Steve Holden's Blog

Unwrapping Christmas 2010 in San Diego, CA

Unwrapping Christmas 2010 in San Diego, CA via Christ Lutheran Church in La Mesa, CA:

• Sunday, Dec. 12, 10:30 a.m. (Gym) - Christmas Worship with Sunday School Puppets
• Wednesday, Dec. 15, 6:00 p.m. (Gym) - Preschool/School Christmas Program
• Sunday, Dec. 19, 8:00 & 10:30 a.m. (Sanctuary) - LESSONS & CAROLS with Sanctuary Choir, Handbells, and Instruments

Out Christmas services include:

• Thursday, Dec. 23, 7 p.m. (Gym) - Pre-Christmas Contemporary Worship with Praise Band and Grounded Band
• Friday, Dec. 24, 5:30 p.m. (Sanctuary) - Family Christmas Worship with Children's Message 
• Friday, Dec. 24, 7:30 p.m. (Sanctuary) - Festival Candlelight Worship with Handbells and Sanctuary Choir
• Saturday, Dec. 25, 10 a.m. (Sanctuary) - Christmas Day Communion Worship with Handbells
• Sunday, Dec. 26, 10 a.m. (Sanctuary) - Standard service

Location: Christ Lutheran Church, 7929 La Mesa Blvd, La Mesa, CA 91942. Phone: 619.462.5211.

Battle For The Living Room - Round 1 Roku

Over the last couple of months I've been trying to decide what the best device was to purchase that would allow the family to access the "most" digital content in our living room.

Some things that mattered:

• Access to Internet content: NetFlix, Amazon, Hulu, Pandora, podcasts, etc
• Streaming media from the local network
• Ability to play media from local storage
• Reasonable up front cost, upgradeable, viable roadmap, track record of improvements
• Technical features: easy GUI, upgradable, Ethernet, WiFi, and HDMI

The choices were pretty competitive in many ways -- Apple TV (new & old), Roku, Google TV, Western Digital WD TV, Game Players (Xbox, Wii, PS3), Boxee Box, etc with each having many good points but also a number of issues that just couldn't be over come.

My decision was to go with the Roku XDS Streaming Player 1080p that is currently on sale at Amazon for $99.  It seems to be the one that hits most of the requirements with the only big issue right now is that it does not seem to play well in the Apple ecosystem with video, but you can reportedly stream audio from existing iTunes collections to the device.

After I get the device up and running (it should arrive in a couple of days) I'll send out an updated review.  If you have done a similar analysis, I'd love to hear what decision you have made.  If you have any suggestions or hints on how to better use a Roku device, I'd like to hear that also.

 

Tech Tracking #001 - New News, Mobile, Video, Security, Books, Training, Etc

Here are some new items I am tracking --

• MaximumPC has a good list of Microsoft Windows Phone 7 feature and tech stats
• Amazon’s cloud services continue to see improvements: new lower S3 storage pricing, increased HTTPS support, Mechanical Turk upgrades, etc.
• NVIDA has announced GeForce.com as their new home for latest drivers and other resources.
• If you use QuickBooks 2011, then you might want to check out a new book from O’Reilly.
• Zimbra Desktop 2.0 is out: open-source, multi-platform collaboration tool now with social media integration.
• ScotteVest has a new Expedition Jacket with 37 Pockets (it looks great for camping,  hunting & hiking)
• Mac OS X v10.6.5  Security Update 2010-007 has a lot of fixes include ~55 just for Adobe Flash
• computertechnician.net is a site run by a non-profit to list “different degree & school options as well as career, job & salary information”
• The Winter Quarter for UCLA Extension's Computer Science & Information Systems courses and certificate programs starts 1/5/2010
• SANS On Demand's 2011 Course Catalog has been announced (video, hands-on exercises, test prep, etc)
• Dynamism has announced availability of the Sony Vaio Y Series laptop & the Viewsonic Viewpad 7 tablet