Category: Product Reviews

Latest gadgets, gizmos and hi-tech services

AS I am watching the “Pseudo Live” launch video on Adobe.com for the CS5 suite, I can’t help but think how great everything looks in the pre-recorded video.  Great production value! There are hundreds of Tweets on the subject as we all listen in for our specialized area of interest…. I heard nothing about transcoding video from Premiere or what the status of the Adobe Media Encoder is, which are the applications I use the most as a streamer of media, followed closely by good ole’ Dreamweaver.

Video looked great, Adobe Mobile Video looked great on the innocuous ”Mobile Device” they featured (ahem, iPhone?)… As far as you can tell from a video they produced and mastered in their Adobe CS5 suite… especially with all those “easy to use effects” in Adobe After Effects.  Everything was great…

And then, the live launch video ended. read this entry »

As a kid there were two things I asked Santa Claus for every year:
1. a robot clone that would do my homework and clean my room and
2. A hovercraft of my very own

** Yes, I ordered the one advertised in the back of the comic book and was sadly disappointed when it was too small to actually fly around in. However, that dream could soon be realized!! At least the second one – and I tell you what, if I come across $13K in the next year – and find somewhere to park the thing in NYC – I am definitely going to buy one! Imagine flying over the traffic in NYC’s rush hour! Ahhh, to dream a little dream… this is exactly one of those things that makes life worth while!!

The hovercraft functions as a stand-alone vehicle, but with the detachable wings in place it becomes a small aircraft capable of a top cruising speed of about 60 miles per hour. While it doesn’t fly very high, the 1.8-liter engine pushes the craft to a ceiling between around 10 feet — plenty high to clear fences, cars and the inevitable slack-jawed onlooker — and has a range of 140 miles.

I really have come to loathe the quality of Time Warner Cable service in NYC – they deny any knowledge publicly of the constant packet dropping, jitter, channel freezing and the spontaneous ”reboot” of their STB’s – of course ignoring a problem doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.  In search of better service, I am doing a little comparison shopping for TWC vs. DirectTV.  I am a New York gal, born, bred and buttered in this land of love & fine dining… I need NY1 to kick off my work day… Direct TV does not carry NY1 and that is a big turn off.  As I am trying to find out what service providers do carry NY1 that are NOT TWC, I couldn’t find the provider list on the NY1 website, but what I did find was a whole lot of DirectTV ads.  Who was the brainiac who came up with that media buy??

What are your thoughts, if I have to leave Time Warner Cable and want to keep my NY1, where should I turn???

Direct TV media buy on NY1 - irony or bad choice?