May 18
Frisco Wait Times at In-N-Out – Powered by Twitter. Odds are somebody in the past hour (more during lunch/dinner) has posted the wait time to #innout.
May 18
Frisco Wait Times at In-N-Out – Powered by Twitter. Odds are somebody in the past hour (more during lunch/dinner) has posted the wait time to #innout.
May 16
I was in Arkansas this weekend and visited an antique store. Found this gem, telling us how The Star Wars Christmas Special was perceived at the time it aired and some amusing production notes.
The cover of Starlog Magazine #19
From the article (picture below):
“Last month, CBS aired one of the most ambitious television spectaculars ever attempted by an American Network, The Star Wars Holiday Special” – it was ambitious alright!
“The show’s first director, David Acomba, left in the middle of production because of ‘artistic differences’.” – Smart guy!
“Although Darth Vader didn’t make the show, Intergalactic Bounty Hunter Boba Fitt, a villain from the upcoming Star Wars sequel film, did”. – Yep. Boba Fitt showed up. I’m sure Boba Fett stayed as far away as he possible could.
“The Star Wars video invasion isn’t over. Artoo and Chewbacca are slated to appear in this month’s Mickey Mouse Birthday Special”. – Somebody please YouTube this 
May 10
Hulu Plus is a service that allows you, for the monthly fee of $7.99 / month, to watch Hulu content on devices such as your Xbox or iPad. Sounds good, right? Hulu has some really good TV shows available, such as House, Castle and The Office. Also, movies! Pretty cool, eh?
Not to worry though, with Hulu Plus on the Xbox 360, you won’t be able to find anything. Who the hell designed this?
Let’s start by going through the signing up process. With Netflix, to add a device, you simply go to your computer, type in the activation URL, log in, and enter the activation code displayed on your TV screen. Done. On Hulu? Not that simple. Fire up Hulu Plus on your Xbox, get activation code, go to your laptop and browse to the (too complex) activation URL, then try to locate the “activate device” link.
I’ll wait.
It’s under account settings. Hey Hulu, make it simple for us, add a very visible “Activate Device” link or tab somewhere for new users. Simple good, Complex bad.
Ok, all signed up, let’s find something to watch.
I’m in the mood for a movie. Not sure what I feel like watching, so let’s check out the “Popular Movies” menu item. The most popular movies on Hulu as I write this are:
1. Beer Wars (Documentary about beer. Don’t get me wrong, I like beer, but I don’t want to watch a movie about it)
2. Strictly Sexual (From the description: “Two successful women, sick and tired of dating and relationships, decide to keep two young men in their pool house for strictly sexual purposes.” And here I thought that everyone who uses the internet knows how to find porn if they want it. I’m obviously wrong.)
3. Gamers (“Hilarious journey into the world of MMO games like World of Warcraft”. Hilarious and World of Warcraft are two words that belong in the same sentence, however, the context of this particular sentence is wrong.)
4. Chicken Ranch (Seriously?)
5. The Dungeon Masters (“The Dungeon Masters highlights two men and one woman who devote their lives to D&D”. I loved D&D when I was 13. I don’t want to spend 1 hour and 28 minutes watching a movie about it. )
Wow. I think I can figure out what your target market is here, Hulu. Let’s see. Beer, Sex, Gaming and D&D. (Yes, I’m ignoring Chicken Ranch, because seriously, would you click through to figure out what it’s about?). These are the most popular movies on Hulu?
Oh well, let’s check out what’s been recently added, maybe there’s something there?
Recently Added Movies
1. Come On Children (1973)
2. Ornamental Hairpin (1941)
3. Dying at Grace (2003)
4. Osaka Elergy (1936)
5. A Married Couple (1969)
Two of them are in black and white. One of them from this century. Go Hulu.
Now given, Hulu is more focused on TV shows, with ABC, FOX, NBC, BBC America and Comedy Central signed up. So let’s check out the TV show selection. Friday Night Lights is a great show that I’ve been wanting to re-watch. (To find Friday Night Lights, “simply” go to “All TV + Movies”, “TV Networks” and scroll to “N” for NBC.). Seasons 1-5 listed, woohoo! We’re in business! Oh wait. They only have episodes 11-15 of season 1 available. And they can only be watched on the web, not on the 360. WTF?
Maybe it’s an NBC licensing thing. Let’s try another good show, this time on ABC, Castle. Seasons 1-3 listed. Nope. Only season 3 available. Sigh.
Hulu, this is not how people watch TV content. It’s a small sample, but your interface makes me want to throw up and I don’t feel like going through the pain of finding more. You need a recommendation engine like Netflix asap.
All whining aside, this will obviously be played out by what company gets what deals with what networks. For now, $8.65 / month for Netflix is a much better deal.
Update, May 16th, 2011: As if to prove my point, the most popular search term that finds this article? “Hulu Activation Code”.
Apr 29
I’ve been playing around with AirPlay recently, getting 3 Airport Express and one Apple TV. Since we’re an iPhone household, it made sense to use Apple products for streaming music and video. Also, you can get an Airport Express from eBay for $60 or so. Compare that to the cost of Sonos (The only real competition I’ve found out there), and it’s a no-brainer for whole-house audio and video.
Once you’ve attached (easy) and configured (easy) an Airport Express and attach it to a powered speaker or receiver and iTunes & iPhone, it’ll show up as an option in Airplay enabled apps on your iPhone/iPad/iTunes. We use it to play music to multiple speakers throughout the house and backyard and to stream video to the AppleTV. Instead of having someone look over your shoulder or give them your iPhone or iPad, simply stream it to the TV. Simple as that.
It’s good to live in the future.
Apr 28
From Wikipedia via Kottke, a list of unusual software bugs. I’ve run into the Schrödinbug quite a few times in my life:
A schrödinbug is a bug that manifests only after someone reading source code or using the program in an unusual way notices that it never should have worked in the first place, at which point the program promptly stops working for everybody until fixed.
Apr 19
The most complex web site ever made. The dynamic content will blow your mind. Click through at your own risk at the link below.
You’re welcome.
/Sorry, dad.
//
P.S. My dad and I use Sprybytes Email Chess to play, since he lives in Sweden and I’m in Dallas. Works great with non-iPhone users and as an added bonus works on my iPad as well.
Apr 19
Anybody know of a way to pull in an RSS Feed with Amazon Affiliate code to a page or post within WordPress? I’ve been playing around with Feedity to generate a feed from an Amazon page and then RSSImport to display a feed on a page with shortcode, but haven’t found a clever way to add the affiliate code. Thoughts? Ideas?
Comment or contact me directly.
Apr 18
Installed Facebook comments on this blog (Replacing Disqus). Just to figure out how (and if) it works. Where as on other sites I have where being anonymous is a good thing ™, and Discqus is great for that, on stjernstrom.com there’s no need to be anonymous. Comment away.
Sep 03
Stress Relief
Geek Comments Off
Entertaining video of the day. 23 seconds well worth your time, can be found here.
