Seeing your name in print never gets old and for the second time Chris Tribbey from Home Media Magazine has found my opinion fit to print, and that’s why he’s my new best friend. The article was in the December 30th edition and is titled Web Rumors. So if you find the format war interesting, I’d suggest you check it out.
Thanks Chris!
It really amazes me that companies who manufacturer almost all the banking equipment in the US can’t design a auditable electronic voting machine. It almost makes me thing they don’t want to make one, which is going to lead to states going back to scanned ballots.
Here is a free solution, I take no credit and anyone can use it without any compensation.
Take the same machines you have now and add reciept printer to it — you know, like the ones attached to ATMs and every teller’s computer in the US — when I cast my vote, print out a receipt which will state who I voted for and have a bar code that is encoded with the same information. As I walk out of the poll, have me drop this receipt into a box — you know, like the old ballot boxes that are probably still in storage. Then we can have quick access to the results, thanks to the electroic systems and if someone demands a recount, it can be done manually or by just scanning all the bar codes.
Not real hard is it? Maybe Diebold and others will get a clue.
I got into this entire business ’cause I like to talk. I started doing a podcast about HD and this lead me to Engadget. My big mouth has gotten me into trouble more than a few times and on a recent EHD Podcast I couldn’t shut up about how much I dislike WealthTV — seriously, have you watched this channel, it’s a perfect example of wasted bandwidth. Needless to say, they didn’t like what I had to say, but who’d a thought they would actually issue a press release accusing me — and Engadget — of being involved in a large corporate conspiracy. First off, we don’t take editorial direction from anyone but Ryan and Peter, and Time Warner is such a large company even if we did, they wouldn’t have any pull. But, no one can explain the situation better than our fearless leader Ryan. His post on the matter on EHD is one of my favorite. I read it a few times and laughed my a’ off every time. So, for a good laugh head over and see how we deal with unfounded accusations.
The government has the hardest job in the world; to try to please everyone, all the time. I know at my job the biggest challenges are usually political and not technical, I can’t even imagine not having the technical part to keep me sane. Regardless, this is what they do in Washington for a living, and once again we have to wonder who’s interests they have in mind. I know I don’t feel like the PRO IP law is Pro Ben Drawbaugh. I dont’ have a problem paying for content, but I do have a problem with people telling me what I can do with that content — aside from personal monetary gain that is. I believe most will pay for content when it is available when and how they want it.
I’m a little more optimistic than my friend Jeremy, I believe that this bill doesn’t have a chance to make it. But then again, I never thought they’d pass the DMCA either. Either way, congress is only one part of our government and even if it makes it through, there is no way it has a chance in both of the other two branches.
Even though this is my person blog, I usually don’t get that personal. Honestly, I’d rather talk tech then about my life. But every once in a while there is something worth mentioning, and I’m very excited to brag about my wife starting her own company. She’s been a recruiter (aka headhunter) for over six years and not only does she love it, but she’s really good at it. So starting a few months ago, her and one of her colleagues started The Madison Group, Inc. They specialize in three areas: Architecture, Engineering, and Construction; Information Technology; and Accounting. They are based in Tampa FL, but have clients and work with candidates all over. They also do some work with re-location, but someone has to be really good for a company to foot the bill. As you can tell I’m really proud of her and everyone who knows us, will tell you that she’s the successful one in the relationship. Now click through and give her new site some traffic and maybe she can help you get a job!
Being a member of the new media, I usually give members of old media a hard time. Mostly it’s because they don’t know how to leverage their content online to make information more available while at the same time making them more money. But that aside, I still like to see my name in print — even when they get they get my title wrong.
In this week’s edition of Home Media Magazine, I’m quoted in the piece about format war fanboys. Personally, I think they’re hilarious, but others take them very seriously. Either way I appreciate being included.
We hear all to often that there isn’t enough time in the day, but is it really true? I don’t know about anyone else, but I always seem to find the time to do what I really want to do. In fact if I tell you I don’t have time, it usually probably means I don’t want to find the time or that I can think of 10 other things I need to do, that I’d rather do. I think everyone is like this, we all find time to do the things we want. Sure there isn’t enough time in the day to do everything, but as long as there is enough time to do what you really want to do, then does it really matter?
This is one of the core philosophies of life, and a big reason why I am so dedicated to learning so many different topics. There are many things in life that I don’t have any control over and that I’m asked to blindly accept. I’ve always found it easier to accept things if I understand them, and so I go on quests for knowledge. But many times there are things that go unanswered and this is something I find very difficult to accept. Why would a parent say “because I said so”, maybe it’s because they don’t know or don’t care enough to explain why.
Regardless, it is what it is, and I just hope everyone learns: that with understanding, comes acceptance — for me at least.
I’ve been fascinated with a few different technologies, and while HDTV is my current hobby, my first was car audio. The little town where I grew up didn’t have a car audio shop of any kind, so we would drive over to West Palm Beach, FL to a little place called Audio Advisors. They had the most high end gear around and the best employees. Their installation team was award winning and I learned a lot from my long talks their sales people. To me it was just my closest audio shop, but here it is now fifteen years later and they are still being recognized for their excellence. Although I couldn’t care much less about car audio now, I’m sure they are up on the latest home automation and theater gear and I’m sure I could still learn quite a few things from them.
My friend Bryan Schneider from TampaHDTV.com knows someone from just about every local TV channel in the Tampa Bay area, so when they asked him to help out with a segment about HDTV, he asked me to help ’em out. Unfortunately for Bryan, although he helped them, they didn’t use any of his quotes. They did used plenty of mine though, and I was very pleased with the quotes that they choose to use and think they did a very good job of educating the public.
If you’re in the Tampa Bay area you can catch in to channel 10 news, otherwise you can click the image and watch it on their website, or you can just read the transcript here.
Thanks Bryan!
