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!

EyeLevel: Recommended Graphic Design Partner in Seattle

If you're looking for a great graphic design firm in Seattle or want to learn more about customizing the design of one of our Facebook communities, check out Eye Level's Facebook application portfolio:

http://youreyelevel.com/smt/

We've been very impressed with the quality, professionalism, collaborative spirit and teamwork of the entire Eye Level team.

Judgement day for Microsoft: Amanda Congdon Reports on Microsoft's Tax Dodge

For more information, please visit the Microsoft Tax Dodge website:

Be sure to follow AmazingAmanda and SometimesDaily on Twitter!

Comcast Digital Upgrade Kills PC/Mac DVRs

Comcast's mandated digital equipment upgrade in Seattle threatens to kill my Mac-based DVR system which I've used for over three years. I prefer to use this solution than pay an additional monthly subscription fee to Comcast, TiVo or DirecTV for their own DVR boxes.

Comcast has a monopoly on cable where I live in Seattle. They are poorly regulated by the city e.g. service is poor and they do not have to sell channels a la carte (customers are forced to buy packaged bundles if they want service).

While Comcast is mandated to provide digital transport boxes to all current cable subscribers, it appears that I will have to bear the cost of any hardware and software upgrades on my own. El Gato recommends a couple of solutions, but forum postings say they do not work reliably.

While trying to activate my digital boxes this week, I discovered that the EyeTV is no longer able to change channels via Comcast's Digital Transport Boxes. I assume that all PC and Mac-based DVR solutions e.g. MythTV will be similarly impacted.

The solution involves getting a $49.95 USB-enabled IR blaster to tell the Comcast box when to change channels. My experience with IR-systems is that they are slow. Trying to change channels when watching TV normally will be slowed. Worse yet, it may not work at all - says this forum poster:

It works fine, but almost once a day, stops being able to change channels on the DTA. I can make it work again by using the supplied Comcast remote to change the channel once. After that, the ZephIR "remembers" how to communicate with the DTA. Its almost as if the DTA is going into some kind of sleep mode until it hears from the remote. I've been in correspondence with the folks with ZephIR. Frustrating!

It seems like it might be time for me to finally give up on cable television and switch to other solutions e.g. NetFlix, iTunes, Hulu and the EyeTV Hybrid HD tuner ... 

On The Media recently ran this timely segment called Cutting the Cable - "if Netflix can cut the same content deals with Hollywood as Comcast and Time Warner - this could be the beginning of the end for cable.":

Even if Comcast's latest move didn't kill the PC-based DVR, their next step would be to encrypt content on more and more channels to restrict the use of these and other solutions such as TiVo.

Apparently, the digital cable business in Seattle is still so profitable, that Comcast can afford to send free hardware (I got two boxes) to all of its customers without blinking. They probably expect to make up the cost outlay with new DVR subscriptions.

Comcast's Digital Now page says "Welcome to The World of More! More Channels, Higher Quality, No Additional Cost on up to 3 TVs*" - but what it really means is More Money for Comcast and More Costs and Less Choice for Consumers.

It's frustrating the Seattle city council is allowing Comcast to upgrade its systems in this way - without providing full compatibility with existing systems.

The City of Seattle has a long history of poorly regulating Comcast — complain here.

p.s. I should also mention that Comcast's Digital Now Website activation doesn't even work. It kept rejecting my valid digital ID. Attempts to get online chat support kept breaking any time I'd switch away from the page - the chat room would reset in the middle of a support session. I had to call in several times before reaching someone on the phone that could actually activate my boxes. This is when I discovered the bad news. The Comcast technician on the phone said it could take up to an hour to load all the channels - but apparently, he just didn't understand --- I'd need to upgrade if I want those channels.

Seattle, show your support for Mike McGinn on Facebook

Add Mike McGinn to your Facebook profile photo via The Needle's profile customization feature:

News4Seattle Ruining #Seattle Hash Tag with Spam

The #seattle hashtag might be a very interesting place for seattle residents to follow grassroots tweets from around our community. Unfortunately, sites such as News4Seattle read in RSS feeds from every news site and repost links to their site with ads placed around links to the original page.

While some participation by news sites is helpful, News4Seattle continues to spam our local hash tag with more than 20 posts per hour. They add nearly no value.

You can report them as a spammer to Twitter by tweeting "@spam @news4seattle" but so far I've seen no action taken by Twitter. 

Unfortunately, blocking News4Seattle does not remove them from hashtag searches.

It would be nice if Twitter set rate limits on Hash Tag use so that no one user can present more than 5-10% of hash tag content if it's already posted in the past hour.

Riding the LINK Light Rail to and from SeaTac

It was interesting riding the LINK light rail to and from SeaTac this weekend. On the way out, I was dropped off at Westlake and rode in from there. On the way home, I rode the entire way - hopping on the 358 from Westlake. It took me about 90 - 100 minutes to get home.  Most of that was travel time. I didn't have to wait long for the shuttle or the 358.

Anyway, I think the trip will be a bit faster once the final SeaTac stop is in place. Riding the LINK shuttle right now requires an extra 20 minutes planning time.

I wish the LINK was a bit faster - and wish that it was closer to my home in North Seattle ... Having a friend pick me up and get me home in 20 minutes vs. 100 minutes is quite a significant difference (of course it's 40 minutes for them + wastes gas).

The ride from Rainier Beach to SeaTac is quite different as the train speeds up significantly and parallels I5.

While the LINK was a pleasant, air conditioned, quiet, peaceful ride - the 358 was a noisy, congested, smelly (post-hempfest) typical bus journey w/o space for luggage.

I'm not sure I would routinely want to spend 100 minutes traveling home from the airport after a long flight, but I am eager to see how the trip changes qualitatively after the SeaTac stop opens.

The eco-savings of riding public transit makes this all just about worth the extra time and lack of comfort.

Community Sharing Tool for Seattle Facebook Members

A new and improved lending library for Seattle is now part of The Needle, a Facebook community application:

See http://seaneedle.com?p=things or http://apps.facebook.com/theneedle/?p=things

The Needle's Things allows you to easily list items and share them with the community at large. Now, you can also restrict items to be visible just by your Facebook friends or within specific Facebook groups and networks. Similarly, you can also use Things to find stuff you want to borrow such as books, CDs, DVDs, household tools, friends with trucks et al. Listing items is easy with our quick Amazon-assisted lookup feature.

You might also enjoy some of the other features at The Needle:

- Answers lets you ask questions of Facebook friends and the Seattle community

- Ideas lets you share your own ideas and comment on others'

- Talk lets you discuss topics related to Seattle (suggest a topic to me if you don't see the one you want listed)

And finally, if you are in support of Referendum 1's Reusable Bag Initiative, you can use The Needle to customize your Facebook profile. In just a few simple steps, you can show your support for this common sense environmental initiative:

http://seaneedle.com/?p=media&o=pro

Using Facebook to Crowdsource Ideas in Seattle

We're soliciting ideas for Seattle at The Needle using our new crowdsourced ideas service in NewsCloud's Facebook application framework. The best ideas will be featured on The Needle and in our blog and twitter feeds. 

Do you live in Seattle? What's your idea for the future of our city? Post it here.

If you're interested in running a site like The Needle in your town or on your university campus, please take a look at our services page and contact us.

The illogic of FedEx signature requirements

I came home in the morning to a second FedEx tag about the credit card replacement (do to a bank hacking incident) that would need my personal identification numbers over the phone to activate. They won't deliver it without a person present for a signature.

I came home in the afternoon - to a FedEx box on my porch with $1,000 in iTunes gift cards from Apple...just sitting there.