Friday, July 05, 2013

Home Movies


Such a Deal!


Res Ipsa Loquitor


I own a 48"  HD Sony television.  I have a developing cataract in the right eye that makes stuff blurry.  I have ears that show the wear of a million rounds of ammo fired (you did not wear ear protection when throwing hand grenades or firing an M-1 back in the day), and from the 10.000 watt speakers blaring out Twist and Shout at the Peppermint Cave.  So,  I use wireless earphones,  and sometimes have to squint to read yellow captions on a white background when trying to make sense of foreign movies, which include British and many American films. But I have discovered Nirvana in this i-PAD. 

I sit in my lazy boy holding a book that shows all my NetFlix and Amazon movies, in crystal clear high definition (I can  count individual bumps on an  areola) .  The closed captions are always easy to read, and the audio fed through my little Apple ear buds is quite adequate

I have SKYPE installed,  and can talk to cuzzin Rickey in Chad, or wherever the hell he is now, and watch as his lovely girlfriend passes behind him while fetching morning coffee. Free.

I'm damned near at the point where all I need by way of anything electronic is a  Wi-Fi connection.  Verizon is this close |-| to becoming obsolete in my world.  I think they know it.  I suspect that companies like Verizon will begin to take us back to the days when Compuserve and AOL charged customers (usually, exorbitantly) by minutes used.  That will leave the door open for companies to offer cellular type access to Wi-Fi.  Companies like NetFlix will allow subscribers to choose content ala carte, which will be a death blow to many of the parasite cable shows that don't draw a break-even audience. 

So, this iPad has made me a believer.  I suspect other androids will offer the same benefits, and possibly the same quality, but I have the Apple, so I'll stick with that.




15 comments:

leelu said...

Welcome to the 21st Century!

polyp said...

ios and android both suck and are front ends to the nsa (hi!) so it's a toss up.

Anonymous said...

One word.....ROKU.
I have 3 on different TVs.
The newest one has a headphone jack built into the remote control.When used it mutes the TV.

poletax

Steve in Greensboro said...

I agree with you about the iPad -- it is great for internet browsing, email or video. I sit in front of a computer at work; not doing that at home. It is nice to be able to stretch out in bed and read you, a novel or watch a movie. With earphones, I don't wake up the better half.

And I agree with you about wireless. Wi-fi is fine at home. For traveling, we use wi-fi too (Starbucks, hotel, Jiffy Lube, everywhere). I'm not sure what the point of wireless is anymore; it's too expensive, too slow and you can get wi-fi for free everywhere. Sold my iPhone and cancelled my wireless data plan.

Helly said...

I have the Apple, so I'll stick with that.

Who are you and what have you done with the real Rodger?

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Jelly, I've always said to all thr people qwabting me to use APple,"then buy me one.". SOMEONE DID

Anonymous said...


Helly, I think MoSup finally caught up with him, had enuf of his chit and done dud him inn.

Geo

Cracker Barrel Philosopher said...

The PC's my rifle, the iPad's my gun. One is for fighting, the other's for fun.

Anonymous said...

Wha? Heeello, is that you Rog?
MM

Anonymous said...

The rat bastards at Cox are little better. Sumbitches moved the guide channel and CSPAN 2 to one of the upper tiers, and whilst Nat Geo is included in the first expanded tier, you have to have a special box to get it. Bugger. On top of all that, last winter they had some kind of equipment failure that cut off email for most of a week, and then was days more for all the emails to trickle in, and out of sequence to boot. Could not even access webmail thru their SNAFU. And the sorry sumbitches made zero adjustment to the bill for the inconvenience.

Behold, they sucketh. We are moving soon and I cannot wait to tell them to shove their wires up their sorry asses where their heads reside.

Sir H the Comet

Mark said...

I'm an iDude. iPhone, iPod, iPad, and MacBook Pro. I definitely use the iPad the most of all the devices. If I use the laptop for entertainment I end up working instead. The iPhone has become a complete waste of money because I don't use it and don't need to be that connected to anything ever. If I'm in a situation where I can't get wifi I'm probably in that situation by design.

I had the iPad for exactly one day before a gave in to my wife's pleading and bought her one so I didn't have to share.

Comment made via iPad :-)

gadfly said...

Rodger:

You would see things differently with a quick 20 minute visit with your ophthalmologist to remove the cataract and put in a wonderful new lens.

As for cheep, porting your Verizon phone to Straight Talk would have brought you into the world of $50 unlimited text, data and talk. There was no need to blow all that money on an I-Pad.

I get two pay-for-time-used Ting smartphones for less than 40 bucks total per month.

Mike C said...

I recently broke down & finally bought me a tablet (Galaxy 7.0 - wifi - $150 reconditioned). For birthdays and Cristmas I had previously bought tablets for the kids. Three of those still working, one even after getting peed on by the cat (don't ask). All Androids.

Anyway, I bought it mainly for reading. It is fantastic for that. I still get my books from the library, only I don't have to go to the library to get them. Now with the larger adjustable font, I can read without my reading glasses. Pretty nice.

Two things I don't like. One is that I should have got a larger screen. The one that I have is 7" and if I am going to watch netfix with it I have to put the reading glasses back on. It also makes reading blogs a little awkward too, even with the Dolphin browser. Yes I know I could use RSS feeds, but I think that takes away from the blog experience that I am used to.

The second thing I don't like is the keyboard. The pop up one is hard to use for any lengthy writing. As anyone who has read my blog or seem my postings here, I have a hard enough time hitting the right keys on a full sized keyboard. I bought a cover with a keyboard thinking that would do the trick, but it is less than useless as the tactile feedback is like sticking your finger in a jar of jelly.

That being said, I am still finding new uses for it. The other day I was going to a new place to kayak. I shoved the useless keyboard side of the cover in the windshield crack of the jeep, and used the maps app as a GPS. Made me laugh as the other day I rode to a lunch with my boss in his Mercedes and he was going on and on about the great on board navigation and entertainment center (which was impressive). There I was with almost the same thing on my dash thanks to the holding tenacity of the useless jelly keyboard!

MErrily said...

Woo hoo! I'm getting cataract surgery on my right (not dominant) eye at the end of the month. I am the poster child for rotten luck with vision. Extremely nearsighted. Lasik caused problems and didn't entirely fix. Caused retinal detachment. Caused the cataract. This upcoming surgery is my last great shot at normal vision, which I have NEVER had. And I can't wait.
BTW, I DO like your tech setup!

Anonymous said...

WooHoo *giggles* Welcome to the world of fun toys!!

BTW, don't dump yr Verizon too soon: imagine playing online while waiting in the car for The Lovely Mo Sup; or on a long Road Trip looking up the passing sights [whatinhell is that?!?]

Verra Kewl!

e~C

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