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September 4th, 2008

No TiVo? It’s not a problem

By slbrinkl on September 4th, 2008

The closer we get to the fall TV season premieres, the busier it seems I will be on the nights of my favorite shows. Of course, I’m not going to plan my schedule around the TV Guide, but I also don’t want to miss a single episode.

Fortunately, for those of us without TiVo, there’s the Internet, which offers a few free (and legal) options for catching up on shows.

The first places I check for missed episodes are always the network sites. The big networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) all have full episode players where you can watch streaming video right on your computer screen. Most of them have advertisements throughout the presentations, but in reality, the breaks are much shorter than the ones you’d see during primetime. Typically, all you need is Adobe Flash Player.

Some of the networks’ interfaces don’t mesh well with certain browsers, and several of the players still have bugs that keep them from working smoothly. In general, though, the players do a good job of making the TV-on-computer process smooth and simple, and the glitches only seem to arise occasionally. The networks will do almost anything to keep you coming back to watch their shows.

The WB, which became the CW in 2006, is catching up with other networks by increasing its online presence on theWB.com. On Thursday it will launch its episode player, which will offer a very searchable database that encompasses many of the WB’s shows (pre-CW, on and off the air), including Gilmore Girls, Friends, The O.C., Veronica Mars and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You can also string clips of your favorite shows together and watch them in remix form.

Other television networks have also started streaming video sites. The Disney Channel and Cartoon Network have kid-oriented sites, and you can even catch shows and movies on TBS, USA, ABC Family, the CW and even Lifetime.

And then there’s Hulu, which is like YouTube for a myriad of TV shows and movies. The company works with Fox, Universal and Lionsgate to provide users with a catalogue of things to watch. Its interface is easily navigable through a modular design, and it has a lot of shows, some in high-definition, ranging from The Daily Show and The Office to House and Bones. They also have quite a few feature films available to view, including Lost in Translation, The Girl Next Door and Sense & Sensibility. (Note: You should also check out Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, a cute three-part musical project done by Joss Whedon — the guy who did Buffy, Firefly and Serenity — and his family. Watch it for free on Hulu or purchase it on iTunes — you pick.)

If you’re looking for past seasons of shows, though, you might just be stuck with the $1.99 iTunes downloads. Some of the networks host older episodes, as does Hulu, but not all. If you love a show that much, I would stake out Amazon.com until the DVD box set goes on sale.

But if you have to miss your show next week, try the Internet. You can always pause it, after all.

Posted in Uncategorized, Science & Tech | No Comments »

August 28th, 2008

Online music may see sad end soon

By slbrinkl on August 28th, 2008

Doing anything in silence has become a thing of the past. Well, for me, anyway.

My friends and I discovered good music in the eighth grade, and ever since, I’ve been hooked — so hooked that I can’t stop listening. Ever. Even while doing homework or while taking my lonely walk to class.

But it’s expensive. There was a time when I was addicted to iTunes, but I had to stop buying music due to an increasingly low income. I decided that listening to music for free better suited my budget than expanding my iTunes library.

So where do I turn for free music? The Internet, of course.

And the selection hasn’t been that bad. There’s Pandora radio, for those who like to hear new music catered to their tastes, and for those who like to make their own online playlists, there are lots of options among Seeqpod, Last FM, Pandora, and Project Playlist. And until last week, there was Muxtape. And in its place (though not affiliated with Muxtape) there’s Opentape.

Unfortunately for music lovers like me, the RIAA and SoundExchange are cracking down on these sites. They argue that the larger potential audience for these music sites means the sites should pay higher royalties.

Last week, Muxtape suddenly shut down while it “sorts out a problem with the RIAA.” (Yes, this is the very same RIAA that likes to sue college students for illegal music downloading.) And the Washington Post has reported rumors that Pandora will shut down due to the high royalty fees the record labels are demanding. The other sites are also threatened by the RIAA. Just Google it.

But now there’s Opentape. Released Aug. 24, it is inspired by Muxtape, although it vehemently denies any association on its homepage. Opentape offers “a free way to make and host your own web mixtape.” And it’s the answer for those who are sad about losing Muxtape.

Of course, there’s always Ruckus Player, geared toward anyone with a .edu e-mail address and a hard drive that they want to destroy.

In any case, the future of online listening is looking grim. Maybe I should go back to iTunes, or just find all of my music on YouTube. Although that option may not last too long, either.

A quick glossary:

Last.fm: A Web site that uses your music selection to recommend songs to others.

Muxtape: A site that allows you to make your own playlists and listen to others’. Temporarily shut down by the RIAA.

Opentape: An online tool that lets you download an application to make and host a web mixtape. Brand new.

Pandora: An online radio station that caters to your musical tastes.

Project Playlist: Like Muxtape, a website that offers a way to make and listen to playlists from music stored on the Internet.

Ruckus: A downloadable application that offers music to download and listen to, but not share. RIAA safe.

Seeqpod: A site that offers a public database of songs stored on the Internet. Being sued by Warner Music group, a record label.

Posted in Science & Tech | No Comments »

August 21st, 2008

Better than your Facebook status

By slbrinkl on August 21st, 2008

You checked your e-mail. You added Thomas Jones, changed your status and wrote on Katie’s wall. You changed your AIM away message. Now what?

It’s the question some ask themselves: How else can I tell the world exactly what I’m doing, all the time?

The answer: Twitter.

Twitter, the site exclusively for those who can’t get enough of status updates, has become a new phenomenon among the Web-savvy.

Imagine your Facebook news feed, but solely with status updates and replies to your friends. It’s all updates, all the time.

But it’s not a blog.

You get 140 characters per entry, and no more. And that includes punctuation and spaces. There’s hardly room to include URLs to Youtube videos or New York Times articles, so Twitter automatically changes long links to “Tiny URLs,” which are shortcuts to the links, to allow for more room in your posts.

Twitter makes it easy to keep up with your fellow Tweeple, too. You can “follow” friends, and they can follow you too. Following someone allows his or her updates to list on your home page. And if you like, you can even “@reply” to them, but again, only if you keep it to 140 characters.

While Twitter lacks the fluff that Facebook and MySpace thrive on, like walls, photos and applications, Twitter makes up for it in simplicity. A clean, uncluttered design makes the site easily navigable for its users.

However, the site is relatively new (it got its start in July of 2006). Twitter is growing in popularity, but the servers can’t seem to keep up with all of its more than 2 million users. If you decide to tweet, expect to see the Twitter “fail whale” — an illustration of a whale being lifted out of the ocean by signature Twitter birds — during the occasional down time.

On the other hand, Twitter isn’t usually down for long, and you can always post a rant about the outage when it gets back up. The updates just keep rolling.

(by Susannah Brinkley)