Puzzling results from Apple TV when there is no Internet

As of late, my ISP has been getting worse and worse; Internet connection seems to go out constantly. But the real puzzling thing is what happens to the 2nd generation Apple TV when there is no Internet.

I will still be able to stream Music, Podcasts, Photos, and iTunes U content that is stored on my computer via my Airport Extreme Base Station. However, Movies and TV Shows from my computer will not stream if there is no Internet connection. Even if it's content I created myself. I do not understand why this occurs, but it's very confusing. If other content continues to stream without an Internet connection, why do my Movies and TV Shows fail to do so?

The reason America is failing

I'm watching an old episode of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? from last year and the contestant is Tami Buechler, an elementary school teacher from Las Vegas. The only questions she got right were the 1st grade questions. Did I mention she is an elementary school teacher?

THIS is what is wrong with America today, the teacher they have are dumber than the students they are supposed to teach. And this isn't a new trend either; when I was in elementary school in the 1980s, I had some pretty dumb teachers too. I remember one time I was told my math was incorrect, just because it was printed wrong in the Teacher's Edition of the math book. That's another problem with American school teachers, if it's not in the TE then they don't know the answer (most of the time).

Same thing when I was in High School in the 1990s. I was in a computer class learning MS Excel, I coming into the class knowing nothing at all, discovered little tricks with Excel that even the teacher didn't know! Why are these teachers so stupid? This is exactly what is wrong with America, and why our education is failing, we have stupid teachers.

We should pay the GOOD teachers more money to stay and keep teachers, and we should fire the BAD teachers (like the one on the game show) that are complete morons.

Why the Lantronix xPrintServer will fail

Lantronix showed off xPrintServer at CES 2012 with a price point of $150. You can buy a new AirPrint-enabled printer for less than that. I contacted Lantronix asking how they can justify the price, Mark Tullio replied with the following:

Hi – thank you for your email about our xPrintServer and your concern about the price point. While we understand your concern about the price, we wanted to clarify the product and the market for it:

The xPrintServer is designed primarily for businesses. A price point on a more consumer version of this product would, as you mentioned, need to be lower.

Regards,
-Mark

There is only one problem with that, Lantronix showed XPrintServer off at CES, which stands for the CONSUMER Electronic Show. You go to a consumer trade show to introduce a business product? Are you a complete idiot?!? By going to CES, you told the world that your target audience are consumers. If you were trying to target businesses, then don't go to CES; go to a business trade show instead.

The Lantronix xPrintServer will fail because it is priced too high. End of story.

The problem with UltraViolet

The problem with UltraViolet is that you need multiple accounts to use it. You can't just create an UltraViolet account and be able to watch movies, you need to create a "client" account (such as with Flixster). Now after you created TWO accounts, let's say you want to download the movie to your computer. Well you need to download two additional pieces of software to your computer, Adobe AIR and the Flixster Collections App. So now you're dealing with four hassles just to watch a single movie.

(What you're presented with after clicking "download")

Another problem is there is no syncing between devices. With the old (or what I call the "real") digital copy bundled with DVDs and Blu-ray Discs that downloaded to iTunes, the movie would be synced between all devices. So if I watched the movie on my Apple TV and then wanted to finish watching it on my iPad, I could pick up exactly where I left off. HOWEVER, things don't work like that with UltraViolet! I'm watching a movie via the Flixster app on my Google TV and then I tried to watch the same movie on the Flixster app on my iPad and I started from the beginning of the movie. It did NOT pick up where I left off, like the Apple digital copy does.

UltraViolet is a complete piece of crap, and I personally boycott any movie that says an UltraViolet copy is included. I discovered a deal Flixster was having, where after creating an account you get one movie for free (from a very limited collection of below-average titles). And I only created an account, to get the free movies, so I could review UltraViolet. Now that I did, I'm glad it was free, because UltraViolet is a piece of garbage!

Apple and education

Today (January 19, 2012) Apple announced textbooks in the iBookstore for high school. More exciting are the improvements to iTunes U. Before, iTunes U was a cluster of files; a fragmented mess. iTunes U is now an app in its own right, which brings the audio, video, and text all in one unified place. This makes getting full use out of iTunes U easier and more user-friendly.

If you haven't done so yet, head over to the App Store and search for "iTunes U" and install the app to get started.

Why movie titles matter - The Karate Kid

The 2010 movie The Karate Kid staring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith (son of Will Smith) would have been good under a different title, but disappoints under the current title. Trying to bank off the title of a successful series of movies from the 1980s is no way to make a movie. Think of Nicolas Cage as an example. After his first movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), he changed his name (he's credited as Nicolas Coppola in Ridgemont High). He didn't want to be successful because of his uncle Francis Ford Coppola; he wanted his success to be of his own merits. However the producers and director of The Karate Kid (2010) didn't feel so inclined to succeed on their own merits.

Karate is a Japanese martial art, but the movie is set in China. Also, the boy doesn't learn Karate, he learns Kung Fu; an entirely different form of martial arts. The movie would have been better served being called The Kung Fu Kid, or like it's called in Japan Best Kid. I think Best Kid would have been a good title for American distribution, rather than The Karate Kid which insults both the 1980s movies, and the Japanese.

When creating a movie, it's important to consider the title as well as the story and plot. However in this case, the title was butchered by Hollywood. The title is what brings what would have been a solid 4-star movie down to only 2-stars. If it wasn't for the excellent acting by Jackie Chan, this movie might have even been brought down to 1-star due to the title.

Hollywood, you need to take movie titles more seriously; and put more of an effort into using a correct one. I wonder what Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita would have said about the title of this movie.

If you want to see the real Karate Kid, pick up the 1984 version at your favorite video store. Here are links to the The Karate Kid series on IMDB for your reading pleasure:

• The Karate Kid (1984)
• The Karate Kid, Part II (1986)
• The Karate Kid, Part III (1989)
• The Next Karate Kid (1994)

If, however, you're interested in the fake Karate Kid, you can find the IMDB link here

Google, we want iPad apps!

Google recently added native iPad support to "Google Translate" but there are still other Google apps that have yet to get an iPad facelift. These include:

Google TV
Google Voice
Google+
Blogger

I wish Google would update these iPhone apps to work with the iPad. Sure you can hit "2x" on an iPad to (somewhat) fill the screen, but it's not really the same thing as having native iPad support.

Dog the Bounty Liar!

The commercials have been running for over a week about the new season of Dog the Bounty Hunter and the episode in the commercial mentions the arrest of "Baby Lyssa" last year. However, tonight (January 4th) is the start of the new season, and what do you know... there is NO mention of the arrest! A&E lied about which episode would start off the new season just to get higher ratings (in the hope more people would tune in to see Lyssa arrested).

This is a bold-faced lie and A&E should be ashamed with themselves. This is a horrible example of false advertising. I normally don't watch the show, because I think it sucks. But I watched it tonight just to see the episode that was advertised. This is NOT the episode that was advertised. A&E you owe me an hour of my life back!