Author: Andrew

Track Movies Like You Track TV with Letterboxd

I’ve used TVShow Time! (now called TV Time) for over a year and it’s been a great resource to keep track of show’s I’m watching and shows I want to watch.  I always wished there was a similar tool out there for Movies.  When I reached out to the developers at TV Time I was told it had been “discussed”.

Without a useful app I resorted to keeping a list in Evernote that I would try to keep updated and accurate.  The problem with this list was the lack of social integration and reviews/ratings by others.  Then I found Letterboxd.

Letterboxd is about as close to TV Time for movies as it gets.  It has a huge database of movies you can add to your “Watch” or “Watched” lists as well as thousands of users form around the world sharing reviews and opinions.

And like TV Time it will tell you WHERE to find your movies online through integration with a service called GoWatchIt.  All you need to do is create an account and tell it which streaming services you have access to.

Let’s say I want to watch the 1963 classic “The Great Escape”.  All I need to do it look it up and check the Watch area in the movie description.  I see that I can rent it from iTunes for $3.99 or Amazon for $2.99.  There are also options to purchase it through the various streaming services as well.

After adding my movie list into Letterboxd and clicking around to discover all the options I was happy to drop $19 for a year of their Pro subscription which adds filtering and complicated query functions to get the best out of the site.  It has an iOS companion app as well as an app for the
AppleTV.

If you love movies and want a great way to keep track of the ones you see, own, or rent, you should give Letterboxd a try.  Let me know in the comments if you use Letterboxd or if you prefer another service.  I’m curious to see what else is out there I might have missed!

The Final Piece of the Cord Cutting Setup

I just realized the cord cutting “experiment” I started 2 years ago is still going strong so I think we’re beyond experimenting & it’s become a lifestyle.  I’ve not run into any real issues but managing an antenna for each TV was a bit of a pain.  Not having DVR capabilities made catching some shows (like F1 races at 2am) a little more difficult.

I’ve been waiting for a new type of antenna to come out for over a year.  The Mohu Airwave is a device that allows you to get access to Over the Air (OTA) content from various devices on your Network.  No more running COAX cable or antennas to every TV.  Now your web-enabled devices (Smart TV, AppleTV, Roku, iPad, iPhone, etc.) can stream LIVE OTA content!

After mentioning the Airwave and the past due release to the Executive Chef at Kibbyhanas I learned of an even better product that’s available NOW!  The HDHomeRun line of products connect to your home network just like the AirWave and are 100% compatible with the PLEX DVR service.  This meant that not only could I get rid of all the ugly antennas in the house I could also DVR any OTA program free of charge using my existing setup and storage.

To setup the HDHomeRun you need to connect it to a WIRED Ethernet connection and connect an HD antenna.  I put everything upstairs in the corner of a room so it was out of sight had had better line of sight to the TV Transmitters.  Now that I have everything setup I may be moving things to the attic on the other side of the wall.

A bonus I quickly discovered was my Smart-TV treated the HDHomeRun signal on the network just like a COAX input so all the automation I had set up would continue to work like before.  Win-Win all around!

The only negative I can say about all of this is your network needs to be able to handle the amount of wired and/or wireless traffic generated by multiple HD streams.  I have a slight bottleneck in my setup that should be resolved soon with a new (faster) network switch.

If you’re looking to make OTA content available on more devices on your network and like the idea of getting rid of antennas on all your TV’s you should check out the HDHomeRun line of products to see if they might be right for you.

10-Years of Blogging

I was cleaning up the Blog today & realized this version of IndyScan.com came online just over 10-years ago.

A LOT of things have changed since then, especially when I look at the technology posts.  Back then I was using the Palm Treo and transitioning to the Blackberry.  When the iPhone was first adopted at my company I was one of the last holdouts to turn their Blackberry in.  I still miss that keyboard sometimes…

10-years ago the world was a different place.  We were still pretty sore from the 9/11 attacks and a 512 GB SSD drive was about to be released to the general public.   Tech has changed SO MUCH that it’s really hard to believe where we are now (self driving cars!?!).

I have a few draft posts I’m working on including an update on the cord cutting project.  I added some new things to round out the setup and make it even better.

More to come soon!

 

It’s HOT Outside So It’s Time for a Blog Update!

This is one of the first weekends this summer I’ve spent the majority of my time inside.  Between the cycling, kayaking and fishing it’s been a wonderfully busy summer and it passed by quickly.  So here we are during the first weekend of FALL and the temps are in the 90’s.  I thought I’d share some updates about what’s been going on.

I found a box of Pearl Sugar in the pantry the other day & decided to break out the waffle iron for another round of Liege Waffles.  I wrote about these back in 2011 and they are worth the effort.  My only caution is they will gum up your waffle iron with caramelized sugar.  Cleanup is best done after things have cooled down so the hardened sugar can be chipped off.

After spending a lot of time riding the Monon trail these past few months I decided to mount my little GoPro Session to the handle bars and start recording some of the ridiculous stuff  seem to  encounter every ride.  I’ll post some video after my next ride.

On the Podcast front I’ve discovered several new ones this summer.  The ones I found to be the most entertaining are:

Twenty Thousand Hertz – Dallas Taylor does an amazing job bringing you “the stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds”.  My favorite episode so far is the story behind the NBC chimes.

Week in the Knees – Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, the guy who lived on MacDonalds for a month, is back with a weekly recap of the news you might not have head about.

Countdown – Detailed stories about 10 of the most incredible space missions during the race to the moon 50-years ago.  Lots of NASA audio recordings and interviews make it a very well produced podcast from Time Magazine.

After driving near this place for years I finally stopped in the little town of Brookville Indiana and checked out the amazing Brookville Reservoir.  We spent several weekends this summer kayaking and fishing this place and absolutely love it.

Brookville has a great tail water below the dam that’s stocked with rainbow and brown trout.  When the conditions are right it’s an awesome place to fly fish.  The reservoir itself has a lot of bass and other native Indiana species.  We’ve had success fishing from the bank and from the kayaks.  Since it’s only a 90-minute drive from home it’s an easy place to go for a day trip.

I’m looking forward to more beautiful weather this fall.  I need a few more weekends on the water and bike before packing everything up for the winter!

…To be continued

Triple Click iPhone Home Button Trick

Trying to get back into the blogging habit after a long hiatus.  Too many distractions with the amazing summer weather we’ve been having this year!  I’m working on a recap of what we’ve been up to & should have it up here in a week or so.

BUT, for now I’ll publish a draft I had sitting in the queue and hopefully it’ll come in handy for some of you.

I don’t know about you but in my world manufacturers and restaurants have this silly habit of using smaller and smaller fonts everywhere.  Case in point, try looking at the IMEI number on the back of your iPhone.  It’s TINY!

BUT, I have a solution to share with you that I’ve used for a while now.  It’s call the Triple-Click-Magnifyer and it’s amazing!

1. Touch the “Settings” icon on your iPhone’s home screen.

2. Touch the “General” button followed by the “Accessibility” button.

3. Touch “Triple-click Home” (or “Accessibility Shortcut”) located at the very bottom of the Accessibility screen.

4. Tap any of the accessibility options to assign that option to the Triple-click Home function. A check appears next to the option to indicate you selected it. If you select more than one option, the iPhone will ask you which one you want to activate when you use the Triple-click Home feature.

I only use the Magnifier option at this time and it works amazingly well.  It’s not the same as firing up the camera and zooming in.  It allows for much closer focus and an almost unbelievable amount of zoom.

Now all you need to do is unlock your phone and quickly press the home button 3-times.  That’s it!

If you found this tip helpful let me know in the comments section.

Apple AirPods – One Month Later

It’s been a little over month since the AirPod First Impressions post (and a month since I’ve updated the Blog, wow!) and the AirPods have earned a place in my Every Day Carry kit.

I was a little concerned about the battery life at first but it’s turned out to be a non-issue.  I’m only charging the case about once a week and rarely have the actual AirPods in my ears for more than an hour at any one time.

For some reason the AirPods seem to feel ever so lightly larger in my ears than the wired EarBuds but without ay kind of precision measuring tools I can’t confirm that’s the case.  Once thing I did start to notice is the seams where the halves come together had an ever so small sharp edge to them that I could start to feel after about 30-minutes of use.  I was able to smooth the ridge out with a very fine sponge backed emery board and now it’s not an issue at all.

As far as sound goes they sound better than the EarPods with just a little more bass that’s noticeable with most types of music.  Microphone pickup is very sensitive and I was told during one of my tests the other party could hear me breathing.  Sound quality on both ends is more than acceptable and is similar to what you would find when using the phone.

I have an iPhone 7 Plus and occasionally find it hard to line the phone up with my ear to get good sound.  That’s where the AirPods become my favorite method for making and receiving calls.

Evidently the AirPods are sill in short supply and as of this writing Apple is still showing a 6-week lead time on shipping.  I have yet to see another person wearing a pair of AirPods which I find surprising.

If you want to spend the $150 on a set of truly wireless headphones and you’re willing to wait a few weeks I still think these are a good purchase.

First Impressions – Apple AirPods

After purchasing Christmas presents for everyone on my list this year I decided to get myself a gift.  After 3-weeks of waiting the package finally arrived…  Apple AirPods!

I love listening to music (mostly Spotify) whenever I can and after seeing the AirPods announcement last fall I was curious about how they performed.  Thanks to a lot of media outlets getting advanced units the reviews were out there before the AirPods were even available for order. For the most part they were very positive.

I’ve tried the inexpensive Bluetooth earbuds connected with a cord that is supposed to go behind your head and I’m not a fan.  The cord gets caught up in your clothing and makes the entire process rather uncomfortable and annoying.  Now, with the AirPods, you can actually go completely wireless and it addresses all the issues I was frustrated with.

The AirPods sound better than the EarPods that come with the iPhones.  They are just slightly larger and, in my case, fit very comfortably in my ears.  The bass is noticeably improved and the overall sound is very nice.  Battery life and bluetooth range is very impressive too.

These are not going to replace my Bose noise canceling over-the-ear headphones that I use when I want to tune the world out but they will be part of my daily carry for those times where I need a little music to make the day go a little better.

It’s to early to say if they were worth the $159 asking price but so far I haven’t regretted the purchase!