Amazon Announces New Kindle Tablets and Readers

Amazon today announced a revamping of their readers and tablets. They are now available for pre-order.I am looking forward to more details on the tablets - I've had a chance to use the original Kindle Fire. Overall, it is a nice little tablet but it lacked some key features, most notably an HDMI port and a USB port that's good for more than just charging and transferring files. A microphone and camera would be nice, too - the original Kindle Fire has neither.

From Amazon, on Sept 6, 2012:

Dear Customers,
Today we're excited to introduce the all-new Kindle Fire HD.

Cache Free TV or Cash Free TV? A New Direction...

Cash Free TV

Today, I want to let readers know that www.CashFreeTV.tk now redirects to http://CacheFreeTV.blogspot.com. Either address will bring you to this blog - for now.

Does this mark a new direction for "Cache Free TV"? Well, yes. And no. Eventually, Cache Free TV and Cash Free TV will split off into two distinct blogs. Cache Free TV will continue to provide news and information about Cache Valley, Utah, while Cash Free TV will be a more generalized Free TV resource for the USA and perhaps the world. The two blogs will share most of the general content. But for now, the two will web addresses will point to the same place, and be the same blog.

So, why the changes, and why the ".tk" domain instead of ".com"?

The End Is Near For Traditional Pay TV

"Some day TV will be invented, and it will be FREE!
 And then it will cost money..." ~ Homer Simpson

Pay TV: Change or die.
It doesn't matter what the traditional multi-channel providers (aka "pay TV") do to protect their turf. Eventually the pay TV "package concept" where you have to pay for 150 channels that you don't want, just to get the 5 channels you do want, will fail.

Gradually, viewers are moving away from traditionally distributed pay TV to other sources. As the customer base erodes and income from traditional sources drops, content creators will seek out whatever method of distribution provides them income. The longer Pay TV providers continue bury their heads in the sand, the worse their odds of survival become.

For years pay TV customers have wished for, begged for, pleaded with their pay TV providers for one thing: Ala Carte. The choice to pay for just those networks that they want, and nothing more. And pay TV providers respond by doing as they always have. By turning a deaf ear.

Pay TV has managed to get away with this since cable TV came into being, because customers have had little or no choice. You either pay the cable monopoly in your city for TV, or if you can have a satellite dish, you can choose from two other providers*.

*Fine Print: Satellite TV requires a 2-year commitment.

They like it that way. And they will do whatever it takes to preserve the status quo. There has always been little or no competition among pay TV providers. Until now.

Amazon Cloud Player coming soon to Roku

From The Official Roku Blog:
 

As you know, we’re always working to expand the selection of streaming entertainment available on Roku, and we’re thrilled to announce that Amazon Cloud Player is coming soon to Roku in the United States!

Cloud Player makes it a snap to shop from over 20 million songs, upload your own music collection, create and manage playlists, and stream your music from the cloud – all from the comfort of your living room. Today, Amazon launched some great new updates to Cloud Player, including secure backup, scan and match technology, and free audio quality upgrades."
We’re excited to add the updated Cloud Player to our 500+ and growing channel store in the United States, and we’re currently working with the Amazon team to finalize the channel. Stay tuned!

Where To Watch The London 2012 Olympics

There's been a lot of searching on the internet by people looking for ways to watch the 2012 London Olympics. I've done a little research and find there's more then one way to see Olympic games. This is by no means a complete listing of sources, and it will be updated if I become aware of other sources. If you have found coverage that isn't listed here, please feel free to update this information by adding a comment.

So, lets look at the sources I've found for 2012 Olympics Coverage!

PBJ Network Finally Gets A Home Page.

PBJ network finally has a home on the internet. You can visit at http://watchpbj.com/

Nice layout, you can view their programming and schedule there, also.

Below (on the next page) is the PBJ schedule, Effective 3-26-12.

Internet Links For TV Networks

 Today's post is just a quickie - Links to streaming content from broadcast and cable TV networks. I will add to this list as I find more content. Note that some of these sites offer full episodes, and others are just clips. Most of the content is "on demand" shows, there are very few networks offering live streams.
All the links are for computers, not for streaming devices.

Survey: Nearly One Tenth of Americans Have Considered Cut The Cord.

From the Antennas Direct Blog:

According to a study conducted by consulting firm Deloitte, approximately 9 percent of users subscribing to premium television programming such as cable or satellite TV ditched those services in favor of online options during 2011. With more than 2,000 respondents between the ages of 14 to 75 participating in the survey, eleven percent are considering “cutting the cord” during 2012 since they believe their favorite television shows are already available online. Beyond that group, an additional 15 percent want to try out movies and television shows via online digital sources in the upcoming months.

Younger consumers between the ages of 23 to 28 were the most likely to “cut the cord” in 2012 with nearly one-fifth of that age range considering the move. As age increases, Americans are less likely to ditch cable or satellite service. Only seven percent of people between the ages of 46 and 64 are considering the change and just five percent of people beyond 65 years of age are doing the same. However, many respondents value DVR service like TiVo almost as much as premium TV service and 80 percent of respondents have no plans to stop paying for cable or satellite service this year.

The study also found that increased accessibility to online media has driven usage up over the last two years. With set-top boxes, gaming consoles, smart televisions, Blu-ray players and smartphones offering access to digital media such as movies, the amount of people streaming movies has risen from 28 percent in 2009 to 42 percent in 2011. In addition, the amount of people that prefer watching a movie through a streaming source rose from 4 percent in 2009 to 14 percent in 2011. Other devices, like eBook readers and smartphones, have increased the amount of people consuming newspapers, books and magazines on a digital device over the paper alternative. The survey also found there are many more homes with smartphones in the U.S. as that number jumped from 25 percent in 2009 to 42 percent in 2011

 In addition to those mostly younger viewers who are just now cutting the cable cord, there is also a group that's not mentioned: Those that never had pay to begin with, that intrepid group that put up an antenna long ago when there were only three networks to watch, and they never saw the value in paying for TV. Now they have 20-60 channels of TV to watch for free. Having never paid for TV they've saved thousands of dollars over their lifetimes. They've probably got more than an extra $100,000 in their retirement accounts than they would have had if the jumped on the cable bandwagon long ago.

You thought Grandma and Grandpa were just old fashioned and cheap. Turns out they are cutting edge hipsters!

Stop The Data Caps!

While I'm a big fan of OTA TV, I also use the internet to provide not only Netflix but other content that is unavailable OTA. I have no problems with reasonable caps on wireless access, which is indeed finite, but landline internet providers are now jumping on the "bandwidth cap" bandwagon at an alarming rate.

There's really only two reasons for these caps: The first, of course, is profit. If providers don't have to build out their distribution systems to handle the services they themselves promote, they can save money, at the same time charging for overage fees. The second is more troublesome: Since almost every internet provider also offers some sort of competing video service, these caps serve to "protect" those legacy video services. With most areas of the country being held hostage by monopolies or duopolies, we can't even "vote" with our wallets and leave for another provider.

For more information, click on the link below:

Stop the Cap!

Did 9 Million Cable Subscribers Cut The Cord?

WSJ: 
Did 9 Million Cable Subscribers REALLY Cut The Cord?
Survey reports 9 million have cut the cable.
Cable companies: "We don't see it."
Someone's either blind or lying, who is it?
(Hint: you can always trust Comcast. They've never lied to anyone. EVER.)

Note that all they talk about in this piece is internet TV, nobody mentions Free "Wireless" TV with an antenna.

What Can You Do With a Roku?

Several people have asked me recently about streaming media set top boxes. Having a HTPC media computer connected to my LCD TV, I never used one of them. After asking several people their opinions, I decided I would try a ROKU box. In fact, I tried 2 of them: The top of the line Roku 2 XS, and the bargain priced Roku LT. Roku first introduced the streaming set top box to the market, and continues to be the industry leader. Of course, there are plenty of other ways to connect your TV to the internet nowadays, ranging from Apple TV,  Boxee, and Roku, Internet connected TV sets and Blu-ray players. I chose the Roku because of its reputation, access to lots of content, and price. If you're wondering what product you should choose, check out this review of network streaming devices.

If you've decided that a Roku player is for you, you'll need to choose the model that works for your needs and budget.