President Obama and ISS crew talk about R2

This entry was posted in technology and tagged discovery international space station iss obama r2 robonaut 2 on by (updated 5547 days ago)

Robonaut 2, better known as R2 finally arrived at the International Space Station last weekend after sitting packed aboard the space shuttle Discovery for more than four months. R2 is the first humanoid robot to make it into space and at this point he is still very much experimental.

The astronauts have moved the crate holding R2 into the station, but the robot hasn’t been unpacked and set up yet. That will be happening sometime in the next few weeks at which point the crew will start testing R2’s performance in micro-gravity and the engineers from the Johnson Space Center and General Motors will tweak the control systems. For now, the engineers on the ground have sent up a set of task boards that will be used for testing, but eventually R2 is expected to handle some of the more mundane tasks around the station like keeping the air filters and hand rails clean.

The other day, president Obama called the ISS to talk to the combined crews of the station and the shuttle and halfway through the discussion turned to R2. Check out the video above.  BTW, R2 has no legs at this time, just an upper body that is mounted on a pedestal.

Apple goes too far with subscription money grab 4

This entry was posted in business movies music technology and tagged apple extortion subscription on by

You have to give Apple credit for chutzpah. Last week they announced a new subscription system for content available on iOS devices and they are trying to grab revenues that they have no legitimate claim too.  I love Apple design and I prefer to use Apple computers and iPods over any competing brands. However, I have avoided being drawn into the iOS ecosystem which includes iPhone and iPad. Apple simply exerts far too much control over these devices for my liking.

When Apple introduced the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch several years ago they set up a system that allowed both paid and free apps. Aside from a one-time $99 to join the developer program, developers could create and distribute apps through the store at no additional cost such as hosting fees. Developers that opted to charge for their apps would split the revenues 70/30 with Apple. This wasn’t an entirely unreasonable split since Apple provided the distribution servers and credit card processing. It’s generally been acknowledged that Apple makes little or no profit on this deal since its costs were roughly comparable to its 30% of the take. A fair deal all around.

The new subscription system allows publishers to distribute apps such as News Corp’s “The Daily” and charge a recurring subscription fee for content, just like a newspaper or magazine sub. Apple insists on take a 30% cut of this revenue which is OK if it is handling data distribution and credit card processing. However at the same time that the subscription payment system was announced, it declared that any and all purchases through apps must be handled through its in-app payment system and the subsequent 70/30 split.

This is actually very problematic for many companies. For example, Amazon offers a free Kindle e-reader app for iOS devices (and Android and Blackberry as well). Kindle users can buy books directly on their devices but on other machines, the app sends users to a mobile browser to search for books and make purchases on the Amazon web site. The books can then be downloaded through the app from their library.  Nowhere in this process is Apple facilitating anything. They are not serving data or handling financial transactions, Amazon is bearing all the costs of distribution. So why does Apple deserve any payment.

This actually started when Sony submitted a reader app similar to the Kindle App that also tried to bypass the in-app purchase system and Apple rejected it. Apple subsequently told Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other distributors that they could no longer get away without paying Cupertino its due. The situation gets even worse for streaming media providers like Pandora, Rhapsody, Netlfix and Hulu.

Those companies spend a lot of money on licenses and a distribution backbone independent of Apple.  Apple provides no service to them other than then customers that bought its products and want to use a variety of services. However, Apple already profited handsomely when it sold the devices. If Apple wants an ongoing revenue stream from media streaming it needs to get off the pot and open its own service.

Being forced to pay Apple 30% of gross revenue for the privilege of access to its huge customer base is just outright extortion on Apple’s part. Most of these companies are money losers already losing such a large chunk for no reason would make then totally unviable. If they raise prices to pay off Apple they will also have to raise the price charged to users on other platforms like Android and Blackberry because Apple also mandates that media distributors cannot charge its users more than any other platform.

The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice have apparently opened a preliminary anti-trust investigation into the new Apple practices.  Unfortunately it seems unlikely that the feds will end up doing anything of significance to Apple. Given that, people should stop buying iOS devices until Apple backs down on this issue. The money grab needs to stop.  Apple should not be paid for doing nothing.

Jeremy Clarkson is wrong about offensive humor

This entry was posted in humor media and tagged jeremy clarkson offensive top gear on by (updated 5556 days ago)

Jeremy Clarkson has always been an offensive blowhard, that’s his schtick. However, on last week’s episode of Top Gear, he and his sidekicks Richard Hammond and James May went too far. During the news segment of the show, they brought up the Mastretta MXT, a new sports car intended to be built in Mexico. Instead of discussing the merits of this machine, the trio veered off into a racist attack on Mexicans, calling them lazy, feckless and flatulent. This sort of thing is nothing new for Clarkson who is no stranger to misogyny and political incorrectness, but this time he and his cohorts went way too far.

Since the broadcast Mexican officials have of course called for an apology, but comedian Steve Coogan has penned a brilliant counter-attack on Clarkson in the Guardian.  Coogan calls out Clarkson for attacking groups that he sees as easy targets, in this case Mexicans.  Clarkson doesn’t attack muslims or jews, but those that don’t have large organized groups defending them are in his crosshairs.

The beauty of Top Gear has long been the brilliant cinematography and the interaction between the hosts. Even people that don’t care about cars watch the show and are entertained by antics like the trek through the Amazon jungle, driving across the spine of Africa or the challenge where the trio had to create amphibious vehicles.  There is no shortage of comedic moments in these episodes. Racist attacks and bullying are simply unnecessary and uncalled for.

As Stephen Colbert has demonstrated so deftly over the years, the best comedy comes from speaking truthiness to power, not attacking the powerless. Clarkson provides a lame defense of his jokes with

“there are calls in Britain at the moment for all offensive humour to be banned. But what people don’t realise is that without offence, there can be no jokes.”

However, this is not about offensive humor. There was nothing humorous about what Jezza, Hamster and Captain Slow said last week. There is plenty of truly funny material that is offensive but comedy is best targeted at those sitting at the top of the hill abusing power. The butt of the joke should be the overweight, pompous master being carried aloft, not the impoverished litter bearers.

Attacking those that you perceive as weak only serves to demonstrate your own weakness.

Al Jazeera English now available on Roku

This entry was posted in media middle east politics technology and tagged al jazeera cable news middle east roku on by (updated 5556 days ago)

For those looking for  more intelligent and thoughtful coverage of what is really going on in Egypt, Al Jazeera English is the place to go. Unfortunately, there isn’t a major cable company in the United States with the guts to carry the Qatar-based channel.

However, thanks to modern streaming technology viewers can bypass the gate keepers at KableTown. If you have a Roku hooked up to your TV, add the Newscaster channel and you will now find Al Jazeera English listed as one of the available programs.
Roku rocks!

Spartacus: What a difference 50 years makes

This entry was posted in art movies and tagged movies reviews spartacus on by (updated 5556 days ago)

Having now watched the first two episodes of the Starz series Spartacus:Gods of the Arena and re-watched last year’s Spartacus:Blood and Sand, I decided to go back and re-watch the 1960 Stanley Kubrik film based on the revolutionary gladiator.  Wow, what a difference half a century makes. I’ve long been a fan of Kubrik’s work and he created some amazing films including Dr. Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket.

However, sitting down and watching Spartacus this afternoon I’m reminded that Kubrik also often needed a strong editorial hand on his work. Of course given his reputation as something of a control freak, it’s unlikely that he ever would have accepted such oversight in the final cutting of his films. Despite having won four Oscars, I found the movie to be very uneven and often plodding with long wordless sequences of the camera panning over the camps of escaped slaves or other scenes that really did nothing to move the plot forward or develop the characters.  Both the dialog in many places and the performances also left much to be desired, although the bath scene with Laurence Olivier’s Crassus and Tony Curtis’s Antonius remains a classic.  Don’t even get me started on the This three hour epic could have easily been cut by a third without losing anything of significance.

Aside from being set in a ludus (gladitorial school) in Capua, the modern iteration of this tale couldn’t be more different from the film. In typical modern fashion, the new Spartacus takes advantage (or is that disadvantage?) of lots of digital effects.  Unfortunately, much of it used to produce gratuitous amounts of violence. Despite that, the story telling and character development in this modern iteration is actually quite good and goes well beyond what Kubric achieved 50 years ago.  The back stories of many of the characters are quite fleshed out, especially in this second season which is actually a prequel. Andy Whitfield who played Spartacus was unable to film the second season after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

The full first season and each of the episodes of season two are available for streaming on Netflix and well worth checking out.

Kids demonstrate the acceleration of tech obsolescence

This entry was posted in technology on by (updated 5595 days ago)

At the age of 45, I’ve lived through an era where technological advancement is proceeding at such a rapid pace that numerous technologies have appeared and then completely vanished from the landscape before successive generations could be born. The telephone in its original incarnation went largely unchanged for the better part of a century.  Today, increasingly advanced mobile phones have far more capability than computers and cameras that I was using just a decade ago.

Four years ago I wrote a post about my then 11 year old son and his first encounter with a rotary dial phone. Max has experienced film cameras and vinyl turntables, but he’s never seen an 8-track or a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk. In all likelihood, his children will never have seen a compact disk or DVD.  The DVD came to market two years after he was born and by today’s standards is old tech at more than a decade old but will likely be long gone in the next few years. During Max’s life span the Zip disk and other devices have come and gone while audio cassettes, VHS tapes and Polaroid instant cameras have mostly faded into history.

The video above shows a group of French 10 year olds contemplating devices that were contemporary just in my lifetime.

Roku XD-S shows the way toward a la carte TV

This entry was posted in media technology on by (updated 5608 days ago)

For years now those of that are tired of paying exorbitant monthly fees to their cable providers to receive 100s of different channels have been clamoring for a la carte television service. The problem is that most of us typically only watch a tiny fraction of the available channels. In my household we never ever watch the Golf channel or eternal world TV network or ESPN and have no desire to pay for them.  The cable companies of course want none of this because they bundle all of these niche channels into packages with more popular channels to pump up their revenues. Allowing customers to pick and choose the channels they want would likely lead to substantially reduced revenues for the likes of Comcast and Time Warner.

When Roku introduced its original Netflix streaming box a couple of years ago it was just the beginning of routing around the cable companies. At first, the Roku could only stream Netflix and the quality and content was limited.  However, Roku and Netflix have steadily improved the interface and the streaming quality to the point where the service can now deliver at 720p HD movies and TV shows on demand with quality similar to what we get directly through the cable box.

More importantly Roku made a brilliant move and created a software development kit that allowed programmers to create additional channels that run on the box to provide more content. These “channels” are apps similar to those you can run on most smartphones now. There are now dozens of channels available now for the Roku.  Many of these channels are from independent content creators like the TWiT and Revision3 networks, but also include the likes of Pandora, Archive.org and others.

The Roku is now available in several versions that support standard definition and high def output  with the top-end XD-S model also including a USB port so that a hard drive can be plugged in to playback local content including photos, music and video. Setup is very easy, just plug in the Roku to power and your TV and then connect to your local network. The Roku has both a wired ethernet port and WiFi. The box has HDMI, optical audio and composite audio/video outputs to support whatever your TV and stereo can handle. If you have an available HDMI port on your TV, the Roku requires a single cable connection.  Whatever you do just make sure you order your HDMI cables from Amazon or Monoprice instead of paying the ridiculous prices charged by places like Best Buy.

Netflix is set up by default and the channel store allows you to browse for additional channels to add. If like me, you have an old computer set up with content for the family, you can also add the Roksbox channel that allows you stream content from other machines on your network.  Last year I went through all of our old home videos and digitized them and they can now be played back on the TV through the Roku. The only problem with the Roku is limited video format support.  Currently it only supports MP4 and H264 so I’ve had to convert a bunch of video content, but once that’s done it works great.  Roku offers regular software updates and at some point it will hopefully add more codec support.

Whatever you choose to watch or listen to, the Roku has a clean simple interface that allows you browse through your available content. Netflix now offers a streaming only package for $7.99 and they are constantly adding more content including a lot of TV series.  Now if networks like BBC, Discovery and HBO would just create Roku channels, I would happily subscribe and cut Comcast loose from everything but internet access.

Obama is a spineless fool and tax cuts for the rich won’t create jobs 1

This entry was posted in america politics on by (updated 4931 days ago)

The Republican argument that giving tax cuts to the richest Americans will get them to create new jobs is clearly bogus. The tax cuts were enacted in 2001 and ramped over the past decade.  They are currently at their peak so those Americans should be creating jobs at a prodigious pace right now.

Taking a look at the current unemployment rate, it’s clear that those jobs have not been created. So why should we believe speaker-to-be Boner that things will be any different by extending the cuts?

It’s simple, they won’t be any different.

Unless democratic senators stand up and support Bernie Sanders and his promise to filibuster this deal, things will not get any better as a result of this extension. Obama should be absolutely ashamed of himself and rather than whining about “sanctimonious and pure” people that oppose this deal, he should grow a pair and realize that republicans never have and never will compromise with him. He is the only one compromising here and has clearly demonstrated that he has no credibility left.

TSA Misses 12 inch razor blades while looking at Adam Savage’s tiny penis

This entry was posted in technology TV and tagged adam savage airport security security theater tsa on by

Adam savage of the Mythbusters demonstrates yet again the ineffectiveness of American airport security theater. Like most frequent fliers Adam has a plan that he executes before heading off to the airport in order to minimize his hassle factor.

For me that includes moving all loose change and other metallic items to my carry-on before even leaving the house so that I’m not fumbling around in the line holding up everyone else. In my case I do it as much as a courtesy to my fellow travelers as for myself. I know I hate standing in lines and I’m sure others do as well especially if they are running late or have kids that may end up whining. But as usual I digress.

The nature of the work that Savage does on Mythbusters means that he frequently has odd-ball items in his bag when he goes home from the “office.” Fans of the show might get a kick out of such items, but airport rent-a-cops tend to have a less nuanced view of things. Prior to a recent trip to Seattle, Savage neglected to remove a couple of items from his bag before heading to the airport while he was worrying about the way his genitals tend to shrivel when observed through a full body scanner. He tells the tale about a minute into the video above.