After trying to rent two movies I realized there was trouble in paradise. When I try to sync via iTunes I get the following error.
The Apple TV “Apple TV” is not responding. Check that any firewall software running on this computer has been set to allow communication on port 3689.
A quick Google search reveals I am not the only one and there is no known solution. Thanks Apple!
I have never done much backing up, and I have never had any major failure of a critical drive. A good backup plan seems like a good thing for me to have. It seems as though I must be due for one.
Here is my plan, based on the advice found here.
A good backup plan must be redundant and automatic, therefore I am purchasing two hard drives, and two external enclosures. One 250gb which will back up my iMac’s internal drive, and one 500gb, which will back up my external media drive that holds my music and photo collection. I will do a SuperDuper backup each night of each drive, which will essentially mirror the drives. The idea being, that if my iMac’s drive fails on me, I can just add in the drive in the enclosure and pick up right where I left off.
This is in addition to backing up off site to Mozy and Time Machine.
Next month I will buy two more of the exact same two drives so I can do the exact same thing, only I will take them to work every month and switch. That way I always have a drive off site in case of a fire.
Again, this is addition to my off site backup to Mozy. Like I said, I am due for a major failure.
After three weekends of travelling you would think I would be tired and in bed. Not me. I am up worried about finding a multi-room dvr solution for our two high def televisions.
We currently have two 32″ LCD displays. One is in our living room, and one is on the wall in our bedroom. I have an Xbox 360 and a Blu-Ray (PS3) downstairs along with a high-def DVR downstairs and a normal high-def set top box upstairs. Problem is, I want to play Xbox, and Monica wants to watch her recorded “stories.”
My ideal solution is a media server recording all the content, serving photos, music, podcasts, movies etc. Trouble is, there are products out there that will do all that with standard def TV, but nothing exists for high-def tv.
This is something that has really been annoying me lately.
I ran out to Best Buy to grab Hotel Dusk for the DS and ran by the computer department to see if they had Vista running. They did and I checked it out, my impressions…
The new apps are really great, they mimic Apple’s iLife suite and work together really well. One example is with Outlook Express. I opened “Outlook Express” and created a new message, I then opened “Contacts,” created a new contact, saved it and went back to my “Outlook Express” message, found the contact and added it to the message. I didn’t have to re-open Outlook or the message window.
I don’t love the new UI. Its very busy with all the transparencies and blurring going on, but its still a better option than what Windows users have now, that and you can turn it off and go old school if you wanted.
A few things that are really nice about it is the “Windows/Tab” menu, the new search and all of the context sensitive meta data it displays. You can resize thumbnails in real time with a slider, you can search from anywhere. Vista organizes really well. I dig it.
I personally can’t wait to get Vista, not sure when I will, but I will sometime soon. I love the way it organizes files, and I love the new apps and how they work together. Its worth the upgrade, especially if your getting it with a new PC, I question the worth when your paying $200 for Home, but in the end, I think I will be happy with it once I do buy it.
According to this post Microsoft now expects you to pay for a new Windows license everytime your motherboard is upgraded. I really don’t get it. Its like they want you to break the law. If I pay for a windows license, and only run it on one PC, whats the big deal?
Between this, all the bs with the High Def DVDs, HDCP and music DRM…I am getting fed up.
According to Gamespot Half-Life 2 will be released in a series of Episodes from now on, presumably in the same fashion as the soon to be released Sin Episodes. I am really excited about this, it will mean more great gaming, more often. The Source engine is able to be updated with new features all the time, so the experience will always be fresh.
My only hope is they manage to keep the cost of the episodes at a reasonable level, $20 for 10 hours of gameplay is probably the price point I would be willing to keep paying.
