The Aereo Battle Intensifies

News Corporation is getting serious in its struggle to get Aereo offline; it's considering taking the signal from Fox off the air. All of the major broadcasters are peeved at Aereo. The small startup has found a small legal way to broadcast television live from over-the-air signals. This loophole in the copyright law permits Aereo to stream. However, the TV conglomerates are annoyed that Aereo, and anyone really could have, actually noticed this loophole, and took advantage of it. Fox is threatening to cut its over the air signal if Aereo doesn't shut down. And trust me, Aereo is not shutting down because big News Corp. is scared of a little startup. It's quite surprising that News Corp. is actually even putting that possibility on the table. You would think that News Corporation, one of the biggest media giants in the US, would not be threatening to shut down one of its services. Many people take advantage of over-the-air signals. Aereo just got lucky and found a good business model. News Corp. should really only be mad at itself, not at Aereo. I'm going to keep following the story, as I'm interested to see how it plays out.

Is Google Fiber Going to Austin?

There has been an explosion of rumors that Google Fiber is going to expand to Austin soon. And for the most part, those rumors are correct. Yesterday on the Google Fiber News section, a peculiar banner showed up: Google Fiber is Expanding to Austin, Texas. That pretty much sums up that Google Fiber will in fact be expanding to Austin Texas. Unfortunately, we do not have a timeline on rollout; so you Austinites probably have a year to get the celebration ready. Despite Google promoting that Fiber is what every American needs, do we actually need it? Google Fiber gives a speed of around 1 Gigabit per second. That is way faster than the average Joe Schmoe will need. And there is nothing we really need that speed for; besides for streaming movies on Netflix faster. Hopefully, Google or a third-party will come out with an application or product that will make you really want that 1 GB/s. Until then, I'm fine with my Comcast 100 MB/s. 

Snooze: The iPhone turned Alarm Clock

Snooze: The iPhone turned alarm clock. Literally. Snooze, an iPhone alarm clock dock is an alarm clock for your iPhone. It comes with a charging cable, so your phone won't die over night. The accessory also has a large snooze button on top, that you can just slap if you feel like going back to sleep. The alarm clock uses a free app by Snooze as the alarm clock. It's Snooze on the app store. So, if you hate your old 1990s alarm clock, this may sound like something for you. See you tomorrow!

Web page

Vdio and Rdio: The iTunes of the Internet?

Everyone knows and loves iTunes. But, there is one company that is aiming to change that. Titled Rdio, an alternate spelling of radio; the company now has an online music and video service. The music service, Rdio, is an unlimited music plan and charges by what devices you use. This price model has definitely earned its share of media attention. The new video service, just launched today, Vdio, is definitely now a competitor to iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and similar services. Vdio has the same price model as all other services: charge users by per episode. But what Vdio different, is the fact that it is web and mobile based. Consumers can watch their TV episodes and movies via their web browsers, not just using an app (i.e. iTunes) on their computers. Also, Vdio has launched an app for iPad, but I think I can make a safe assumption that they are doing quickly to get apps rolled out for iPhone, Android, and maybe even Blackberry and Windows Phone. An additional feature is that you can use your Rdio login for Vdio too. No more managing different media passwords. I think that Vdio was a wise decision. The idea of a closed system for both your music and TV episodes/movies seems intriguing. I do think that Vdio will eat up some market share, but it will be real adjustment for customers. If you are a Rdio unlimited subscriber, you can get a $25 credit. Just check your email, and you should have gotten an invitation from Rdio. All the rest of you will have to wait before you can get a peek at Vdio. They are signing people up for the public release, just take a visit over to their website, Vdio.com and click on "Get Notified". As Vdio says, "Enjoy the show!"

The Mini Printer

Happy Wednesday!! As the first campaign, I have chosen the mPrinter. The mPrinter, is basically just a mini printer. It prints on restaurant-receipt like paper, but can really print anything. From suduku to shopping lists, anything can be coded to be printed on the mPrinter. It connects over wifi, and can printed upon by just about any device. The mPrinter has succesfully reached and passed its Kickstarter goal, and you can preorder it on the mPrinter website.

Get Ready: Blast to the Past Kickstarter Week

Hey Interweb!

Get ready for the first Good Night Nerd Series, a collection of posts all revolving around a certain topic for a week. This week's series is all about awesome Kickstarter campaigns. Get excited, because the series starts tomorrow! :)

Happy World Backup Day!

It may sound ridiculous, but it's true; March 31 is World Backup Day. Techies all around the world must reaffirm their geekiness by convincing all of their friends to backup their data. As everyone knows, there are two types of people who backup their data. One is the person who backups up his data once per day. The second is who backups after they lose all their data. It is up to us to spread the world about backing up our valuable data. There are many simple and cheap ways to backup:

1. Time Machine via External Hard Drive


2. Mozy


3. BackBlaze


4. Carbonite

Happy backing up! :)