Category: General

Staying Home on a Friday Night

I had another Geek Squad blog entry posted today, based on the growing number of people who are spending more on their HDTVs and home theater systems in order to save money otherwise spent at the movie theater.

Doing some quick calculations in the back of my mind, I could easily see the claims from my friends about how a night out at the movies could easily cost a family of 4 nearly $75, and that’s not including the cost of industrial strength solvent you always end up needing to remove your shoes from the theater floor at the end of the movie.

You can read more about the The Geekonomics of Staying Home to Watch a Movie on the Geek Squad Blog.

Being Human

Being Human on BBC 3

I’ve found another great little British television series to watch from the BBC, called Being Human.

The premise sounds like a bad sitcom, taking place in apartment in Bristol that’s shared by a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost, but as the commercial for it hints at, it’s played seriously. That’s not to say there’s not humor involved, thanks to a fair amount of “slice of life” moments, that just don’t always involve the living.

Too bad it’s only set for a 6 episode run, according to the wiki entry, of which 4 episodes have been shown already.

Hulu a Better Deal for Advertisers?

There’s some talk in online communities about the state of Hulu and whether they’re limited number of advertisers is a bad sign for the company.

My personal opinion is that advertising on Hulu has some serious advantages over regular broadcast television, at least if you discount the difference in the number of viewers.

As a viewer, I’m far more likely to sit through the shorter commercials on Hulu, even if they’re unskippable, simply because the interruptions aren’t long and frequent. Also, I’m noticing that I’m paying far more attention to the commercials simply because there’s less of them. There isn’t a “wall of advertising” that ends up blurring the messages into noise.

I don’t think Hulu will entirely kill broadcast or even cable television, at least not for the current generation of viewers who have grown used to it, but it’s certainly another sign that digital distribution channels like iTunes, Xbox Marketplace and Netflix streaming video are here for the duration.

US Presidential Communication Milestones

New entry posted on the Geek Squad blog:

Since the first Presidential election in 1789, we’ve seen 220 years of progress in how our appointed leaders talk to us. Our nation’s highest office has seen the advent of radio, television and the World Wide Web. In honor of President’s Day, we’ve put together a timeline of our favorite communication milestones, and the Presidents who’ve ushered them in.

(read more)

Got Paraskavedekatriaphobia?

The news sites are filled with history lessons and random myths about Friday the 13th today. No doubt the hype about everyone’s favorite bad luck “holiday” will be greater than ever with the release of a new Friday the 13th film today.

Personally, I’ve always been more concerned with Saturday the 14th.