Orbitcast points to a funny article on a guy who discovers his Satellite Radio's FM transmitter is a bit stronger than he expected.  So what does he do?  Shares with his fellow commuters in a fun and viral way.

I've been a fan of Orb, but found it didn't run as stably as I like.  And with a bunch of international business trips coming up, I bit the bullet and am evaluating Slingbox as a way to control and watch my favorite shows recorded on our DVR.  I have to say, wow I'm impressed so far.  The UI could use some work, but the function is solid.

Underneath the hood, it's basically a hardware-based WMV Encoder that can easily be found across the Internet. Put in some quality of service (QoS) goo and away you go.  Lots of folks have been having fun with it including Scoble.  Hundreds of uses - some folks monitor their babycam using one. 

One idea I had was for Slingbox to build a Gadget for Windows Sidebar and Live.com.  They're already close-with the ability to dock the SlingPlayer on the left or right sides of your screen, but it leaves a lot of unused space.  What do you say SlingMedia? 

In the coming months I'll be blogging my experiences with Slingbox from Hong Kong and Japan.  Away we go!

Robert Scoble writes:

TDavid reacts to my request for bloggers to make it easier to deal with them in email. Says that he doesn’t like email. Oh, neither do I, neither do I, but sometimes there are times when I need to get ahold of you privately and not in chat rooms or blog comments (and not via Skype or MSN Messenger either). What else is left? Email.

Here's another idea I've been kicking around: hold "office hours" with live chat using a product like SightMax.  I've been talking to Eric, the president of SmartMax Software which makes SightMax about the potential among bloggers. (Note: Eric hosts my blog) It doesn't require messenger, and provides for 1:1 conversations. You could create another messenger account, but that means you're offline for your regular contacts if logged on the same PC.  It might also be a good solution for live podcasting vs. chat rooms. 

I also find comments often aren't as effective- too slow to respond and I'm not sure if people actually read the resonses. Could this could be another solution?  Perhaps I should take it for a spin.  The question is, if I showed up for "office hours", would anybody wander in?

Anyone working in company of any size should read this article.

Ok, I'm going to admit it.  I don't like DRM.  Shocked?  You shouldn't be.  But the reality is that without some forms of DRM, I wouldn't be able to legitimately download a movie to watch on the plane during a business trip.  Sure, there are other ways to get the goods, but the powers that be say DRM is necessary to give me a guarantee the 4 hours I spend downloading it off my $12.95/24 hr hotel cablemodem isn't going to end up being a handi-cammed video shot at the local multiplex.  I will personally never be a poster-child for DRM, but as long as the content providers keep coming to Microsoft (and Apple and Google) saying it's a requirement, then someone has to deliver. 

Second admission. I love BoingBoing.net - it's irreverent, often informative, and Cory, Mark, Xeni, and the crew have some really interesting things to talk about.  But sometimes, things appear to get misinterpreted.  I wasn't at the presentation in question, but based on what was said, there are a few common misconceptions about DRM I've heard over the years:

Claim #1: You have to be a "big roller" to license Microsoft's DRM.  Er, no. Big and small, hundreds of licensees and hundreds of devices have the platform.  Take a stroll through the electronics districts in NY, Tokyo, or Hong Kong, look at the devices that support WMA and services and you'll see what I mean. (Ok, or Dixons for Ian and my pals in the UK).

Claim #2: Windows Media DRM is only for Windows and isn't available on competitive platforms.  Not true.  ANSI-C sources are available for porting to any platform and have been made available for quite a while. What's more, they've been ported to many many platforms including <gasp!> platforms ending in  letters at the end of the alphabet. You'd have to ask the vendors building the solutions more about that though.

Claim #3: Licensing terms for Windows Media DRM aren't fair or accessible.  Visit www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia See DRM on left, click Getting Started. Or here's a direct link.  Device porting kits are available and continually updated.  Many DSP and SOC (System on a Chip) manufacturers offer support as well for anyone who wants to implement their chip into a device. 

So that's my read. No, I don't speak officially for Microsoft or any pricing policies, but let's give a little credit to Amir for willing to get up on-stage and take arrows on the topic.  (He's also by the way the only VP I know of who has such passion for his work that he frequents message boards to chat with other AV enthusiasts during his limited leisure time.) Charging a small royalty is a legitimate way to ensure interested parties are serious about building a business using the technology as a tool.  I don't like it either, but it's the nature of the business as it stands today.

ExtremeTech just posted results of their tests comparing CPU utilization across recent ATI (Radeon X1800 XT) and nVidia (GeForce 7800 GTX) cards for three codecs: DivX, H.264, and WMV9.  The results?

For 720p content WMV 9 plays back at typically 25-40% CPU utilization for the clips tested.  H.264 on the other hand takes 80% (using ATI's acceleration) and on other systems even spike to 100%.  Note however these are different clips than those used for WMV 9 testing. Playing back 720p DivX clips results in 50% or so CPU utilization

To quote:

"H.264 acceleration has a long way to go before it's ready for prime time. Even with ATI's hardware acceleration, it's way too CPU intensive. What's more, ATI needs to work to offer acceleration on basically all popular H.264 decoders, the same way their DVD acceleration works with DVD decoders."

Also interesting to note DivX playback performance of DivX player vs. WMP:

"The performance of the GeForce 7800 GTX when using the DivX Player is atrocious, at 75-80% CPU utilization. Under Windows Media Player 10, it's right around 50%."

One thing's for sure, there's still a lot of work to be done in this area. 

"The video landscape on the PC is still far too big a mess. There are too many codecs, and sometimes too many software providers making decoders (we found a dozen H.264 decoders and at least as many DVD decoders in 10 minutes of Google searching). Some are accelerated, some are not."

I have some ideas on how to fix this (that don't involve "destroying" the competition thank you) but I'm interested in your thoughts first?

Developers can get their hands on the latest Internet Explorer 7 Beta preview starting today for XP users.  Congrats to Dean & team for releasing. While not quite ready for the mainstream consumer quite yet, I'm running it on my main system at work- a few quirks but I've reported them to the team and they've responded already.

A tour of the new experience is here.

Chris Pirillo says,

The ala carte iPod Video store is getting worse, not better. If you watch only one TV show per week (and you don't already have a cable subscription), I'm sure their efforts are a godsend. However, if you're like me, and already have three DVRs in your house to record all the shows you want to watch, this lack-of-subscription thing is an absolute nightmare.

...I'm thoroughly disappointed that I can't take my Napster subscription with me on my PSP or iPod. Instead, companies want me to spend even MORE money for LESS freedom - and to complicate my life even more than it was before. The sad thing is, many folks walk into it blindly thinking it... "looks like fun." Bullshit. It's all Bullshit, and Apple's leading the bullshit charge (albeit with style).

Bullshit?  Hmm.  Convenient?  Yes.  It's all about variety and viscousity.  Offer just enough variety with a low viscosity among the key moving parts (discovery, purchase, and download) and you're set. It's just another take on the path of least resistance.  Nature doesn't lie.

Perhaps we need a viscosity index for software experiences end to end?

This one was too good not to share.  Today I received an invitation via my personal email to test a new software app.  The email touts the many features of said app, many cryptic in nature.

Then under known issues:

"Deadlocks observed when [running] or exiting [the application].”

+1 points for honesty.  Now -2 points for not fixing the problem before issuing the beta. Grrrr.

Thomas Hawk has an excellent writeup on his blogger's dinner with Microsoft VP Jim Allchin last week. Jim confirmed that in order to get HDTV over digital cable in a Windows Vista PC, you'll have to buy a PC system that has been "certified" by CableLabs. Unfortunately there's nothing Microsoft could do here - they must honor the wishes of  CableLabs.  I've been fortunate to be one of those who has been testing the technology and I have to say it's fantastic.  I've done A/B switching tests vs. my Comcast set-top DVR and see no difference in image quality, despite the fact that the tuner is a simple USB-based box (RNDIS) that you just plug your cable (and cable card) into and go.  No news on whether free and clear QAM services will require a CableLabs certified system but I will check. I suspect local channels in HD may still be an often from after-market or home grown builders.  In order to get your premium channels DVR'd you'll need that CableCard-qualified system and CableCard installed by your local cable operator.

Also news at CES was the DirecTV Media Center announcement.  In the future (timing wasn't discussed), you'll be able to have an installer come out and install a DirecTV tuner into your Media Center PC and get your local channels complete with DVR.  As many know, DirecTV uses their own protection scheme with a "conditional access card" not unlike a cablecard.  The big difference here is that they recognize the value in offering an after-market system installed by their own installers.  In the past, it was DirecTV that was considered "evil" for their use of DRM and protecting their assets too stringently vs. Cable. Could the shoe be on the other foot?  Only time will tell.

Google's company mantra is "Do no evil". How do you feel about pop-ups and those annoying floating ads that won't go away?  Apparently coming soon to Google Adsense.

ArsTechnica has an interesting (and data-filled) article detailing public perceptions of two of the largest (if not the largest) figures in the personal computing space.  In my experiences with Bill, he's been benevolent yet driven as ever.

There's been a bit of speculation over the past few weeks about what Microsoft's recent reorgs both company-wide and within Robbie Bach's org mean to the company's entertainment efforts.  While I certainly don't speak officially for anyone other than myself, I did want to share my perspective:

Reorgs happen at Microsoft.  They happen more often across the company than gets reported (or speculated upon).  Reorgs in my experience bring more focus.

So what does this mean for me in particular?  Not much really.  I'm as strongly committed to my job and my partners as ever.  More and more devices are supporting our technologies and PlaysforSure and they're getting better (look at my prior CES scorecard post).  Partnerships like those with MTV with Urge and Verizon Wireless's V-Cast are the result of significant investments on both sides.  What matters isn't speculation, but proof.