Movies on the move

You know, using a connected device using something like satellite network access would mean that you could watch streaming video anywhere you wanted. I don’t know what the connection would be like if you’re using it while watching in a moving car. But hopefully thanks to pre-caching you should be able to get a decent stream.

I’m sitting on my sofa watching Hercules with Arthur and thinking about our forthcoming trip to the UK. You see, we have a 4 hour drive and it’s going to be interesting keeping him busy through the voyage. The problem is that we have 2 six month old babies so our attention is probably going to be on driving and the babies. So, we’re looking for something for him to watch videos with. An internet based device would be ideal.

Would be fun to see if it works.

What's on TV?

It's Saturday evening and the kids are in bed. So it's time to watch some TV and we felt like a movie tonight. So we picked up on Braveheart and are watching that.

Yes, I know I watched it a few years back, but we're settling down to watch BraveHeart today; a film directed by Mel Gibson in which he plays the lead role. It's a story of a Scotsman named William Wallace who leads the Scots into victory against the English. One thing I wonder though is, didn't the Scots feel cold running around in skimpy kilts. I wouldn't go out in this weather dressed only in a couple of lab coats; just too cold.

It's the weekend!

I always love weekends and this one is promising to be excellent. The weather is great and we're planning on taking the babies to swim for their first time this afternoon. I also have a couple of projects I might get underway in the meantime. I swear I have more websites I manage than that orange county web designer I met the other day. But then, it is what I enjoy doing, so I really don't mind.

So, how are you spending your weekend?

Pervasive Internet

You know, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that mobile satellite should really be more pervasive than it is today. If you live in a city, you tend to assume that you're going to have an Internet connection wherever you go. You could be close to Wifi, or have a 3G connection. Things are a bit different if you have to move to a more rural area. This is where satellite internet comes in.

I guess however, the reason it hasn't taken off as much as it should, is that there are fewer people living in those sparse areas. It's a matter of supply and demand I guess.

Use WiMax on your phone

Image via Wikipedia

I just read that Sprint are launching a 4G handset in the US which uses a WiMax connection if one exists. Although network coverage is still incomplete (around 10% of the US and missing some major cities) introducing a device that can use the technology is a great way to kick start the adoption of the technology. If they catch on, network coverage will increase. I wonder if there are any cheap phones that let you use an internet satellite connection for data, or to make VOIP calls.

Anyone out there planning on getting one of these phones?

Playing again with Fonera

Image via Wikipedia

I have my Fonera up and running again, which is nice considering I had dropped off the map. If you've never heard of Fon before, it's a network of people who use their routers to offer an open Wifi hotspot for other people to use. Other people on the network can use it for free, while guests have an option to pay for the service. The router owner gets a cut of the hotspot cost.

I've only set it up as an experiment really. Until high speed satellite internet becomes more ubiquitous, then it's not so trivial getting a connection online when you're far away from home. I do have a 3G connection also but you can just imagine what the roaming costs are like.

In the meantime, I quite like the ideology behind Fon. Let's hope it goes on and on.

Check out my new toy

Image by avlxyz via Flickr

Well, I’m pretty pleased with this one. I’ve got myself a new phone, the Google Nexus One; well actually Camille got it for me for Valentine’s day. It’s an awesome piece of kit that runs Android and has a pretty powerful engine under the hood. It has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and a 5 megapixel camera with a flash. And that’s besides all the other goodies, like a 3G connection, GPS, Wifi and tons, tons more. One of the advantages about having a technical background is that I’m happy to mess around with gadgets like this; I don’t need any Orange County computer support or anything like that. I’ve already rooter the phone and unlocked the bootloader, so I can do anything I’d like to do with it. I love having a new toy to play with.