Alan Wages › Likes

Built one using a mac mini. Works very well. - RicardoSilva from twhirl

I use Boxee and love it. At home use it and a few other things to help play most of the video and music I like. - Altan Khendup

Boxee is great, but I am still waiting for silverlight (and therefore Netflix) on Ubuntu. Netflix is the killer feature, IMO. - Aaron Crews

I still haven't activated my boxee beta code. Should do that this weekend. - David Wilson

@RicardoSilva how does it run on a Mini? Thinking about getting a used Mini to run it on - andy brudtkuhl

Boxee is nice, played with it last weekend. But, I am using Vista Home Premium, with $50 DTV over-the-air PCI card, and really happy with the result. Got myself a real remote also, so I am all set and free from cable, already! - Adi Rabinovich

@Adi that's the same setup I have on my tv's and projector ... LOVE IT .. havent had cable/sat for 4 years (since XP Media Center was released) - andy brudtkuhl

Using it on Apple TV and extremely happy with the result - Arnaud Fischer

@andybrudtkuhl it runs great. And my mac mini is 2 years old or so. Streaming to a 52inch LCD and obviously quality suffers, but quite ok. And I am accessing over WIFI and VPN (due to location limitations...). Only issue is with Netflix that somehow stutters. It probably has to do with silverlight implementation as it runs perfect in browser. Bottom line, even with VGA connection it beats VHS. - RicardoSilva

I am so ready to say goodbye to comcast! - Edwin Khodabakchian

As soon as I can get live sports on Boxee then I'm done with cable. - Bryan Bartow from twhirl

What about CNN and MSNBC? That's why I have cable. - Francine Hardaway

@Francine there's a CNN channel on Boxee. No commentary, though. - Aaron Crews

Sports is really the killer app for cable/sat ATM. I can get pretty much everything else I want to watch with Boxee but no sports means I have to keep my Sat. and if I have my Sat + DVR + Roku then Boxee is less interesting. - Bill Pennington from twhirl

@Bill - agreed, PLUS Noggin/Nick for the kids. - Aaron Crews

You need a newer Intel mini for good video play-back. 1.8 G processor for HD - Robert Hafer

@Aaron - for the kids we use DVDs (ripped) most kids shows are on DVD these days and kids don't seem to need the freshness adults do - Bill Pennington from twhirl

Agreed. Just finished setting it up for myself & shared for others. - Paul Arterburn

Mona, FTW! - Mike Fruchter

Thanks you guys! I've been in tech so darn long and made things *way* too difficult for myself. I recently learned simple = best and have kicked myself many times for not simplifying my life sooner haha. - Mona Nomura

@monaaa rocks, pure and simple - Dave Martin

You guys, I JUST found this Gmail feature: "mail fetcher" that may be a better solution. http://mail.google.com/support... *nevermind, it's basically the same thing as I was doing, they just added a fancy name to it LOL - Mona Nomura

I feel proud of you, Mona! ; ) Write something about 'being a friendfeed star'. - Erhan Erdoğan

Erhan, thank you. But in no ways am I a "star" lol - Mona Nomura

If only the NHL streamed in HD, live sports are pretty much the only reason to have a TV feed these days. - Chris Weiss from twhirl

High speed internet + Netflix is the way to go. Got a Roku player? - Daniel J. Pritchett

How much are u selling the tivo for? - James Haley II

Don't forget if you have a 360 or PS3 you can download shows and movies on your tv as well from those systems. - orionstarr

reminds me of two great posts from stuffwhitepeoplelike.com ... - Adam Ostrow

You people with your fast internet connections make me so jealous. I go through a long chain of wireless modems and it ain't pretty. - Todd Hoff

I partly that: Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV, bunny ears + HD Tivo, and the local bar (for sports). Comcast free for a year now. - Patrick Lightbody

Too bad he doesn't show FF any love. - Brandon

If Criminal Minds were available on Hulu I wouldn't need cable, either. - Nine Ferdinand

I've been doing that for a while now , and I don't miss it at all. - Michael Fidler from twhirl

@ Michael ditto. I've been without cable for 7 years. How many channels is it now? And still nothing to watch. - Kevykev

Glad to hear it Kevin! I've been all Internet for over a year now! - Chris Menning

sounds like an HD less setup for TV series/sports unless you're using appletv or vudu.. i suspect you have a nice tv. isn't that a waste/ - Chad from twhirl

Wow that is going for it - Kipp Bodnar

welcome to the future :-D - Karim

Times, they are a changin' - Charlie Anzman

thats what i am talking about Kevin, I was on that bandwagon a while ago and i am not jumping off anytime soon. - chris

I'm sold. Looking at the new WiMAX provider in the Duke City. - Steven Perez

I would do the same if I could get my husband to agree, but he is a bit of a ludite, tivo is about as modern as he gets - Kim Landwehr from Alert Thingy

plus Hulu... - Phil Yanov

Miro is great too. Think a tivo-like feedburner or bloglines for Video RSS. - Chris Menning

My wife would not be able to live without her daily Soap Opera feed. - Victor

Having just read Zittrain's "The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It", it makes me even more sensitive towards bundling content and access in appliances... Good job sir. But it's too bad we have to make such difficult decisions. - Ben Turner

Crazy I just called Charter to tell them it just wasn't working out and that they should come get their stuff. - Mathew A. Koeneker

get a cheap ota hd antenea and hook it up to your media center pc and you'll have free hd network tv and still be able to zap the ads like TiVo. - Thomas Hawk

Is this show worth persevering with? I've watch the first 3 episodes and I'm not loving it. - Barak B

I think so, Barak. I had the same difficulty getting into it, but it ended up becoming one of my favorite shows. - Kevin Hessel

Thanks David and Kevin. I think given all the critical acclaim it has been getting i'll give it another couple of episodes. It does have some charm just hasn't pulled me in yet. - Barak B

David T Cole - can't tell from your comments whether you actually like it. - Barak B

There is room for Mad Men on FF. Feel free to join and spread the word. - Paul Denlinger

I think it's a little like Desperate Housewives for smart media people who are good at marketing themselves in the 60s. - Paul Denlinger

halfway through season 1, great show. - MG Siegler

Saw the first two episodes of Season 1 last night and I gotta say, Mad Men is an elegant show - Jorge Escobar

I'm really looking forward to Season 2. One of the best shows on TV. - David Weiner

Intro-great; Show-amazing. The level of detail they bring to the show is outstanding. - Ryan Cates

can't wait for the new season of Mad Men this Sunday. Only wish Time Warner had AMC in HD where I live. - Alan Wages

The best intro EVER for me is Six Feet Under -- but I agree, Mad Men has a great intro (and it's a great show) - Jorge Escobar

Haunting, simple, stark, unsettling. It's one of the few openings I never FF through. It captures the dark sense of dread that underlies the show. Brilliant touch that the agency is pimping Nixon. (FF = fast forward, not friendfeed) - Michael Markman

Yeah, I thought it had the best pilot for a TV show I've seen in years. Been hooked since (thank goodness for downloadable TV). And I still think Carnivale had the best intro ever. - Noah Mittman

Fred: A great post. Here's one way we at The Star-Ledger are trying to use these tools to address some of Umair's points: http://www.nj.com/helpinghands. Basically, it's a platform for blogs by non-profits and volunteer organizations across New Jersey. A partnership with the United Way allows groups and volunteers to find each other through a searchable database of events, interests and opportunities. - John Hassell

Revolutionary products often start out looking like toys, such as the PC. Of course that does not imply that all toys are revolutionary, but it's important to remember that the impact is not always obvious beforehand. - Paul Buchheit

Incidentally, the line at the Shake Shack was awesomely short right after the rain storm ended ;-) - j1m

I've noticed that 'likes' happen first and comments follow. I would speculate that the formula goes something like this: If a user finds an interesting item, they're more likely to 'like' it if it has few or no 'likes' yet. If there's an existing conversation, a user is more likely to add to the conversation. People are less likely to leave the first comment ('star the conversation') on... more... - Kevin Fox

Kevin, as a general rule, I comment when I know what to say or quote after reading a peice and I like when I don't. - Clare Dibble

In a world where our media consumption is evermore occurring on an individual level (feed readers, Kindles, iPods vs the family radio and TV) humans still crave shared experiences. The same forces leaving me confident that the live music business will remain healthy for years help me understand the emotional value of endorsement of a FF post. Even if we discount a "like" to zero, I think it still serves as a sign of vitality and gives this service a pulse. Often it's just nice to know others are listening. - Christopher Sacca

good post Fred. I personally have completely given up on "Web 2.0" as a term - it's just the Internet now (with Ajax, RSS, rounded corners, and "social" stuff). but I do think "Internet Ennui" is a recurring cycle, and considering the run we've had recently, we're probably closing in on another wave of it... - Jeremy Toeman

Not everything has to be about social change. Sometimes, we just want a place to hang out and relax. - Morton Fox

@Kevin - One thing I like about the friendfeed bookmarklet (and also feeds from delicious), is that you can include a comment right off the bat, which I think is more likely to spark a conversation. I think that having that first comment there might also entice people to read the link. @the article - I think this depends a little on how you define web 2.0. Is it the technology aspect (ajax, json, etc.) which allows websites to be more interactive, or is it the social aspect, or some combination. - Robert Felty