Rant - @Amazon to start collecting sales tax in Georgia on Sept. 1

@Amazon to start collecting sales tax in Georgia on Sept. 1

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/breaking-news/amazon-to-start-collecting-sales-tax-in-georgia-on/nZKTf/

So Amazon caved into Georgia and will start collecting sales tax on September 1st, 2013.  Last March, the Georgia Legislature amended Section 48-8-2 of the tax code to require internet retailers to collect Georgia sales tax.  

Rant begins.

In my opinion the law was specifically targeted towards Amazon.  I spent around $2300 last year using Amazon so that would equate to around $184 of tax that the State of Georgia would now college. I can afford to pay that in taxes in stores so it's not going to impact me that much.  Modification of the tax code is going to net the state around $16 million dollars that is going to get wasted in the Department of Transportation or Community Health on foolishness. 

What the state and their Retail Association bulldogs don't realize is that the shopping experience in the state of Georgia is abysmal. I don't think these guys and gals have done any of their own shopping in the last 20 years.  I really detest shopping these days and prefer the convenience of online shopping.

They believe that this is a win but retail sales are going to continue to decline.

Amazon has spent the past 18 years refining is e-commerce, customer service, fulfillment, warehouse and shipping business and it's super easy to shop with them.  Most existing brick and mortar store have failed to do so and are suffering.

Here are some of the main problems facing retail brick and mortar stores: 

1.  Inventory Problems

Retailers are not using technology to their best ability to deal with dwindling store inventory.  I've seen shelves at retail stores to be out of inventory of a product for days, weeks, months. Reporting the problem doesn't seem to get the item in stock.  If the item is a hot item; using the store's inventory availability system online or in-store proves to be a hit or miss experience.  Popular sizes are generally not restocked often.  I know immediately with Amazon if an an item is in stock, how many are left if the stock is low and if out of stock when is the anticipated date the item will be in stock.

2. Poor Customer Service

This is my pet peeve about shopping in retail stores.  Very few retailers foster an environment conducive to shopping. I don't necessarily need to be greeted and hand held but when I need assistance I don't want to have to go to customer service or walk around the store to get someone to help me.   Many store associates are oblivious to what the store sells, ongoing sales, inventory.  They're kinda just there to collect a check.   I bought some jeans for my nephews and asked an associate if the children's jeans were on sale.  It took 15 minutes to get an answer back from him.  During that time I asked another associate at a register while I waited and the answer was no.  Upon checkout I discovered that the jeans were on sale and both associates had no clue at what was going on just mere feet away.

I avoid returning items to stores if at all possible unless the product is defective. Even when it's defective, I usually end up yelling or sighing very heavily while someone tells me something contradictory to store policy as I read it back to them.   Store returns associates and polices in my opinion are designed to frustrate the customer to not return products… ever.

My mom accused me of being a bully for questioning an associate on why was she not pressing the right button after she spent 10 minutes trying to remove an extended warranty on a video game that I clearly and verbally declined. The register output on my side explicitly said what key to press to decline the warranty and the associate hit the key accepting it over 5 times in a row.

The rare times that I use cash it's quite and experience watching the process of getting change.  Heaven forbid giving extra change to get whole dollars or even change back.

3. Long Lines

I blame customer service managers for this.  Usually there are not enough registers open based on the amount of customers in line.  Waiting more than 5 minutes in line to checkout in my opinion is inexcusable in the 21st century.  I've taken pictures and sent them back to corporate offices on chronic long lines and limited open registers.  It was persistent even during holiday shopping time.  Even after the corporate office intervened the chronic long lines register closures returned.  I began shopping elsewhere.

4.  Poor zoning and recovery

Some retailers do this very well. Others don't so well.  Zoning/facing and recovery is something that needs to be done hourly  if not many times an hour and not once a day.  I'm not going to even mention retailers where you can see items that need recovered and shelves that need to be zoned that are not touched for days at a time.

5. Delivery/Shipment

I subscribe to Amazon Prime for free 2 day shipping.  Most of the time I get the item(s) next day because Amazon has such a tightly integrated fulfillment and distribution system.   Delivery times of large items requiring freight delivery can be negotiated with the local freight delivery service.  You're not required to be at home for half day windows requiring you to take off time from work.

If you've ever had to except delivery and have installation from one of the brick and mortar stores you may know that it can be a painful experience.  With one retailer I've had 2 separate items that were damaged in the truck before they even arrived, multiple delivery times that were improperly scheduled, botched installations requiring multiple installation attempts and returns.  I've had to send recording of calls with customer service reps back to corporate offices because something was entered into a system differently that what was verbally communicated back to me.

6. Customer retention/rewards

The stores that I frequent often usually have some sort of customer retention or rewards program.  I'm willing to give up some privacy in shopping if I can get some rewards, discounts or coupons for be a loyal customers.  Stores that have rare coupons, offers and sales soon return the items back to the pre-sale levels that should have been at the discounted levels in the first place.  Shoppers  are savvy now and know the real price that items cost at manufacturer and unwilling now to pay high markups and deal directly with the manufacturer if they can.

7.  Store Terminals

It's the 21st century and having 1) Broken Terminals for extended  2) Terminals that do not have NFC Readers or Paypal payment methods for faster checkouts is inexcusable  

In conclusion, retail stores need to do a much better job with increasing customer service from the parking lot to the register in physical locations and the whole supply chain, inventory systems and online stores to compete with Amazon.

Here's a list of retailers that I have positive retail experiences :

Trader Joe's

Ikea

Target

Apple

Gap

Banana Republic

Publix

UPS

Lowes

Jockey

Here's a list of retailers that I have negative retail experiences :

Walmart

Brandsmart USA

Old Navy

Levi's

Family Dollar

US Postal Service

Home Depot

Social Donation Experiement

I'm about to embark on a great social experiment with you.  I spent the last 11 hours refolding all the articles of clothing that I own and I discovered in the 10th hour that I have an obscene amount of clothing.  The number is somewhere north of 1 year of shirts and sweaters.

What will happen over the next few weeks.  I'll take pictures of all my shirts, sweaters and jackets to Google Plus and allow you to vote whether I keep it or you bid on it if you want it it.  All proceeds go to Goodwill of North Georgia.   

I will exclude purchases within the past 12 months.  I have ultimate veto rights.  No articles that are green, seersucker or both will be donated.

It solves multiple things.  I get to have an out of cycle yearly Purge.  I thought of that name long before it became a movie.  It will get people to use Google Plus.  Ladies and Gents you should be using google for your email, messaging and social needs anyway.  If you're still using AOL or yahoo as your primary email you should be forced to remove your pinky finger on your non-dominant hand.

Stay tuned.

Apple Please Bring Back SNMP

Dear Apple,

I purchased the Airport Time Capsule 3TB on 6/11/2013 and it's missing SNMP Logging and statistics.

It was removed from even being configured in the 6.x version of the Airport Utility and only those of us who smartly kept version 5.6 could still configure it.   Now on the 7.7.1 Airport Time Capsule and probably the Airport Extreme have found that it's totally missing from the firmware.

Please bring back SNMP Support.

Thank You!

Boxee Cloud DVR Review

I bought the original Boxee Tv back on Nov-1-2012.  As of Apr-9-2013 the Boxee Tv was rebranded as the Boxee Cloud DVR.  I initially held off on my review because it was still Beta.  I'm pretty picky as you can see from my Vizio Co-star review. My initial purchase was because it was supposed to have been able to natively decrypt basic tiered cable on Comcast.  As of the time of this post Clear QAM and using a Ethernet based Digital Tuning Adapter provided by Comcast is the only way to view Cable TV.  Comcast is encrypting the Digital Limited Basic Tier aka everything available over Clear QAM http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/cable-tv/limited-basic-encryption/.   I'm just counting the days until clear qam is dead and I have to get another hdhomerun with a cable card because my hdhomerun dual is rendered useless. I now will need 6+ tuners since clear qam might die. If you're counting I'm using the 2 tuners on the hdhomerun dual and 3 on the hdhomerun cable card.  I used to have 10 tuners back before Comcast started encrypting basic cable.

You can check out the Gdgt review from a friend of mine.  It's pretty much is what I experienced back in November.
http://gdgt.com/d-link/boxee/cloud-dvr/reviews/tv0/

I was plagued with green pixels.  There wasn't a problem with the cable because it was used before and after with my apple tv with no problems.  I eventually tried it on another tv and the hdcp issues stabilized.

Video Below

I used it for the remainder of November and unplugged it in Mid December until there was a software update because it was simply unusable.  I wanted to give it a try and not return the device to Walmart because I was hopeful for the boxee tv.

I didn't even realize that it was even recording shows and only noticed when I went to the Boxee Website and saw on the DVR page that there were 100 recordings. Checking my bandwidth usage during the time averaged between 5 and 20 GB a day in uploads.  I was traveling most of that time so it was highly unlikely that it was me uploading that much data.

I started using it again in late March once the DLNA app was added.  That was the key feature that was missing.  I could care less about the dvr feature because I'm using mythtv for all my recordings.  I use Plex for all my music, movies and tv using plex and some mythtv hackery and a DLNA player to view the media or just the native dlna server within Mythtv. The new updates over 3 months corrected all of the HDCP issues and problems with crashing during channel changes and delayed audio.   I would say that it's a very usable beta.  It's a really simple Internet Streaming device.  I rate it a little higher than my Roku 2 because I can watch live tv  when I need to but it's missing Amazon Video on Demand but makes up with the inclusion of a native Youtube App.

The Broadcom BCM7231 chip inside is very capable and there is no lag seen with app switching and rendering.  It supports RVU and a host of other intefaces to act as an authenticated gateway back to the you Cable Company's headend, so what's the wait Comcast?  On the pics below a 1080i show is playing in the background (audio and video) while the guide, icons and setting are overlaid.  My Apple Tv has lag with scrolling thru the coverflow on movies and music and the youtube app :-)

There are still problems with the not knowing where you are in the app section because the highlighted icon is sometimes not visible and you have to press left left down down to get it to appear.

90% of my tv for the week is recorded and I watch later and skip the commercials.  The other 10% is live and on network tv so it accomplishes exactly what I need from it.

Other than that once the Cable DVR comes to the product and there are more streaming apps like Amazon VOD and Hulu or even Cable Provider VOD Apps,  I'm sure that it will be a strong competitor to the Roku 3, AppleTV and even Google TV.

All the live tv is over Clear QAM.


Boxee Cloud DVR Box

Below is the Boxee Cloud DVR Circa April 15 2013. Say Hello to Domo.

Channel Guide

Dancing With The Stars in 1080i

DVR Recording is not available using Clear QAM

Apps

DLNA/USB File Browser App

DLNA File Browser

Resolution Settings

Live TV Settings

Time and Locale

Services/DLNA

Weak Signal over OTA.   I live in a Fiber Cement Bunker

Remote Front

Remote Back

Scanning Menu

Kelly Clarkson Via DLNA on Palladia

Chaka Khan - I'm Still Here

Dream 4everbrandy Set List

I was thinking about this as the perfect unplugged performance set list for Brandy. A few special guests: Monica, Kanye West,Ray J or Wanya Morris, Tamia, Chaka Khan and Gladys Knight

Early Years
------------
Baby
Best Friend
Angel In Disguise
Almost Doesn't Count
Have You Ever

Duets
---------
The Boy Is Mine
Talk About Our Love
Broken Hearted  or Another Day In Paradise
Missing You

Tribute
--------
At Last
I Will Always Love You
I Just Can't Stop Loving You

Grown Brandy
--------------
Full Moon
He Is
Who She 2 U
Human
Long Distance
It All Belongs to Me
Wildest Breams
Put It Down

Good campaign to make the Galaxy Note II look smaller by putting it in the hands of a giant!

Yes ping.fm still works!

Comcast Customer Owned Modem Battle

I've unfortunately had to file an FCC Complaint because I have equipment that is receiving less than optimal service compared to leased equipment.

Comcast is no longer updating the firmware of Customer Owned Cable Modems. This is creating a situation that the data experience is subpar on customer owned equipment vs leased comcast branded equipment for $7 a month. The manufacturer of the hardware does not have the ability to remotely update the firmware.

http://bit.ly/QQD8iS

Attached is the Subscriber Agreement where this new practice was slipped in and customers were not informed nor had an opportunity to agree nor disagree.
http://xfin.tv/RMY5Lp

(Updated) October 2012 Comcast Modem Problems

I've seen several posts on the Comcast Forums, Broadband Reports and Twitter of Problems with the Motorola SB6121 and the Arris TM722 starting on 10/01/2012.   My problems started at approximately 10:45 AM Eastern where I've have little to no upstream available for upload and and extremely slow downloads.  The only response that I've gotten back from Comcast is that my modem wasn't added to my account.


I highly doubt that I've had a modem on their network for months and it magically caused a problem that at least 20 verifiable customers across the country are experiencing.


Anyone else having problems?

I have some graphs and proof of the time that it started and the current effects of whatever firmware or cmts issues comcast is having.

UPDATE:  10/08/2012

I've unfortunately had to file an FCC Complaint because I have equipment that is receiving less than optimal service compared to leased equipment.

Comcast is no longer updating the firmware of Customer Owned Cable Modems. This is creating a situation that the data experience is subpar on customer owned equipment vs leased comcast branded equipment for $7 a month. The manufacturer of the hardware does not have the ability to remotely update the firmware.
http://broadband.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17811

Attached is the Subscriber Agreement where this new practice was slipped in and customers were not informed nor had an opportunity to agree nor disagree. http://www.comcast.com/Corporate/Customers/Policies/SubscriberAgreement.html

Test to see if this still works

Vizio Co-Star Review

Vizio Co-Star Review (VAP430)

My review is delayed primarily because it took 10 days for my order to be delivered because Vizio is cheap and used Fedex Smartpost instead of regular ground shipping.  I was charged $10 for ground shipping and Vizio spent no more than $7.66 on Smartpost. Smartpost != Ground!!!!! The launch for this product with so many eyes watching and of this magnitude was bungled on so many levels.

I waited a full 2 weeks to give a review after the initial hour with the Co-star because I was  underwhelmed.  It would have been a bit more scathing if I would have done it then.

See Twitter Post





This is what it looked like out of the box.   A remote, power supply, batteries, and the Co-Star.

Closeup of the remote

In hand (if you didn't know before, I am brown)

Once everything was connected.  There was an immediate software update.

Using the remote was a bit tricky because you hold it vertical most of the time and use the D-pad or the trackpad and then you have to flip it over and turn horizontal to use the keyboard.   I have not been able to find an onscreen keyboard to use.  I would be much faster at typing using the onscreen keyboard than using the remote keyboard.   There's no backlight and it's using bluetooth.   Vizio could have saved some money and just have gone with a RF 2.4ghz receiver.  Control via bluetooth is not very precise and keypresses are often missed.   

There was an update to Youtube  that you can use your android phone to queue and play youtube videos on the google tv.   Quasi Airplay-esque without the beaming from one device to the other.

My next test was to checkout Amazon Video on Demand and Netflix.

Upon click of the dedicated Amazon Video on Demand it opened Google Chrome and went to the Amazon VOD website. I thought that was odd and assumed that I would have to perform some side loading of the Amazon App.   I was wrong.   This was nothing but the flash VOD site.   Wow Vizio and Google.. really?

Not only was that bad enough but the videos were in Standard Definition and the audio was only in Stereo.  Amazon says that HD movies are coming soon to Google TV but in true Google TV fashion execution and scheduling between content providers is missing.

Next up was Netflix. The experience was similar to Netflix on the Wii, Roku and PS3 with one exception.  I could not get any of the HD Movies to play in full HD.  I was connected via ethernet to a gigabit switch.  The Co-star only reported 65 - 75 Mbps connection on the switch. I was not having any bandwidth problems.  I average 30 Mbps Down/ 6 Mbps up even during peak evening hours when the whole neighborhood is streaming online video until their eyes bleed.

This didn't happen once or twice but every single time.  I played Lost Season 1 Episode 1.  I could probably draw the first minute on paper blindfolded and the quality was horrible.  I tried the video on my Apple TV and PS3 and both played in Full 1080p HD with Dolby 5.1 surround. This is with the quality set to 1080p on the Co-star and not to Auto for those ready to pounce.  

Here are some comparisons.  It's like 480p vs 1080p.

Vizio Co-Star Eye

Apple TV Eye

Vizio Co-Star Brow

Apple Tv Brow

I didn't even bother with Online and M-Go after seeing what I just saw.  I purchased Plex for Google Tv since I wanted to test some media that was under my control on my LAN.  I decided to test playback of Immortals against the PS3 using DLNA to Plex.  I got very similar results as to Netflix.  The picture was washed out and there was a lack of definition. You can't even tell that Frida Pinto has on a lavender getup underneath the shear material.  It looks solid black on the Vizio.

Vizio Co-Star

PS3

Vizio Co-Star

PS3

The playback problems didn't stop there.  I tested the Twit.tv app during September 9th, 2012's live stream of the This Week is Tech.  There were major artifacting on the screen especially on the lower thirds where the image was stable for a few frames.  It was as if the Co-star recognized this and turned of processing for the portion of video and displayed only current pixel changes.  It would take a full 3-5 seconds for the video to correct itself and start to actively display the area under the lower third  after the lower third disappeared.  This happened on SD and Well as HD streams and from different sources.  Bitgravity and Flowsoft.

I tried to use Crackle.  It was designated as one of the Websites designed for TV.  I could not get one video to play on the Co-Star.

The one thing that I did like was the TV and Movie app.  It procures tv and movies and their sources, price and quality and let's you decide where and how much you want to pay.  It's limited now to just Netflix and Amazon.  Amazon Prime was noticeably missing.  Google needs to tie into Amazon to check if you're a Prime Member and offer you a choice.  Also Google and Hulu need to hug it out and get over the past and move forward.  Google needs a youtube  and play Video rental offering in there as well.  Google is missing money on the table because consumers will go elsewhere.

Overall, I'm not impressed at all and I want a refund. 

Using Blacklists, Google Contact Synchronization and Opencnam In Asterisk

I use Broadvoice who has had problems with passing callerid data to me since April 24, 2012 with no resolution as of the writing of this post on September 6, 2012.  I guess that only way that I can resolve issues with them is to dump them.  Yes, I'm calling you out Broadvoice.

I've been able to work around Broadvoice and their horrible technical support and engineering.

I've implemented a callerid solution in asterisk using the following:

• Manual Database Entries for Blacklisting
• Google Contact Synchronization
• Opencnam Lookups

Blacklisting

I add political, charity, religious organizations and businesses that I've had dealings with that I never want to talk to again to a blacklist.  They don't follow do-not call rules here in the US.

Connect to the asterisk console using asterisk -r

Add the number the database.  I add the number with and without the country code because callerid comes in differently 

database put blacklist 6305392500 1

database put blacklist 16305392500 1

Google Contact Synchronization

I followed the instructions on the PBX in a Flash Forums below to setup the script.

Google Contacts to Asterisk Phonebook

I modified the python script to take out the plus symbol and also remove the the country code.  I planned on using the google contacts for caller id for Google Voice as well as from my voip provider.

# Insert the number into the cidname database, reinsert the country code if defined.

            #os.system("/usr/sbin/asterisk -rx \'database put cidname +%s%s \"%s\"\'" % (country_code,phone.text,entry.title.text))

            os.system("/usr/sbin/asterisk -rx \'database put cidname %s%s \"%s\"\'" % (country_code,phone.text,entry.title.text))

            os.system("/usr/sbin/asterisk -rx \'database put cidname %s \"%s\"\'" % (phone.text,entry.title.text))

Added A Crontab Entry That Runs Every 30 Minutes

0,30 * * * * /usr/local/bin/python /usr/local/bin/googlecontacts.py > /dev/null 2>&1

Opencnam Lookup

Here's the cnam.agi.  I made it an executable and added it to /usr/share/asterisk/agi-bin/.  Your install may be different.  You'll need the curl binary to make it work.  I also log the cnam transactions in a temporary log file.

cnam.agi 

#!/bin/bash

cidnum=$1

TODAY=$(date)

name=`curl -s -X GET https://api.opencnam.com/v1/phone/$cidnum?format=PBX`

echo $TODAY >> /tmp/cnam.log

echo $cidnum >> /tmp/cnam.log

echo $name >> /tmp/cnam.log

echo "" >> /tmp/cnam.log

if [ -n "$name"  ]; then

echo "SET VARIABLE lookupname \"${name}\""

read RESPONSE

exit 0

else

exit 1

fi

Here's everything in the extensions.conf

[from-broadvoice]

exten => _X!,1,GotoIf(${DB_EXISTS(blacklist/${CALLERID(num)})}?blacklisted,s,1)

exten => _X!,n,Set(CALLERID(name)=${DB(cidname/${CALLERID(num)})})

exten => _X!,n,GotoIf($["${CALLERID(name)}" = ""]?blank)

exten => _X!,n,Dial(SIP/holla,30,tr)

exten => _X!,n,Voicemail(holla)

exten => _X!,n,Playback(vm-goodbye)

exten => _X!,n,Hangup()

exten => _X!,n(blank),NoOp(cnam.agi)

exten => _X!,n,AGI(cnam.agi,${CALLERID(num)})

exten => _X!,n,Set(CALLERID(name)=${lookupname})

exten => _X!,n,Dial(SIP/holla)

exten => _X!,n,Voicemail(holla)

exten => _X!,n,Playback(vm-goodbye)

exten => _X!,n,Hangup()

[from-googlevoice]

exten => _X!,1,NoOp(Call from Google Voice)

exten => _X!,n,Set(CALLERID(num)=${CUT(EXTEN,/,2)})

exten => _X!,n,Set(CALLERID(name)=${DB(cidname/${CALLERID(num)})})

exten => _X!,n,GotoIf($["${CALLERID(name)}" = ""]?blank)

exten => _X!,n,Dial(SIP/holla,30,D(:1))

exten => _X!,n,Hangup()

exten => _X!,n(blank),NoOp(cnam.agi)

exten => _X!,n,AGI(cnam.agi,${CALLERID(num):1})

exten => _X!,n,Set(CALLERID(name)=${lookupname})

exten => _X!,n,Dial(SIP/holla,30,D(:1))

exten => _X!,n,Hangup()

[blacklisted]

exten => s,1,Wait(2)

exten => s,n,Playback(ss-noservice)

exten => s,n,Wait(1)

exten => s,n,Hangup()

Integrating Mythtv and Plex/XBMC

There is not native Mythtv support in Plex as of the writing of this blog post.  However, Plex contains xbmc code that can play Mythtv's transcoded .nuv NuppelVideo files. I transcode mpeg2 files to nuv to save on disk space.  XBMC has mythtv integration but scanning of tv shows doesn't always work and it's sometimes days or weeks behind in updating the tv shows and episodes.

Mythtv also does not name the files in a format that plex and xbmc scrapers can use to help identify the episode.  Hell On Wheels.s02e02.mpg looks something like 5066_20120825091500.nuv on the mythtv side.

The recipe for integration calls for:

MythicalLibrarian - http://code.google.com/p/mythicallibrarian/

SMB/CIFS share of your mythtv recordings or where you link your mythtv recordings via MythicalLibrarian.

Follow the instructions for downloading and installing MythicalLibrarian on the following site: http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=MythicalLibrarian

Easy installation:

sudo apt-get install curl && mkdir ~/.mythicalLibrarian && mkdir ~/.mythicalLibrarian/mythicalSetup && cd ~/.mythicalLibrarian/mythicalSetup
curl http://mythicallibrarian.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/mythicalSetup.sh>./mythicalSetup.sh
sudo su
chmod +x ./mythicalSetup.sh && ./mythicalSetup.sh

I made 3 modifications to the default settings in the file.

I set the MoveDir= to a directory where I would make a samba share just for mythtv linked recordings.

I set  the SYMLINK=LINK  to symbolically link the nuv to the mpeg file created by the mythicalLibrarian script.

I also added the ip addresses of my xbmc frontends in the XBMCIPs=( '192.168.x.x:8080') section.

When the script finished it will add a user job to mythtv to automatically run for new recording schedules. A few modifications will be needed to modify existing recording schedules.  I'll show you how to do that shortly.

I had years of recordings that I needed to scan and identify so I let the script run over 3 days to identify all my shows in a format the plex and xbmc could understand.

mythicalLibrarian --scan nuv /home/mythtv/Videos

Once that was complete I added the following share to my samba configuration file.  (/etc/samba/smb.conf for me in linux) and restarted samba for it to take effect.

[Tv]

        comment = Tv

        path = /home/mythtv/Videos

        writeable = yes

        browseable = yes

        create mask = 0775

        force create mode = 0664

        directory mask = 0775

        force directory mode = 0775

sudo service smb restart

I added the directory /home/mythtv/Videos as a tv source in both Plex and XBMC.  They will both need some time to scan and also identify the files in their own way.

The recording now looks like this:

Hell on Wheels S02E02 (Durant, Nebraska).nuv -> /mnt/tv/5066_20120825091500.nuv

How do update your mythtv recording schedules to use the mythicalLibrarian scripts

You'll need to use mysql to update the database.  You setup may be different.

mysql -umythtv -pmythtv mythconverg

update record set autouserjob1=1 where autouserjob1=0;

That should update your recording schedule to use mythicalLibrarian to run after the recording has ended.

This will work where mythicalLibrarian is setup as userjob 1.   Modify the job number to meet your setup.

How I Manage My Music Collection

I've been using iTunes to manage my music since 2005 after an unfortunate iTunes folder organization mishap.  Prior to then I'd been using a combination of Windows Media Player and Musicmatch Jukebox for management for music I had on Samba Shares.  I used the convention Artist - Album (Year) and iTunes used Artist/Album  so my I had a ton of orphaned folders and I still do :-)

I gave up and eventually allowed iTunes to just handle the folder structure since I had a dedicated Mac Mini at that point. I would rip CDs and let iTunes convert them to 192kbps mp3s and then manually copy to the Samba share.  I had a local copy and a copy on my NAS.  This was tedious but I never wanted my entire library to become mangled again.

I moved up to dedicated NAS instead of Samba Shares on a windows media center.  The problem with NASes is that if a proprietary has has a logic board failure or raid controller failure you must purchase from the same manufacturer if you want your data.  I had a logic board failure and was down for 6 weeks during the holiday season from November  2009 - January 2010. Upon placing the drives back in the NAS in the correct order a reboot of the NAS reinitialized the raid array and wiped all of my music, movies, documents, backups and website starting from 1992. :-((((((

I cried and have spent the better part of  2 years recovering the data from old hard drives and online backup.

I now only buy mp3 from iTunes, Amazon, Google play or directly from the artist or distributor.   Most of these non iTunes MP3 markets have an iTunes and Windows Mediaplayer app that adds the music that you've purchased and downloaded into your itunes music collection.  All my iTunes purchases are automatically downloaded to the library and copied over to the NAS.  Google Play and Amazon purchases require and extra step to make this happen.  It's usually just a few clicks to identify the music on their websites and initiate a download to their own app that adds the content to my iTunes library.  Google Music Manager and Amazon Music Importer also copies that music to the cloud so I can listen pretty much from any mobile device or computer.


All my music is in the cloud, locally on a Mac and on a Nas so I never have to worry about losing it anymore.

Here's the simple bash script that runs at the top of the hour to copy my music over to a mount on my NAS

Crontab Entry
5 * * * * /Users/xxx/itunesbackup.sh


Script
##########################


#!/bin/bash

cd /Users/xxx/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Media/Music/

rsync -av . /Volumes/Music/

exit

Know How... 6 | TWiT.TV

Know How... 6 | TWiT.TV

Make Your Tech Life More Secure

Wii U Experience - Atlanta Ga

I was invited to the Nintendo Experience for hands on game play to the successor of the Nintendo Wii. I brought my 10 year old cousin as a guest because he will have a great what did you do over the summer story to tell.

I was pretty impressed by the playback and in improved control.  Games are finally in HD. 

I played New Super Mario Bros U, Luigi's Mansion, Rayman Legends and Just Dance 4.

I smoked a family of 3 playing Just Dance 4 dancing to Rock Lobster. With the Wii Motion plus controller tracking your hands and body's position and movement in space and in relation to 3 other players is a modern programming miracle.  Ubisoft has a hit on their hand. Its no Xbox Kinect but has

There was a little bit of stutter in New Super Mario Bros U with 4 players connected.  I'm hoping this was just a bug in the demo unit. Hopefully Nintendo can work out the I/O or processing hiccup. Overall I'm really excited because up until now I thought the Wii U would be underwhelming after I saw the E3 Keynote. I sent Nintendo a social message blast to go back to the drawing board.

Nintendo if you're listening, please include the following for a hit:

Ethernet! Cmon
DLNA playback
Bluray Support
Skype and/or Google Talk chat with the GamePad or release a Bluetooth or USB HD Webcam
Use USB 3.0 for future proofing

Protect Yourself on the Net

Here are some free suggestions to protect yourself from Virus, Trojans and Email Hacks in this order.

1) Download and Install Spybot Search and Destroy.  This will scan and eliminate spyware, adware, key loggers, browser hijackers and trojans. http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

2) Download and install Microsoft Security Essentials or  AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 (The free edition only.  The Internet Security Edition is not needed) http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials/download or http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage

3) Change your email password to a strong password using numbers, mixed case or special characters once your computer is clean.  (This will make it harder for brute force password guessing programs to guess your password) Randpass.com can help you with choosing a stronger password. http://www.randpass.com/


Optional

1) Switch to Gmail and use Google Authenticator that requires your email password and an additional password sent to your mobile phone or designated voice telephone to access your email.
http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1066447

2) Use LastPass to help keep track of all your web passwords and generate secure password https://lastpass.com

Dear Nintendo, I've loved you since I was old enough to hold a controller. Please shelve the Wii-U and go back to the drawing board. -Noah

6.5 Million #LinkedIn Passwords leaked. I recommend using @lastpass to manage and change your passwords! http://ping.fm/uWaZX #in