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Some of the best music applications and/or services have been the targets of the music industry and it’s war against ‘piracy’.  We have seen legislation backed by and lobbied by the RIAA be submitted to Congress.  Mass suing of citizens over music sharing and some even paying over $80,000 per song shared.

This is not how you treat a customer or potential customer.  I understand the fact that they want to protect their IP and content but doing so in such extreme ways is harsh and inhuman.  Most of the previous lawsuits have been against users using P2P or Bittorrent file sharing systems, not piracy groups making profit by distributing the songs/music.

I think the industry needs to do a 180 on it’s stance on what it perceives as piracy.  The amount of money the industry claims to lose to piracy is a null point in my opinion.  A potential sale or not is not a definite sale.  If there was no way to pirate the music, would such user even bought such song? I say most likely not.  If they did, they’d wait to hear it on the radio or from a pal who bought it.  I know that was my philosophy on music and ‘sharing’ in the past.  However, another point to be made is that most of those who use sharing sites do it because they probably do not have that flexible of an income.  In college, I ate ramen noodles 5 days a week and saved my cigarette butts to smoke when I ran out.  Buying music wasn’t even a possibility on my budget and the radio selection was horrible.   Skip ahead to now, I actually buy music on Amazon because its so easy and actually cheap.  It doesn’t have DRM and is high quality.  Most shared music is a lower bitrate and in turn lower quality; the higher quality and lack of DRM on the mp3 files make it worth it to buy it.

So finally, my idea:

6 month free trial licensing to the major studio’s catalogs for app / web service developers.

Yes, this could easily be abused however I would expect the industry to create an initial form/application to get access by providing URLs, LLC/Company documents, Tax ID numbers and etc that is required to have a company.

Napster was one of the first and best services yet to find and share music.  I remember finding a good song from a user and then out of curiosity browse their shared library and discover music I would never have heard.  This was a service that lacked a real business model.  Sound familar?  How many years did Twitter go without a real business model? Or Facebook? Or the other phenoms that have started as nothing/a joke (foursquare) and finally evolved into a major web presence and innovator in its field.  Creating a business model where none ever existed.

This 6month free trial access to ALL MUSIC libraries could finally allow the music industry to find its Twitter or Facebook.  Benevolence spurs redemption and innovation much more than fear or hate (sorry about the hippy analogies).  We could see many more apps/services like turntable.fm.  Turntable.fm did get licensing from all four major labels and in turn can keep innovating and thriving.

So there you have it, my crazy idea for the music industry. Thoughts?

I currently own an LG HDTV (2011 model) that has Simplink, a PS3 Slim that supports HDMI Control and a Sony Audio/Video Receiver (AVR) that supports HDMI control. If things were as they should be and my TV supported DTS pass through, this setup would be much easier however I am forced to run digital optical from my PS3 to my Sony AVR.  My Sony AVR does not support 3D Bluray HDMI so I cannot run my PS3 directly through the AVR but must connect it directly to my LG 3D TV.

My Goal: To be able to use HDMI control and in turn my LG Remote to control my PS3, Sony AVR for audio and LGTV for Video.

Lets clarify my setup w/the following diagram (this excludes the DVR).

So the run down in list form:

1. PS3 Slim is connected to my LG TV via HDMI for video (ie 3D/HD)
2. PS3 Slim is connected to Sony AVR via Digital Optical for Audio (DTS,THX,Dolby 5.1) in the TV input
3. Sony AVR is connected to LG TV via HDMI for HDMI Control abilities using HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) Ports on LG TV and Sony AVR (also a TV Out port)
4.  PS3 is setup to allow multi-audio output (ie both Digital Optical and HDMI audio can output simultaneously).  Lets me use normal TV speakers for audio from PS3 at night or use Sony AVR for theater experience.

I then had to enable ARC in the menu on the Sony AVR and also in the LG TV.   What did I finally accomplish?

1. I can now power on my PS3 and my TV will turn to the PS3 input and also power on the Sony AVR receiver.

2. I can control the Sony AVR via my LGTV remote. I can also control my PS3 with the LGTV remote.

3. When I power off my TV, it turns the PS3 and Sony AVR off.

4. Finally, I did this by basically chaining my HDMI connections in a working order.  PS3 to LGTV to Sony AVR back to LGTV. I created a HDMI loop it seems.

However, if my Sony AVR supported 3D HDMI inputs I could have just ran my PS3 through the Sony AVR and then Sony AVR to LGTV and get HDMI control easily.

3D HDTV: Active vs Passive?

The first thing you have to understand about 3D TV tech is the difference between Active Shutter 3D vs Passive 3D.

Active 3D requires battery powered shutter glasses that basically blank out the left eye and then the right eye to give the 3D effect.  Glasses typically run about $40 a pair and also require the use of an infrared repeater that triggers the flashing of the shutters/lenses.  Here’s a good article on active shutter 3D technology (created by Sony and Panasonic).  Those for Active 3D say it has better image quality.

Passive 3D tech is very new.  LG and Panasonic have passive sets released.  This tech uses polarized glasses and a special screen to create the 3D effect by blocking certain light using the polarized lenses to achieve this.  Glasses are very cheap however critics claim that image quality isn’t as good as active due to polarizing of image for 3D effect.

My thoughts?

I weighed the positives and negatives of both technologies but ultimately decided on the Passive 3D.  Being a geek and a gamer, I don’t need another thing that needs to be charged or plugged in.  Active glasses require a battery, Passive obviously don’t.  Second selling point would be the cost of glasses.  $40+ for a pair of active vs $10 a pair for passive? That’s a no brainer.  Finally, 3D wasn’t going to be the full time job of this TV, gaming and movies were.  Also, image quality is usually not noticeable unless your a videophile type (ie the AVS forums is your home page).

The LG 55LW5600

I found a decent deal on an LG 55″ 55LW5600 3DTV and ended up getting it.  It’s a smart tv that actually comes with a Wi-Fi adapter (not a seperate purchase), netflix and smart apps, Passive 3D tech, great reviews on AVS forums and was a great deal (about $1300).

Picking up a 55″ HDTV definitely requires an SUV, Van or Truck.  So plan accordingly, while I was waiting for my pal with a truck to come I noticed about 5 HDTVs sitting at Best Buy’s front door.  Reason? None of them fit into the new owners car or vehicle.

So far I love my LG and the Passive 3D tech.  Image quality is excellent compared to normal 2D Bluray movies.  The glasses are light and cheap and comfortable; the bundle I purchased included 10 pair of passive 3D glasses.  For me, it took about 2 3D movies before my eyes got used to 3D.  Viewing angles on the TV are great.

2D image quality is excellent; I previously had a Sony Bravia 40″ and feel that the picture looks sharper on the larger LG 55″ than the 40″.

Smart apps are what you would expect on a non Android or AppleTV; basic and clunky.  Netflix runs very well though.  I can stream at 1080p with my fast internet connection on it.  I have not really used any other apps on it since I have 4 devices near by that are better suited for those needs.

Inputs are plentiful: 4 HDMI, 2 Component, 2 USB, 1 LAN, 1 PC audio and vga, Digital Optical out.  HDMI Control (Simplink) is supported so you can control other HDMI connected devices like a PS3 using your TV remove.

You also get two remotes: one is your typical TV remote but it does have a back light option (more tv makers need to do this w/there remotes) and the other is motion based Wii-mote like remote.  You point it at the TV and use the onscreen Cursor to choose options, change inputs, etc.  Its a nice idea but could use some refinement; more gimmicky than useful.

The only complaint I have is of the TV itself and some spotlighting that I’m experiencing.  My pal’s LG has zero signs of it and in turn I plan to call support to get the screen replaced (only noticeable with a completely black scene/screen).  There have been a few other users I’ve seen with this problem and the ones who have contacted support have gotten the issue fixed by replacing the screen.   I’ll post a follow up on how this goes when I call later this week.

So am I satisfied with my 3D TV purchase? I am! I just wish there was more 3D content and that the manufacturers wouldn’t make exclusive deals (i’m looking at you Avatar 3D and not being able to legitimately buy! it’s exclusive to Panasonic 3D tvs).  Expect a nice round up of all of the tips, tricks and hacks for the LG 55LW5600 coming later this week.

Sony PS Vita and the commuting gamer:

I initially purchased my Vita 3G+WiFi on launch day and have been using my Vita for about a week and a half.  My usage pattern is that of a daily commuter; I ride the Minneapolis Light Rail train to work and back.  It is about a 40 minute commute each way and the best part is that I work downtown Minneapolis and in turn get to really use the Social/Geotag/Near features of a new device such as the Vita and the 3DS.  This post won’t be a review of the Vita but more a report on who it works as a commuting gaming device.

Most of the times on my commute into work or home, I would just stream music from my Android phone or play some casual android games.  Somedays I will whip out the iPad 2 or the Lenovo TPT but most of the time it just seems to be a hassle since they are both 10″ tablets and can be hard to use when crowded together on a full train.  Again, this is another great reason for Apple to make that 7″ iPad; its a true mobile tablet form factor and size.

This last week I’ve been using my Vita on the commute and must say that it has been a great fit.  I have been playing through Uncharted: Golden Abyss and the 40 minute sessions easily melt my commute time away.  Handheld console gaming still is vastly superior to any phone, tablet device in my opinion.  PHYSICAL BUTTONS/CONTROLS cannot be replaced by touch for deep, platforming or action gaming.  Angry Birds is a great mobile game but after 10 minutes I lose interest; there’s no story or characters (I know not the best phone game to compare to Uncharted).  The level design is great but again its casual gaming to the C.

The Vita as a pure gaming device is a joy to use.  It offers multiple input methods for developers to utilize including: dual analogy, motion (six-axis), front and rear touchpanels, voice, AR using front or rear cameras.  Sony did a great job in giving developers so many options for controls and in a way tried to future proof the device for a few years too.  I still have no idea how Nintendo didn’t include a second analog circle pad on the 3DS from day one; that was the PSPs biggest complaint besides the lack of games/too many ps2 ports.

The apps on the Vita are not bad either.  Yes, they are very limited but for the most part exceed many of the 1.0 versions of such apps when they first appeared on iOS or Android. The Netflix is nicely done however is limited to streaming Video over a WiFi connection only; the app will not stream when on a 3G connection only.  Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare can utilize the 3G data connection and GPS device for updates which makes sense.  I understand why the Netflix does not stream over 3G; limited data plans for the device start at 250MB and in turn would be nearly used up after watching a 2 hour movie of streaming over 3G.  However for use w/the Unlimited iPad data plan, we would prefer the option to enable streaming over 3G.  Perhaps Netflix and Sony will allow this later with an app update.  Touchscreen navigation of apps is great; the touchscreen on the Vita is as responsive as any iPhone or iPad and more precise than a several of my Android devices (LG G2x and X10 Mini).

The games at launch have kept me rather busy.  I planned to only buy two titles at launch; Uncharted and Hot Shots golf, but have since purchased several more.  Since I also purchased a 32GB Vita memory card, digital purchases are very appealing to me since I can then have several games with me at all times on the memory card.  The Near app, Sony’s Geolocation based social gaming app, is pretty fun to check out.   One can get game goods if you run into others playing games that you have or don’t have and once you own the game can get the free in-game items.

The true test of the Vita will be the next 6 months and if Sony can keep the games coming and gamers interested!  Hopefully we will continue to see further apps for the Vita too; that is a big area that could set it vastly apart from the 3DS since Sony has a superior online market and component in place.  However, below is a quick PS Vita demo I have up on my youtube account briefly demoing a few of the features and the UI:

video url

Phoneblets: a definition and genre

Phoneblets you ask? What is a phoneblet? It’s my new term I’ve coined for the possible upcoming wave of 5″ phones with stylus.  Samsung’s Galaxy Note is the first official one even though its original Galaxy Tab could be considered the early prototype (since most of us w/the AT&T Tab could hack a phone modem into it to use it as a phone).

This last week I was able to use a Galaxy Note loaner phone for a few days.  Last month I had gone the exact opposite route and bought my smallest Android phone ever in the Sony Xperia X10 Mini.  For being a 5″ phone, it actually did fit into my jean’s pocket.  It was rather interesting going to a party and whipping out the Note. Most people thought it was a fake phone/joke but then I’d bring up Angry Birds and let them browse the web.  Most were very curious about it but didn’t think they could justify carrying around such a huge phone.

However the S Pen works really well on the Note and again is the future for this phoneblet form factor.  We may finallly be nearly to the point I’ve been wanting to get to forever; replacing those yellow notepads w/a Galaxy Note or the new Tab 10.1 that will have a S Pen too.

Battery life on the Note wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I was able to get nearly a full day of moderate use on it; however I could see the battery draining really fast if you had a full day of meetings and were using it to take notes with.  The thinness of the Note is amazing and the screen gorgeous.  I almost wonder if the Vita and Note screens are the same model almost.

Well, that will conclude today’s geek post.  I hope to touch more on the Note and Vita in upcoming posts!

Well as promised, here is my quick unboxing of my Sony Playstation Vita 3G+Wifi model.

I also had to take advantage of the Target Buy 2 and get 1 free deal on PS Vita games

Back a few years ago around 2007, the big buzz word back then was “green computing”. The underlying premise behind green computing was to basically make using computers more energy efficient and renewable.  The biggest ways most laptop makers at the time tried to sell consumers on this idea was by boasting ULV based processors.  ULV = Ultra low voltage.  Their reasoning was that by reducing overall voltage used by a computer, it would in turn use less power and be more energy efficient.  They were right, ULV chips definitely use less power than most non ULV based cpus; however they missed one huge thing:  terrible performance.   The ULV chips have matured quite a bit since then but still are not a very popular cpu to be used in a work environment since you need to get stuff done more than you need to cut back on a minor energy savings.  So in my opinion, green computing has failed for the most part.

Its been a success in bringing awareness but its practical uses and applications in work environments are limited.  On top of that, the recession basically countered any progress it had made due to budget constraints.  Lets jump back to today, 2012.

The new buzz word floating around most corporate / work environments is the idea of BYOD (bring your own device). CIO and IT Directors are being pressured by higher level users and/or ceo types on why xxx company doesn’t use yyyy type of laptop or phones or tablets.  Bascially, we are seeing consumer technology catch up and eclipse business tech due to the tech replacement cycles in work / corporations to be on a 3 – 4 year cycle.  A lot has happened in the last 4 years!

Most companies that are considering such a program with users believe that they are saving the company spent on hardware (laptops, parts, phones, etc) while still appeasing the requests of their user base.  I can understand the philosophy behind this rational and agree that initially it can save money for a company when looking merely at hardware costs/savings.  The big problems with BYOD are not obvious if you don’t work directly in Desktop / Application deployemnt and Tech Support.   From the outside it appears to be a win-win situation: users get to use their technology of choice and the company saves a ton of money on hardware.  However.. there’s much much more to this story than the positives; I’ll  outline a few of my personal biggest problems with BYOD approach to IT.

1. You don’t save that much money!

Sure, you don’t have to buy hardware but you do need to now create or implement a virtualized desktop type of environment in order to support multiple OS and hardware type.  However to support your full user base, you will most likely need to setup a clustered data environment with multiple virtual servers to run the desktop applications.  Server racks or UCS for this type of setup are very expensive and require a ton of memory and cpus.  Also, you would still need to purchase licenses for the software being utilized in the virtual desktop and also would need  to pay for the virtual desktop OS (be it a thin client or virtual windows machine).   Plus, you can’t forget about support contracts for the new server hardware, costs of getting environment setup and most likely the hiring of several virtual desktop administrators.

2. Performance or choice?

We have all seen this trend hit before however back then it was mainframes and terminals back in the late 60s to mid 80s.   The one problem you have with a mainframe/terminal setup; the more users on it the greater degradation of speed and responsiveness for each user.  The main supporters of BYOD believe that they would in turn use their super powerful personal laptop at work and in turn get the benefits of using a power pc vs their older work laptop. WRONG! Local power has little relevancy in a thin client/virtual desktop.  You meet a basic requirement for the standard virtual desktop and anything above would perhaps help a little but again the processing is done on the server end of things.   One way around this would be to create a “live” network boot os that workstations would boot to and then run on their laptops; this would actually utilize their local hardware resources and in turn give them benefits of having a powerful laptop.  I think we’ll see the “live” network boot approach this year, it seems like a very good compromise!

However one good thing about setting up a virtual desktop is that you can also support the tablet devices given there is an app/client for the iPad or Android based tablet.

3. Compliancy / Security.

Users don’t like these two words at all.  To them they see “reasons why i can’t bittorrent at work or another password to type in”.  Us in IT see this as, “making sure our company’s assetts aren’t stolen or land in the wrong hands; ie keep everyone with a job”.  Bringing in of personal devices makes enforcing password or encryption policies even harder.  IT fights with its users enough when the devices are company owned, now think about that if the devices are the users’ own?  Exactly.

4. SLA / Expectations.

This is where BYOD really can get ugly if you don’t put in company wide policies or even if you do.  SLAs and expectations need to be set asap if you do go BYOD.  Anything that goes wrong with the hardware will now be considered “IT’s fault” and any problem (including the why can’t i upload pics to facebook) will fall into IT’s realm.  I get at least three questions a week about a personal/home pc at my work.  I actually had to create a side company to handle these requests (I’m just too nice and will fix anyone’s pc).

5. Growth and training

If a company does go down this route, they have to realistically look in the mirror and man/woman up.  You can’t expect your current IT staff and environment to support this environment; you need more people and training.  These technologies are fairly new and still not without faults, bugs.  IT departments need to start thinking about support personnel numbers in comparison to devices/servers/technologies utilized instead of the traditional users to tech staff ratios. Traditionally, companies didn’t run too many servers due to having to have physical space, cooling, etc for them; however 2012 virtual servers are the new trend.  A company that ran 30 physical servers can easily run 100 virtual servers and since they are virtual management has no idea that the workload for the IT staff has basically increased by 3x.

Also, virtualization of desktops requires the apps to be virtualized and migrated.  Users need to get trained on new setup and security needs to be audited too.

So there you go, my reason why I don’t like BYOD.  Its a great idea and can work in most cases but companies looking to go this route really need to look in the mirror and ask the big questions.  Are we really saving money?  Is it worth it?

I work in IT and see the next 5 years in IT support as being some of the most challenging years yet.  Your thoughts?

2012 promises to be another great year for us tech / gadget geeks.  We are finally seeing the much hyped Ultrabooks starting to hit retail, an impending new iPad model release, the launch of one the most gamer focused devices in years and of course everything else from the mobile phone market expansion to webizens showing the government that it was not pleased.

First thing I’d like to chat about is Sony’s upcoming PS Vita.  It launched in Japan late last year and is pending release on 2/22/2012 in the USA and Europe.  Launch sales in Japan were so-so, nothing spectacular.  However I personally believe that the Japanese gaming market has very little correlation to the Western gaming demographics and markets.  A product that fails or does not sell in a Japanese market does not mean doom for it elsewhere.  Japan’s gaming industry and culture seems to have lost a bit of its pioneer edge and has fallen behind as a leader.

Yes, I am going there in regards to the Japanese game development and market.  They have not really pushed any envelopes in design or game play or even story / plotlines.  The Round-Table of AAA developers in Japan is thinning recently.  We’ve all read the articles and know the numbers. They are not the same market they were in the 1990s and early 2000s; they have gone a different path towards the mobile phone and more casual based markets.

This is why I think the PS Vita will succeed in the USA and Europe.  Its a western gaming device and the launch titles are definitely more geared to the western audiences.  Expect a nice unboxing post this Feb 22, 2012.

Next up, the iPad 3 or iPad 2S or whatever name Apple will endow it with is coming up soon.  Most rumors point to an early March 2012 release and an announcement around Job’s birthday (very fitting).  There still seems to be some debate on whether the CPU is a dual core or a quad core; if its only a dual core I may not upgrade to it.  However the LTE modem alone is tempting since I still have a grandfathered in true Unlimited iPad data plan.

Recently I have been becoming a much more Android orientated home.  I now have a GoogleTV, 2 Android phones and a Honeycomb tablet.  One of my main uses for the iPad is to control my head-less desktop pc that’s connected to speakers and request/control iTunes with it.  However, I just recently found a replacement Android app that now let’s me do the same thing on my Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet….

Android.  It’s definitely catching up to iOS in regards to Apps.  Just in the last month, I have nearly been able to find Android replacement applications for one’s I could only use on my iPad.  Onenote was released by Microsoft for Android in early February, I wonder how long it will be before Microsoft realizes it should sell a mobile office suite.  I also found this app to control my iTunes library like an iPad but on Android; Remote for iTunes.

Finally, we have recently seen a great thing happen.  Citizens standing up for their rights and the internet.  SOPA and PIPA bills have since been delayed from vote in the USA and early ACTA protests are being heard by governments.  2012 should be an interesting year!

$ cd ~
$ mkdir sfproject
$ cd sfproject
$ symfony propel
$ symfony generate:project sfproject
$ symfony generate:app frontend

Create schema.yml
Create new database in phpMyAdmin
$ symfony configure:database "mysql:host=db.domain.com;dbname=actualdbname" username passwd

$ symphony propel:build-model
$ symphony propel:build-sql
$ symfony propel:insert-sql
$ symfony propel:build-forms
$ symfony propel:generate-module frontend article Article
$ symfony cache:clear

Additional data on symfony tasks is available.