Whew.  Long week in NYC for partner meetings (very productive).  Sometimes a trip doesn't go as planned due to weather.  But then you also get a chance to meet some interesting people along the way.   Here was my situation

• The AM of departure, all roads into/out of my town were closed due to severe flooding. Thanks to my barista at Starbucks in town, I learned I  could take the Evacuation Road out. A winding, 7 mile gravel road through the woods with no defined curbs or lights at 5am. Adds 2 hours to my trip to airport, but I get there.
• Friday AM, I changed my direct flight was supposed to put me in 2 hours early by flying earlier through Chicago O'Hare
• Seated in last window seat on an MD-80 with only a view of the engine cowling (and the noise)
• 2 hours of delays before takeoff
• 4 holding patterns in the air due to severe weather over Chicago
• Diversion to Detriot due to, "Fuel issues".
• Chemical toilets were full on the plane due to delays
• 1 hour sitting in the plane in Detroit getting refuled
• Pilot noting, "Never seen this in 22 years" - 75 planes on the ground in Detroit and we were among last to get out.
• Wind shear causing pilots to fight to keep airspeed up and plane level while descending into Chicago. I can sensewhat's going on in the cockpit through the engines rising to max thrust and dropping to idle what seems like every 15-30 seconds.
• Worst landing of my life as plane "dropped" last 25 feet. Kudos to pilots for dealing with very harsh conditions.
• Flight attendant notes most flights out tonight are cancelled, other than Seattle, which leaves at 8:55pm.  It was 9:10 pm.
• Called to rebook, no luggage tonight.  The "Rebooking Centers" for American in O'Hare are Red 80's style phones at a counter with no people.  Classy.  Long lines.  Thank god I called on my cell.
• O'Hare staff are breaking out the cots; I got a reservation at a former Holiday Inn 10 miles outside O'Hare. One of the last.
• No jacket, thin shirt. Its 38 degrees and heavy mist, very windy. The Taxi line is almost two blocks long- worse than CES.  Thank god for the Motel shuttle.
• It took 30 minutes to get checked in.  Their computer system isn't integrated and they get all reservations via fax.  Stack of faxes was 3 inches high.
• Restaurant was closed for the night at the motel. Only option was "Hooters"  across the street (I bagged it though the wife told me to go).
• I don't normally hit a hotel bar, but it was 10:30pm, and I did this night after meeting a few guys in the Shuttle bus- one a Food Scientist from ConAgra, the other does cabinetry work for Whole Foods stores. 
• Good conversations, a free round from the bartender.
• Get up at 5am for the first flight to Seattle.

Top 5 Things (Re)Learned

1. Always carry your cell phone on your person when on a plane. Minutes may count if your flight is cancelled- start the process as soon as you touch down and can use your phone.
2. If your cell phone supports web browsing, save a favorite to the flight information page for your airline/flight #. You'll get more up to date/detailed status on your current flight or connections this way than the agents on the plane.
3. If you're going to be stuck, book your hotel ASAP.  If you're going to be stranded overnight, there are more plane seats than hotel rooms. 
4. Be frustrated, yet appreciative of help.  It's okay to be worn down (and it can help).  Just be sure to remind the agent/CSR you understand it's not their fault.
5. Talk to strangers, kill some time.  I tend to go into, "The Zone" when traveling where I don't talk to strangers.  In situations like this, it can help when you connect with others dealing with the same situation- hear their stories, learn about their lives.  Get outside your comfort zone and get distracted for a time.

Bellevue Best Buy had a limited # of copies of "Gears of War" in inventory yesterday (locked up by the registers). I picked it up. 5 words describe it:

• Adult
• Violent
• Cinematic
• Gripping
• Addicting

I've only been able to play about an hour- small kid in the house means playtime is only after his bedtime, but I'm hooked.  The Bungie team has their work cut out for them to make Halo 3 look this good.

This one was sent to me by a friend.

"Suburban Auto Group is an auto dealership located about 20 miles east of Portland , Oregon , but they came up with a series of world-class commercials when they invented the trunk monkey."

Click on EACH one of the links below…

Trunk Monkey 1

Trunk Monkey 2

Trunk Monkey 3

Trunk Monkey 4

Trunk Monkey 5

Trunk Monkey 6

Michael Gartenberg has a good analysis on the Xbox HD TV and Movie service announced earlier today:

Net? A good move for Microsoft and XBox to add functionality without compromising anything related to game play. Don't be fooled by the limited content (although current content maps to the gamer demographic well). Like iTunes, we'll see more stuff coming to Live pretty quickly.

Engadget has details here. VC-1 will be the codec used for delivery of HD content.  The HD trailers were just an appetizer. IPTV just became a mainstream reality overnight. 

About four weeks ago, a debate was raging in my household.  My wife, being of sound mind and body, was pleased with HDTV, primarily for its ability to fill our screen (a nearly 4yo Samsung HLM-507W 720p unit), delivering a level of clarity and screen-filling that sated her desire for such classics as, "CSI", "ER" and er... "Dancing with the Stars".

But never mind that.

We had a Comcast Motorola 6419 STB.  It was a marvel... for 2003. I had conversations with folks who talked about the challenges of writing to this box, the things they had done to get around hardware issues and I was (and continue to be) amazed by the abilities of the box.  But, it was suffering me.  Or rather, I was suffering IT in our household. 

There's a not-so-subtle metric among those of us who have battle scars in digital media.  It's called the "WAF" or "SAF".  It's the dreaded "Wife Acceptance Factor" or "Spousal Acceptance Factor".  I fell victim.

You see, where I live, OTA HD (ATSC) isn't even a remote option.  Between two hills, I believe the technical term is SOL. And after getting a taste of HD, my wife was hooked.  The Moto box did well enough.  But the gateway drug of "On Demand" never took hold.  Forget HBO and their on-demand, who appears to split up their seasons to extract more $$$ on DVD sales.  I'd go to Media Center if it were an option, but it's not right now until Vista ships.  Instead, I have my Comcast box. A marvel given the hardware, this thing freezes up, has IR reception far shorter than anything I've seen resulting in this exchange:

"Fast forward!"

"I'm trying"

"It's a commercial!"

"Did you hear me? It's frozen up"

"The angle's all wrong, try holding it up by your ear"

"Ok, I think that's working"

"You've overshot it.  Rewind!"

"I am rewinding"

"You went too far!"

"I'm trying to get it back but it won't respond!"

"Put it up by your ear"

"For the sake of ..."

This is the "WAF" or "SAF" I speak of.  What is family harmony worth to me?  Priceless.

Enter the TiVo Series 3. After serious negotiation, my wife agreed that it made sense to get a TiVo.  This was after trying convince the kind folks at TiVo to send me an evaluation unit.  Then, all hell broke loose (tm?).

Hell?  I had one CableCard and picked up another at the local Comcast store.  I tried to auth both on my TiVo via the phone to no avail.  Long story short, Comcast was "Cold initing" both cards, resulting in a 10 minute delay, yet the Technical Support Rep (TSR) knew to wait only about 4 minutes before trying a truck roll.  Major kudos go to those TSR's I spoke to, because they held in there and were sending a truck the same day. Yes, you heard that right- 11am and they're saying they can send someone out by 4pm the same day.  Major, major kudos to Comcast on that one.

This made me want to stop the poor Comcast "Truck Roll" guy from having to come out the same day. So, I started researching and came across the following article.  My gosh, I've never seen such an articulate description of the workings of the Cablecard process.

Ten minutes after I hung up with Comcast, I checked the TiVo again.  Bingo- the 1 (of 2) cards was now initialized. I was getting HD.

Then I went for #2.  I called Comcast and explained the situation.  I told them what I had read and the TSR asked me to send them a link to the article.  I did, and he was mighty appreciative.  His supervisor was over his shoulder and they were impressed when the second card was correctly initialized.  They thanked me profusely for helping them, and I know they get scored on # of truck rolls so they were happy to see that get cancelled.

I felt good.  I was up and going, and I had given back to my cable provider.  It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling actually.  Not sure why, but I guess I figured others wouldn't have to go through what I did.

Since then, my wife has taken to the new TiVo Series 3 like [insert saying here].  She loves it.  She doesn't need on-demand.  She records those educational programs for our son, and we've practically negated our Netflix subscription (what is it about crappy movies these days anyway).  So I digress.  The TiVo has rebooted a couple of times and of course, I'm pissed about lack of KidZone, or Multi-Room Viewing (MRV), or TiVo To Go (TTG), but it works as (relatively) advertised.   My wife hasn't complained about it more than once (the first reboot).  My son doesn't even miss on-demand.

So what do I miss about the Comcast box?  Nothing, except the additional $$ in my pocket. Heck, I could have bought a full-fledged PC with ATSC tuning in my area for that amount!  But there is a dollar amount on SAF and WAF so for that reason, despite the fact TiVo rebuffed any request to contact them, I will say I like my TiVo Series 3.

I've used Media Center in Vista, and it will give TiVo a real run for it's money for those customers with Cablecard-enabled PC's.  Will I ebay my TiVo for Vista Media Center? Probably at some point. Even then, I have little buyer's remorse over the TiVo Series 3, other than the ridiculous price.  Once set up, it works as advertised.

Disclaimer: I don't work for Windows, Windows Media Center, Media Player or anything that starts with Media or ends with Media.  Though Media might be somewhere in the name. But more on that at a later date. ;)

https://www.zune-arts.net/

I love my SlingPlayer (v1).  So it's nice to see that the kind folks at Sling Media are letting the Mac into the kiddie pool.

Engadget has all the details on the Mac OS X beta here.

It's back - HD-DVD Tuesday!  The movies coming out are accelerating, so I'm going to feature weekly releases:

October 30, 2006

• Mission: Impossible - Ultimate Missions Set (Paramount)
• Mission: Impossible III (Paramount)

October 31, 2006

• Excalibur (Warner)
• Under Siege (Warner)
• V for Vendetta (Warner)

via HighDef Digest

From Major Nelson:

Looking for official details on the Fall Dashboard update? Check out the Newsflash (or the complete list of new features) just posted on Xbox.com then look for the update to head your way after 0200 PT Tuesday morning (What time is that in my time zone?.)  If this whole ‘update’ thing is new to you, don’t worry…it’s quick, free and painless. Next time you login into Xbox Live you’ll get prompted to receive the update…it’s that easy. There is no way to force the update (and, regardless of what you have heard, it's not geographical based.) So sit back and relax and it get ready for the update sometime after 0200 PT Tuesday morning, October 31st.

Can you say, "Ready for HD-DVD" or "Ready for WMP11"? Nice work.   

Sometimes they just get it right IMO.  Microsoft kicked off work on packaging  for Vista and Office over a year ago (I know the person(s) who did it) and it shows.  No, it doesn't take a full year to get it right, but combined with other deliverables and a strong desire to incorporate feedback from many sources, the result is a new type of packaging that will extend to other MS products in the future.  Remember how Windows 95 and Office packaging just "felt" like they fit together?  Vista and Office are going for more of the same here. From Nick on the Vista blog:

 The packaging has been completely revised and, we hope, foreshadows the great experience that awaits you once you open it.

Designed to be user-friendly, the new packaging is a small, hard, plastic container that’s designed to protect the software inside for life-long use.  It provides a convenient and attractive place for you to permanently store both discs and documentation.

The new design will provide the strength, dimensional stability and impact resistance required when packaging software today.  Our plan is to extend this packaging style to other Microsoft products after the launch of Windows Vista and 2007 Office system.

Nice work. Now MacOffice isn't the only MS software product with cool packaging that screams, "pick me up".

For Windows XP SP2 and "N" versions. Check it out here and download here.  This is a significant update over the betas or Windows Media Player 10, and also includes support for music services including MTV's  "Urge" in final release.

Just in time for halloween, a trusted family member shares a frightening tale of issues getting a PC "fixed" that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  If you value your PC, you may think twice about who you have look at your computer.  Read with the lights on:

As you know, I was having problems with my PC which mainly concerned the mouse "freezing" up. I took my pc to the Best Buy store in XXXXX XXXX, Ca. on Monday, Oct. 16, 2006. The tech at Geek Squad took all of my information and then began testing the mouse at the counter. The mouse remained unresponsive, even when using the GS mouse.

• The tech told me they'd have to run diagnostics on the hardware; turnaround time would be about 24 hours.
• Late the following day, I had not heard back, so I called the GS. I spent over an hour trying to get someone to pick up the phone. At times, the phone simply continued to ring; twice, however, someone picked up the phone and immediately hung up.
• Early the next day, Oct. 18, I again called the GS with largely the same results. That is, the phone rang continuously, but no one picked up. Later, that same day, I tried again. This time, someone picked up, but he seemed largely unaware of my PC problem. He said that he had to check with someone else and put me on hold. After 20 minutes on hold, I was disconnected. Upon calling again, I spoke to another tech who said that they had inserted a disc to "bypass" the Windows OS and that the mouse then was responsive. This led them to the conclusion that the problem was a software issue, but that they needed to run more tests that night. He assured me that someone would call the next morning.
• By the afternoon of the next day, Oct. 19, no one had called, so I called the GS. Again, I spent nearly an hour with no one picking up the line. I then called the 800 # for the GS to complain. After explaining my problem to the operator, she transferred my call. I waited 25 min., but no one picked up.
• The next morning, Oct. 19, I went in person to Best Buy to find out what was going on. I should add that I did this after again calling and waiting without success for 30 min. for someone to pick up.
• At BBY, the GS tech (someone named Xxxx) explained that he was the only one there and couldn't answer the phone because of so many customers in person at the store. He also mentioned that their phone system was inadequate, but that they were "working on it". This tech then explained that they had never seen this kind of PC problem before and needed to run more tests. He also told me that the original tech should never have told me that turnaround would be about 24 hrs. He explained that they were working with many pc's and that turnaround should have been about 5 days.
• I asked this tech to be honest...could they fix the pc or should I just take it somewhere else? He responded, "That's your decision. You can take it now if you want to". I told him to keep working on it, but to please call me the next day. He agreed.
• I then spoke with the  store manager (named Xxxxx) to complain about the poor service. While solicitous, I felt that he was just patronizing me. I should add that, in all of my conversations with GS personnel, I never raised my voice or became abusive.
• At about 7 pm the next day, Oct. 20, I received a call from a woman at the GS who said that the mouse was working properly and that they couldn't understand why I was having problems with it in the first place. I was stunned; it was clear that she had little or no real idea of what had gone on to this point. When I pressed her for a more detailed explanation of what they had done and found, she replied, "I'm just a secretary, let me have you speak to a tech". So, I was placed on hold, waited for 30 min. and finally hung up.
• With no word over the weekend, I again went to the store on Oct 23 and asked for a progress report. At first, the tech told me they couldn't find my pc and asked if someone else had picked it up. He finally found the pc, and said that they were still testing it. I told him what the "secretary" had said to me on Oct. 20, but he said he had no record of any such call or conversation. I told him that I just wanted my pc returned.
• Along with my receipt, the tech included a log of the diagnostics that had been done. The log was, putting it mildly, cryptic. There was very little detail and no hard evidence of what, if anything, had been done in the preceding week.

In summary, my experience with the Geek Squad has been the most frustrating and unrewarding experience that I've ever had with any retail business. I have no way of knowing whether they're technically competent. However, from a customer service service standpoint, the GS is easily the worst business I've come across. I would never use them again, and I intend to discourage others from using them.

I'm sure we have all had experiences like this so perhaps it should come as no surprise.  In fact, just yesterday on a trip to LA an associate told me of another chain that offered to "Fix" his broken Sony Laptop instead of sending it directly back to Sony- for just under $100 he would get a written estimate.  His Sony motherboard was fried (or so he suspected) and with a few more questions, got the tech rep to admit they were just going to send the machine to Sony (which my associate could have done himself) and charge him nearly $100 for the courtesy!

And we wonder why those of us who are technically competent continue to support family and friends? 

Postscript: The family member called "a local guy" recommended by his real estate agent who had the issue fixed shortly with another brand of mouse.  Go figure.

If you haven't seen U2 and Green Day's music video, "The Saints are Coming", please take a moment and check it out here on MTV. Done as a part of the Music Rising project to bring the music back to New Orleans, the song debuted on ESPN, a cover of the Scottish punk band, The Skids.  

Watching this video is like watching an alternate universe, or a DVD where the alternate ending was so much better you felt somehow shorted by the director.  Only in this case, the original ending was reality.  Watch and you'll understand.  I wish more musicians used their influence to this kind of good measure.

I've thought long and hard about the test I was running with ads on this site.  I've decided to remove the ads as I've learned everything I can about the ad-serving solution I was testing.  I hope you enjoy.

Also, the banner image now links back to the homepage- an oversight on my part.