I'm sorry but this is too funny ;)  Whoops!

iPhone stunt gone wrong

There's something very disconcerting to me about the new Facebook platform at this moment.  I love the concept, don't get me wrong.  I could easily make this post a total raving rant about the loss of control I feel right now having granted "applications" on Facebook to essentially "work on my behalf" with no real say over what they do, but I don't want to do that.  I'm going to try not to do this because I have a lot of respect for what the Facebook team has done with the platform initiative, and I think for the most part it deserves the praise it has received.

But that doesn't mean something creepy didn't just happen to me.  Because it did, and I think it has to do with the fact that I ceded the right to be "me" to a bunch of strangers.  So that right will be revoked right after I hit Post by removing these apps from my profile.

So what happened?  I added a friend of mine to my friends list on Facebook last night.  Today, when I checked my mini-feed of recent activity, there was an entry in the list indicating that I recruited her to a cause to "Stop Global Warming".  That's suspect because I did no such thing - I was asleep at the time - but since this application has access to my world, it apparently thought it would be a great idea to recruit a friend of mine on my behalf.  Ick.  Now, I don't know if she received an email or a request to add the application.  Or an SMS.  Or nothing at all.  But that's part of the problem.

The second creepy thing - I scroll down the page and there's a mood indicator that someone probably invited me to a couple weeks ago.  What does it say?  It says "I'm feeling Depressed".  Problem is: I never set that mood.  It was set for me somehow.  Ick again.  Now my friends think I'm depressed about something.  Lovely.

What else is happening on my behalf?  Have I recruiting people to anything else?  Am I secretly telling my friends the combination to my gym locker?  Is some application listing my home for sale on the marketplace for 80% of its market value?  I kid of course, but who knows what's going on?  Of course, when I try and remove the Causes application (due to the fact that it appears to me to be spamming my friends) it instantly appears to all my friends.  So now they think I don't care about supporting causes since I removed the little spammer.  Yes, I realize I could select to hide that from my mini-feed.  But this is all a lot of work!

Just when I thought blogging was getting boring, Trevin called me out to list 3 non-tech blogs I read regularly.  I have about 191 feeds in Google Reader (down significantly from 325+ last year) so hopefully this isn't too difficult.  Here we go.

Project: Trevin’s Swivel List of 3’s

Rules:

1. Nominees have to nominate 3 blogs that they regularly read.
2. The nominated blogs cannot be strictly tech-focused; any other category is fair game. (e.g. You can’t nominate Tech Crunch or Engadget, but someone’s personal blog that occasionally talks about tech is allowed).
3. The nominated blogs cannot already be on the list.
4. Nominees nominate 3 other people to participate. To keep the close knit feel of this, the new nominator and nominee must have met in person.

Here are my nominations - I decided to go with a positive psychology or personal development theme for this, since that seems to be my #2 category behind tech feeds:

1. StevePavlina.com blog.  There are some classic posts on this blog about becoming an early riser, intention-manifestation, and self-employment.  Highly recommended.  The posts tend to be on the long side however, so you have to give yourself a lot more time to process these than Engadget blips.
2. 43 Folders.  Great blog and fun podcast.  Very much focused on Getting Things Done type work; Merlin is an entertaining writer and speaker and I've gleaned a lot of great tips from this blog (like applying the "shitty first draft" name to something I've been doing since college)
3. Presentation Zen.  Want to learn how to be a better presenter and get people's attention?  This blog is where to start.  This is another one where the posts tend to be on the long-ish side, but reading the Gates/Jobs lessons in contrast alone is worth it.

Hope people get some value out of those recommendations.  If you want more, let me know.

And next up?

1. Karen Luk.  I'm sure they will be something about food preparation, "cute things", or injury care!
2. Jay Fluegel.  College roommate, co-worker, and best man.  Prediction: sports.
3. Omar Shahine.  Since Trevin was too chicken.

Blog software should have ways to spread these "memes" built-in somehow.  Hmmm...

I just finished watching the 20-minute iPhone tutorial on Apple.com and I realized one undeniable thing: everyone from Apple speaks exactly the same, mannerisms and all.  Of course, everyone from Microsoft does too so that's the pot calling the kettle black.  Anyhoo, I realized one other thing...

What's interesting to me about the iPhone isn't the YouTube app (which apparently doesn't work at all over EDGE and requires Wi-Fi) or Google Maps or the fact that it's "the best iPod ever created".  The thing that's interesting is the one thing that it has over other phones - it looks and feels great.  That's it.  It has subtle animations that tug at your emotions and you can't help but have fun playing with it.

It's the one feature of the iPhone that no one else has.  I'd gladly set my Windows Mobile phone up for a duel with the iPod if it weren't for the fact that I'd be embarassed by the lack of pretty little transitional fades.

If I sound like I'm badmouthing the iPhone, that isn't my intention.  You can't underestimate the importance of the user interface and the emotional connection it can foster, regardless of features.  It's a big deal.  I expect that if nothing else, the iPhone will spur mobile OS developers everywhere to take the little things (like transitioning from a call back to email) a lot more seriously.  Instead of adding more features, focus on the basics.  Get people to love using your phone.

Of course, this is all from a video demo since I've never actually held one.  And probably won't for a while given the price of the thing.

Update:  Chris Morley, Director of Product Development from Velocity Micro added a comment below: "You're absolutely right, we definitely can do a better job of pointing out the basic HDCP requirements on our website, I'll will have something up today.  And your changes shouldn't be a problem at all.  If it is, just ask for me."  I also got an email this morning from my sales exec reiterating this.  As expected, these guys are standup - it isn't their fault Cable Labs doesn't understand their customers.  The fact that Chris is reading blogs and commenting reminds me of what I said when interviewed for Shel & Scoble's Naked Conversations: you never know who's listening :)

Thanks guys!

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I love the Media Center support in Windows Vista Home Premium + Ultimate editions.  Love it.  I think it's one of the slickest applications this company has ever built and I can't wait to finally use it.  When I first played with it at CES 2006, I think I got goosebumps.

Now, the system I use at home is a 5 1/2 year old Dell that has been reconfigured into an XP Media Center 2005 - but given the specs of the system (you don't even want to know), I haven't even thought about installing Vista on it.  Instead, I did what all geeks do after that much time has passed; I bought a new PC.  A Media Center to go with the new office we have in our place.

I sprung for a Velocity Micro CineMagix Grand Theater Entertainment System - a mid-line media center and one of the few that already supports the CableCARD 1.0 standard for HD viewing & recording.  I only got one tuner (they're pricey) but figured that since this was for an office PC, just being able to watch and record a single HD show would be good enough for now.  I started to get giddy thinking about watching HDTV upstairs while cranking out a spec, dragging and dropping Smallville onto a Zune or laptop to take it with me on a flight, or using Orb to stream SportsCenter to my Motorola Q while sitting on the bus. 

Alas, it wasn't meant to be.  Because CableCARD and HDCP, quite frankly, are the most confusing and limiting technologies I've ever encountered.  Instead of rehashing my email to Velocity Micro, I'll just include it here and let you know the outcome when I do.  In short: I'm downgrading the system.  If they accept the changes, the system will no longer support CableCARD and HDCP which means a) no broadcast HDTV, and b) no "special" cable channels like HBO.  Which is fine considering most TV I watch will be in a window while working.  It's a small price to pay for control over where and when I can watch recorded shows, plus it saves me the additional "Comcast tax" and visit from a technician during the convenient hours of 10-4 just to "rent" the CableCARD to begin with. 

Man do I loathe DRM.  1997-quality standard def television, here I come!  Of course, I'm still excited to use Vista Media Center in all its glory despite the lack of HD.  Anyway, I'm sure Velocity Micro will do the right thing; they seem like a stand-up company.  Here's the email:

Hi XXXXXX,

We spoke last week about order #YYYYYYY.

Since I placed the order, I’ve learned quite a bit about how CableCARD works – basically how it limits the transfer of ALL recorded content from the PC’s hard drive to portable devices (including the Zune) and other PCs, how recordings can’t go to network attached storage devices, and how you need an HDCP-compatible monitor to even view the content at all.

To be honest, this fine-print should probably have been clear to me – but it took 4-5 hours of scouring the Internet to decipher it all. All three of these things are non-starters for me as I intend to use a Zune and a laptop in conjunction with the PC, I use a NAS exclusively, and I don’t have an HDCP-compatible monitor.

For what it’s worth, I couldn’t find an explanation of any of this on your website, which is disturbing as I don’t see how people who are less technically inclined could possibly grasp the intricacies of all of this. I would recommend posting an FAQ on CableCARD and HDCP immediately to avoid confusion and further customer dissatisfaction.

I’m still interested in the system, but I would like to see if changes are possible given this new information. Although the website claims that systems are non-refundable 3 business days after the order is placed, I’m still hoping that despite the total lack of information on this, that this change can be made free of charge.

The change is simple really: I’d like to revert the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner (with CableCARD support) to the ATI TV Wonder 650 Pro HDTV/SD/FM and then add a 2^nd tuner, the same ATI TV Wonder 650 Pro HDTV/SD/FM to the system.

Based on the details I can gather from the web site, this should only be a -$5 price difference as I’m removing the $155 DCT and adding another $150 basic tuner. Please let me know if this is feasible. From the looks of it in the online tracker, the system hasn’t been configured yet.

Thanks,
Mike

Of course, this solution will only work so long as my cable provider continues to broadcast shows in standard definition.  I'm confident it will be a while before they go HD-only.  I'll cross that bridge when we get to it.  In the meantime, let's see what VM does with this.

More information on CableCARD, HDCP, and Windows Vista: http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2007/06/10/954764.aspx