All Apple All Day

The size is almost perfect. The small bezel on the sides, the shape - the iPad mini is almost exactly what I've been looking for. But I don't have one, and I probably won't get one this year. The reason is - it just doesn't provide any functionality I'm not already getting from my iPad and iPhone. It doesn't quite think different enough for me.   Next year, I want the Mini to be higher-tech, with a Retina screen - and to incorporate some old-timey tech, too. More after the jump. 

Ultra TV Grid Guide It took a couple of days and a half-dozen false starts, but after getting the primary box replaced, we have a fully operational Ultra TV setup. We are going to keep it for at least a few months. Here is the rundown: 1. Install was a bit of a trial. We have a very new home, so this shouldn't have been a wiring issue... But for the first couple of days, WOW simply could get high definition to work. They'd reset the box remotely (or I'd unplug it), HD would work for a couple minutes, and then a black screen and a "Signal Loss Detected" error message. We got a box replacement, and a $10 statement credit. Fair enough! 2. The channel lineup is a bit on the slight side . It's not bad, mind you - but there's no way to get NFL/NHL/NBA networks, no Bravo HD (SD only, which is just odd...) and a number of channels I'd expect to see in "basic" are on the "signature" tier, which I don't get. We also woul

Well, that wasn't easy. But the move is (mostly) done. We'll be unpacking our boxes for some time, but our house is starting to feel like our house . Except that home theater. It's barely even started. (I'll add pictures later tonight.) After a weekend of false starts, WOW! Ultra TV is now up and running, and I'll have a full review ASAP. In the meantime, we're dealing with a few Project 1 issues that are going to take some problem-solving. 1. There's no easy way to get HDMI cabling to the TV . The living room features a fantastic fireplace, with built-in shelves on either side, pre-wired for a TV to be placed on (or hang above) the mantel over the fireplace. But that wiring is part of the problem. We have a power outlet, and a coax connection - this would have been ideal even 10 years ago, but it's completely inadequate for what we're planning - I need a minimum of 4 HDMI cables between the TV and my various components. (We could attempt ONE H

We don't own a videogame system. We do, however, own a 6-year-old who WISHES we owned a videogame system. So, every so often, he and I go to Best Buy to try out some games on Kinect or Move, and to look at electronics. Tonight, the little guy needed a break from his packed-away house, so inbetween Star Wars Kinect sessions at BBY, we noticed a large in-store display for home automation products, among which were Smarthome's Insteon line, which were running full "Lutron RadioRA2" style lighting control (granted, with a little less style ) from an iPad. With a central controller costing $99, keypads at $49, and dimmer switches at $29. I don't think I could have been more sold. It was, essentially, what I'd been looking for in a pro-install system, but designed to be added to existing homes, and controllable via iOS. And keypads, for full "scene" control! This is absolutely essential to Project 1 - overhead lights fade out, front-wall sconce

We close tomorrow afternoon, and we'll be furiously packing today, and furiously unpacking on Friday. I'll probably be occupied with moving through the weekend.  Starting Friday, Project 1 kicks into gear. While it will be a series of "good-enough" half-measures at the start, we should be able to review WOW Ultra TV by Saturday, and (if I get the coding right) have a static page for Project 1 (Home Theater) started shortly thereafter, which will have photos of the space and a mockup of what the final design will look like, a checklist of items to be completed, and links to the various posts detailing each stage of the project.  In other news: The Apple Store is now selling the Nest Thermostat .  I love the look of this thing, but it's the functionality that sets it apart. It's iOS controllable, and completely self-learning and programming. Plus, it looks like a Star Trek control panel for your house.  Sony sells their 3D glasses on the

Back from the long weekend, and sprinting to the finish line. Only three more days to get our condo ready for the tenants - today, sadly, the TV comes down from the wall mount. I will update this post throughout the day with step-by-step photos of the takedown and drywall rebuild. Today also brought a ton of rumors from Cupertino- iOS 6 with a non-google Maps app, a new taller iPhone with a metal back, and news that the keynote for WWDC will be at 10 AM pacific on June 11. I assume that the aforementioned iOS 6 and iPhone (and potentially Mountain Lion) will be the primary focus - but I'll be watching at Engadget and Gizmodo, just in case Apple unveils something new and wonderful that will alter my project plans! UPDATE: TV and mount removal went as well as could be expected. The wall repair will be the primary issue. Seriously, this was a great-looking TV wall mount. It had to be preserved for posterity. Our living room was at the end of a hallway, and the TV woul

Hope you had a good Memorial Day weekend. As I mentioned in my last post, we've opted to go with WOW for TV in the new house, while we figure out where we'll be able to mount a DirecTV satellite. And when we do switch to DirecTV - probably in the next 2-3 months - we'll be getting the HR34 Home Media Center, despite the fact that it costs an extra $100 at signup, and the fact that message boards around the internet are calling it a "work in progress". First off, it's (generally) only available to new customers at the present time, and I don't want to miss the boat on a 5-tuner whole-home DVR. Second... well... the original HD DVR from DirecTV was once a work in progress, too, and these days it's an absolutely rock-solid experience, with the absolutely gorgeous new DirecTV HD UI. (The new DirecTV HD UI is everything I'd always imagined TiVo would eventually achieve... but these days they seem to spend more time and energy on patent litigation t

After some deliberation, we went with WOW for all three services - cable/internet/phone. At least at the outset. I'm eventually going to go with DirecTV - probably this summer - but I don't want it installed until we have a better understanding of where the dish would go. (Potentially, on the pergola we're going to be building off the back of the house.) Despite the odd holes in the channel lineup, UltraTV does have some serious advantages, and I'm looking forward to providing a full write-up after it's installed next week. Now, it's time to start looking at how all this stuff is going to work together. At the outset, we won't have our built-in shelving to the left and right of the fireplace. That's going to come later. For now, we're working with the same AV cabinet we've used for the last few years, which will sit to the left of the fireplace. The space above the fireplace has a power outlet, and a cable connection. No HDMI. Off to M

At the moment, I'm strongly leaning towards WOW for all services, at least initially. Primarily because I'd like to see the new house in person for a few days, and plan out how a DirecTV dish could (or should not) be attached, prior to having an installer show up. Were it not for the installation issue, I'd be going with DirecTV and WOW in an unbundled group. Regardless, WOW works without contracts, so I should be able to make that change if/when we choose - (have to confirm that the $70 phone/internet is available to current customers as well as new customers, however... or it's back to Comcast as a "new" customer.)  With one week to go, our energies are strongly focused on fixing up the city condo - got to make it nice for our tenants. Painting all the walls, filling nail holes, that sort of thing.  However, it's also time to talk about TV mounting and installation .  We have a Sony gorilla glass 55" LED TV. It basically looks like

As a satellite television provider, DirecTV is more or less unable to provide broadband to its customers directly. Sure, they occasionally advertise bundles with AT&T, but that would be for DSL - a workable solution, but still, an internet solution which  advertises speeds that are between 1/10 and 1/5 as fast as what we can get from the cable internet providers. (DirecTV's website has other internet-providing partners listed, but they aren't in the Chicago area.)  When I called DirecTV about the AT&T bundles I'd seen online, they had absolutely no idea what the bundle pricing would be and told me I'd have to work with AT&T directly. And, a quick look around the net indicates that this "bundle" isn't much more than 2 companies working in complete separation. I can build that kind of bundle myself! In yesterday's post, I weighed WOW's UltraTV offering against Comcast XFinity's Triple Play. Similar offerings, similar pri

9 days until our move, and we'd like to hit the ground running. I can't imagine the family will be too excited about going without TV or internet or phone for a few days while I sort things out, so I suppose it's time to make one of the most important decisions a new homeowner will face. Who will be our cable provider? We've been Comcast customers for years. Here in Chicago, they've had good service offerings, and have usually managed to keep us around by sweetening their deal just enough to make switching seem like a chore. But when you're moving, everything is a chore! May as well weigh our options. We need to cover three services here: TV, Internet, and Phone. I'm currently paying Comcast about $150 for a single TV, with HBO (I bring my own TiVo so I'm not currently paying for DVR service), 20 Mbps internet (which seems to top out around 14 Mbps in the city over wifi), and unlimited nationwide home phone. In the suburbs, we'd li