Archive for category Media
The New Job
Posted by jasoncross in Media, PC Tech, Work on December 21, 2009
I know I haven’t updated this blog in awhile…and I probably won’t update very much from here on out. Fair warning.
I got a new job as a Senior Editor at PC World. Just started last week, and I’m still getting my feet wet. Jumping in right before the Christmas holiday break and then CES is a hell of a time to start. Lots of meetings, lots of learning the product database system and publishing system and gearing up new coverage for next year and so on and so forth.
Right now, I’m getting up to speed by taking the reins of the laptop/notebook beat. But I’ll be heading up a “system group” that covers notebooks, desktops, some parts and peripherals, how-tos and stuff, things like that. It’s a goal to re-boot the graphics card coverage over there early in 2010.
So that’s all for now.
Foxit eSlick Reader Review
Posted by jasoncross in Media on November 2, 2009
You may be familiar with Foxit Software’s PDF viewing app, which is a pretty good alternative to Adobe’s PDF viewer. Did you know they make an ebook reader as well? I recently reviewed it for PC World. The long and short of it is this: it’s not that great. The interface is sort of clunky, and it really only reads PDF and plain text documents. It’s got no wireless capability at all, and it’s priced the same as other, better ebook readers. It’s no Kindle, and not the sharp competitor the new Barnes and Noble new Nook reader is. Check out the review at PC World.
I’m not sure how the review ended up with a score of 72 (good). They come up with that number as a composite of various sub-scores and stuff I give them when I submit it, but my scores were pretty low. I think the text of the review makes it pretty clear that I don’t think it’s a “good” ebook reader.
I’m Co-Hosting Press Pause
Posted by jasoncross in Gaming, Media, Work on October 7, 2009
Good news, everyone! It looks like I’m going to be the permanent co-host of Mevio’s video game show Press Pause. I’ll be talking games every week with the main host Carlos Rodela. Now, Press Pause is a fairly small operation right now, but we have some ideas to expand it. Still, you should tune in. It’s a fairly quick and painless show, and we try to keep it sort of lively. Yeah, I still have a lot of learning to do about being on camera, I’m working on it. So if you’re here, you probably have at least a passing interest in what the hell I’m up to. If you want to check out the show or help the show get better and more popular, follow the action items after the jump.
It’s Time For a New MobileMark
Posted by jasoncross in Media, PC Tech on October 6, 2009
Battery life ratings on laptops are a lie. Okay, that’s melodramatic: they’re not a lie, they’re just not telling you the truth you think they are. You read some review or look at some spec sheet or label on the shelf in a store and it says “5 hours battery life” and you think you’re going to be able to use your notebook for 5 hours. Then the battery dies in 2 1/2 hours or less. In fact, that “half of what they claim” rule of thumb turns out to be a pretty good one.
As they point out in a pretty neat article about the issue at Icrontic, the problem is that the industry standard for measuring battery life is a program called MobileMark 2007. This program basically runs your computer through some productivity apps, which are pretty easily cached into RAM on modern notebooks so you don’t get much hard disk usage. These run until the battery dies, and that’s your battery life benchmark. Wi-Fi is almost always disabled, the laptop is almost always in its most power-saving and low performance profile, screen brightness is usually at 50% or less, etc.
Zune HD Review at Maximum PC
Posted by jasoncross in Media on September 23, 2009
I recently reviewed the Zune HD for the fine folks over at Maximum PC. So go there and check out the review. I bring up a lot of points in the review, but overall I love the Zune HD. Microsoft has truly made a great device, great software, and a great service here. A lot of reviews sort of skimp on talking about Zune Pass, but it really is the major differentiator here. The software and device are really made to worth together with it, feeding you more and more music rather than just giving you control over the music you already have. I sum things up thusly:
“If you want a portable player primarily for media, the Zune HD trounces the iPod Touch. Music, video, and podcast offerings are similar, but the Zune has FM and HD radio, marginally better sound quality, 720p video output, the optional Zune Pass subscription service for music, and an honest-to-goodness superior interface. The software on both desktop and device is designed to be vastly better for discovering new music. If you want a pocket computer to run apps and play games, with music and video playing as a second-tier function, the incredibly robust App Store on the iPod Touch make it still the obvious choice.”
Zune Pass is magically awesome. $15 a month gets you all the music you want. Obviously it has DRM so that it expires when you stop subscribing. Otherwise you’d just subscribe for one month, download thousands of songs, and quit, laughing all the way to the bank. But for that $15 a month, you also get 10 song credits you can use to download 10 totally DRM-free songs you can keep forever. And believe me, when you can download and listen to as many tracks as you want, you’ll easily find way more than 10 songs you want to keep a month. This, combined with the software’s new Smart DJ feature, will introduce you to lots of awesome new music you don’t have and let you quickly, easily, and legally download it.
The Case for Zune on Mac
Posted by jasoncross in Media, Software on September 16, 2009
I’m currently working on a review of the Zune HD for Maximum PC. So I’ve been neck-deep in Zune (and iTunes) for the last few days. Of course, this comes hot on the heels of a major update to iTunes with iTunes 9, and some new iPod goodies, which I wrote about earlier. Since I’m reviewing this stuff elsewhere for pay, this is not going to be a review of the software or device (I’ll probably do a Zune 4.0 software review here in the future). Rather, this is an argument for Microsoft to finally bring Zune to the Mac.
Seriously Microsoft, it’s time. The iron has never been hotter, so to speak. The stars are aligned. And other clichéd turns of phrase. You have the right device, the right momentum, and the right opening to establish to the Mac crowd that, yes, Microsoft is indeed capable of making great software and sexy devices that have great features and are easy to use.
iTunes Got It, Zune Doesn’t
Posted by jasoncross in Media, Software on September 11, 2009
I really enjoy the Zune software and marketplace, and the subscription thing is great. But I’ve often been disappointed at the way some of the music I look for simply isn’t available. Not for subscription, not for sale, not “Album only” sales, nothing. I go and look in iTunes, and it’s there. The Zune folks say they have over 6 million tracks, but I’m honestly not sure how many iTunes has (I last heard 12 million, but that was some time ago), and this may be a meaningless metric anyway.
So I’m making a list, out of curiosity. After the jump you’ll find some of the albums they don’t have on the Zune marketplace, but do have on iTunes. Sometimes the album and tracks are in the database, just unavailable for purchase/download.
Help me make my list, won’t you? Post in the comments some of the songs or albums you can’t find available in the Zune marketplace. (If you’d like to play along but don’t have the Zune software, just go download it. It’s free.) I just started. What follows is a partial list, by no means complete, just some of the first things I found. But I figured I’d solicit some help before I got too far along.
Apple’s New iStuff
Posted by jasoncross in Media, Software on September 11, 2009
Like many other geeks that take great interest in what Apple does to for them, I followed along with Wednesday’s press event. I eagerly updated my iPhone 3G to 3.1 as soon as it was available, and constantly refreshed the iTunes page until I could download iTunes 9.
Of course, Apple announced some stuff beyond iTunes 9 and a new iPhone firmware update, like a major upgrade to the iPod nano, and new iPod touch models and pricing. There was no huge, drop-everything-and-run-down-to-the-Apple-Store announcement, but overall a decent day of releases.
(A side note: On the bus one day, I heard a group of inner city teens talk about going to the “iPod Store” downtown, referring to the San Francisco Apple Store location. That’s what Apple is to them – the iPod company. Take that to mean what you will.)
Now that I’ve had time to use this stuff and let the other announcements sink in, here are some thoughts.
Guest Appearance on Press Pause
Posted by jasoncross in Gaming, Media, Work on September 4, 2009
Yesterday I went in for a guest co-host sort of appearance on Mevio’s video game show show Press Pause. Thanks to Carlos for having me on. After going over the news and upcoming releases, we chatted about digital distribution and how it’s messing up things like sales charts. It’s especially true on the PC, where you can download brand new hot AAA games the same day they’re available in stores, and those sales never get counted on the “charts.”
Anyway, I’m going to try embedding the episode after the break here. I have no idea how I did – I can’t stand watching myself on video, so I try not to do it.
Geek 101: A Graphics Card Primer
Posted by jasoncross in Media, PC Tech, Work on September 3, 2009
Just posted over at PC World’s Geek Tech Blog is a new feature I wrote this week called Geek 101: A Graphics Card Primer. They’re apparently going to have a series of “Geek 101″ articles, this is just the first. The article is a very high-level look at some basic terms, companies, and considerations in the consumer graphics market. It intentionally leaves a lot of nitty-gritty stuff out to avoid confusion as much as possible. This is for general computer users to get a better handle on what’s going on in the graphics market and what they should be thinking about when buying a graphics card, or looking at what graphics card comes in their next PC or notebook.
So that’s the latest freelance thing to go up. I do other posts at the Geek Tech blog from time to time, and I’m not going to link all of them here. This one was much larger and more involved than most, so I thought I’d call it out.