Haven’t posted anything lately because i’ve been busy upgrading the TAS website. Will write something soon. BA

Carl Icahn, a major investor in Lionsgate, wants the company to halt further purchases. So this leaves Time Warner and Access Industries in the running to buy the 86 year old legendary film company. Lionsgate puts out numerous films including Tyler Perry’s projects and the “Saw” series.

Here are seven signs you might be. http://tremendousnews.com/2010/03/25/7-signs-youre-taking-yourself-too-seriously-on-the-internet/

By Brian Allen

As someone with more than a passing interest in technology and media issues, I feel it is my duty as a journalist and well as a service to my brothers and sisters in the tech connoisseur realm if I address the failings of the tech/media world.

You, my dear reader, may have your own concerns and complaints. Everybody’s got needs and desires that can’t be solved by one fix, so feel free to make suggestions. Email me at brianallen07@gmail.com, or go to my twitter page at twitter.com/briandaeditor and leave your comments.

Now, on to MY tech rants…

Wouldn’t it be nice if…

* “High speed internet” actually meant high speed internet. Fast internet means being able to see a movie online without waiting 15 minutes for the damn thing to buffer.

* Those voice over internet protocol (VoIP) devices provided for uninterrupted phone service when the power goes out. When the lights go out, so does the modem and so does the phone with it. What good is it when there is an emergency? You might as well send smoke signals!

*HD radio was available on home theater receivers. Only the top of the line models have access to HD radio. (and a few car stereos for that matter.) But the roll out of HD radio was so half-hearted, does it matter anyway?

*Internet radio was available on car stereos. If we can’t get HD radio, why can’t we get internet radio stations on car stereos. Now that Wi Fi is available on home routers and printers, putting one in car stereos would make the vast numbers of audio entertainment on the internet more accessible.

*If the recording industry would stop treating consumers like potential criminals. Suing your customers and calling them thieves is no way to win friends and influence people. If RIAA thinks illegal downloading is killing their industry, instead of dragging grandmothers to court, maybe they should try giving people stuff good enough to steal.

*If product manufacturers would quit putting out competing “technologies” and develop a format that works for everyone. In the HD DVD wars, two competing formats, HD DVD and Blu Ray were pitted against each other. Blu Ray won, but it took years for the format to be adopted, and by then, people could download or stream movies on NetFlix or their cable company’s on demand service.

*TV manufacturers would put an “audio out” output on each and every TV. Why should I have to listen to crummy sound on an HD TV, or run the audio through a set top box to get stereo sound from my TV?

*DirecTV would stop this practice of “selling” a set top box at a retail store, only to charge it as a  “lease”, especially since they charge 5.00 every month for a “lease fee”. I don’t care what you call it, to me, it’s a rip off.

*Electronics or computer manufacturers and marketers would find a way to make what I already have sound/look/work better, instead of making what software/format I already have (and built a sizable collection of) obsolete. Drives me crazy.

*If the networks would stop crowding my TV screen with useless information. My brain is overloaded with enough information without having to be fed more information in the same screen.

There are more rants I have in mind, but I’ll be satisfied if they would just address THESE issues. I (like everyone else) just wish they delivered what they promised and make my tech life easier and more enjoyable.

Brian Allen 3/26/10

(c) 2010 Brian Allen

Scarry Stuff…2 years ago!

In March 2008, a series of tornadoes, one hitting downtown, zipped through Atlanta. This one hit south of Atlanta, while being covered on WSB Channel 2’s live broadcast. Imagine being in the path of that! Remember, we are in tornado season!

Brian

Hey everybody, Brian here. I have just uploaded a new Cover Story on the Atlanta Sentinel, about the closing of the C-Tran Bus System in Clayton County, Ga. I am working on new stories for the site, and updating information. So check it out now, and I will be putting new articles on this site. Stay tuned.

Brian

According to Gizmodo, an leaked internal memo from Apple states that you can buy a Apple I phone contract-less. The prices are a little more steep than with the AT&T contract, however. Here’s the link: http://gizmodo.com/5499439/buy-iphones-without-contract-now-official-apple-document-leaked?skyline=true&s=i

Wonder what this might mean for the future of their relationship with AT&T? Personally, I hope this may be the beginning of the end of these exclusivity deals between phone makers and carriers.

BA 3/23/10

While the debate over health care reform continues, one important issue is not getting addressed. One that could effect the future of our economy today and our future prosperity: the quality of our internet. If the doctor gave it a thorough examination, it would be in critical condition!

The future is in the internet. Our business, our entertainment, our education, our access to government services, our communication. Our way of life depends on an internet infrastructure that can handle what millions and billions of surfers can throw at it. Today’s internet users expect the ability to view videos, listen to music, stream movies, games and more. Businesses use the internet for communications, world wide meetings and presentations. All kinds of multimedia activities on the same creaky old internet we’ve been using since the ’90s.

Consider also that Americans pay more for the internet access than most industrialized nations and is also among the slowest. This is not acceptable and we can do better. It’s time to consider a rebuilding of the internet infrastructure to a level that can easily and quickly support the way we use the internet today and the future. One that can handle vast uses of multimedia, high definition video and audio. An internet that can support the fastest and highest powered online gaming.  The presence of such a internet would aid the entertainment and gaming industry by providing the ability to stream and market HD video and music to anyone, anytime. (The security issue is another issue for another post.)

Yes, there is some semblance of internet rebuilding going on right now. Verizon is developing and deploying a new internet network based on fiber optic technology. Clearwire is using 3G and 4G wireless internet to broadcast it’s signals to it’s users. While still slightly pricey, they represent a step forward for speedy internet. But those are just two examples. The Federal Communications Commission is studying a mass network of low cost internet access. These things tend to get bogged down in politics, so we will see how this plays out.

For America’s future prosperity and leadership position in worldwide technology, government and corporations need to work together to make an internet built for the future a reality. Cheaper, faster and better needs to be the focus of the next generation of internet pioneers.

Brian Allen 3/23/2010

Remember all the major league fuss  made last year over the future of television…Digital TV or HDTV or DTV or whatever? Last year, the television broadcast industry breathlessly hyped the approaching changeover date from analog to digital TV, thinking that the merits of DTV would be enough to force  the WHOLE country to upgrade, and  Washington politicians did what they usually do on EVERY issue they touch: bitch, whine and argue, this time on whether to keep the changeover date at Feb 17, or move it to June 17, which they eventually did. The pro-side (Democrats, Pres. Obama) said that many people (the poor, minorities, elderly) were not aware of the coming technology and would get left out if the date changed as originally planned. The con-side (GOP, the broadcast industry, which was anxious to get rid of their expensive analog equipment) argued that the date was fine as is and that enough promotion should have raised awareness of the original date.

Whatever. By the time June 17 came along and America’s television stations collectively flipped their switches, everybody who wasn’t a cable or satellite subscriber soon realized it would take much more work and tinkering to get a decent over the air signal. Instead of getting a DTV picture, many who bothered to hook up those government subsidized converters got…well…nothing!

Why? Wasn’t DTV supposed to bring excellent, crystal clear pictures to our homes after years of horrid analog reception? Well, what the politicos and DTV boosters didn’t tell us was that in order to get a great DTV signal, you have to be in a good range of reception. For most TV stations, the DTV signal went only as far as the A grade (or city grade) of the analog signal. And DTV signals are less forgiving than analog signals. If you got a passable analog signal before, with DTV, you probably saw a blank screen or a “weak signal” disclaimer now on your set after the switch, not what you planned on if you were looking to see the World Series or “The Office” in high def.

To add to the tech troubles with DTV, some tv stations were afforded only a fraction of the broadcasting strength in DTV that they originally had in analog. So some viewers in the ex burbs got nothing no matter how hard they tried to aim their antennas. And if that wasn’t enough, as I mentioned earlier, DTV signals are more subject to interference from objects standing in the way. If you have indoor rabbit ears, try walking past it and see what happens to the DTV signal…it usually breaks up momentarily into video chop suey.(I got so frustrated trying to contort my antenna to receive DTV that I gave up and got cable.)

These unforeseen abnormalities will continue until a.) TV stations ask for and get upgrades in the strength of their signals, and this is starting to happen in many markets. b.) Better antennas are made to be more sensitive to DTV signals. When DTV works, it’s a thing of beauty. The picture quality is second to none, and the audio quality is excellent. But what good is it when you can’t even get a signal.

There should have been  more honesty and less hype when it came to  what it would take to get these signals. There also should have more attention given to  the realities would be for many of those of us less tech savvy to get DTV. Maybe then we would not be so shocked when getting perfect DTV signals would not be as easy as connecting a box to the back or our sets.

Brian

(C) 2010 Brian Allen

If you are reading this blog, apparently tunblr is better at SEO than I have been at my own website. But thanks for finding it. Tell your friends.

I am Brian Allen. A writter/publisher in Atlanta, Ga. My interests are vast but my main concerns are internet, technology and some media/pop culture issues. You can expect to see a lot of everything in this blog…except for my personal business! (sorry, haven’t reached that stage in social communications and I don’t expect to either, I do own a twitter page, but it’s rarely updated.)

How do I feel about social networking? I personally have no problems with it. In fact, I am doing it right now writing this blog. But sometimes you have to wonder if this vortex of social networking as we know it now is turning us all into need to know robots. It’s worth thinking about.

A while ago, a friend of mine pointed out to me an article about the way we communicate as a society today. We are constantly on the internet, constantly on the phone (or Iphone, for those of you who have one, I don’t…yet!) trying to keep contact with friends, family, co-workers, contacts, strangers, dates, others. We hang on every word we get from them, not recognizing that we are waiting for words on a screen, not from a human face.

Social net websites, like twitter, facebook, friendster and the like, have connected people as never before, but at a cost. We now speak in 140 characters or less. It may be straight and to the point to us, but context and meaning sometimes gets lost. There are some things that cannot be explained in 140 characters. You can tell how you’re feeling or what the weather is like in less characters. You can’t explain why you couldn’t make a dinner date with the wife or why you did not complete a term paper to the professor that way. Some situations require more detail than twitter and other sites allow.

Many people are addicted the their emails. They read them every day, every hour, even every minute. Emails are a great way to keep in touch with family and friends, especially distant acquaintances, but you have to wonder about your priorities in life if you are emailing every minute of the day. That is what it came to for me.

I don’t have a lot of friends. The few that I have are very good friends and I felt like I needed to keep in touch with them as much as I could, so I emailed them as much as I could. Then I would check every hour to see if they responded. It got to the point that I sent more emails to them than they sent to me. And what I was sending was superficial stuff I could have told them in person. We live in the same city, so what was the point.

So now I only check my emails once a day, usually at night. (I check my business email more) And I only write when there is something necessary to say. I figure I need to use more of my brain power to write these articles and blog posts.

And I am DONE with text messages. They can easily be misunderstood, and it can get tiresome to type messages on those small buttons on these phones. (might be easier on a smart phone, but even if I had one, i still won’t text anymore.) Besides, I feel like I am getting too old to be ‘texting’, as the tweenies would say.

Don’t get me wrong! I love technology, and I will still keep in touch with people using the newest technology. But we need to get back to human communication. Just because the tech world has made it easier to communicate with words does not mean we should abandon face to face communication. Some things are meant to be said in person, not in 140 characters or less.

This is my first legitimite post. On this blog I will be writing both free and copyrighted articles availble for post. If you are interested in reprinting my articles, contact me at brianallen07@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading!

Brian 3/20/10