Tivo + iPhone = :)

Time is a luxury these days, especially with 2 needy boys. No more time to sit on my couch and watch my HD shows on my Tivo. But now I have a solution - watch my Tivo recorded shows on my iPhone during my weekday commutes to work.

Setup

1. Tivo Series 3 - to record TV shows.


2. Tivo Wireless Adapter - to send shows wirelessly to my computer.


3. Wireless router - to receive shows wirelessly.


4. Tivo Desktop Plus - to manage/transfer and convert shows to compatible iPhone format.


5. iTunes - to sync shows to iPhone.


6. iPhone - to watch shows.

Now you might think this is a big hassle, but I already had most of this set up already. The only new thing I added was the Tivo Desktop Plus Software to make this entire process complete. The software unfortunately is not free ($24.95) but is well worth it as it does practically everything automatically. Believe it or not, the only manual thing I do is sync my iPhone. Dont believe me? Well, let me explain.

First of all, I just configure Tivo Desktop Plus to download to my computer any TV show on my Tivo ie. Heroes, Prison Break, Terminator. These are .TIVO files. Secondly, I tell it to convert the .TIVO files into the iPhone format .mp4. Lastly, it adds the shows into my iTunes library. Keep in mind that all of the above is only a one time set up. So now, whenever a new episode of Heroes has been recorded on my Tivo, it will also be waiting for me in my iTunes library in which I just have to sync my iPhone. Major kudos for Tivo for simplifying such a complex process. The Tivo software doesnt work 100% of the time. Sometimes, it doesnt transfer over the recording automatically. Or it transfered the recording, but didnt convert it to mp4. Had some issues with some Heroes episodes. But maybe its because NBC adds some DRM into its shows. Who knows.

Not only can I transfer my Tivo recorded shows, but I can also transfer Caden's as well. ie. Teletubbies, Wiggles. Now Caden can watch his TV shows when we're on vacation like when we're on an airplane OR in the hotel room. Huh? Yes, Apple sells an iPhone AV cable in which you can hook your iPhone up to a TV. But Im still debating whether or not to spend $49 on it. Yes, Apple is charging $49 for that stinkin' cable! What a ripoff.

simplebookmarks.com is live!

A while back, I said I was working on an online bookmarking application. Today, I would like to announce that it has been completed (beta version) and is called simplebookmarks.com. I created this site so that I can easily save bookmarks online. I hope you like it. Internet Explorer is still giving me problems because of its aggressive pop up blocker. But it will work if you hold down the CTRL button and then click on the bookmarklet.

Check out the demo!

All About HD

I just got a killer deal on a new 50" plasma HDTV. Its all set up now and just wanted to share some things I learned about HD.

1. 720p vs. 1080p
   I am sick and tired of people complaining about 720p HDTV's as opposed to 1080p. Every time there is a good deal on a 720p HDTV, the great debate over the 2 resolutions starts, but never ends. Well, the plasma I got is 720p and I have no regrets. Take that haters! First of all, the 1080p's are almost double the cost of 720p's. Secondly, you wont notice a difference unless you are closer 7 ft. away from the TV. Thirdly, the only way to get your picture in 1080p is by using a Blu-ray player (or PS3 which has a built-in Blu-ray player). Lastly, Im not going to convert my entire DVD collection into a Blu-ray collection. So for me, 1080p is totally not worth it. But for those of you who want to shell out twice as much $$$ and will sit closer than 7ft away from the TV and owns a Blu-ray player and has a Blu-ray collection and can tell the difference in quality...good luck to you. Just leave the 720p owners alone.



2. Break in
   Did you know that you should break in your HDTV? Yeah, I didnt know that either until recently. Here's the scoop. The HDTV's by default have their color, contrast, and other settings set really high. That's because when stores display the TV's, consumers are attracted to the brighter and more colorful ones even though that is totally the wrong things to look at when buying an HDTV (more on that later). In any case, those extreme settings are too high especially during the first 100 hours of the TV. Its like when you buy a new car, dealers will often say not to drive the car too rough for the first 1000 miles. This is all to help prevent "burn-in" on your TV. Burn-in occurs most often by having static images on the screen for long periods of time. For example, when you watch TV, you will notice that most stations have their logo on the bottom right corner. Well, if that image stays their for a really long time it can leave an imprint. Or if you play video games, there can be many static images that dont move. So to break in your HDTV, people suggest lowering the settings and playing a special DVD (or SVCD) for at least the first 100 hours. I've been doing this for my TV and even though I dont know if its really helping, it doesnt do any harm. Im sure if people are posting specific TV settings and if someone went through all the trouble of creating a break in DVD, there has to be some truth in it.
   
   
3. HD Quality
   "Wow". I say that everytime Im viewing HD. Once you see and taste HD, there is no going back. Food never looked so delicious on the HD Food channel. Tivo Series 3 does an excellent job recording HD shows. It is so amazing clear that I cant believe it is a recording.



4. Cable Cards
   Because Im using my Tivo Series 3, in order for me to get HD, Im using 2 cable cards that I picked up from Comcast. It was fairly easy to set up myself, but I wasnt getting all the channels that I was supposed to, so a Comcast technician had to come by my house. Turns out it was just some wrong data set up on their end. So what is this cable card and what does it do? The cable card takes the place of a Digital or HD receiver because it does all of the unscrambling of the channels. So instead of getting a clunky HD or Digital receiver from comcast, you can just get a cable card and stick it directly into your HDTV. But not all HDTV's have cable card slots, so you will have to check. Its a lot cleaner this way because you dont have to plug the receiver and you dont have to use their ugly remote. But keep in mind that my set up is different because Im using Tivo. But can you imagine if my Tivo did not have cable card slots? Then I would have Tivo talk to the clunky receiver which then talks to my HDTV. Anyways, cable cards are a good thing. I would do anything to avoid those clunky comcast receivers and their nasty remote control.
   
   
5. HD Channels (Comcast)
   Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that I have Comcast cable (non digital) in the SF Bay Area, so Ill be writing about my experience under those conditions. If you have Comcast and use a receiver that they gave you, then this wont apply to you.
   
   
   If you recently bought an HDTV, most likely it will have QAM tuner and ATSC tuner. An ATSC tuner, will allow you to get "over the air" (OTA) local HD channels (ie. 2, 5, 7) . Although, I couldnt get any channels whatsoever in my area. A QAM tuner will also allow you to get local HD channels, but by using the coaxial cable. Now I thought that to get local HD channels, I would not only need an HDTV to view it, but I figured I would also have to pay extra for it. But currently, Im not. As long as you have a QAM tuner, you should be able to pick up local HD channels merely by sticking the coxial cable directly into your HDTV. But recently, the local HD channels on only one of my HDTV's have been disappearing. In otherwords, I cant view them anymore. The weird thing is that my other HDTV still gets it. But I heard that its because Comcast is gradually taking away those local HD channels. I guess you arent really suppose to get local HD channels for free so Comcast is trying to filter those out and make you pay for it. The Comcast cable packages are confusing, but I believe I have the Standard Cable package. It includes local channels plus the other popular channels like MTV. So with the addition of my cable cards in my Tivo, Im now getting all the channels that I use to get with the addition of non-local HD channels (ie. Discovery, TNT, etc). Comcast only charges me an extra $2 per month. Now to get the non-local HD channels on my other HDTV's, I would have to get a Comcast HD receiver and pay an extra $8 per month for each one. Am I confusing you yet?
   
   
6. Upscaling DVD Player
   If you plan to watch DVDs on your HDTV, do not hook up your old DVD player to it. You can, but it wont look that good. You need to get what's called an "upscaling" DVD player. These players will upscale the DVD video to fit and conform nicely to your HDTV. I think if you use a regular DVD player, you will get the black bars on the side. Costing around $50, these players arent that expensive. Or you can altogether skip that and get a Blu-ray player. But those are very expensive, not to mention the cost of Blu-ray discs.
   

cornerstonetrinity.org launches!

My church has recently launched its new web site. There's not much there now, but we (web ministry group) plan to add lots of new content and exciting features throughout the year.

All the Deals You Ever Wanted on One Page

Ever wonder where I find all of my deals and bargains on the internet? We'll look no further. I created a coldfusion page which pulls in all the current deals from my favorite bargain sites (slickdeals.net, stealdeals.net, techbargains.com, fatwallet.com). Here was my thought process in the creation of this page.

1. Single Page - I visited these multiple bargain sites not daily, but hourly because I was afraid of missing a good deal. These sites are updated quite frequently. So I thought to myself, wouldnt it be cool if I could just view all the deals on one single page?
   
   
2. Layout - Since I was trying to fit as many deals as possible on the page and to try to minimize scrolling, I felt that a 3 column layout would be perfect. 2 columns would result in a lot of downward scrolling and 4 columns would be too squishy.



3. Content - Again, to save space I only included the title of the deal. A lot of the bargain sites may include pictures and descriptions, but that just meant a lot more scrolling and page navigation. I just want to see the headline which is descriptive enough. If I want more details, then I would click on it.



4. Readability - This is probably the most important aspect of the site. Scanning through a page with just text is efficient but it has to be easy on the eyes. I compared all the web friendly Font families and just picked the one that seemed easiest to read. I chose the smallest font size I could get away with which was 11. I chose dark text over a light background which was the overall consensus that this combination was the best for readability. Someone even did a study whereby they found that green text over a yellow background was the overall best combination to use in terms of readability. But I didnt choose those colors because it looks ugly.



5. Date - Since these sites get updated frequently, I would visit this page multiple times per day. Therefore, I needed a way to let me know which deals are today's deals. I needed to have a cutoff point where I could distinguish between today's deals vs. past deals, so that when the next day comes, I can just scan today's deals since I already scanned yesterday's deals. Confusing? Dont worry, you'll know exactly what Im talking about once I get you hooked on this page. Anyways, instead of adding a date next to each item, I just bolded the deals that have today's date. Although currently, stealdeals does not have this feature because it does not have date in their current feed. I emailed them and they said they will put that on their to do list. Also, stealdeals feeds are not automatically generated. therefore, the feed might not be as up to date as their website.

Ever since I created the page, I never visit the actual sites anymore. I love it because its so efficient. So what are you waiting for? Check out the deals! *Warning...can cause severe addiction.

Computer Upgrade - Mission Accomplished

Phew! My new computer is up and running. And its speedy I must say. Well, I havent really tested out how fast it really is by performing benchmarks and having it do some major processing. But I want to get everything stable for now while I load in all my software and transfer all of my files.

My computer boots up extremely fast now. But one speed improvement I wasnt expecting at all is my internet. For some odd reason, my dsl connection feels like a T1. Im guessing its the hard drive that is boosting the rendering of web pages in my IE 7 browser. I thought that it was the internet connection alone which determined the speed of loading web pages, but I guess not. I can also hear my hard drive working fast when loading a web page.

I've learned a lot from custom building my new computer.

1. User Friendly - PC component makers are trying to make it easier for a user to install. Surprisingly, I only had to make 1 support phone call because I had trouble with the case. But other than that, the manufacturers dont want customers calling them 24/7, so they try to make it as simple as possible. How? 1) Installation manuals have lots of pictures. 2) Wires/plugs/components only fit in one way. Its almost impossible to plug in the wrong thing 3) Everything is clearly labeled.
   
   


2. Drivers - In order to get the onboard ethernet, usb, sound working, you need to install the motherboard drivers. Too bad the sound driver that was on the motherboard driver cd didnt work. So I had to download the latest driver from the website.
   
   


3. Startup Crap - I hate software that installs a bunch of useless things to run when your computer starts up. Whenever you install software, make sure you open up the registry or use msconfig to get rid of those nasty startup items. I like my computer booting fast and to keep it that way, I have to make sure that I get rid of these useless start up items.
   
   


4. Carbonite - So they easiest way for me to transfer all of my files would be to transfer them over my network. But that wouldnt work for me since Im using Carbonite to backup my data. If I were to transfer my files from my old computer to my new computer, I would have to rebackup those transfered files on my new computer, since Carbonite has no way of knowing that these are the existing files that it has on its server. So basically, you have to install Carbonite on the new computer and restore your files from Carbonite to the new computer. Its much slower, but that's the best way of doing it.
   
   


5. Software/Driver CDs - I have a binder full of software/driver cds. I've learned that most of them I can get rid of because software can get outdated really fast. Almost ALL software and drivers can be downloaded from the internet. And for those cds that you really want to keep, you can just copy the cd onto your hard drive. That way you can throw away the cd and install it directly from your hard drive.
   
   


6. Shred it and forget it - I had to use some free shredding software to make sure that all my files are permanently deleted and unrecoverable on my old computer. Who knows is it really worked. But since Im selling my old computer, I dont want to leave any trace of me behind.
   
   


7. New Every Two - This Verizon promotion allows customer to get a new phone every two years (actually its just a $100 credit towards a new phone). And I believe that this also applies to technology nowadays. Technology is moving so fast, that you have to upgrade your phone, computer, software, tv, etc almost every 2 years to keep up, if not sooner.
   
   
   
8. Overclock - I've been doing a lot of research on overclocking since a lot of the parts I got are optimized to overclock. But my machine seems plenty fast enough for what Im doing. So I havent decided whether or not I will overclock. But if I do, Ill definitely blog about it.
   
   
   

Computer Upgrade

I've been so busy researching and buying laptops/desktops for my friends/families that I forgot about my own upgrade needs. Last week, I decided that Im going to upgrade my desktop computer. My current Dell desktop works perfectly fine and it is only 2 years old. But so much has changed in the past 2 years in the computer industry that I feel that my computer is being left behind.

• Dual Core Technology - CPU's are so much faster now with this technology.
  


• Vista - Though I love XP and have no reason to migrate, but it is an inevitable upgrade.
  


• Demanding Software - With the new multimedia explosion of the internet (ie. online video), programs need more processing power to edit videos and photos.
  


• Serial ATA - This hard drive interface has been out for a while, but Im still using my old IDE hard drive, because I didnt want to reinstall all of my dozens of software applications.
  


• RAM - 1GB is now the minimum

Im going to be trying something a little different this time around though. Im going to custom build my entire PC instead of buying another full Dell system. In other words, Ill be buying every single component of a computer. This will provide me more flexibility down the road since I'll be able to swap in and out PC components as needed. Usually, it just takes 1 single component to slow down or even break your computer. Therefore, instead of buying a new computer, I can easily just swap out the messed up component. Building your own PC is definitely not for everybody. You really have to be a computer enthusiast and know what every computer component does. Its almost like souping up your car to get the maximum performance ie. spoiler, exhaust, etc.

Since I made my decision last week, there have been some amazing deals. RAM and CPU prices have plummeted. So I took full advantage and my computer is now complete (well...I still have to put it together). The only thing I really splurged (but still got a great deal) on is the Raptor X hard drive. It costs twice as much (at least) than a normal hard drive. But I felt that this was a necessary upgrade because the hard drive would be the only component that would slow or limit the performance, since my CPU, motherboard, and RAM are quite speedy.

In fact, hard drives are the only component that noticeably slows down your
everyday work with your computer. Whether you start or shutdown your system,
open large project files or applications or have the system load level data in
3D games, it is always the hard drive you are waiting for.

And now, I am proud to announce. My new baby...

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHZ (will attempt to overclock)
• GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
• 150GB Western Digital Raptor Hard Drive SATA (10,000RPM)
• G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
• Antec Sonata II 450W Mid Tower Case
• Antec NeoHE 550W Power Supply
• BFG Tech GeForce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
• Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Fan
• 300GB SATA hard drive (existing)
• Plextor DVD burner (existing)

Online Bookmarks Project - Demo

Its finally complete! But I would still consider it as Beta. I've set up a demo account. But for you adventurous people, you can create your very own account. Otherwise, you can use the demo account below.

Here are the instructions:

1. <-- Right click on this button and add it to your browser's bookmarks/favorites.
2. Go to any website.
3. Click on the "Add Online Bookmark" that you just added to your bookmarks.
4. Sign in using the following account:
   email: demo@demo.com
   password: demo
5. Name your bookmark and category and click the "Go" button.
6. Go to www.rogerchew.com/bookmarks/demo
   This is where all of your bookmarks will be stored.

Feel free to give me your feedback and any bugs that you find. Check out the FAQ page for more info. Thanks.

Online Bookmarks Project - Introduction

I've been working hard the past 2 weeks on a project that I decided to take on. I've searched long and hard for a good online bookmarking site, but I didnt find any that suited my needs. So I decided to create my own bookmarking site. I got sick and tired of having my bookmarks all over the place. This included my work laptop, my home laptop, my home desktop and not to mention the different browsers I used. I tried Yahoo and Google bookmarks, but you have to sign in to view your bookmarks. As Stephanie Tanner from Full House would say, "How rude!". Anyways, here is the list of features that I wanted in an online bookmarking site.

• Simple - the process of adding bookmarks had to be simple.


• No install - I didnt want to install anything for my browser.


• Public - I wanted to view my stored bookmarks WITHOUT having to log in.


• One page - I wanted all my bookmarks displayed on one single web page.


• Friendly URL - I wanted a simple and easy url to remember.
  ie. testbookmarks.com/rogerchew instead of testbookmarks.com/user/sdka232akmjc

I do all of my web programming in Coldfusion. So I just thought I would try to google "coldfusion bookmarks" to see if there was anything out there that I could use or repurpose. I couldnt believe it, but the first search result was about someone who created a coldfusion bookmarking application that was very close to how I wanted it. He even documented it and posted all of the files on his site. I download the files and was up and running in no time. Check out the site for screenshots of how it works. But briefly, here is how it works.

1. You are surfing and you like the website you are on and would like to save it.


2. You click on the special bookmark in your browser.


3. You enter a title for the bookmark.

You'll be able to save an online bookmark with 2 mouse clicks. Now, whenever you would want to see a single page of your entire saved bookmarks, you would just have to navigate to something like testbookmarks.com/joesmith. Like it?!

Now how does this solve my problem? Well, now I can just go to a single web page to access all of my bookmarks, no matter which computer, browser, or OS Im using. I can even access all of my bookmarks on public computers like at the library or school.

Stay tuned as I will let you demo the application.