Technology

Boxee Box vs. Roku

March 11, 2011 by Dave!

I consume a lot of media on-line. In fact, were it not for the fact that I’m married to a Buckeye fan (who requires live sporting events) I’m pretty sure I could give up our monthly cable and not skip a beat. It’s not that I’m a television snob–I like plenty of television. It’s that technology has come to the point where I don’t need to watch anything (other than Buckeye football) when it airs. A big part of that are devices like the Apple TV, Boxee Box and Roku, all of which allow you to watch different kinds of content over the Internet on your TV.

My “ultimate” media box is almost here, and the Roku and Boxee both come close, yet fall just short. If they mated, we’d have a winner. Here’s what I’m after:

I want streaming media: Netflix and Hulu Plus are required, Amazon, Vudu, etc. are nice but not deal breakers.
It should be able to play any type of media I throw at it (within reason). For me, that’s primarily MPEG video, MP3 Audio, and JPEG Photos.
I need to not only get streaming services, I need to be able to browse my local files (I’ve digitized my entire CD library and I take a lot of home video).
The interface needs to be non-techie friendly, so other members of my household can use it without always needing my assistance.

So with those requirements in mind, here’s how the Roku and Boxee Box stack up.

The Roku

It seems that a number of my tech friends own Roku’s (pronounced “Row Koo”) and I wanted a device to put on a second TV to get Netflix streaming, so I figured I would give the Roku a shot. The Roku is certainly the more affordable of the two. Models start at $59 and top out at $99. I purchased the XD/S. All of the Roku models have HDMI out for pumping video to HD televisions and they all come with a remote. I went with the XD/S because I wanted the dual-band wireless and the USB port (for convenience, mostly). If you don’t have a need for USB or the dual band, save the money and get the mid-range model.

Roku Media Player (XD/S)

The box itself is small and the build quality seems fine. It’s very unobtrusive in the small cabinet where my second TV sits. The remote functions fine and there is even a remote app for it to control the box from a smartphone which works well, too.

The Roku is based on a “Channel” model. So out of the box it has “Channels” configured for things like YouTube, etc. and you can then add Channels for the services you want to add. I had some issues getting the box to play nice with my wireless, but I’m not running your average home network, so I won’t go into details of that here. Suffice it to say that it took me about an hour to get it running, but it’s been very steady ever since.

What the Roku does, it does well. I’ve had good results streaming Hulu Plus and Netflix content. I also use it to get a Weather Underground feed. The interface isn’t the most beautiful in the world, it looks like it was designed by developers–not designers–but it’s functional and not confusing. I’d say it’s a very solid streaming performance and well worth the price.

Unfortunately, what the Roku doesn’t do is play local media. Well, that’s not entirely true. There is the USB port. However, there is not (currently) any good way to get access to my music, photos and videos that are stored on my NAS (Network Area Storage) box. That’s a *big* detractor for me, and why I wouldn’t use the Roku as my main media device. Part of the problem seems to be inherent to the device itself: it was clearly built for streaming, not downloading, and most local media doesn’t stream. This is a big drawback, though, and I think moving forward Roku will have to address this need, or they’ll end up failing to other boxes that serve it.

Boxee Box

Next up is the Boxee Box. Boxee has been around for a while in the media game, making software that runs on your PC so it can act as a media center. I’ve used it on my Mac for a while and it’s really fantastic. The Boxee Box represents the first foray into the dedicated hardware arena for Boxee. It’s a small cube made by D-Link that runs the Boxee software. It’s pretty.

Boxee Box (by D-Link)

The overall build quality feels about the same as the Roku, but the similarities end there. It’s really a shame that the first Boxee Box is made by D-Link, because the hardware seems to be buggy as hell. The wireless card in it doesn’t support 5GHz (even though it was release in late 2010!) I had a *nightmare* of a time getting this box on the network. And I had problems updating the Boxee software on it as well. I eventually got it running and it seems stable, but it was a whole lot more effort for a nearly $200 box.

Fortunately, the other saving graces of the software make this box a winner. Boxee has clearly put more effort into user interface design, as the UI feels much slicker and looks much more refined than the Roku. The interface is gorgeous and really easy to use.

The Boxee does now support Netflix streaming, but it still doesn’t do Hulu Plus, which is a definite limitation for me, but Boxee has been in negotiation with Hulu and is *supposed* to be brining out Hulu support sometime soon. I hope that’s not just a rumor.

The Boxee Box is really outstanding when it comes to playing local media. It’s been able to play anything I’ve thrown at it. Music, videos, photos, all look great on it, and it all works without too much trouble. It even indexes movies (although it does so painfully slowly sometimes) and displays them with their cover art. Nice.

To me, there is no question that the Boxee Box is the more polished of the two devices, and it does everything it does quite well. If other hardware vendors get on the bandwagon and someone makes a slightly higher quality box, and they get their Hulu ducks in a row, the Boxee could be a device to be reckoned with.

The Verdict

Overall, both boxes do what they do well, they just do slightly different things. If all you care about is streaming Netflix movies and Hulu television shows, the Roku fits the bill. It’s affordable and it allows you to watch media from the net like a champ. If you’re like me, though, and it’s just as important (if not more so) to be able to watch your own media from your local network, it’s Boxee all the way.

For me, I’ll keep both for the time being. But once Boxee manages to offer Hulu streaming as well, I probably won’t have a need for the Roku anymore (unless Roku can make some big strides in the user interface and playing local media before then.) But I probably won’t buy another D-Link Boxee Box. I’ll either hold out for a better hardware vendor, or make my own small media PC.

Filed Under: Film, Technology, Television

Review: AppMakr

July 16, 2010 by Dave!

I’ve been experimenting with iPhone app development lately (and Android development, but that’s another story) so when I saw a tweet about “AppMakr”:http://www.appmakr.com I thought I would give it a try.

I will preface this review by saying that I do have some coding background (although I wouldn’t call myself a “coder”) and that I am also already a registered Apple Developer. Keep those in mind when considering my perspective.

First, AppMakr doesn’t allow you do develop full-blown applications in the truest sense of what an App is. What it does allow you to do is take RSS feed content and turn that into an application that runs on the iPhone. Why does this matter when you have Safari anyway? Well, it matters for a couple of reasons:

1. By making the content an “app” you eliminate the need to be connected to retrieve the content. So your site’s (or rather, your feed’s) content is always available.

2. The content is displayed in an “app” which can be skinned, so it will have a look and feel that, while somewhat generic, can still be customized with your logo, colors, etc.

3. You can add advertising (MobAd and others) to your “app” to help “monetize” your content.
Those may be valid reasons to use the service, depending on what you had in mind when you thought, “Hey, I want to build an app!”

The process of creating an app is pretty straightforward. Once you sign up for your AppMakr account, you can create your application for free (more on that later). Basically, all you need is an RSS feed, and you’re ready to go.

First, you choose an “Application Template” to get started. When I created my app, the only template available was the “RSS Mashup” template, which is pretty limiting, but I suspect more templates may be added later.
After you select the only template available, you enter the URL for your feed, which will provide the content for your app. From there, you can customize your app–choosing your own icon, splash screen, header image, etc. If you have any graphic design skills, I’d recommend designing your own images, the stock ones provided by AppMakr are serviceable, but look stock. You can also change the color scheme, add the advertisements to your app if you are so inclined, and then you’re done. It really is pretty simple. I created my first app in about half-an-hour, although I already had some custom icons and logos laying around.

Unfortunately, publishing is not quite so simple. In fairness, this is not entirely AppMakr’s fault. You see, applications developed for the iPhone have to be code signed, which means you have to have a public/private key combo, and sign a cert generated by Apple before you can deploy your app–that includes deploying it only on your iPhone for testing.

This is a gigantic pain in the butt.

And I’m a registered developer.

AppMakr goes out of their way to step you through the process, and I think they did a pretty good job. Follow their directions, and it will probably take another 30 min or so to figure out all the correct certs. Keep in mind, I was doing this on a Mac, and as a developer, I’d already done a couple of the steps. Your milage may vary. All along the way, AppMakr pimps the upsell, noting that the process isn’t much fun and is complicated, so they’ll gladly step you through it for $250. That’s pretty pricey, if you ask me, and unless you can’t follow directions, a waste of money.

Once you get your app signed, you’re ready to deploy. I only deployed mine to my iPhone (I don’t think an app of this blog would really be a hot-seller) which is free. It runs well, and looks pretty much the same as it did in the AppMakr simulator. Publishing for the App Store has a couple of other hurdles. First, you have to pay AppMakr. If you have your own Apple Developer account ($99 from Apple), you can publish for free right now because of a promotional special, but the regular AppMakr price to do so is $199. However, if you *don’t* have your own Apple developer account, the price is a whopping $999. Do your own math. Sign up to be an Apple developer. Yikes. $199 might be reasonable, depending on how AppMakr shepherds you through the App Store submission process, but any way you slice it, $999 is too much. If you are of reasonable intelligence or have a teenager at home who can help you, sign up for the Apple dev program, and even at the regular AppMakr price of $199, you’re saving $701 off the “we do it” price.

There are some very important caveats:

1. AppMakr doesn’t approve your apps. Apple does. (AppMakr does some basic checking before they allow you to submit, but it’s still Apple’s call.) There is still a chance that your app will be rejected by Apple for some reason. AppMakr offers “hints” along the way to reduce the chance of rejection–I’d follow their advice–but keep in mind, in the end, the decision is Apple’s.

2. You don’t get a refund if your app is rejected. Think about that one at $999. Or even $199. From what I gathered on the site, it’s not full-price to resubmit (I think it’s $49 per “change”) but still.

3. If you went the Apple Developer route, you can always self-publish your app, which is free. Free.

The bottom line: AppMakr is definitely useful–provided you are looking to make a very specific kind of app, which relies on RSS feed content. It’s a straight-forward way to take an existing site/blog and create an app version quickly and easily. The resources are there to do it for not much money, provided you do a little legwork, and if you don’t want to be bothered, you can pay AppMakr to do more of the work and still get a decent app. Worth checking out if you have a popular blog/site that you are looking to turn into an app. Otherwise, you might do better finding a developer for hire. You are definitely not going to be building Shazam or Twitter with it.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Software Development AppMakr

Some Thoughts on the Kindle 2

March 26, 2009 by Dave!

We’ve had a Kindle 2 in the house since they were released–I actually bought one as a Birthday/Christmas/Promotion present for my wife last year, but it never shipped because of the Kindle 2 Launch. Recently, we added another Kindle to the house for my birthday. Here are some thoughts…

Things Amazon Got Right

Whisper Net. Holy crap. One click and in less than a minute, I have a new book. It’s awesome. And between the free books and .99 books, I’m not spending a fortune, although, in the end I have a feeling I’m going to end up buying way more from Amazon than I did before.

The Dictionary. The dictionary integration on the Kindle is so much more useful than I ever would have imagined. I use it far more than I thought I would, and now that I do, I can’t imagine _not_ having it.
Battery Life. I don’t leave the wireless on most of the time. And I haven’t recharged the thing since I got it, despite heavy use. Awesome.

Things Amazon Got Almost Right

The Color. I’m not a fan of white gadgets in general, but I could live with that. The real issue here is that the background of the e-ink display is slightly grey, not quite white. If the Kindle were grey or black or even red I wouldn’t really notice. But looking at the white of the Kindle next to the “white” of the display, and I realize there are still some improvements to be made in the contrast.

Progress Bar. I love that I can glance down and see how far into a book I’ve read. What I don’t like is that I can’t easily see how far until the end of the chapter I’m currently reading. When your wife is nudging you in bed saying, “Turn out the damn light” there’s no easy way to say, “I’m only four pages away from the end of this chapter.” Some chapter marker hash marks or something like that on the progress bar would be awesome.

Notes/Annotations. I suppose this is really a keyboard gripe, not an annotation gripe, but I would *really* like to make better use of adding notes to texts. This is especially true of legal PDFs that I convert to the Kindle. Right now, they work, but it’s tedious to type of the keyboard and it’s just not a smooth process. I suppose I’m pushing the envelop of what the Kindle is and is supposed to do, but hey, if you’re going to make that a feature, make it a good feature.

The size. It’s really comfortable in my hand, reading in bed at night. I thought that I would want a bigger screen, and I do. But I am really pretty happy with the screen size. If the screen were actually the size of the entire face of the current Kindle and were a touch screen, I think that would be perfect. As is, it is much better than I expected.

Things Amazon Got Wrong

Folders. Seriously, I already have dozens of books on my Kindle, and I’m just warming up. I’ve been hitting Feedbooks and Many Books and going crazy. Which makes my Table of Contents super long. Yeah, I can search it, but I would really love to have folders for reference, non-fiction, fiction, etc. C’mon, how hard would that be Amazon??! This is the major mistake on the UI, if you ask me.

Memory Card. I know, it will hold 1500 books or whatever. Yeah, 2GB isn’t bad, but I don’t care. Let me put my own card in it. That’s a real no brainer. And since the Kindle 1 had a memory card slot, removing it double sucks. New revisions should add features, not strip away good ones!

The Cover. Yeah, I’d probably buy my own cover anyway, and the $30 cover Amazon sells isn’t bad–but it should absolutely be included with the Kindle. Who wants to walk around with something that costs over $350 with no cover?! Selling it separately means that you basically pay $30 more for the Kindle, no matter what. Include a damn cover. And speaking of “covers”… it’s cool the way the Kindle exploits e-ink’s ability to display a persistent image to rotate the book covers that appear on the Kindle screen when it’s powered off. But here’s a feature request: let me customize those images. Sure, it’s cool to have Lewis Carrol, Edgar Allen Poe, or Mark Twain on the screen even though it’s off. But you know what would be even cooler? A pic of my family. That really shouldn’t be a hard feature, Amazon.

In the end, I have to say I love the thing. When I was a kid, I was a reader. I used to stay up way past my bedtime, when I was supposed to be asleep, reading with a flashlight. I haven’t done that in years. Well, the flashlight is gone, but the Kindle actually has me reading late into the night again. Why? It’s hard to say. I still love books–the smell, the feel. But there is something to be said for having a library at your fingertips. For having the ability to look up a word at the touch of a button while never leaving the page you’re reading that is compelling. I don’t think the Kindle will ever replace books in my life entirely, but I also think I’m going to be using it (or some form of e-reader) for a very long time.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: "Kindle 2" e-reader, electronic book, Kindle

ATT: Nationwide? Shamsionwide.

August 3, 2008 by Dave!

I have Sprint service, had for years, with no real reason to switch… until the iPhone 3G. My contract with Sprint was up some time ago, so I go to the ATT store today, to sign up and switch, but apparently AT&T are retarded.

You see, I have a family plan. I have my phone, my wife’s phone, and one phone for her mother and one for her father. My wife and I live in Chicago. Her parents live in Columbus, Ohio. This is not a problem for Sprint. It should not be a problem for AT&T.

Every month, for years now, Sprint sends a bill to my house. It has all four numbers on it. I pay $10 each for the additional lines. We all share our “family” minutes. Easy!

So, the AT&T employee at the store insisted that AT&T couldn’t do that. All of the numbers had to be in the same area code. Then he checked with his manager. His manager said, they have to be in the same “market”. So they wouldn’t do it. This couldn’t be right, I thought. Surely, this must just be something that the 16 year old working the counter at the local store can’t figure out.

So I go home, and call AT&T. No, the representative on the phone explained to me that “the system won’t let us enter it that way, so we can’t do it”.

Am I the only one who thinks this is utterly ridiculous??! It’s 2008. AT&T is a nationwide provider. *OTHER CARRIERS CAN DO IT.* It makes absolutely no sense to me that AT&T can’t do it because they can’t “bill across markets”. I don’t even care if I have to pay “Chicago” rates for them. The point is to have consolodated billing and share minutes. It’s supposed to be about convenience for families. Am I really the only/first person to want to do this with AT&T? Is AT&T really this clueless?

I’m frustrated.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: AT&T ATT iPhone Rant Cellphone

Whee!

April 10, 2008 by Dave!

Okay, I’ve been having way too much fun with the Wii lately. I got hooked when I played with one at a friend’s house for their little boy’s birthday party… but I was going to hold off on getting one–until I found out I could get guitar hero for the thing. It was all downhill from their.

I’ve had my Wii for over a month now, and it just seems cooler to me all the time. The games do not look amazing–far from it. The graphics are nothing to write home about and if you’ve seen an XBox 360 or PS3, you’ll wonder how Nintendo could do it. But I know how: the games are *fun*. I mean, really, really, fun.

Yes, Guitar Hero is available on other platforms. But I’m having a blast with the Wii Sports and Wii Games stuff, too… and so is my wife. We even play a trivia game on it (Smarty Pants) that is so much more fun than you’d think. Then, the other day, I discovered you can buy (really cheap) games from old Nintendo systems and play them on the Wii! They are downloadable right from the Wii store, if you put your Wii online. There’s a lot of classic stuff up there… Donkey Kong… Pac-Man, Zeldas… and Mario Kart 64, which is just a damn fun game.
I can’t recommend the Wii enough. Nintendo really got it right with this one.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Games Wii

Shake It Like a Polaroid What?

March 13, 2008 by Dave!

Update: Save Polaroid

Well, I knew it would happen eventually… last month, Polaroid announced they will no longer be manufacturing instant film. Many artists are mourning because Polaroid film had some pretty unique properties, which I don’t think digital has managed to capture–yet.

I’m no luddite. I gave up 35mm film for my Canon EOS Digital SLR some time ago. And I used to shoot Super 16mm motion picture film, and traded that for HD video a long time ago, too. And in all honesty, I haven’t shot with a Polaroid in many years, either.

But over the decades that I’ve dabbled in photography, Polaroid put out some cool stuff. Among my favorites were the instant slide film (yes, instant slide film… it was pretty damn cool stuff) and the beloved SX-70 (I own several), which is even today one of the coolest cameras ever made. Sadly, Polaroid hasn’t made the SX-70/Time Zero stock for a couple of years now…

Things change, and digital cameras are capable of capturing truly amazing imagery. But for a camera nut like me, who was always attracted to photography partially because of the chemistry, equipment and science behind the craft, seeing the “old ways” go like this will always be just a touch melancholy.

Update: Save Polaroid is a group of artists and hobbyists who are trying to motivate some company to pick up where Polaroid is leaving off. If you love the medium, it’s worth checking out…

Filed Under: Personal, Technology Tagged With: Polaroid Photography Hobbies SX-70 Film

MovableType: Apparently, We No Longer “Get It”

February 27, 2008 by Dave!

We’ll it appears that the upgrade to MT4.1 broke commenting on my blog. Now, this wouldn’t be so bad–if I had any idea how to fix it. Or, if, when I clicked the “Help” link from within my blog management console, it didn’t take me to this page:

http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/help/dashboard/

Which, at least as of the writing of this post, generates a 404 “Page Not Found” error:

Yep. Helpful.

Filed Under: Blogging, Observations, Technology Tagged With: MT MT4.1 MovableType

Wee!

February 17, 2008 by Dave!

Okay, I want a Wii. I am not a big gamer, but on two occasions in the past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to play games that are seriously fun and relaxing…

First, there was just about everything I played on our friend’s Wii… she has a 4 year old who got a Wii for Christmas, and man, that thing is just plain fun. The games are fun to play, and the controllers are great… it’s not like playing a game with any of the other consoles I’ve owned in the past.

Then, last night, we went over to a friends house and played Guitar Hero. This is my kind of game! I could seriously enjoy rocking out… and when I found out it’s available for the Wii, that clinched it.

I want one.

And they are *still* impossible to find!

Filed Under: Personal, Technology Tagged With: Games Wii

Wikipedia Ban?

October 17, 2007 by Dave!

Apparently, there are schools or teachers that are “forbidding” students from using Wikipedia for researching homework assignments. Why they would do this is beyond me.

Seth Godin brings up a good point: the way we find facts and information has fundamentally changed. Certainly there is value in learning how to do old-school style research. For example, in law school, there have been times when I’ve needed to turn to those curious bound volumes we call “books” in order to find original sources. Not everything has been cataloged in Lexis/Nexis.

But Godin’s point is valid: synthesizing ideas is a critical skill; finding the facts is a small step on that way. So what if students use Wikipedia to do it?

I suspect the ban is based on a fear of relying on inaccurate or questionable data. Especially when it comes to controversial subjects and given some of the scandals surrounding the “credentials” of some Wikipedia contributors, there may be valid reasons for that.

However, I think that represents another opportunity squandered. Learning to synthesize new ideas out of facts is one aspect of a broader skill that is essential in the world today: critical thinking. Instead of “banning” use of Wikipedia, research projects could actually utilize Wikipedia, and teach students skills about evaluating bias (who is the source of the article), accuracy (where is the data in Wikipedia cited to?), and fact checking (if an essential fact comes from one questionable source, wouldn’t it be a good idea to get confirmation). Instead of banning great resources like Wikipedia, a teacher could embrace students using it, and teach how to use it as a proper and valuable tool.

In 8th grade shop I learned how to use a table saw. Table saws do have the potential for danger, but when taught how to use them properly, they sure are incredibly useful tools.

Filed Under: Technology

Speaking, Naturally

September 21, 2007 by Dave!

I write a lot. I write for work. I write for school. As a result I spend a lot of time in front of the keyboard. Lately, my wrists had been giving me some problems. Ironically, most of my wrist problems don’t come from the keyboard but the mouse.

Regardless, I decided it was time to try something different. So I broke down and bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking, it’s pretty weird actually trying to get used to speaking instead of writing. It’s almost as if speaking engages a different part of my brain than writing does. Although the words come out faster, it takes me longer to think about exactly what I want to say. When I’m typing, it seems as though the words just naturally flow out of my fingertips.

I am pretty impressed with the accuracy of the speech recognition. After a short training session, NaturallySpeaking does a pretty good job of keeping up with my speech. It is a bit strange learning the command structure for corrections, but I’m sure that will come with time.

David Pogue was right about running NaturallySpeaking on the Mac. And yes, NaturallySpeaking actually got “David Pogue” right on the first try. Hmmm… I’d really like to get it running on my MacBook with Parallels. I installed NaturallySpeaking on my Windows partition, but was not able to get it working well with Parallels. So instead, I’m booting my machine into Windows with Boot Camp, and dictating in Windows applications natively. That really is not the way I would prefer to use the application, but since there is no Mac version I don’t really have a choice. Are you listening Nuance?

Another annoyance is the microphone comes with NaturallySpeaking. It’s pretty cheap. No, scratch that. It’s beyond cheap. In fact, when I first installed the application it kept telling me there were problems with the volume on my system and the sound quality. In the troubleshooting it suggested trying another microphone, which I did. The microphone I ended up using is a three dollar super cheapie I picked up at NewEgg for Skype when I was traveling. Seriously, it was $2.99. NaturallSpeaking didn’t have any problems with the three dollar, super cheap microphone, but continues to have accuracy issues with the microphone that was actually supplied by Nuance with the software. Again, are you listening, Nuance?

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the experience. It’s definitely going to take some getting used to, but I can see how it will be a productivity boost once l get used to speaking instead of typing and after I spend a little more time training the application better. But booting into Windows to use it on my Mac is going to suck. I may give iListen a try…

For now I’m giving it three out of five stars. Speech recognition is definitely more impressive than it used to be, but it’s still not the seamless experience it needs to be in order to really change the way that I work every day. And it should run on a Mac, too.