Misguided Geek:  Cutting the Cable     So, after a long talk with my wife, we have decided to bid farewell to our cable service, and join the ranks of the “cable cutters.”  In the coming weeks I want to share with you, my faithful readers, my experience with this transition  and I hope, should you have experience with this, that you would feel comfortable giving me any advice or suggestions you may have.  Today I want to outline my reasons for cutting, and my plan of action. Why get rid of cable in the first place?     This is a valid question, Im not giving up TV, I still hope to keep up with my regular shows, but looking at my bill each month and seeing the rising cost of Cable TV, I feel like there has to be an alternative.  There are only a handful of shows I watch regularly, why should I pay $100 a month when I only watch roughly 10% of the channels? Ok so what is the plan?     I’m glad you asked, I have spend a lot of time reading what other folks have been doing, and I plan to utilize free and paid for streaming services to replace the loss of cable television.  I just bought the Roku HD from Amazon, and use to use it for a trial run.  I have not canceled my cable service yet, I am going to hook the Roku up to one of our TVs just so I, and more importantly my wife, can get a feel for it and see if we like it, we also have an antenna to catch the major local networks.  My hope is between the streaming services on Roku and over the Air channels, we can still catch the majority of what we watch for a fraction of the price. What is the point?     Right?  There are shows we like, cable is convenient, why mess with a good thing?  My reasoning is that cable companies, Time Warner in my area, tend to own local monopolies on cable and internet.  Unless I go dish for TV I have no other option for TV service, and to my knowledge I have NO other option at all for an internet provider.  By cutting ties I am asserting my right as a consumer, to watch what I want, and only what I want, for a price that I find reasonable.  Worst case I am unsatisfied with the streaming offerings available and I switch back to cable, and return my Roku, yes my pride is hurt but little else.  Best case, I still get all the entertainment I am used to, and I have an extra Franklin in my pocket at the end of the month.     Advice?  Suggestions?  Leave them here in the comment box, or shoot me a tweet @JoshArtrip, or @Misguidedgeek, otherwise check back, and I hope to have weekly (or at least bi weekly) updates on my progress.
March 4, 2013 VIEW POST
January 30, 2013 VIEW POST
Its here, new iPhone 5 and other Apple Goodies! What you see above is the new iPhone 5, and new iPod nano!  See below for a quick list of all the announced stuff, as well as my quick reactions. iPhone 5:  Here is the big boy, its slim, its biger, its… exactly like all the rumored images we have already seen.  New body type, new screen, new CPU, addition of LTE, better cameras (on paper), dreaded new dock connector, and same price $199 for the base model.  Honestly, Im not blown away, yes its bigger (so are all its competitors), yes its now 4G (so are all its competitors).  To me this feels like a very safe approach, they already had an amazing product, this is an attempt not to mess it up to much.   Verdict:  Unless you have to have all the newest apple tech (Im looking at you Justin Kelly) the 4S is now $99, and the 4 is free with contract.  I just dont see anything thats going to make me need to replace my 4S… that unibody design is pretty though. iPod Nano:  It taller, its prettier, its mutli colored, and it has bluetooth!  The only downside?  Cant wear it as a watch Verdict:  YOU CANT WEAR IT AS A WRIST WATCH, but if you arent going to do that, then this is once again, the best pure MP3 player on the market. New iPod Touch:  Impossibly thin (6.1 MM!), multi colored, featuring the same gorgeous screen super fast A6 Chip as the new iPhone, its an amazing piece of tech.  Yet at $300 its more expensive than a contracted new iPhone. Verdict:  You need this if you dont own a smart phone… otherwise just buy a smart phone. “New” Shuffle:  Just new colors Verdict:  Really?  Buy an old nano and WEAR IT LIKE A WRIST WATCH New “Ear Pods”:  Apple finally got the memo and replaced their much maligned ear buds with the new pods.  They will supposedly sound and fit better than their predecessors. Verdict:  They may not sound like crap… but they probably will. IOS 6:  Of all the announcements, this is the one I was most excited about.  New Maps, new “Passbook”, Facetime over 3G (except AT&T), further Facebook integration (ugh), upgraded Siri and iMessage.  The only downside is the doing away with Youtube integration.  IOS 6 will be available on 9/17 for all iPhones back to the 3GS, iPod Touches, and the two most recent iPads. Verdict:  All positives, you can now Facetime in the car! -Whoa, that was a ton, let me know in the comments what you are/arent excited about and if I missed anything, or tweet me @misguidedgeek or @JoshArtrip.  Sorry for the slow week, we should be up and running again full time by Friday once I get back home, hopefully this makes up for the dearth in posting.  Thanks for sticking with me… I love you? Image credit, and a great more indepth rundown via Gizmodo
September 12, 2012 VIEW POST
Im way behind here, I know, but if you are the one person that hasnt heard a new iPhone and iPad Mini will be announced on September 12th, with the new phone to be released on September 21st…. supposedly. Im kind of in a bind here folks.  My plan through Verizon is up on Friday, and I had planned to move to Sprint and join my wife’s plan (its a lot cheaper, and makes a ton of sense).  I have been debating upgrading from my Droid X to either the Galaxy or the iPhone 4S… but with this news I know that I will kick myself for not waiting.  So what do you guys think?  Get the Galaxy, 4S, or wait for the iPhone 5?  
August 1, 2012 VIEW POST
Misguided Geek Friday Tech Update Quick rundown of the Tech news of the day:  - Google Fiber, the companies ultra fast internet and HD TV service went live yesterday in Kansas City MO/KS.  For a $300 construction cost and anwhere from $120 to $0 bucks a month, you too could have access to up to 1 Gigabit of download speeds… if you live in Kansas City (Im looking at you Jonny).  - Andorid 4.0 Jelly Bean is finally making its way stateside, with reports that the Motorola Zoom being the first device to run the new OS.  As of last night Wi-Fi Xoom users had access to the update.  - Same day shipping is probably not feasible on a broad scale says Amazon CFO Tom Szkutak.  Brick and mortar retailers everywhere exhale a sigh of relief.   - A new patent application for Apple’s possible Google Glass competitor has recently been submitted.  The patent design shows a very uncomfortable HUD display with accompanying helmet. Thats all for this week folks, have a great weekend, and stay geeky!.
July 27, 2012 VIEW POST
Will a high power USB connections make any other power port obsolete?  Engadget thinks… maybe? Last week the 100W Power Delivery spec was approved for both USB 2.0 and 3.0. That’s ten times what Thunderbolt can do, and it means that you can charge up your laptop or power most any peripheral via Universal Serial Bus. Naturally, the new specification relies on beefier cables to deliver maximum juice, but we won’t have to go replacing all our old wires — it includes a means to check attached cables and devices and set the voltage and amperage accordingly. Perfect, that means we won’t have to carry around bundle of proprietary power cords when we travel… It would be pretty cool to be able to travel with JUST a few USB cables to charge all your gadgets.  Standardization, its a good thing. Image credit via DJ Tech Tools
July 24, 2012 VIEW POST
Hey guys, I just had an article go up over at Technorati, check it out HERE. Its in regards to Amazon’s possible plan to place delivery centers in most regions of the country, with the aim to provide single or same day shipping, and how this move could shift the landscape of the consumer market place.
July 24, 2012 VIEW POST
As a follow up to my previous post about brisk early sales of the Nexus 7, apparently the sales for the 16GB version have been much better than previously expected.  In fact they have been so good that Google has pulled the 16GB version from their Play store. According to the Guardian Google expected the 8GB version to be the big seller, but apparently concerns with the fact that they cant upgrade the storage have lead to a run on the larger capacity tablet.  Good for Google, as I have previously, the success of these tablets can only be good for us.
July 23, 2012 VIEW POST
Misguided Geek Friday Tech Update Quick rundown of the Tech news of the day:  - Cnet has a great running list of all the iPhone 5 rumors floating around out there, as well as a new video with wildly entertaining Brian Tong on the new iPhone, iPad, and the Apple V Samsung ruling.  - Want a big TV?  Sharp Recently introduced 70”, 80” and even 90” models, Samsung revealed a well regarded 75” beast, and LG has an 85” 3D Smart model going on sale in limited quantities in Korea.  None of these are cheap, most coming in at the $10K mark, but the LG monster is going for about 25 Million Won, which at current exchange rates is $21,914.65.  - The Australian carrier Vodaphone was to be the first in the world to begin rolling out Android 4.1, Jelly Bean.  The key word there is was, as apparently the updated Android OS does not meet the countries requirement regarding emergency calls.  I guess Australians will just have to make due with recent Internet phenomenon, Michelle Jenneke, the Australian Hurdler who has set the internet aflame with her… uh… “warmup rutine.”  - Not to be left out, ZDnet has a rundown on all the news regarding the first Windows 8 Phone, which reportedly will be produced by Nokia, and the latest word on Office.  What is left out of that report is that Microsoft recently reported its first quarterly loss… ever.  Maybe the Surface will turn things around? Thats it for this week.  Go see The Dark Knight Rises tonight, read my review, and then come back here Monday for another full week of tech, comics, and science fiction.  Stay geeky!
July 20, 2012 VIEW POST