Why aren't broadcast TV stations broadcasting over the the new public medium - the Internet!
I think there is a law that requires broadcast TV stations to exist? But over the air is just plain obsolete! If TV stations were broadcast over the Internet, they would have tremendous nationwide and worldwide audiences for advertising! And people would have thousands of choices of broadcast stations to watch, including stations in towns where they grew up or lived before, with local news and sports, etc. Broadcasting over the air is so "50's" - so outdated and unpopular today in the U.S.
Or are broadcast TV stations just going to rollover and die, and TV content limited to people that can pay for it by cable, satellite, or cell phone? As Time Warner takes over NBC, could they decide to stop broadcasting over the air? And why wouldn't all broadcast stations in the U.S. stop broadcasting over the air and just "broadcast" via cable since they would make more money with the latter? That's what recent articles are saying.
Is the U.S. going to fall behind the rest of the world in yet another technology/information area because we allow cable TV companies to control everything? Why do we need cable TV, when every TV station and show can stream on the Internet, especially as TV's increasingly connect to the Internet? Of course, the cable TV companies are the primary providers of the Internet, so they will still have their place...
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Cut your telephone and cable TV cords!
People have already been "cutting their telephone cords" by cancelling their landline phone services. You can of course use cell phones or, for no cost, Skype, which is free phone over the Internet (try it, you'll like it - it's easy - just put in someone's name and call them!). And you can pay a small monthly cost for calling other people's landlines. You can just use the built-in microphone and speakers in a laptop PC, or might want to get a wired headset or wireless Bluetooth headset to go with your PC (and a Bluetooth USB stick if you don't have Bluetooth in your PC).
But the next "cutting of cords" is your cable and satellite TV service. Most TV shows and movies are available on the Internet now! Complain to your TV stations or channels if their broadcasts or shows are not available! All TV stations and channels should be available on the Internet! They would have a much larger audience for their advertising! Also, try Hulu.com, which carries a lot of TV shows, and where you can flag a show you want to follow so it will alert you by e-mail when there is a new one and keep a list of the ones you haven't watched yet.
The final "cutting of cords" will be the TV cables or phone lines/DSL for Internet access. You can of course already purchase a wireless service for your PC from cell phone company, but it is somewhat pricey and slow. But a new high-speed wireless standard called Wi-Max is coming (like Wi-Fi for in your home, but Wi-Max can go 3 miles), so that you could get wireless high-speed Internet to all of your PC's or other Internet devices in your unit, and then perhaps cancel your wired Internet service via the TV cable or DSL/phone line.
Caution: There are two standards for Wi-Max, one for the cell phone networks and one for PC's. Either will work of course, but cell phone companies may charge more, while cable TV or landline DSL phone companies can put up a transmitter in your neighborhood what you could access with your PC.
But the next "cutting of cords" is your cable and satellite TV service. Most TV shows and movies are available on the Internet now! Complain to your TV stations or channels if their broadcasts or shows are not available! All TV stations and channels should be available on the Internet! They would have a much larger audience for their advertising! Also, try Hulu.com, which carries a lot of TV shows, and where you can flag a show you want to follow so it will alert you by e-mail when there is a new one and keep a list of the ones you haven't watched yet.
The final "cutting of cords" will be the TV cables or phone lines/DSL for Internet access. You can of course already purchase a wireless service for your PC from cell phone company, but it is somewhat pricey and slow. But a new high-speed wireless standard called Wi-Max is coming (like Wi-Fi for in your home, but Wi-Max can go 3 miles), so that you could get wireless high-speed Internet to all of your PC's or other Internet devices in your unit, and then perhaps cancel your wired Internet service via the TV cable or DSL/phone line.
Caution: There are two standards for Wi-Max, one for the cell phone networks and one for PC's. Either will work of course, but cell phone companies may charge more, while cable TV or landline DSL phone companies can put up a transmitter in your neighborhood what you could access with your PC.
The difference between netbooks and notebooks
Netbooks are laptop PC's with smaller than full-size keyboard keys, which determines the width of the PC. That is what allows them to be smaller than 11 inches wide (see calculations below).
Low-cost laptop PC's with full size keyboards are "low-cost notebook PC's".
The first notebook PC's had U.S. notebook paper dimensions of 8-1/2 x 11 inches. Then "A4" notebook PC's came along which had the longer length of the international standard "A4" notebook paper. And then wider screens came along more recently that made laptop PC's that are huge. But, for "netbooks", it's all about size, which is determined by the width, which is determined by the keyboard key spacing.
The smallest width that a notebook keyboard can be is 13-1/2 keys wide, which is 10.125 inches (full-size keys are on 3/4-inch centers), plus another half inch for the case on each side, equals 10.625 inches. But usually the Backspace and other keys on the right side of the QWERTY layout are at least another half key larger, which makes the keyboard widith 10.5 inches, so, with the case, 11.0 inches (ah - the length of a U.S. standard piece of "notebook" paper!). Anything less than that is a "netbook"!
Low-cost laptop PC's with full size keyboards are "low-cost notebook PC's".
The first notebook PC's had U.S. notebook paper dimensions of 8-1/2 x 11 inches. Then "A4" notebook PC's came along which had the longer length of the international standard "A4" notebook paper. And then wider screens came along more recently that made laptop PC's that are huge. But, for "netbooks", it's all about size, which is determined by the width, which is determined by the keyboard key spacing.
The smallest width that a notebook keyboard can be is 13-1/2 keys wide, which is 10.125 inches (full-size keys are on 3/4-inch centers), plus another half inch for the case on each side, equals 10.625 inches. But usually the Backspace and other keys on the right side of the QWERTY layout are at least another half key larger, which makes the keyboard widith 10.5 inches, so, with the case, 11.0 inches (ah - the length of a U.S. standard piece of "notebook" paper!). Anything less than that is a "netbook"!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
EZ Home - The easiest way to access the Internet
I designed a web site called EZ Home Page at http://www.ezhomepage.org. Check it out and forward it to your friends. It has button links to over 1,500 of the most popular websites and is great for PC's and touch-screen phones.
At EZHomePage.org, you are presented with a simple matrix of 48 buttons, which lead to over 1,500 “button links” to the most popular websites for maps, shopping, news, sports, music, games, jokes, videos, movies, TV, magazines, social networking, travel, and financial & medical information.
In addition, in the upper-left corner is a “My EZ Home” button. Clicking on this button the first time takes you to a brief sign-up (they suggest using just the left part of your e-mail address before the “@”), which then takes you to your personal screen of “EZ buttons” that you can create and manage by clicking on the “Add, Change, or Delete” button at the bottom of the page. On this screen, you can go to any website and create a button for it. Also, you can create a “Folder Button” that is highlighted with a black frame and leads to another whole page of buttons. For example, you could create a folder button called “Sports” that goes to a screen of buttons for your favorite Sports websites.
“EZ Home Page” is the invention of Mark Tiddens. He realized that there needed to be a better way to access the Internet. He also recognized that most people only use the Internet for e-mail, which he says “is a shame since there is so much available, but how does the average person find out what is available, and how do they get there?”.
Tiddens considered how people presently get to websites: Some people use the “Favorites” function in their browser, some use a search engine like Google or Yahoo, and some people type the website address into the browser. However, the “Favorites” function is not easy to use or organize (and Microsoft recently made the Favorites buttons even smaller), and when you “Google” something it takes an extra step and you can be overwhelmed by the results.
Tiddens decided that the solution to letting people know where they can go on the Internet is screens of buttons that go to the most popular websites, both websites that the world thinks are most popular, and your own most popular websites.
Other things that Tiddens took into consideration are:
1. There will be an increasing number of touch-screen devices, both mobile and in the home, which are best operated with buttons.
2. Everyone has a hard time negotiating a mouse in the exact vertical and horizontal lines required by drop-down menus, especially with the integrated mouse functions of an increasing number of products.
Tiddens says that the other purpose of the EZ Home Page is to put pressure on content providers to make their content available on the Internet, whether it is music, sports, TV stations, TV channels, TV shows, magazines, newspapers, or radio stations. He believes that everything should be available on the Internet. He says “After all, we can pay for it via advertising, or we can pay directly for uncluttered content”. To this end, some of his EZ Home pages encourage people to complain to the originator of the content if it is not available.
The biggest choice might be whether you use EZ Home Page for your home page for the Internet, or a website like AOL, MSN, or Yahoo which include small frames of the latest news or other information. However, Tiddens says that “going to EZ Home Page first makes the most sense because it gives you the option to go directly to where you want to go, including one of these websites”. He also says that those small frames of information, which are known as “widgets” or “gadgets”, can now be put directly on your desktop. “Widgets” and “gadgets” are exploding in popularity because they get the information to you without you needing to access the Internet. So, Tiddens asks, “How could it not be the easiest way to access the Internet?”
Contact Information:
Mark Tiddens
Mark,Tiddens@EZHomePage.org
(858) 350-9157
Solana Beach, CA
At EZHomePage.org, you are presented with a simple matrix of 48 buttons, which lead to over 1,500 “button links” to the most popular websites for maps, shopping, news, sports, music, games, jokes, videos, movies, TV, magazines, social networking, travel, and financial & medical information.
In addition, in the upper-left corner is a “My EZ Home” button. Clicking on this button the first time takes you to a brief sign-up (they suggest using just the left part of your e-mail address before the “@”), which then takes you to your personal screen of “EZ buttons” that you can create and manage by clicking on the “Add, Change, or Delete” button at the bottom of the page. On this screen, you can go to any website and create a button for it. Also, you can create a “Folder Button” that is highlighted with a black frame and leads to another whole page of buttons. For example, you could create a folder button called “Sports” that goes to a screen of buttons for your favorite Sports websites.
“EZ Home Page” is the invention of Mark Tiddens. He realized that there needed to be a better way to access the Internet. He also recognized that most people only use the Internet for e-mail, which he says “is a shame since there is so much available, but how does the average person find out what is available, and how do they get there?”.
Tiddens considered how people presently get to websites: Some people use the “Favorites” function in their browser, some use a search engine like Google or Yahoo, and some people type the website address into the browser. However, the “Favorites” function is not easy to use or organize (and Microsoft recently made the Favorites buttons even smaller), and when you “Google” something it takes an extra step and you can be overwhelmed by the results.
Tiddens decided that the solution to letting people know where they can go on the Internet is screens of buttons that go to the most popular websites, both websites that the world thinks are most popular, and your own most popular websites.
Other things that Tiddens took into consideration are:
1. There will be an increasing number of touch-screen devices, both mobile and in the home, which are best operated with buttons.
2. Everyone has a hard time negotiating a mouse in the exact vertical and horizontal lines required by drop-down menus, especially with the integrated mouse functions of an increasing number of products.
Tiddens says that the other purpose of the EZ Home Page is to put pressure on content providers to make their content available on the Internet, whether it is music, sports, TV stations, TV channels, TV shows, magazines, newspapers, or radio stations. He believes that everything should be available on the Internet. He says “After all, we can pay for it via advertising, or we can pay directly for uncluttered content”. To this end, some of his EZ Home pages encourage people to complain to the originator of the content if it is not available.
The biggest choice might be whether you use EZ Home Page for your home page for the Internet, or a website like AOL, MSN, or Yahoo which include small frames of the latest news or other information. However, Tiddens says that “going to EZ Home Page first makes the most sense because it gives you the option to go directly to where you want to go, including one of these websites”. He also says that those small frames of information, which are known as “widgets” or “gadgets”, can now be put directly on your desktop. “Widgets” and “gadgets” are exploding in popularity because they get the information to you without you needing to access the Internet. So, Tiddens asks, “How could it not be the easiest way to access the Internet?”
Contact Information:
Mark Tiddens
Mark,Tiddens@EZHomePage.org
(858) 350-9157
Solana Beach, CA
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