BoxeeTV announced

I noticed on Fred Wilsons blog today that the FCC endorsed "BoxeeTV" device has been announced
- http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/10/boxee-tv.html

This was sort of announced recently along with the FCC decision that cable tv providers no longer need to carry unencrypted cable http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/15/3506030/fcc-allows-basic-cable-encryption-protects-consumers-open-access   (guess those washington lobbying efforts paid off),

One point of note the FCC announcements indicated that cable providers only need to offer this for free for 2 years and then will be allowed to charge for this from then on http://www.slashgear.com/fcc-cuts-boxee-a-little-encryption-slack-but-not-forever-15251887/ , I cant find any information from Boxee about what these costs will be from the cable providers to make BoxeeTV work?

I'm also curious about "storage in the cloud" and whether Boxee expects any patent challenges around this? eg would be a shame if an injunction strikes down the cloud portion functionality.

Jumping from space....well sort of

I was watching the "Space Jump" today and wondered so if you can get a capsule that high into space with a simple helium ballon.......why are we spending so much on rockets?

....5 mins of googling i found the answer, he only jumped from 20 miles, the lowest a satellite orbits is 110 miles and the space station is at 230 miles.

BTW in case you are wondering...weather ballons regularly get to 26 miles but everything less than 62 miles isn't really considered space but "near space" - http://www.hobbyspace.com/NearSpace/index.html

The Anchor of Talent

Just got back from driving to Clairmont NJ to see Fiona Apple in concert.

Shocked was the only word i could describe myself when she walked out on stage, i'm not sure if she's on heroin or meth but if i passed her in the street i'd throw her a dollar in a coffee cup, she looks like death warmed up.

I honestly dont know much about her personal life but i somehow get the feeling that she has oodles of talent and apart from working when she needs cash could care less about fame and fortune......which is fine when you are young and pretty and have your habit under control but tonight "twitchy" would be a good way to describe it.

It saddens me that someone able to write "Every Single Night" and more importantly "able to sing it in such an perfect way" who obviously has so much emotional depth and so much raw talent just cant get their heads clear on "the rest of life".....but then again who amongst us really does "manage to get life fully worked out".

I'm going to think of happier times like this track below and just hope she gets her shit together sooner than later.



Dolly the Sheep creator scientist Keith Campbell dies

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/12/dolly_creator_keith_campbell_dies/
Probably died because he missed out on the Nobel peace prize recently even though he was the second leg of the three steps....between John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka in 2006 :{

Tracking is good for you

http://gizmodo.com/5951173/apple-is-tracking-you-again-in-ios-6-and-how-to-turn-it-off#


lol yeh stick it to the "man"......and wonder why you are being served Tampax ads or served MMA ads and there are no ads being served you are interested in.

Its time to change our opinions to tracking people. As long as the data is non identifying does it matter?

"3D printing industry asys dont be evil" - bah sure.....

Interesting article - http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/10/stratasys-followup/

Stratasys told Wilson, “It is the policy of Stratasys not to knowingly allow its printers to be used for illegal purposes.”

lol made me chuckle.

Bad bad bad product placement

lol watching #Homeland "there's a skype call for you Mr Secret Agent talking to HQ"

wow what a joke!!  Hey Homeland producers taking funding for product placement from Skype is a big big mistake.

Dalton Trumbo

Watching #PBS American Masters episode on Dalton Trumbo love it :)
- http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/dalton-trumbo/introduction-to-trumbo/1165/



eloquent i know....but i prefer his other quote "Say hello to my friends, piss on my enemies"



P.S. WOW!!!!  I had no idea that Dalton Trumbo did the screenplay to Papillon - it puts the whole Steve McQeen solitary isolation starving scenes in a whole new light!!

Looper

Went to see Looper tonight. Loved it...well worth seeing.

What i do think is funny about humans is how simplistic we are whenever it comes to time travel we got all exicted and what if this and how would this work etc etc......i can imagine an alien arriving here and going yep...its not that complicated.

Wow really disappointed in SL Benfica Transportation

So as some of you know (i posted on twitter/facebook etc at the time) on the 31st of July we had a big semi trailer truck making a Foodbank delivery to First Presbyterian Church across the road from our apartment that drove off and in the process knocked over the 40' tall tree in front of 135 Henry Street

Although the driver left the scene of the accident we were able to track down who it was by going and speaking with the staff at First Presbyterian Church who then gave us the phone number of the people at Foodbank NYC who then gave us the details for SL Benfica Transportation inc in the Bronx.

When we got through to them after about an hour of detective work their comments were....yeh we know about this, the driver is on his way back and will be there in about 90 minutes.

By this time the fire brigade came and blocked off Henry Street at Clark and then New York City Parks arrived to cut down the tree to a stump about 10 inches high (as you can see in the photo not a chance to save this 40' beauty).

Unfortunately once the dust all settled the Parks Department said its not their responsibility to remove the stump or to fix the footpath and that they would be back in 3-5 years to plant a new tree.......

So by the time SL Benfica Transportation turned up (one of the managers and the driver came to take photos of what was now a stump but drove their personal car so i couldn't see the damage to the truck) i was really happy when the manager said dont worry, we'll take care of this, get some quotes and just send us the details directly rather than going via your insurance company etc etc.

The first few weeks of deal with SL Benfica Transportation seemed to be going really well, and they seemed to be a reesponsible trucking company and we were both learning about what was involved in planting a tree on the sidewalk in New York City..... ugh too much red tape.

Unfortunately ....and yeh i know you saw this coming already....basically we sent them a letter of demand for the total amount and SL Benfica transportation management are now refusing to pay for the replacement of the tree!

I appreciate that we were both surprised at how much the costs came out to but this isn't replacing a 40' tree that was there but just repairing the damaged sidewalk and planting a small replacement sapling that will take 20 to 30 years to grow back to what was there.

While both Foodbank New York and First Presbyterian Church management are well meaning in offering their apologies they say that the truck is not their responsibility and it’s a subcontract of a contract of a contract etc etc and that its not their responsibility to make good on this matter either.

All in all its a disappointing week