Review of the Griffin A-Frame iPad Stand

I'm super happy with my Griffin A-Frame Tabletop Stand for iPad . It's well designed and very functional. It's padded edges comfortably rest the iPad in Portrait or Landscape mode. It props the iPad at any adjustable angle I choose. I like also that it presents the iPad at a slightly taller height than other stands.

It's portable, but not meant so much for portability. While I carry it in my pack occasionally, if portability is what you're looking for exclusively, try a different stand such as the Kickstand or ten dollar Menotek Stand.

The iPad is Heavy - Selecting a Reading Stand

I've been using my Amazon Kindle DX for awhile now. And, it's heavy. My wrists get tired holding it. If I set it down on the table, my neck gets tired reading it. I finally found a $10 portable stand that works well with the Kindle DX for passive reading.

While the Kindle DX weighs 1.18 lbs, the iPad weighs 1.5 - 1.6 lbs. I expect that this is going to prove too heavy to hold for most long term casual reading.

  Wired reports on this Kickback stand from Scosche (similar to it's iPod Touch stand) but I suspect the Apple integrated case & stand (scroll down) will prove popular. The nice thing about the Kickback promo graphic is that one version provides a portrait reading mode. Obviously, a case/stand that provides both portrait and landscape support will be most desirable.

The iPad's weight is going to be another factor keeping the small Amazon Kindle 2 selling well for a long time.

I finally turned in my Comcast cable boxes

Those of you who read Idealog know that I don't like Comcast's customer policies very much. Well, I finally pulled the plug on my "enhanced" digital television experience. I'm now TV-free, for now!

This American Life Asking for Donations to Cover Bandwidth Costs

This American Life says it's spending $130,000 annually on bandwidth for its podcast. Why isn't a popular show like this using Bit Torrent?

Miro, the open source torrent player, makes downloading This American Life quite easy. It's also quite easy to use. 

I installed Miro and downloaded the latest show #1 Party School via BitTorrent in less than two minutes.

Am I missing something or could the show save a ton of money by encouraging people to use a BitTorrent downloader? I love the show but should donors pour good money after bad uses of bandwidth?

Perhaps the show could create a custom download of Miro (it's open source) that installs with an automatic subscription to This American Life?

Has big Internet (Comcast, et al.) sewn the seeds (no pun intended) for fear of BitTorrent and discouraged innovation? e.g. Why doesn't iTunes use BitTorrent?

How to Cut Your Cable Bill and Use More Internet Television

I've posted a quick how to on cutting your cable bill over at Tales of Change which includes a link to a New York Times guide to using the Web to watch television: Until Reformed, Minimize Payments to Your Monopolistic Cable Provider

Simon the Cat Videos on You Tube

Let's wash down the quasi-legal seizing of more shareholder assets with a link to Simon the Cat's video catalogue on YouTube and his website. Here is his latest, Fly Guy:

Five new webisodes of Battlestar Galactica

There are five new short webisodes of Battlestar Galactica which you can watch on the SciFi website if you don't mind watching the same movie preview for a really dumb looking flick we won't promote here before each one.

There are also some sneak peaks to season 4.5 which starts January 16th, 2009.

I really enjoyed The Prestige

I think The Prestige is great four start movie - kind of a don't miss:

"The Prestige attempts a hat trick by combining a ridiculously good-looking cast, a highly regarded new director, and more than one sleight of hand. Does it pull it off? Sort of. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play rival magicians who were once friends before an on-stage tragedy drove a wedge between them. While Bale's Alfred Borden is a more skilled illusionist, Jackman's Rufus Angier is the better showman; much of the film's interesting first half is their attempts to sabotage--and simultaneously, top--each other's tricks. Even with the help of a prop inventor (Michael Caine) and a comely assistant (Scarlett Johansson), Angier can't match Borden's ultimate illusion: The Transporting Man. Angier's obsession with learning Borden's trick leads him to an encounter with an eccentric inventor (David Bowie) in a second half that gets bogged down in plot loops and theatrics. Director Christopher Nolan, reuniting with his Batman Begins star Bale, demonstrates the same dark touch that hued that film, but some plot elements--without giving anything away--seem out of place with the rest of the movie. It's better to sit back and let the sometimes-clunky turns steer themselves than try to draw back the black curtain. That said, The Prestige still manages to entertain long after the magician has left the stage--a feat in itself. --Ellen A. Kim "

I forgot how much I liked this movie...

Funny choice of words I guess.

 

NetFlix Determined to Destroy the Fabric of Our Society

My 14 month long boycott of Netflix is over. After being annoyed by my local video store hassling me over a credit for a scratched rental and their increased prices, I decided to sign back up for Netflix.

Instant streaming on the Mac OS X is here and it's pretty amazing. The variety is quite good. The Silverlight performance is pretty good (not perfect). Tons of TV shows from Star Trek, Twilight Zone, Weeds, 30 Rock et al. Basically, it's like having a pretty decent rental store in your house. And it's, at least for now, unlimited and included in the cost of your subscription.

The playback experience is quite good. I had some jumpiness on my cable broadband connection. The Silverlight player is impressive (hat tip to Microsoft). It would be nice if they would support the Apple Remote :) It's nice how well it works in the browser.

I am very impressed with early usage of this service. NetFlix is making it so you don't even need to walk to your mailbox. If television is the drug of the nation, this is some impressive stuff...

Update: Silverlight feature request #2 - because everything runs in the browser, my display keeps going to sleep. I have to change my energy settings so it doesn't interrupt the movie. (My housemate's solution is to drag the mouse closer to where I'm watching from.)