JDPFu.com 2025

Here’s a link to the Mega List of Set Top Media Playback Devices in google docs.

Many thanks to Tekzilla’s Veronica Belmont for starting this list and to the crowd for filling in the details. There is so much data inside that it cannot be copy/pasted from google-docs. File—Save As …. is required. It really isn’t that extensive … the cells are A1 … T73 when I looked today.

Devices currently listed include:

• Roku HD, XD, XD|S
• WD TV Live HD, WD TV Live Plus HD
• Tivo Series 3 HD/HD XL
• HD Fox T2
• Boxee Box
• Popbox
• Nintendo Wii with Homebrew channel & apps: www.wiibrew.org
• Popcorn Hour A-110
• Popcorn Hour C-200
• Logitech Revue
• Xbox 360 (Slim)
• PS3 (Slim)
• HDI Dune
• Apple TV 2nd Generation
• TiVo Premier XL
• Apple Mac Mini 2010 (HDMI)
• Sony Network Media Player With Wi-Fi
• Xtreamer

MediaGate and other similar competitors are missing. Software-based media players can’t be included, so Windows7 Media Center, Linux MediaTomb, MythTV and other similar tools aren’t listed either.

Seems that taking this data and making a search-able web DB would be fairly trivial. For example, I want only 1080p and netflix devices – don’t show any others. Hummm.

Today I visited the skype.com website to get a newer version of Skype for my Nokia N800. The download page has been removed for that and the N810 devices. The N900 has a download, but I don’t want to risk it.

As long as Skype on the N800 continues to work, I’m not too worried. Just like many people, I’m unhappy with my telecom provider.

• They are too costly. They think they compete with AT&T on price, not Vonage or some other $9/month VoIP services
• Calls are dropped mid-sentence
• Connectivity disappears weekly

Came across an interface that displays a list of cable and broadcast channels for your area by zipcode.

It lists cable QAM and ATSC channels.

I was checking to see when a HD-HomeRun CableCARD tuner that was promised to be on sale in May 2010 would finally become available. Seems it isn’t shipping yet. Last report was the device was going to CableLabs for testing. That was July 14th.

There is a competitor CableCARD tuner card from Ceton, that started shipping this month. It is a quad-tuner for any cable system in the USA. It is too pricey for me at $399.

Each of us use a computer for various reasons. Some just want a system that works, without any hassle. Most of us want to run specific software, work with specific file types, connect with everyone else, and possibly just do what the people around us are doing to be the same.

I’ll be as honest as I can and put the reasons in order.

Below are a few incidents that I’m personally aware of which impacted a few different projects. Some are from my personal desktop to production dispatching systems with 20K+ users to some that impacted a space shuttle launch data.

People like Top 10 Lists, but I could think of only 9 near disasters. Perhaps something interesting will happen this week? ;)

Ooops – beep, beep, beep ….

I’ve been interested in saving some money on home phone service since around 2001 when I dropped the babybell service for a VoIP solution. Over the years, I’ve switched providers and ended up with the cable company phone service to get the best quality for the buck. Now they’ve raised the prices and I’m looking again. I’m not interested in Vonage at $25/month when a $3/month plan will cover me. Further, I already own the necessary equipment to get this all working. You may already own the equipment too.

It always seemed that a $3/month SkypeOut account could be linked to a PBX (Asterisk/FOSS) to make this happen. A few months ago, I asked about this on Lifehacker, but didn’t get any acceptable answers.

How to Ask a Smart Question.

After reading a 2 pg rant from a new Linux user complaining that his questions were not being answered, I did a little googling and found a post on how to ask a smart question. I added a link here mainly so I could review it later, when I needed to ask a smart question.

If you work in media or IT, you’ve probably already heard about ACTA, Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

If not, here’s a summary to get you up to speed on it. Hopefully, you’ll contact your Senator, Congress-person and President and let them know you don’t like attempts to bypass your existing methods to pass laws.

Today, I was doing a little online shopping using my Nokia N800. Ikea has a few price cuts on bookcases and they looked interesting, so I wanted more information.

I visited ikea.com and clicked United States – crash. Not just a browser crash, but a forced reboot of the entire device. SWEET! The N800 uses a modified Mozilla browser running a version of Linux, BTW. This isn’t a normal cell phone or otherwise limited browser. I’m not running with any special permissions either. Crashes shouldn’t be possible.

Good job Ikea. My N800 is 3 yrs old and this is the first time it has crashed to a reboot. Impressive. May I suggest you review your web site for errors?

Nothing really to report this week. Doing RMA stuff on an old Antec 550W PSU and getting an estimate to fix the Dell laptop.