Linkpost | 9.28.2011
• Apple announces iPhone 5 event for Oct. 4 – Invitations to the press include the phrase “Let’s talk iPhone”. Expect the rumor-mongering to swing into higher gear. Examples: Apple’s iPhone 5 very...
View ArticleLinkpost | 10.31.2011
Updated 2:03 p.m. • AT&T to expand 4G coverage and launch first LTE smartphones November 6th: HTC Vivid, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket – AT&T has had LTE data products for a while, and the...
View ArticleLinkpost | 1.1.2012
• Today’s Cable Guy, Upgraded and Better-Dressed – The day of the blue-collar lug plugging in your cable box and leaving is over. Cable installers need backgrounds in engineering and computer science....
View ArticleEven Apple may not be able to deliver Perfect TV
A lot of people are very unhappy with the state of TV. You need only have combed through Twitter’s firehose during the opening ceremonies for the Olympics last month for evidence. The frustration over...
View ArticleLinkpost | 11.16.2012
• Google Preps Maps App for Apple Devices – The Wall Street Journal says a beta version of Google Maps for iOS has been distributed outside the company, and a submission to Apple for approval is...
View ArticleIt’s time to cut cable’s cord [Updated]
Cable and satellite delivery of television content is king in the United States. In its latest Cross-Platform Report, Nielsen found 81.8 percent of Americans have either cable or satellite television...
View ArticleCable’s cord is cut; we’re adrift on the streaming sea
On Sunday night, many of you watched the two-hour season premiere of “Mad Men” on AMC. Although I’m a big fan of the show, I did not. Or rather, I could not. That’s because, on Friday, I called...
View ArticleLinkpost | 4.16.2013
• Google Glass tech specs: 5MP/720P camera, 802.11b/g Wifi 16GB storage (12GB usable), full day battery – The display you see is “the equivalent of a 25 inch high definition screen from eight feet...
View ArticleFor a brief, sad moment, I wanted my cable back
On Wednesday night, the Houston Rockets overcame long odds and beat the Oklahoma City Thunder – in Oklahoma City, no less – in game 5 of their NBA playoff series. Unlike the regular season home games,...
View ArticleLinkpost | 5.10.2013
• Amazon Developing Smartphone With 3-D Screen – It’s one of several devices sources tell the Wall Street Journal are under development at Amazon.com. They also warn that the 3D phone may never see the...
View ArticleThe great debate: Roku vs. Apple TV
When I first set out to go cable-TV-free, I was determined to cut the cord without buying any additional hardware. Surveying my landscape of ways to watch TV via the Internet, it seemed I had...
View ArticleA cord cutting update: Big savings, a few regrets
Four months ago, we canceled our U-verse cable-TV service and began relying on the Internet and over-the-air content for our television needs. It's been an interesting and profitable experience. Both...
View ArticleCable’s Catch 22: Watch our shows via the Net, but cable is required
There's a Catch 22 here. The Disney and ESPN apps, and others like them, allow you to watch content from these providers independent of cable or satellite TV connections. But in order to access them...
View ArticleReview: Aereo
I've been playing with Aereo for a few weeks during its beta period in Houston. The service formally exited this testing phase on Friday and began sending invitations to customers who had...
View ArticleAnalyst: Don’t expect a la carte cable TV anytime soon
The reason your cable bill keeps going up is because it subsidizes a lot of channels you'll never watch. So-called unbundling would let customers build the TV services they really want, but would also...
View ArticleWatch ABC comes to Apple TV, but with the cord cutter’s Catch-22
Want to watch ABC programs on Apple TV? You'll need a cable subscription to watch this broadcast over-the-air network.
View ArticleHBO as the Pusher Man: ‘It’s all free . . . now.’
Borrowing someone else's HBO Go login isn't kosher, but a lot of people do it. And while you may be wracked with guilt and live in fear of the cable police pounding on your door one morning, HBO's CEO...
View ArticleComcast buys Time Warner for $45 billion; Houston’s seen both providers
Houston's one of the few markets that has lived under both Comcast and Time Warner, which are merging in a $45.2 billion deal. Time Warner was one of four cable TV companies granted Houston service...
View ArticleAereo: If SCOTUS says we’re a cable company, we’ll be a cable company
Last month, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against streaming-TV startup Aereo in its battle with traditional broadcasters, the justices declared that, because Aereo's product looks like that of a...
View ArticleReview: Sling TV
The most important announcement at CES wasn’t a new, shiny piece of hardware. It wasn’t a smartphone, a pointlessly curved 4K HDTV, a new tablet or even that creepy Toshiba robot. No, the biggest news...
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