Nearly Ready To Give Up Sky #givingupsky

I listen a lot to the TWiT network of podcasts.From time to time they discuss Netflix and how some of the guests don’t have cable subscriptions any more. That interweb based services like netflix and hulu allow them to watch the stuff they want to watch as and when they want to see it and for cheaper.

Now that got me thinking although our tv market is different to the US, we have Sky as our only version of the cable/satellite providers of the US (Sky bought out Virgin on the channels front). So not much competition really to drive down prices for us regular folks.

Which got me thinking could I go the same way as these tech commentators in the US?

Well I hardly watch the traditional channels (BBC,ITV and Channel4) and most of my viewing is on Sky,ScFy, Comedy Central and the likes following various tv series. I have movies but watch them less and less, sport I only watch the odd Liverpool match.

So could I replace my Sky viewing with the net?

Well let’s look at my above viewing habits and see if there are alternatives available for me. The main thing is I want to avoid connecting my computer to the tv.

Let’s start with the traditional UK stations. I have a PS3 and the BBC iPlayer, ITV player and 4OD player are all available on it. So IF I ever want to see something on those channels I can get that via the PS3.

Let’s look at movies next. At the moment I can stream movies from my PC or Macbook to either my PS3 or a Xbox 360 (if I get one again). In fact I stream to my iPhone as well when at home. So having moved my vast DVD collection to a digital format (yep I’m all for going digital) I can be lazy and not have to hunt disks down. So that is current stuff I own.

But what about Netflix? Well Netflix are not in the UK at the moment, but we do have LoveFilm. Which have been using the same business model as Netflix here in the UK. LoveFilm are now 100% owned by Amazon, and the smart money this is in preparation of Amazon kicking off a revival service to Netflix. Now I have a problem with the LoveFilm subscriptions. They include an element I don’t want, the DVD hire. I want a cheaper streaming only subscription rate. Netflix in the US offer a streaming only deal. There are some pretty recent releases available on the streaming side, more recent than the Sky movie offerings each week. Plus I can watch them when it is convenient for me.  LoveFilm need to increase the offerings available on their streaming service, but I think this will increase if we get some competition for them (if Netflix come over here).

Let’s not forget I can also buy and rent movies from iTunes. But Apple need to increase their offerings and prices. I’d also like it if Apple introduced a subscription service a bit like LoveFilm and Netflix. However it does bring me on to another box that can be added to under the tv that ties in all the Apple devices and handles the streaming side of things. That box is the second generation Apple tv, which would be paid for easily if I cancelled my Sky subscription. Then all of a sudden my iPhone and any future iPad I get can send programs from them to the tv, I can stream from iTunes on my PC or Macbook etc. I’m also pretty sure that LoveFilm will be doing everything they can to get on the Apple tv before a UK version of Netflix does.

Also I have the PS3 store and Xbox Live stores to purchase movies through as well.

So not only does that adequately cover the Sky movie offerings, I think it cuts out the trips to Blockbusters.

Ok now let’s look at the tv series side of things. Well I can be patient and wait until they come out on DVD as a box set and hope they are also available to see streamed via LoveFilm or the iTunes store. Or I could torrent them and then stream them to the tv via the PS3. What we really need for this to be a realistic alternative is a UK hulu service bit I can’t see that happening in the near future (hulu tried but failed in getting deals with the content providers).

Then we have sports. Or more specifically Liverpool football matches. Well at the moment I would have to see if any of the “unofficial” channels will play on the PS3. But if Sky updated their iOS Mobile tv app with airplay (which they could do once airplay is opened up to third party apps) then for £6 a month (iirc) I could get just the sport channels. Which means I have not cut Sky out completely from the picture, but pretty close.

So considering all of the above, I think where we currently are in the UK, we are nearly there in being able to give up the likes of Sky. It helps if you have the boxes already like a PS3 or Xbox 360. An awful lot of homes do already, and as Sony and Microsoft have been trying to make them they are becoming more of an entertainment hub under the tv than just a game console. Plus it also assumes that you have access to a good broadband connection, and no data cap.

Maybe I will try not using Sky for a month to see how I get on. I’ll start on 1st March. I’ll keep this blog updated with how I get on.

So what are your thoughts on all this?

Lack of decent blogging software on Mac OS X

It’s no secret I’m an Apple fanboy, and my main computer is a two year old 13” Macbook. I have Office on it plus iWorks. Ok I have to admit that I prefer iWorks over Office on the Mac (whether that will still hold true once I upgrade Office to Office ‘11 I don’t know).

The iLife suite is better than the Microsoft offerings on Windows. And that’s the point really moving to the Mac has been great and I don’t miss the wider selection of apps available on Windows. Usually I can find an equivalent on the Mac to the Windows version. Take for example Paint.net on Windows, a great piece of free software. Well sadly it’s not available on the Mac, but recently I found an equivalent called Pixelmator. Which has the same functionality but is not free, it’s about £17. Not that expensive really for a great app.

But there is one area (apart from games) I think that the Windows platform still has no competition and that is stand alone blogging software. The king in this area for me is the amazing Windows Live Writer (WLW) from Microsoft, which is also free. In fact I like WLW so much it is the only reason I run a virtual machine on my Mac.

Now some Mac users may say oh we have MarsEdit or Bloggo. But in reality these are just not in the same league as WLW. For instance let’s take how MarsEdit and Bloggo handle images. Where in WLW I can drag and drop in images, resize the thumbnail, have more than one image on a line, the whole experience in the Mac apps is completely sub standard. Both Mac apps allow me to drag and drop in images. But Bloggo won’t let me have more than one on a line (ie next to each other), while MarsEdit will but I can’t resize the thumbnail!! I even tried editing the HTML in the apps but as soon as it switches back to the visual mode it undoes the edits!!

For me the Mac standalone blogging apps are not more advanced than the iOS blogging apps like Blogpress. Which frankly give me as much control on image positioning in a post as the Mac equivalent.

So until these “mature” stand alone blogging apps on the Mac actually pull their finger out and try and come up with apps that can compare to WLW it looks like I am stuck with using XP in a virtual machine just so I can blog using WLW.

Broken Record

I’ll say it again and again, but I am getting fed up with all these manufacturers all claiming that their tablet will be an iPad beater. Yet they are comparing as usual their offerings to the current model of the iPad.

They did the wise thing last year and waited for Apple to release the iPad before releasing the models that they previewed at CES. But Apple surprised them then not with just what the iPad was but in the thing that killed off most of the offerings in having a $400 version of the iPad. Everyone had been planning on the rumoured price point of between $800 - $1000. When Apple came well under that they killed off a lot of the competition who just weren’t able to compete.

The $400 iPad also forced Amazon to drop the price of the Kindle. Which was a positive move for the Kindle as sales of it have increased since. If it had remained at it’s previous price it would of died from the competition of the iPad.

Now we have RIM with their vapourware that has been delayed from the planned launch of early next year because they have technical issues with the battery life. Apparently it isn’t very good, and doesn’t compare very well with the current iPad battery life (10 hours on the wifi model). And as I have pointed out all their rhetoric has been to compare their vapourware (which no one has had hands on with, and now we know why) with the current iPad. By the time the RIM offering hits the streets iPad2 will be imminent or will have just come out.

That’s a dangerous game to play for a manufacturer to launch in the shadow of an Apple product release. Look how well that worked out for Palm with the Pre (we will over look the under powered hardware). 

Samsung tried to distinguish their tablet from the iPad rather well I thought. They made the screen smaller (7”) so it was more portable, and gave it cameras (which apparently aren’t that great). But then they go screw it all up in the pricing and letting mobile operators control it. The Tab is more expensive than the iPad and you get tied up with a two year contract!! Yes I know that UK mobile companies are now doing similar deals on the iPad, but the iPad initial cost is cheaper than that of the Tab.

I think that the wise manufacturer should stop comparing their unreleased product with the current iPad. I’d even go so far as to stop mentioning the iPad all together in relation to their product. How about just concentrating on what your tablet will do well, and why I should buy it, instead of trying to compare it to a moving target.

iPhone Development

Well over on my main blog (whitespider1066.com) there is a semi development diary for an iPhone app I am writing going on. The app I am writing is for lovers of the outdoors, and will allow them to fetch the mountain weather reports that are produced for hill walkers and also the avalanche warnings that are also given into one place instead of having to visit a couple of sites and hunt the information down.

I try not to get too techie on there, well I know it is being read by none techie folks.

This iPhone app is my first and a learning experience. My references during this learning curve are “iPhone Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide”, and “Programming in Objective-C 2.0”. But along with the printed written word, I am using the Winter and Autumn 2010 Stanford iPhone Programming lectures from iTunes U, and the Apple Developer documents (which I download as pdf’s to refer to later offline).

I really can’t praise Stanford University enough though for putting up the lectures that they do. They are a fantastic resource for learning from.

Now I have to say that I am enjoying the coding (it’s nice to be doing it for fun again, but that’s another story). I have ideas and notes for a couple of further apps. And I will start them once I have released this first project. Not decided which will be the first yet.

Merry Christmas

Well the subject line says it all really. I want to wish the readers of this blog, many who are also friends and family (who will also have to put up with this message in several formats) a very very Merry Christmas.

I hope you all have a great day, that Santa has bought you lots of goodies, and that your time with loved ones is stress and argument free.

The mutts and I will be out later braving the cold and remembering departed friends and companions as we stroll round. Then we will pig out and quaff liquids in vast quantities until we are fit to bursting, followed by trying to burst ourselves with chocolates and other snacky bits while watching some movies and playing video games.

Have a great day folks.


-- Could be remote blogging or just too lazy to fire up laptop/Macbook/netbook. But still this has been posted from my iPhone 4.

Thinking Aloud (again)

Knocked this up in Interface Builder after seeing a tweet yesterday and a brief follow up email exchange with the person that did the tweet.



At the moment no code is behind the various buttons.
However knocking up the look has enabled me to get how I want it to work in my head.
But if my Christmas project goes to plan you'll get some regular updates showing the progress.
At the moment the prospective app has the catchy name of mwaaw. It's an abbreviation of what it will do. Which I will reveal more of in the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime I'll leave you puzzled and confused as to what the app will do.

-- Could be remote blogging or just too lazy to fire up laptop/Macbook/netbook. But still this has been posted from my iPhone 4.

The iPhones First Break Out Game

No one has done this yet but I'm declaring Angry Birds the very first big breakout iPhone game.
So what do I mean by breakout game? Well a title that started life exclusively on a platform that becomes so popular it is known by users of other systems, it gets ported to those systems and is just as popular on them to. Plus it has lots of spin offs to, like toys and cartoons etc.
Angry Birds is that game on the iPhone. Since it's release it has become massive. So massive that Microsoft felt when launching Windows Mobile 7 they had to show in advertising that they too would have Angry Birds available for it (later to be withdrawn when pointed out by the developer it wouldn't be).
You can buy Angry Bird plush toys, fans have made cakes, there are plans for a cartoon, and there is even going to be a world wide Angry Birds day on the 11th December.
No other iPhone game has managed to capture the imaginations of others like this.
In fact we could be witnessing the birth of a new classic character following in the footsteps of other greats like Mario, Pacman etc.
Yes I think Angry Birds has become that big and popular already.
Now I don't know much if anything about the developer Rovio. But I love the fact that a small developer (I'm assuming they are compared to EA etc) has come up with such a massive hit, while the likes of EA, Capcom, Activision etc are struggling to make an impact on the mobile platforms.
Well done Rovio, thanks for a great game and you deserve the success.


-- Could be remote blogging or just too lazy to fire up laptop/Macbook/netbook. But still this has been posted from my iPhone 4.