Recently in Video Category

Saw the trailer for this last week in front of “A Prophet”. Looked interesting, although I have a natural bias towards anything banksy-related.

Exit Through the Gift Shop - Movie Site

“Video or it didn’t happen”… the dog does this almost every night if he’s left alone in the house and the closet door is open.

Out here in LA I tend to watch less television than I did before, view more feature-length films (especially because I’m working on projects related to the industry) and drive a whole lot more.

Last week I had my high speed modem installed, but I decided not to subscribe to cable television, which saves me about $100 a month in service fees. Instead, I’m going to try using a Mac Mini, along with a number of parts and accessories, as a home media center that depends on the Internet, and eventually Over-the-Air (OTA) digital broadcast television, to satisfy my video entertainment needs.

I want the system to take care of the following tasks:

• Play from streaming media sites such as Hulu and Netflix
• Play DVDs and downloaded video from services like iTunes
• Play edited HD home movies to the television, in HD
• Provide an easy-to-use interface to my MP3 collection and streaming audio online

I also require that it:

• Be stable as a rock. Never crash. I want continuous uptime measured in months, broken only by the need to restart to install a system update.
• Have minimum maintenance and upkeep - this in particular is why I am using a Mac over Windows, it reduces update hassles and hardware compatibility headaches. I want an appliance, in essence, not another system to babysit.
• Be quiet. No loud fans - I’m looking at you, Xbox 360.
• Conserve energy. At 13 watts, the Mini burns far less power than my Tivo HD and Cable Box used to.

As I work my way through the process, I’ll continue to extend this post with relevant information and links to the parts and software I’m using.

“See, now this is mockery.” - John Gruber

When Alex twittered this was the "Craziest thing that I have ever seen" I was skeptical but had to click the link... but no question, it's definitely up there on the crazy things list.

NOTCOT: Banksy's Village Petstore & Charcoal Grill from Jean Aw on Vimeo.

I'm definitely going to have to go see this place in person before it closes at the end of the week - the pop-up store is located in the West Village near Seventh Avenue and Bleeker - but this video is fantastic even if you've seen the actual installation.

The best way to view this is to go view the HD version on the Vimeo site.