commandN #128 (March 30th, 2008)
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CBC hearts BitTorrent
Secret To Google's Success
Comcast Cameras to Start Watching
Japan: URL's Are Totally Out
A glove connection - thx Harry!
MS Introduces Scarlet Letter
techTIPS
TV calibration with THX
webPICKS
RunningMap
Songza
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It is so good to see the windows in the background.
The story about the video camera from Comcast checking to see who is the room to modify the programming offered. That sounds a bit like urban legend. We are Comcast customers. It is hard enough to get them to come replace a broken box. They don't appear to be as evil as Rogers.
Amber says she doesn't have a "huge presence on line." Little does she know. Washing machines eat socks. (See the plog to understand that one.)
The cacti behind Jeff are incredibly provocative I am sure, being Canadian, this wasn't done on purpose.
Look forward to the fresh air next episode.
Posted by: Sgtret | March 30, 2008 at 06:55 PM
It is so good to see the windows in the background.
The story about the video camera from Comcast checking to see who is the room to modify the programming offered. That sounds a bit like urban legend. We are Comcast customers. It is hard enough to get them to come replace a broken box. They don't appear to be as evil as Rogers.
Amber says she doesn't have a "huge presence on line." Little does she know. Washing machines eat socks. (See the plog to understand that one.)
The cacti behind Jeff are incredibly provocative I am sure, being Canadian, this wasn't done on purpose.
Look forward to the fresh air next episode.
Posted by: Sgtret | March 30, 2008 at 06:55 PM
It is so good to see the windows in the background.
The story about the video camera from Comcast checking to see who is the room to modify the programming offered. That sounds a bit like urban legend. We are Comcast customers. It is hard enough to get them to come replace a broken box. They don't appear to be as evil as Rogers.
Amber says she doesn't have a "huge presence on line." Little does she know. Washing machines eat socks. (See the plog to understand that one.)
The cacti behind Jeff are incredibly provocative I am sure, being Canadian, this wasn't done on purpose.
Look forward to the fresh air next episode.
Posted by: Sgtret | March 30, 2008 at 06:55 PM
Hey, wait a minute...did we just get input-field Rick Rolled by commandN.tv?
Posted by: Chris Luckhardt | March 30, 2008 at 09:00 PM
You guys should try to get sponsorship from a weather channel since you talk about the inside/outside aspect to your show.
Where did Jeff buy his cactus plant?
I might get one this summer :/
Posted by: Ragobeer in Toronto | March 30, 2008 at 09:09 PM
Another great episode guys! When will you do one in Florida Amber???
That would be a great background! The ocean!! Keep up the great work!
Did you hear about www.woopra.com???
http://www.jeffmccord.org
Posted by: Jeff McCord | March 30, 2008 at 09:47 PM
running map link needs to be fixed.
Posted by: Adolfo | March 30, 2008 at 10:32 PM
@Adolfo - just fixed RunningMap link, thx ;).
Posted by: Amber Mac | March 31, 2008 at 05:07 AM
Hey!
This is just a suggestion for next show. I think you should talk about the huge "Frozen Moment" that happened in Quebec City last week
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9by9180qx4&feature=related
There were between 1000-1500 people who stood still for 5 minutes at place laurier Quebec.
Just a suggestion...
Love the Show!
Posted by: Fred | March 31, 2008 at 07:18 PM
Amber and Will: I don't care if you are inside or outside, just keep giving us great tech news each week!
Jeff: Great segment! More people need to know how to properly set up their displays. Joe Kane's Digital Video Essentials is always close at hand at my house. Some video grabs of the tests (for educational purposes, of course) would have been helpful to illustrate your talk.
Don't know about about Canada, but here in the States, on HDNet every Saturday at 6:30am they show a series of HD test patterns that are helpful to make sure your HD settings are as good as they can be.
With LCDs being so popular these days, perhaps we need to also talk about the control of the backlight to get better blacks. I always turn mine down to get the blacks darker, and having some ambient light in the room also helps in the illusion of nice dark blacks. Even with the backlight turned down, LCDs can give off enough light to be blinding.
I could keep talking about home video forever, so I'll quit now. Keep up the great work!
Posted by: JoeM | March 31, 2008 at 08:59 PM
Hey, it really is a party in here! Who hooooo
Posted by: Randy Troppmann | March 31, 2008 at 09:27 PM
@Jeff McCord Amber has so far shot two episodes when in Florida, ep110 & ep120. ep110 was filmed early morning on the beach, ep120, the sea is in the background but Amber had to film it via her iSight so the video quality was not to good.
@Amber, Will, Wasn't that story about Comcast installing videos floating around the web last year? The story's so far this year have said that it uses body shapes to tell what members of the household are in the room, so will not show content that is for 15+ when a younger child is in the room, but this technology would mean that the Comcast bow would have to be replaced plus the family would have to sign giving Comcast the right to use a camera inside their home.
The best comment I have heard about this technology was on the BuzzOutLoud podcast which was just two simply words, "Gaffa Tape", if you don't want it to film you just stick a piece of Gaffa/Duct tape over the lens.
Oh, by the way Amber, that also works for the built in cameras on laptop, so no need to hide yours in a cupboard.
@Jeff, Great advise about changing the settings on TV, I'm always having to reset peoples TV's for them. Just three small extra benefits that you didn't talk about are -
1st - If you leave them set on the showroom floor setting, they use a lot more energy then when adjusted for normal room viewing, you came reduce the running cost by up to 50 per cent and still end up with a better picture.
2nd - The LCD/Plasma will last longer as you are no longer pushing them to there limits all the time.
3rd - As the pixels are only at 60 per cent brightness instead of 90-100 percent the response time will be slightly quicker when going back down to black. SO you will see slightly less burring on fast/bright moving content. This is partly due to the TV its self, but use down to how the human eye works, both take time to change from bright to dark, so by reducing the difference between bright and dark you improve the response time, which equals a better viewing experience.
Jeff, I know you had limited time to go over 'How' to change the setting, but thought the above may help people to know more reasons 'Why' to do it.
@Will, Party in the comments, Party in the streets, Party on Will's roof (early May), don't forget to send out the invites or to stream it Live on UStream so I can join in the fun from the UK.
@Amber, So are you still finding time for your daily early morning jogs? Not that you look like you need them, it's just when talking about RunningMaps Will talked about walking Beta, Hi Beta, but you didn't say that you used the site when planning your jogging routes around T'dot, PEI, San Fran, Florida, Brisbane etc? Girl, you are traveling a lot this year. So any idea yet on when you will be coming to London, UK?
Also Amber Congrats on your new gig for Sparks on CBC.ca radio, so when do you start going on air?
@Brian It much be nice not to have to worry about shivering from the cold when hold the camera.
Posted by: SteveintheUK | March 31, 2008 at 10:23 PM
@Brian, Sorry, that should have read - "It must be nice not to have to worry about shivering from the cold when holding the camera".
Sorry, no matter how many times I preview these comments I always spot errors about 2 seconds after I hit the post button.
Posted by: SteveintheUK | March 31, 2008 at 10:28 PM
Killer Post! I really enjoyed reading your video game related blog posts. If you ever want to learn how to copy video games check out my site and I will show you how.
Posted by: Xtreme GamerX | April 02, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Killer Post! I really enjoyed reading your video game related blog posts. If you ever want to learn how to copy video games check out my site and I will show you how.
Posted by: Xtreme GamerX | April 02, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Great Show Keep them comming!
Posted by: Marco | April 02, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Sushi, tv calibration, and RunningMap! What else could a commandn viewer ask for? Many thanks... another wonderfully informative episode!
Posted by: Bernard Ramsey | April 02, 2008 at 12:28 PM
Um yeah, I'm here for the party. I was told there would be free pretzels and soda...
Posted by: doubleagame | April 02, 2008 at 01:59 PM
Will, Songza has been a fun one for a while, but I find myself using www.seeqpod.com more often. Seeqpod will play video that Songza can't. It also allows you to save playlists. Songza's cool, but Seeqpod's way cool. Check it out.
Jeff, Good tip on the TV tuning. Gonna have to do that ASAP.
Amber, keep being Amber!
Posted by: Vvan | April 02, 2008 at 07:45 PM
Regarding the Glove. Isotoners are like $19. That site will never make it.
Posted by: Isotoner Gloves | April 03, 2008 at 06:36 AM
Thanks for the comments everyone and good additional info for the TV settings, Steve! Joe, you're right about the test pattern things and that's great that's great that HDnet does that. Ragobeer, the cacti were purchased in Halifax, sorry :-) .
Jeff
Posted by: Jeff MacArthur | April 03, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Tung
(that's hi in Kosovar Albanian, it's short for Tungjatjeta which means, may you live a long and healthy life)
I've been watching your show 4 quite awhile now and I think you guy's are pretty cool.
thouhgt you might be a little happy to find out you have a fan in Kosovo :)
Posted by: rex | April 03, 2008 at 03:04 PM
Great show. I especially like the segment on display adjustment.
Posted by: Scott Sekinger | April 03, 2008 at 03:31 PM
It is an interesting podcast and I have been following Amber's work from On the net podcast with Leo Laporte The thing is that from a positive point of view, since I wish you the best guys, these last episodes with Will did not fulfilled my expectations. I mean, you both are great but I cant feel an utter connection between both of you during the show which makes it a little dull. It is my opinion as a viewer and I wouldnt like to hurt anyone's feelings. Amber, you have a lot of potential and I love your shows! Go ahead guys. I hope it helps.
Posted by: Wilman (Uruguay) | April 04, 2008 at 06:19 AM
@Vvan: Thanks, I'll definitely check that out.
@Wilman (Uruguay): Thanks for the feedback, your opinion is totally valid. I don't take it as harsh criticism, I'm really just an amateur at this learning as I go along. I'll find my groove :)
Posted by: Will Pate | April 04, 2008 at 10:28 AM