? If people are even buying computers as of this writing (I don’t know one way or the other), are they skipping on the extended warranty?
Or is it the other way around? Maybe this is the time to invest the additional cost for some assurance that in the future, especially if parts and/or labor costs rise, it will be taken care of.
Or perhaps this is a benefit to non-warranty work, in that in this future timeframe customers will have to make a decision similar to that of a used car. Spend some money to fix their exising unit, or invest in a new one.
I’m sure warranty companies will know during these trying times what future trends may hold, but I doubt if this will trickle down to field technicians as to what kind of volume to expect.
| Title | Votes | Rating | Review |
| NASCAR Shuts Down iPhone Application | 8 | 4.4 | -1.0 |
2009 Bakersfield Computer Goals, Projects, and Ideas
This year I’m going to do something a little different and not only post some of my goals for 2009, but also offer up some project and business ideas that all I’ve been doing is keeping to myself. Read more
Google Street View in Bakersfield
‘Most’ of Bakersfield is now part of a limited Google map feature called Street View. In its LatLon Blog, Google recently announced adding the Street View feature for the California cities of Bakersfield, Fresno, Sacramento, and Stockton. Read more
WordPress Plugin for DonorsChoose.org
I recently found the website, donorschoose.org, which allows educators to create proposals for classroom project materials. Once the proposal is approved, it is posted on the donorschoose.org website, where individuals can then fund the project by donating money.
WordCamp San Francisco State of the Word Audio
It’s funny as I type this, as I had been ocassionally searching for the video that John Pozadzides shot at WordCamp 2008 in San Francisco, but I couldn’t find it (yet), which I totally understand. Then I did a search tonight after posting this, and many of the sessions are now available on video.
Meanwhile, I recorded some audio from the event, including Matt Mullenweg’s The State of the Word session, and this weekend I finally got around to processing it.
Although John’s video from The State of the Word is the real deal, if you are interested, you can download the audio portion of the talk here, or you can play it below.
As for the specs, I recorded it using an iRiver iFP-890 (internal mic), sent it through Levelator, and exported it using Audacity.
NASCAR Shuts Down iPhone Application
NASCAR just doesn’t get it when it comes to independently created content. In a move similar to the faceoff between Hasbro and the ever-popular Facebook application Scrabulous, NASCAR has shut down an iPhone application by Michael Stambaugh called iNASCAR. Read more
