Land of the Giants is a podcast about the big tech/media companies that have changed so much in the last 20 years: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (FAANG). The series on Amazon confirmed what I already knew and my decision never to shop on Amazon if I could help it. Now I'm halfway through the Netflix series. Their corporate culture is really hateful, but the way they've changed so many aspects our media landscape is fascinating. I remember when I got my DVDs from Intercontinental video and other independent video stores. I also went to the Blockbuster on Hennepin because it was on my way home and had a big parking lot. I didn't always stay on top of the late fees. Apparently, they were the biggest source of profit for the Blockbuster, and one of the reasons that Netflix became so attractive; you could keep the DVDs as long as you needed. I churned through series and watched the commentary tracks as well, another bonus. There were a lot of good indie movies in their library in those days, but I still used the independent video stores for their eclectic catalogues. For a time I had the DVD and streaming option, and eventually I slid into the all streaming tier because it was cheaper and easier. Now I have streaming subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu (bundled with Spotify), MUBI, Criterion, HBO Max and PBS. I can't keep up with all the stuff that's in my queue, but since I'm not able to go out and spend money anywhere else, it's affordable. I refuse to get Amazon Prime which means there are some good shows that I miss out on, but that's OK; FOMO is not strong enough for me to change my mind.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Sunday, March 07, 2021
Land of the Giants
Friday, June 17, 2011
Friday, October 01, 2010
We could just stop watching TV but...
Uh oh! In Feb 2009, TV as we know it will die, and if we don't jump on the digital television train, we will not be able to watch our reality shows! Withdrawal will be ugly.
I don't know if we had a TV when we were very little kids in Texas, before I was 5. I do remember watching Romper Room at least once, and I have a memory of Mr. Greenjeans, so there must have been a TV around, but my mother was very big on DIY toys and going out to play.
When we moved to Japan we had a TV, but of course most of what we watched was in Japanese. The only TV in English was the Danny Kaye show, and then the "Moonriver" guy. The rest was samurai movies, incredible animated cartoons (I still remember the theme song from Obake no Q), and Japanese variety shows. This didn't stop us from watching, but we had to invent our own dialogues for the movies.
Once back in the US, in 1968, the three of us kids gorged ourselves on color TV in English, fairly indiscriminately. If it was on, we watched it.
When I moved away to go to college, there was a TV in the dorm lounge, and in various apartments I shared, but watching TV was not something I did much of. For the years of graduate school, my parade of roommates brought TVs into the house, but nothing fancy. Sometimes there was no TV. I spent more time watching movies at the cheap arthouse cinemas than watching TV, although we did go through a heavy McNeil-Lehrer period, and I did get hooked on a Venezuelan telenovela. I remember this Black Flag song "TV Party" from those years.
When I moved to Minnesota, I got my first credit card and bought my first TV. It still works and we still watch it. No cable, no DVR, no satellite, just regular broadcast TV with crappy reception. No remote, so we change channels or volume with the little buttons. We do have a VCR and a DVD player hooked up to it, but now the laptop is my preferred way of watching DVDs (did I say we have no remote? can't watch the special features without one) because the quality of the image is so much better.
So this summer I think I will take old faithful to the electronics recycling center. The question I have now is, what now? I think I could live without TV again, but I'd like a better monitor for watching DVDs, etc.
One solution is to bet an HDTV to use as a monitor and hook it up to a Mac mini, thereby having a TV-computer set up that allows one to browse, show photos, etc as well as watch TV. Or I could buy and iMac and get Apple TV. I want to leave room for future developments in receiving and broadcasting multimedia content.
The geeks who game and have been doing all this stuff for years with their tinkering and hacking have all kinds of scorn for either solution, but I am that Mac customer who wants to take it out of the box, plug it in, and use it. I don't want to have to spend hours and hours doing research, buy features I'll never use, or pay twice as much as I need to.
I don't know if we had a TV when we were very little kids in Texas, before I was 5. I do remember watching Romper Room at least once, and I have a memory of Mr. Greenjeans, so there must have been a TV around, but my mother was very big on DIY toys and going out to play.
When we moved to Japan we had a TV, but of course most of what we watched was in Japanese. The only TV in English was the Danny Kaye show, and then the "Moonriver" guy. The rest was samurai movies, incredible animated cartoons (I still remember the theme song from Obake no Q), and Japanese variety shows. This didn't stop us from watching, but we had to invent our own dialogues for the movies.
Once back in the US, in 1968, the three of us kids gorged ourselves on color TV in English, fairly indiscriminately. If it was on, we watched it.
When I moved away to go to college, there was a TV in the dorm lounge, and in various apartments I shared, but watching TV was not something I did much of. For the years of graduate school, my parade of roommates brought TVs into the house, but nothing fancy. Sometimes there was no TV. I spent more time watching movies at the cheap arthouse cinemas than watching TV, although we did go through a heavy McNeil-Lehrer period, and I did get hooked on a Venezuelan telenovela. I remember this Black Flag song "TV Party" from those years.
When I moved to Minnesota, I got my first credit card and bought my first TV. It still works and we still watch it. No cable, no DVR, no satellite, just regular broadcast TV with crappy reception. No remote, so we change channels or volume with the little buttons. We do have a VCR and a DVD player hooked up to it, but now the laptop is my preferred way of watching DVDs (did I say we have no remote? can't watch the special features without one) because the quality of the image is so much better.
So this summer I think I will take old faithful to the electronics recycling center. The question I have now is, what now? I think I could live without TV again, but I'd like a better monitor for watching DVDs, etc.
One solution is to bet an HDTV to use as a monitor and hook it up to a Mac mini, thereby having a TV-computer set up that allows one to browse, show photos, etc as well as watch TV. Or I could buy and iMac and get Apple TV. I want to leave room for future developments in receiving and broadcasting multimedia content.
The geeks who game and have been doing all this stuff for years with their tinkering and hacking have all kinds of scorn for either solution, but I am that Mac customer who wants to take it out of the box, plug it in, and use it. I don't want to have to spend hours and hours doing research, buy features I'll never use, or pay twice as much as I need to.
Friday, June 13, 2008
A stupid quest
I had to channel the spirit of Steve Jobs in order to get Apple Customer Relations to explain to me why they wanted to charge me close to $1000 to repair my laptop,without specifying what exactly they were going to be repairing.
First it stopped working. I took it to the Apple store, and the tech replaced the logic board and the top panel on the keyboard case because it was cracked (what Apple calls a "known issue"). My Apple Care 3-year warranty covered this.
Small problem: when I get home the computer still won't boot up. Dead. So I take it back. The tech says he has to send it to Apple because he can't get it to boot up either and doesn't have the parts to repair it, this is the usual procedure, bla bla bla. He can't tell me what exactly is wrong with it, but hints that this is the protocol.
Apple then tells him that they won't repair it under the warranty because there has been "spillage" for which the have "photographic documentation" and the LCD (display) is damaged. They want me to pay almost $1000 to fix it. I say that I did not spill anything, but it is not inconceivable that another person did (although my daughter would have told me and I would have noticed it, I'm sure), but would they please tell me what exactly they were going to repair as I brought it in because it wouldn't boot up and they had already replaced the logic board. The tech gives me the serial number and make, and urges me to embark on my next Quest.
First, I am to call the 1-800 number, but I must be sure to ignore the menu that will confuse me and not lead me to my destination. I must ask to be connected with Customer Relations, and not accept any other destinatin. Make sure that when I am connected that I am indeed talking to Customer Relations and not something else with a similar name. I do so, and although the rep tried hard to head me off, eventually I am given a magic case number and transferred.
Customer Relations listens to my story and promises to find out what's up and call back. However, a few hours later, I'm talking to CR again, but the story remains the same: I must have spilled something, thus voiding the warranty, and they have pictures. I repeat my questions: what is it that they have to fix to get the computer to boot up? and why are they claiming that the palm rest shows damage when that part was replaced?
We go around like this for a while and it finally emerges that the repair folks have not even opened up the computer to see what is inside it! they have opened the lid and looked at the exterior, but have not "looked under the hood" so to speak. I am livid, but trying hard to remain civil and calm, and to ensure that the person on the other end of the line and I are using the same terminology. I keep repeating that if this were a car that I took into the shop, nobody would expect me to pay the equivalent of the price of a new car before they even opened the hood or looked underneath. I am polite but persistent and logical. I make it clear that I will not allow him to rephrase my words into a different story.
Finally, the guy just says, we'll fix it for you at no charge, and I ask him to send it to me at my work address. I am hoping that it arrives soon and that when it does, that it actually works.
I go home feeling exhausted and confused. I have achieved my goal, but I feel just horrible.
The tech guy at the store calls me this morning to tell me that it looks as if Apple has "released" the machine and it will indeed be repaired.
First it stopped working. I took it to the Apple store, and the tech replaced the logic board and the top panel on the keyboard case because it was cracked (what Apple calls a "known issue"). My Apple Care 3-year warranty covered this.
Small problem: when I get home the computer still won't boot up. Dead. So I take it back. The tech says he has to send it to Apple because he can't get it to boot up either and doesn't have the parts to repair it, this is the usual procedure, bla bla bla. He can't tell me what exactly is wrong with it, but hints that this is the protocol.
Apple then tells him that they won't repair it under the warranty because there has been "spillage" for which the have "photographic documentation" and the LCD (display) is damaged. They want me to pay almost $1000 to fix it. I say that I did not spill anything, but it is not inconceivable that another person did (although my daughter would have told me and I would have noticed it, I'm sure), but would they please tell me what exactly they were going to repair as I brought it in because it wouldn't boot up and they had already replaced the logic board. The tech gives me the serial number and make, and urges me to embark on my next Quest.
First, I am to call the 1-800 number, but I must be sure to ignore the menu that will confuse me and not lead me to my destination. I must ask to be connected with Customer Relations, and not accept any other destinatin. Make sure that when I am connected that I am indeed talking to Customer Relations and not something else with a similar name. I do so, and although the rep tried hard to head me off, eventually I am given a magic case number and transferred.
Customer Relations listens to my story and promises to find out what's up and call back. However, a few hours later, I'm talking to CR again, but the story remains the same: I must have spilled something, thus voiding the warranty, and they have pictures. I repeat my questions: what is it that they have to fix to get the computer to boot up? and why are they claiming that the palm rest shows damage when that part was replaced?
We go around like this for a while and it finally emerges that the repair folks have not even opened up the computer to see what is inside it! they have opened the lid and looked at the exterior, but have not "looked under the hood" so to speak. I am livid, but trying hard to remain civil and calm, and to ensure that the person on the other end of the line and I are using the same terminology. I keep repeating that if this were a car that I took into the shop, nobody would expect me to pay the equivalent of the price of a new car before they even opened the hood or looked underneath. I am polite but persistent and logical. I make it clear that I will not allow him to rephrase my words into a different story.
Finally, the guy just says, we'll fix it for you at no charge, and I ask him to send it to me at my work address. I am hoping that it arrives soon and that when it does, that it actually works.
I go home feeling exhausted and confused. I have achieved my goal, but I feel just horrible.
The tech guy at the store calls me this morning to tell me that it looks as if Apple has "released" the machine and it will indeed be repaired.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Aggregation!
Just a year and a half ago, I had never heard of blogs. This summer I started to learn about social networking. As I'm discovering, he proliferation of on-line usernames and profiles in places like Flickr, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Television Without Pity discussion boards, allows us to not only view content or use services, but to create content and share tastes, ideas, etc. But managing all that data and all our profiles becomes cumbersome! Now I'm learning about social networking and identity aggregation.
Here's an example of someone who has been a creative force in this area: Rex Sorgatz, webmaster extraordinaire, futurist, internet analyst, former Minnesota resident, generator of the list of lists, MNSpeak co-founder, (interview with him here) is aggregating his own life over at fimoculous.com. Here's how he explains the name:
Here's how he talks about "self-aggregating":
One of fimoculous' links today is a very comprehensive round-up of the various means of citizen documentation of the I-35 bridge collapse by a local blogger and internet analyst/marketer. It's a great example of how someone has pulled together in one place a series of links to the the various ways that users/citizens do more than consume content; they create and share, and interact in new an unexpected ways.
Here's an example of someone who has been a creative force in this area: Rex Sorgatz, webmaster extraordinaire, futurist, internet analyst, former Minnesota resident, generator of the list of lists, MNSpeak co-founder, (interview with him here) is aggregating his own life over at fimoculous.com. Here's how he explains the name:
What is this? A fimoculous is a micro-organism that consumes its own waste for sustenance. Fimoculli are therefore a self-perpetuating ecology. A mono-parasite, a homo-symbiosis, Fimoculous.com devours the filth expunged on the mediascape. (Oh, and it aggregates my life.)
Here's how he talks about "self-aggregating":
Once you start thinking of your life as aggregation potential, you start to wonder about all kinds of possibilities. ("How dangerous would it be to expose my clickstream?") Although this isn't revoluationary thinking, I like the idea that this site updates even when I'm not explicitly creating content for it. When you start to think about your blog as a receptacle for capturing all parts of your online life (and perhaps even your non-digital life), you can start to imagine a constantly updating page of personal data. To get metaphysical for a moment, the self-aggregator becomes another version of you..
One of fimoculous' links today is a very comprehensive round-up of the various means of citizen documentation of the I-35 bridge collapse by a local blogger and internet analyst/marketer. It's a great example of how someone has pulled together in one place a series of links to the the various ways that users/citizens do more than consume content; they create and share, and interact in new an unexpected ways.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Transitioning
from PC to Mac. The opportunity to upgrade at work was a chance to switch, so I finally overcame my inertia and decided to dump the Piece of C*** that has cost me so many hours of troubleshooting this past year (viruses, spyware, screen freezes, rebooting, disappearing video drivers, the blue window of death). The idea of having to deal with the rollout of a buggy Vista plus the upcoming changes in Office made my eyes roll back in my head. The more I use multimedia stuff in class, the more sense it makes to use Mac as well. For my purposes, at least (not being a gamer or a hardware geek)
Of course, if I were really a geek, I'd try for Linux.
I'm sure there will be some kinks to work out, but there is a lot of online support as well as the folks at the store where I bought the Macbook for home.
Of course, if I were really a geek, I'd try for Linux.
I'm sure there will be some kinks to work out, but there is a lot of online support as well as the folks at the store where I bought the Macbook for home.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Oh no! not another upgrade!
OMG, this is so totally me when I got my first computer and started learning to use Word Perfect back in 1987! I just had an anxious conversation with the IT person about the upcoming upgrades to Windows Vista and the new Office interface.
Update: OK, so the supertitles are English and the subtitles are Danish, but does anyone know what language they are speaking? Norwegian?
Updated update: Ken kindly pointed out that at the YouTube site, if you click on the little side text, it explains that they are indeed speaking Norwegian, and the subtitles are in Danish. Gotta brush up on my research skills!
Update: OK, so the supertitles are English and the subtitles are Danish, but does anyone know what language they are speaking? Norwegian?
Updated update: Ken kindly pointed out that at the YouTube site, if you click on the little side text, it explains that they are indeed speaking Norwegian, and the subtitles are in Danish. Gotta brush up on my research skills!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
"Soy infeliz"
I caught the first film in the Pedro Almodovar retrospective that opened this weekend in Landmark cinemas. Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (women on the verge of a nervous breakdown) came out in 1988, the year I moved from California to Minnesota. I saw it when it opened, and loved it for the wonderful colloquial language and rhythms of the dialogue: totally Spanish but reminiscent of those great Preston Sturges screwball comedies. If you've seen the film Easy Living, scripted by Sturges and directed by Mitchell Leisen, then you'll recognize how Almodovar riffs on the way that actions flow when an exasperated character throws something out the window. In Easy Living, a rich man throws his wife's sable coat out a window, and when it lands on Jean Arthur's head, it sets the crazy plot in motion (my mother loved the automat sequence with Ray Milland).
Some of the things Pepa throws through her window: her telephone, her answering machine,
the record "Soy infeliz" sung by Lola Beltran. She's in a phone booth outside her ex-lover's apartment when his wife throws a suitcase out the window, which is how she discovers that he has a son, played by Antonio Banderas in a great suit and hilarious haircut.
Other things I love about the film: the incredible voices of the main characters who make their living dubbing films and commercials; the mambo taxi, the moment when Rossy de Palma opens the fridge and says "Mmm, gazpacho" not realizing it has been spiked with sleeping pills,
the fab apartment that is the center of the action. I was struck then by the vivid colors and loving attention to clothes (those 80s suits! the shoes!). Back in 1988, the fetishizing of the phone and the answering machine were funny--I bought my very first answering machine in 1987 so I wouldn't miss any calls from schools offering interviews at the MLA! This episode of This American Life on the telephone revisits the years when answering machine messages were recorded on tape.
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