Geek Muse

Friday, December 15, 2006

Prepare to step through the gate all over again! A third television series in the hit Stargate franchise is now in development, GateWorld has learned.

A production source informs GateWorld that the new series is in the concept phase, and is being actively worked on by the Vancouver creatives behind Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. No concept for the show has yet been revealed.

Good news! I was pretty upset when I heard Stargate SG-1 was being canceled after so many years, but if the same writers/directors/producers are working on a third ‘gate’ series, it should be a good show. Well, let me take that back, there’s a potential for suckiness, but much less potential than a lot of other shows.

posted by Nem W Schlecht at 13:04 in News

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eMusic crosses 100M mark

Thursday, December 14, 2006

eMusic crosses 100M mark – The Digital Music Weblog

Thumbs up to eMusic, who’ve managed to pass the 100 Million download mark (all without DRM!) and congratulations to Michael Brennan, the lucky customer who downloaded that milestone track.

As promised earlier, the Barenaked Ladies will write and record a track all about Michael Brennan, which will then be packaged as a bonus track for the upcoming album, “Barenaked Ladies Are Men.” The track will also be available as a free download for a period in January as part of eMusic’s celebration.

Okay, so they’re nowhere near iTunes’ numbers, but still, not bad at all and there is some proof here that no-DRM music makes sense. If nothing else, Travis should be happy.

I’m very curious as to what a song about a dude who bought a song is going to sound like.

posted by Nem W Schlecht at 12:08 in News

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New Geek Muse Blog

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Welcome to the new Geek Muse blog!

We’re done with Simple PHP Blog, although it has served us well over the last year and half. We’re now using WordPress via DreamHost. Things should be much faster and there will hopefully be less blog spam. I’ve moved over a bunch of the old entries; however, comments did not transfer. Speaking of comments, you must now get an account with the Geek Muse blog before you can post comments. It’s fairly painless and will help us keep down on spam.

I’m looking forward to working with the new blog (as I can now use Ecto and other blogging tools) and I hope that our little blog will get a little more use out of us, as well as all of our listeners.

posted by Nem W Schlecht at 14:22 in General,News

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Where are the broadband price wars?

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Where are the broadband price wars? (Ars Technica)

What is clear is that US broadband isn’t so hot when compared to what’s available in other countries. In Japan, symmetrical 100Mbps connections can be had for under $35 per month, while South Koreans can get fast fiber optic connections for $32. Burstein notes that in France, “twice the speed, 60 channels of TV, and free international calls have settled at about â‚¬30, or $40. The French package was closer to $30 when introducedâ€”half the American price without TV, and less than a third of the U.S. ‘triple play’ price.”

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.Â I just “upgraded” my DSL services from 1.5Mb down/1.0Mb up to 3.0Mb down/640k up.Â So far, I’m pretty unhappy.Â I’m paying more for something that seems worse (or at least near equal) to me so far.Â The thing is, somebody else in my area may be paying the same amount and be getting 7.0Mb down and 900k up.Â WTF?Â If my line can’t handle that speed they should either charge me less or upgrade my line. I’m most likely going to be giving my provider a call tomorrow!

Even so, I’m not getting anywhere near 100Mbps for my $40+/month.Â Something seriously needs to happen in the U.S. to address DSL service.

posted by Nem W Schlecht at 02:35 in News

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notMac Challenge

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

From http://www.notmacchallenge.com/ :

Since Apple decided to start charging for dotMac, I’ve spent $495 to keep some useful files remotely accessible on my iDisk and sync my bookmarks, address book and calendar between computers. While I find these features incredibly useful and convenient, I have no need for any of dotMac’s web-based services, and as a result, I don’t think I’ve been getting a good value from Apple. I know that workarounds exist that allow one to take advantage of dotMac’s services without a dotMac account, but they require a level of technical proficiency that I just don’t have. I’ve no doubt there are a lot of people like me.

I wish them the best of luck, however, the requirements are a bit weird. Mainly, it appears that this is to work in conjunction with .Mac, not replace it, which is a far easier and more laudable goal, IMO.

posted by Nem W Schlecht at 22:53 in News

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Episode 47 URLs & Notes

Friday, December 1, 2006

Episode 47 URLs & Notes (MP3) (AAC)