ATLChris.com » General http://atlchris.com Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:15:49 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 My Apple TV / iTV Theory http://atlchris.com/1768/my-apple-tv-itv-theory/ http://atlchris.com/1768/my-apple-tv-itv-theory/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:04:55 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1768 OK, just wanted to make a quick post about a little theory I have regarding Apple and the unannounced Aug/Sept event. This has nothing todo with iPod, I mean I am sure they will introduce new iPod Touches, but that is a given. My Theory is regarding the iTV. A lot of people have been speculating that Apple is going to refresh the Apple TV. There are also rumors going around about a new mystery iLife application.

My theory is that the new mystery iLife application is going to be iTV. They just released a Mac Mini with HDMI out, they have an iMac large enough to use as a TV, and they have a new input device, the Magic Trackpad. I think they are going to scrap Apple TV as a hardware device and introduce a new couch/remote friendly application called iTV to the iLife suite. Yes, I know they already have Front Row, but seriously, who uses that, it is total crap.

I personally am all for this, I currently have a Mac Mini hooked up to my 50″ Plasma and am currently running Plex, a great Media Center application. Apple has hinted that streaming movies would hit the cloud before streaming music, so could the new mystery data center and the mystery iLife application be connected to allow us to download and stream TV Shows and Movies in a whole new way?

What are your thoughts? Would you use this?

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1768/my-apple-tv-itv-theory/feed/ 3 iPhone 4 Case Program Launched http://atlchris.com/1745/iphone-4-case-program-launched/ http://atlchris.com/1745/iphone-4-case-program-launched/#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:02:35 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1745

Well, as promised Apple has activated the iPhone 4 FREE case program. If you already purchased a bumper from Apple, you will automatically get your refund. Emails concerning this have already been floating around.

How about those that didn’t buy a bump? It looks like Apple is going to be handling this through an iPhone app. The application you have to download is called “iPhone 4 Case Program” and it is currently available in the app store. Pretty much, you just open the app, login with your iTunes credentials, then you are presented with a list of cases. Pick which one you want, and vola, it will show up in the mail soon.

iPhone 4 Case Program Details

UPDATE 1: The iPhone application currently lists all cases as “Ships 3-5 weeks”.

UPDATE 2: In app pictures below:

UPDATE 3: I ordered the InCase Snap (Smoke) case. It seemed like a pretty solid pick out of the group. I was impressed though with the selection they had. I will do a full review on the case when it is received.

Stay tuned, I will post further details about shipping times and the overall ordering process.

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1745/iphone-4-case-program-launched/feed/ 4 Hulu Plus Announced (With Support for iPhone & iPad) http://atlchris.com/1724/hulu-plus-announced/ http://atlchris.com/1724/hulu-plus-announced/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:38:20 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1724 Today, Hulu officially announced their new premium service, Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus is a premium service that is going to be offered for $9.99 a month. No launch date for the new service is available at this time, but some are reporting the private beta preview is under way. So, what exactly do you get for this premium $9.99/month price tag, well you get a lot:

  • Access via many new devices including: iPhone, iPad, iPod, Internet Connected TV’s, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and more…
  • Current season tickets to popular current TV shows including: Glee, The Office, Modern Family, Grey’s Anatomy, Family Guy, and more…
  • Full series back cateloges of current and past TV Series including: Heroes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Arrest and Development, and more…

There is no word yet whether this premium service will be ad free or not ad-supported. I would hope that paying would remove the ads completely. Currently the service is in private beta. You can request an invite at http://www.hulu.com/plus. There is no ETA on when the service will launch publicly or when “Requested Invites” will beging to roll out. Check out the introduction video below which showcases all the new content the service has to offer.

I personally will sign up for the service, in fact it might be the final nail-in-the-coffin for my cable services I currently have will Charter Communications. One thing I would love to see, is the addition of premium cable series, i.e. Entourage, True Blood, … I would be willing to add another $5.00 a month if I could get some of those shows. I am also curious to whether they will be beefing up their movie catelog offerings.

Would you be willing to pay $9.99 for this service?

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1724/hulu-plus-announced/feed/ 2 iOS 4 Detects Shipment Tracking Numbers http://atlchris.com/1713/ios-4-detects-shipment-tracking-numbers/ http://atlchris.com/1713/ios-4-detects-shipment-tracking-numbers/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:31:01 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1713 I opened my email today on my iPhone 4 and discovered that iOS 4 now detects various tracking numbers and links them to the appropriate tracking website. Not a huge find, but defiantly useful hidden feature of iOS 4. Click on a tracking number in your email, and Apple will present you with the following screen. When you click “Track Shipment” iOS 4 will figure out which shipping provider the number applies to and will link you to the appropriate tracking website.

Have you found any not so well known features in iOS 4?

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1713/ios-4-detects-shipment-tracking-numbers/feed/ 14 Apple’s New Mobile Store Suffers Downtime On Release Day http://atlchris.com/1656/apples-new-mobile-store-suffers-downtime-on-release-day/ http://atlchris.com/1656/apples-new-mobile-store-suffers-downtime-on-release-day/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:48:48 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1656 This morning, I was reading all about the new Apple mobile store on my RSS feeds. Leave it up to Apple to figure out another damn way for me to spend to much money. Anyways, what I found interesting is that once I installed the application from the App Store, I was greeted with this beautiful store front:

Apple Mobile Store Suffers From Downtime On Release Day

I don’t know about you all, but I am pretty sure Apple would never allow a third-party application to go live in the App Store if it was not working as advertised.

Should Apple hold themselves responsible for the same standards they hold their third-party developers responsible for?

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1656/apples-new-mobile-store-suffers-downtime-on-release-day/feed/ 6 WWDC Keynote Wrap-Up (iPhone 4, iOS, FaceTime, …) http://atlchris.com/1623/wwdc-keynote-wrap-up-iphone-4-ios-facetime/ http://atlchris.com/1623/wwdc-keynote-wrap-up-iphone-4-ios-facetime/#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 01:21:34 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1623

This morning Steve took the stage at the annual World Wide Developers Conference. I know a gazillion tech blogs have already over covered today’s announcements, but I wanted to chime in and give my two cents on some of the new ones. For you who are looking for more detailed coverage of todays news, browse on over to Engadget, Mashable, and ArsTechnica.

  • iPhone 4—New Design, Longer Battery Life, 5MP Camera (back), VGA Camera (forward), Retina Display, Apple A4 Processor, and a Gyroscope. I must say, I am pretty stoked about what the new iPhone has to offer. The new design is beautiful, the 5MP Camera is capable of shooting HD 720 Video, which is a huge plus for me. My Flip camera broke since about 6 months and I have been missing having a camera for a long time. Being able to whip out a 720p capable camera at anytime is going to be amazing. Know, I know it wont be true 720p, but it will still be better than nothing! The Retina Display looks absolutely stunning, I am hoping a lot of the applications will update their graphics to look stunning at the new resolution.

  • iOS—The details of iOS have been known for sometime. I am stoked about iOS for 4 main reasons. First, multi-tasking. While it is not true multi-tasking, I think it will be an OK solution. While I wish it was full multi-tasking, I think Apple’s points about battery life and speed are legit concerns. Second, folders. I wont use folders all that much, but one area I do look forward to using it is in the static bar. I plan to use folders to have additional icons in the static bar (i.e. messages: SMS, Email, Twitter | Calling: phone, FaceTime, Skype). Three, background image. One of my big gripes with the iPhone 3G I have had for 2 years now, has been the boring visual design. From what I have seen in the screenshots, adding a background image has really changed the visual style of the iOS. The final reason, is the unified inbox. I have over 9 email addresses and it is a pain in the butt to stay on top of them all when I have about 4 button presses every time I want to look at a email on another account.

  • FaceTime—For those that don’t know, FaceTime is going to be a new application that will allow iPhone 4 users to video chat with other iPhone 4 users over WiFi. OK, that is great. I am a little disappointed it is only over WiFi, but I understand that might not be in Apple’s control. Plus with the new AT&T limitations, not having it over 3G might be a good thing for those crazy overages. What I am really excited about is not the FaceTime app, but the fact that the front-facing camera is going to be open for other applications, e.g. Skype! My girl friend and I talk over Skype all the time, and it will be nice to not have to whip out my laptop every time I want to talk to her. I am really excited to see how this will be used by other applications. Also, you know the 10k fart applications that have been released in the App Store? I call it now, expect a huge swarm of “Mirror” Applications!!!

  • iAds—Yes, I am excited for this! Why? Well, the reason most developers don’t give away their applications, is because they want some revenue for their widely used apps. Now that they can just flip a switch and get iAds, I think we will see a large amount of applications go free soon that are $0.99 now . I know a lot of people are not liking the idea of having ads widely used on the iPhone, but I think having quality Apple approved ads is much better than some of the crap that shows in current ads. I also see this new form of revenue as a chance for new developers to shine. I think we will see some pretty amazing apps being developed that will go for free in the App Store with iAd support.

Those are just a few of the new features I am most excited about. Now, some general notes about the upcoming iPhone 4. First off, it surprised me that they didn’t go any further into the new gaming network that is suppose to be included in in the new iOS. Has this been pushed back? Can someone with the developer preview tell me if it is there? I thought this would be huge, but Apple has not said much about it. Also, all you whiners crying about no Verizon iPhone, SHUT THE HELL UP! AT&T works great for me. If the iPhone goes to Verizon, the Verizon network will cripple, just like the AT&T network did, once all these heavy data users move over there. Also, do you all understand that Verizon is a CDMA network which means you can’t access data and cell network at the same time? So that means no browsing while on the phone! I love Verizon and I have demo’d a lot of devices for them, but their network is not perfect either, in fact, no network is perfect—any network you go to is going to have low signal areas and dropped calls. Stop complaining about it!

One final thing I want to discuss, is the lack of a 64GB version??? I am looking to shoot a decent bit of video with this device, and I am a little worried that an iPhone with all my music on it wont allow for much room to record video. I was really hoping to see a 64GB version when they said HD video.

A few days ago, in my HTC Incredible review, I said I would be switching to Android if Apple didn’t come up with some good stuff at the WWDC keynote. Well, Apple showed off a pretty awesome product, and I can tell you all now that I will be sticking with the iPhone. Android is coming up strong, but they are not surpassing Apple just yet. If the quality of Android apps improve, and AT&T picks up some better Android devices, I might consider Android in the future, but right now, the iPhone still claims my heart. I will pre-order my 32GB iPhone 4 (black) on June 15th, when pre-orders start, and I will choose to pick it up at the store if they allow that option when pre-ordering. As for the price and date, if you don’t already know it, iOS comes out June 21st and iPhone 4 comes on June 24th (pre-orders start on June 15th). The 16GB version will be $199.00 w/ 2 year contract and the 32GB will be $299.00 w/ 2 year contract.

What are your thoughts on iPhone 4, iOS, or any of the other new Apple news? What tops your excited list? Are you going to get one? Will you wait in line and get it right away, or will you wait for the storm to pass and pick it up once AT&T allows you to upgrade?

More information on iPhone 4 can be found here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/
Watch the keynote video: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1006ad9g4hjk/event/index.html


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]]> http://atlchris.com/1623/wwdc-keynote-wrap-up-iphone-4-ios-facetime/feed/ 11 Building The Ultimate Media Center PC: Part 1 http://atlchris.com/1586/building-the-ultimate-media-center-pc-part-1/ http://atlchris.com/1586/building-the-ultimate-media-center-pc-part-1/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 14:52:29 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1586 About 2 months ago, I decided to take it on to myself to build the ultimate Media Center PC setup. As many of you know, I am a huge movie/film buff. My massive DVD collection currently stands at about 400 DVD’s. In an attempt simply my living room, I decided to build a home theater PC that would allow me to rip my entire DVD collection to a series of hard drives and easily control everything with a remote control from the comfort of my couch.

In this first post, I will briefly introduce you to the hardware and the software I have used to build my home theater PC. I will review all aspects of my home theater PC in greater detail with a series of posts over the next few weeks.

The Computer

For about a week, I researched different home theater PC options. I looked into PC’s, Mac’s, and the possibility of building my own machine. After much thought and research, I decided the best solution was a top of the line Mac Mini. I purchased the 2.53 GHz – 4GB – 320GB HDD Mac Mini from Amazon for $769.89.

You can purchase the Mac Mini for $777.17 on Amazon.

Additional Hardware

Aside from the computer, I needed a few extra items to really maximize the potential of my home theater computer. For storage, I decided to purchase a Drobo S. For those of you that don’t know, a Drobo is a box that contains multiple hard drive bays. You can insert different size/brands of hard drives into the Drobo and it will spread your data across the various drives. Ultimately what this means, is if a drive in your Drobo fails, you simply take that drive out of the Drobo and put in a new one, and no data will be lost. For TV viewing, I decided to checkout the Elgato Eye TV Hybrid. This is a USB TV turner that allows you to plug a cable or TV antenna wire into your computer. To control everything, I decided to go with the beautiful and incredibly functional Logitech Harmony One remote control.

You can purchase the Drobo S for $637.71 on Amazon.

You can purchase the EyeTV Hybrid for $134.90 on Amazon.

You can purchase the Harmony One Remote for $177.91 on Amazon.

The Software

One of the reasons I decided to go with a Mac instead of a PC was the availability of amazing home theater geared software. For playing my ripped DVD’s and other content on my Drobo S I decided to go with an application called Plex. Plex is a wonderful application that takes your content, organizes it into a nice “remote friendly” interface, and ever downloads movie posters, synopsis information, cast and crew information and fanart (menu background images associated with that film). It works with Movies, TV Shows, and Music. It also offers a library of handy plugins to help you easily access content from Hulu and Netflix.

While Plex does offer plugins for internet content, I decided to go with the increasingly popular Boxee for my online content. Boxee is a great application that organizes all of the popular online video content into an easy “remote friendly” interface. What I love about Boxee, is you can access the most popular TV Shows from across the web from inside the Boxee interface, no need to browse to 10 different websites to get your content. Some of the content available includes Hulu, NBC, ABC, Netflix, MLB, YouTube, and even Pandora.

For watching live TV, I opted to go with the Elgato Eye TV Hybrid and the Eye TV 3 software. The Eye TV software works with EyeTV hardware to bring live TV to your Mac. You can browse through channel guides from TV Guide, setup shows to record, manage reoccurring season recordings, and of course watch live TV and channel surf like on your normal cable box.

Now, I have all this great software, how am I controlling it all? I could just use my wonderful Apple remote, but that is a bit to simple for me. I didn’t want to have a different remote for my media center, my TV, and my surround sound system. I opted to go with a Logitech Harmony One remote and the amazing Remote Buddy software from IOSPiRIT. Essentially, what Remote Buddy does, is it allows you to control almost any aspect of your computer from a remote control. You can launch applications, change control panel settings, do program specific activities, and even write custom Applescripts to accomplish almost anything. Most opt to go with the simple setup and use the Remote Buddy menu to accomplish mosts tasks. Being the hardcore geek that I am, I opted to get into the more advanced functionality of Remote Buddy. I will do a full post on my Remote Buddy setup in the near future.

Final Thoughts

The information above, is just a glimpse of what is to come. I am going to walk you through my setup, in great detail, over the next couple of weeks. Some of the information I am going to go into greater detail about, is formal reviews of all of the software and hardware above, how everything is connected, and some of the more advanced geeky customizations I have made. Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed, so you don’t miss out on any of this series of posts.

* The prices above are what the various products cost at the time this post. Some of them may change by the time you are reading this.

If you have any specific questions you would like me to answer about my setup, please ask them in the comments section below. I will try to answer all of your questions as I write the more detailed posts. When I answer a question, I will reply letting you know that I answered it, and will link you to where you can find the answer.

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1586/building-the-ultimate-media-center-pc-part-1/feed/ 1 Data Robotics Announces Drobo FS (File Server) http://atlchris.com/1559/data-robotics-announces-drobo-fs-file-server/ http://atlchris.com/1559/data-robotics-announces-drobo-fs-file-server/#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:11:09 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1559 Drobo FS - Front

For about a week now, I have known Data Robotics had a new Drobo product premiering today, but everything was under embargo and few details were known. When I woke up this morning I had the official press release in my inbox announcing the new Drobo FS. (The FS stands for File Server.) What the Drobo FS does is combine the 5-Bay Drobo S with the Drobo Share, allowing you to put all your precious little media out in the cloud and your local network.

I just got off of a call with Mark Fuccio from Data Robotics and he walked me through the new device and some of the new functionality. One item in particular that Mark spoke to me about is a partnership with a company called Oxygen Cloud, which provides a cloud-like interface for your Drobo FS. This means you will gain access to your Drobo FS through a browser remotely. No details are available yet on the specifics of the web interface, but it is in development. As many of you know, the Drobo protects you from HDD failure, but what about when you have a fire and your Drobo melts into a nice little pile of plastic and metal?!?!? Well, that is no longer a concern. The partnership between Data Robotics and Oxygen Cloud is going to add some additional functionality that will allow users to sync multiple Drobo FSs in multiple locations. This means the Drobo FS will now auto backup your data to another Drobo FS in a remote location. Both the in browser access functionality and the remote backup functionality are still in development, but they are supposed to be available sometime in May.

I am hoping to purchase the Drobo FS in the very near future, and I will off course post a thought review once I have time to really explore all the device has to offer. Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed so you don’t miss my full review.

Are you all excited about this product? Is $699.00 still to expensive for a device of this nature? Do you prefer a direct connection (FW800, USB2, E-SATA, …) or NAS connection (Ethernet)?

Official Press Release

SANTA CLARA, CA–(Marketwire – April 6, 2010) – Data Robotics, Inc., the company that delivers the best data storage experience, today introduced Drobo FS, a breakthrough Drobo designed for simple, expandable file sharing. By providing network file sharing capabilities along with automated data protection, the Drobo FS greatly simplifies shared storage for connected home, home office and small office users. Based on the revolutionary BeyondRAID technology and a flexible platform for adding features and capacity as needed, the Drobo FS can quickly and easily be customized and scaled to meet current or future storage requirements.

“Adding to Data Robotics’ offering of self-managing storage solutions, the Drobo FS offers users the ability to share data between computers quickly and easily,” said Liz Conner, research analyst for IDCs storage systems and personal storage practices. “More than ever before, home users and small offices want to access and share a growing amount of data, but they don’t need a large, expensive system that requires specific expertise or extensive management. With DroboApps, users can customize the Drobo FS to serve their unique storage requirements. This is the Drobo for which many users have been waiting.”

Drobo FS - BackDrobo FS extends automated data protection across connected systems using Data Robotics’ award-winning BeyondRAID virtualized storage technology. Drobo FS features a one-click toggle between single- and dual-drive redundancy and provides protection against up to two simultaneous drive failures. In addition, the Drobo FS enables users to add storage on-the-fly without ever losing access to data.

“We have been using Drobo solutions to store our data for almost three years and continue to be happy with their performance and simplicity. With four computers on our network, we also needed a solution that would allow us to share data between users. Typical shared storage devices were complicated or too expensive, so we’re thrilled that Data Robotics has created the Drobo FS,” said Seth Resnick, Co-Founder at D65. “Drobo FS comes with just the functionality we need, so it is easy to use while still providing the automated data protection that comes with BeyondRAID. The additional DroboApps allow us to add new features as we need them, which is really unique.”

Drobo FS Features and Benefits

  • Plug In and Share – The Drobo FS connects directly to any Gigabit Ethernet network for a true plug in and share set-up experience. Supports standard data transfer protocols including Apple File Protocol (AFP) and Microsoft Common Internet File System (CIFS).
  • 5-Drive Capacity and Instant Expansion to 10TB and Beyond – Customers with growing storage requirements can easily add data capacity by simply inserting a new hard drive or replacing the smallest drive with a larger one, even when all five drive bays are full. With Drobo FS, expansion is automatic, instantaneous, and access to data is always maintained.
  • Single- and Dual-Drive Redundancy – The Drobo FS dual drive redundancy option protects against the simultaneous failure of up to two hard drives. Customers can engage this option with a single click without ever losing access to their data.
  • Self-Healing Technology – With BeyondRAID, the Drobo FS continually examines data blocks and sectors on each drive to flag potential issues. The preemptive “scrubbing” helps ensure data is being written only to healthy drive areas and automatically keeps data in the safest state possible — even when a drive fails.
  • Customizable Storage – Utilizing the growing library of DroboApps, including media and web applications, users can customize the Drobo FS to further enhance their sharing experience.

“This is the decade of being connected, no matter where you are or what kind of data you are storing. The Drobo FS was designed to best serve the needs of our customers with file sharing needs — from small offices and home offices to connected homes. By reducing the complexity of data sharing and providing a truly flexible platform for adding capacity and features, the Drobo FS is ideal for users that have the need to share ever increasing amounts of data,” said Tom Buiocchi, CEO of Data Robotics.

Pricing and Availability Drobo FS is currently available at a starting price of $699 MSRP, with multiple configurations to $1,449 for a 10TB (5x 2TB drives) bundle. Drobo FS is available now from authorized partners worldwide and on www.drobostore.com. To learn more about Drobo FS, please visit www.drobo.com/drobo-fs.

About Data Robotics

Data Robotics, Inc., the company that delivers the best storage experience ever, develops automated storage products designed to ensure data is always protected, accessible, and simple to manage. The award-winning Drobo storage arrays are the first to provide the protection of traditional RAID without the complexity. The revolutionary BeyondRAID technology frees users from making the difficult and confining choice of “Which RAID level to deploy?” by providing an unprecedented combination of advanced features and automation, including single- and dual-drive redundancy, instant expansion, self-monitoring, data awareness, self-healing, and an easy-to-understand visual status and alert panel. For more information, visit Data Robotics at www.datarobotics.com.

Data Robotics, Drobo, and BeyondRAID are trademarks of Data Robotics, Inc., that may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other trademarks used are owned by their respective owners.

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1559/data-robotics-announces-drobo-fs-file-server/feed/ 5 Improve Your Writing With Wordy.com http://atlchris.com/1543/improve-your-writing-with-wordy-com/ http://atlchris.com/1543/improve-your-writing-with-wordy-com/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:55:25 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1543 A few weeks ago, I discovered a site called Wordy.com. Wordy is a service based out of the UK that allows its users to connect with professional copy-editors to check for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and structure in the users writing. The service is super simple to use, offers very competitive pricing, and has a large group of highly trained and professional copy-editors. Just a note on how friendly the people are, with in 24 hours of reporting a bug I found on the site, I had an email from the founder of the site offering me a free submission for assisting with the bug.

How it Works

How it works, is the user signs up for the site, and either attaches a common format document, or does a copy/paste right into to the site itself. Once they add text to the site, they are presented with 3 options: the option to choose either UK-English or US-English as the language; a type of text category; Notes to Editor. After filling in these sections of submission, they will confirm the order, and will be presented with a screen that keeps them up-to-date on the status of the submission, as well as a projected time till the review is complete. Once the review is complete, the user will be able to view the revisions, and either accept them or reject them. If they are rejected, you can add notes on why, and the editor will take another look at them. Here is a quick video that shows you how easy it is to submit content and review the revisions:

Review

At the time I am writing this post, I will have used Wordy a total of 7 times, ranging from a quick paragraph of website copy to a long winded 1000+ word blog post. Right up front, I will say, that I am loving this service for a few of reasons. First, is how easy it is to submit new content for review. You literally submit your text, answer a few basic questions, and click “confirm.” With in a few minutes, you have a professionally edited version of your submission, with details on the revisions. Second, is the review times, as I said in the last sentence, most submission are returned fully edited with in a few minutes. As of right now, a 400 word submission will be returned in approximately 33 minutes. It is hard to find a service these days that doesn’t require at least a 24 hour period for something to be reviewed.

The third reasons I am loving Wordy, is the pricing. Pricing is based on the total word count of the submission, but is very competitively priced. Prices are given in British pounds, but even with the conversion rate, things seem to be very competitively priced. My large blog post on the HP Mini 311 Netbook was run though Wordy, and it only cost me € 15.09 (just about $20.00 USD.) The final reason I am loving Wordy, is the quality of the editors. I have submitted profession text that I found on some major websites to Wordy to test the quality of the reviewers, and I was very pleased. One editor found some ways to improve a Wall Street Journal news article. I also find the copy-editors to be very friendly and they will work with you through multiple revisions.

The WordPress Plugin

Just recently, Wordy announced the new Wordy WordPress plugin, that will allow you to get instant quotes and submit blog posts to Wordy.com from directly inside your WordPress Blogs wp-admin panel. You can even require all the people who post on your blog to use Wordy via the plugin. Below is a video about the Wordy WordPress Plugin:

Final Thoughts

Why do I like Wordy? Well, as you can probably tell from reading this blog, I am not a professional writer. I blog because I enjoy it. With that being said, I would still like my posts to be free of grammar, punctuation, and structure errors. From emails, to website copy, to blog posts, and company newsletters, everyone who writes content that will be read by others should use Wordy. It will help you gain respect from yours readers, and will allow you to project professionalism through your writing. My final verdict, USE IT!

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]]> http://atlchris.com/1543/improve-your-writing-with-wordy-com/feed/ 7 NBC’s Jeff Zucker Comments on Hulu and Boxee’s Rocky Past http://atlchris.com/1405/nbcs-jeff-zucker-comments-on-hulu-and-boxees-rocky-past/ http://atlchris.com/1405/nbcs-jeff-zucker-comments-on-hulu-and-boxees-rocky-past/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:08:55 +0000 Chris Lentz http://atlchris.com/?p=1405 I just received an email from Andrew Kippen, a representative for Boxee who wanted to publicly respond to NBC CEO Jeff Zucker and his comments to the US Congress concerning the rocky Hulu & Boxee past. Jeff Zucker was recently on C-SPAN discussing the Comcast & NBC merger, when Virginia Rep. Congressman, Rick Boucher, asked “Did Hulu Block Access for the Boxee users to the Hulu programs?” Mr. Zucker explained that Boxee had illegally taken the Hulu content without any business deal. He went on to explain that Hulu had always been open to making a content deal with Boxee. You can view the full C-SPAN footage here: C-SPANArchives.org.

Andrew Kippen, a representative of Boxee sent out a press release with some statements to clarify the remarks Mr. Zucker made on C-SPAN. Andrew’s remarks are below.

I’d like to set the record straight regarding Boxee’s access to Hulu. Boxee uses a web browser to access Hulu’s content – just like Firefox or Internet Explorer. Boxee users click on a link to Hulu’s website and the video within that page plays. We don’t “take” the video. We don’t copy it. We don’t put ads on top of it. The video and the ads play like they do on other browsers or on Hulu Desktop. And it certainly is legal to do so.

Above, Mr. Zucker says the original decision was made by Hulu’s management. That is correct, but as Jason Kilar (Hulu’s CEO) wrote in his post, the request came from NBC. “Our content providers requested that we turn off access to our content via the Boxee product, and we are respecting their wishes.”

…

Mr. Zucker says they always said they are open to negotiations. That has not been our experience, but at this point, we will take Mr. Zucker’s offer at face value and will contact him. We are eager to work with both Comcast and NBCU to bring more content on more devices to our users. We believe the Internet represents a great opportunity for content owners and we hope that current artificial barriers put on distribution over the Internet will be taken down.

I can personally vouch for what Andrew said above, Boxee did nothing more than link directly to the Hulu content, including the ads. While it was originally removed, the new Boxee beta has brought back Hulu content. The new method of displaying Hulu content is nothing more than the ingenious use of an internal browser and automatic full screening.

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