HDTV and the Writer's Strike

So the writers have gone on strike for the first time in 30 odd years I've heard. The last time led to the move to and growth of cable TV. Seems about right.

What will it mean this time? Personally I know I'll be watching more of my DVDs that I've got backed up to a media server. The discount stores often have DVD movies on clearance tables for $5, which considering I can sell the movie back to a used DVD store for $3 or so means buying new DVDs (at $5) is cheaper than renting them.

Some predict it will mean more folks will discover web media. I'd think that might be true for those who have a PC hooked up to an HDTV, but watching internet TV on my 19" PC monitor from an office chair isn't my idea of a relaxing evening of entertainment.

I predict the biggest outcome will be that people spend less time watching TV. My DVR has nothing but reruns on it from the first two days of the strike. No new content means I'll find something else to do. I've got a small list of honey-do projects that I'll surely get around to now.

I've got to replace a garage door opener. There is at least one defective light switch in the house. The sprinkler system needs to be shut down and drained for the season, and the deck furniture needs to be put up for the winter.

I'm having a great time figuring out my iPod Touch. As a problem solver I'm happy that it didn't come perfect from the store. I found a good case for it, although the case needed a hole punched in it for the headphone plug. A standard paper single hole punch will punch a hole in leather that is the perfect size for the iPod's plug. It's the Incase Sport from Target, and the Touch can be controlled through the clear plastic front. I'm also beta testing webot.com as a path to accessing my own music and photos from the safari web application on the Touch. Not perfect, as although it finds my shared music it won't let me play it directly from within my home network. I've got to go out to the web which then comes back to my PC for the music, and uses my slow internet upload speed instead of my fast home network speed.

As fast as things are developing I predict I'll have a solution to accessing my locally shared music within a week.