Technology

You may have noticed a couple weeks ago I posted that I was switching from my Windows based Laptop to a Macbook.  The switch did not last long but it was due more to my unfamiliarity with the Mac Hardware than it was the platform itself.  I used the Macbook for several days before I encountered a hardware problem.  The problem turned out to be a bad stick of RAM.  That can happen to any system but I wasn't really thrilled with the way the Mac indicated that it had a problem.  It just sat there and beeped at me and would not start instead of giving me some kind of helpful error message.  I ended up sending the Macbook back to Apple but I have been regretting that move since then because I really did like OSX better than Windows.  I may end up getting a newer Macbook in the near future if I can sell my Laptop first.  I found the Mac to be a pretty easy platform to get used to and OSX handled multi-tasking much better than I have ever experienced with Windows.

What you may ask is U-Verse.  U-Verse is an IP TV solutiuon that is provided by AT&T who happens to be my employer.  I have been waiting patiently for U-Verse to become available in my area and I finally got it installed this week.  I have only had it for a couple days now but so far I am very happy with it.  The product is still fairly new but from my perspective it is just as good as the Dish that it replaced.  I used to have occasional brief interuptions with my Dish because I live in the flight path into an Airport.  I don't have to deal with that anymore.  The set top boxes are actually a little smaller than the one I had with Dish and I don't need to worry about where I have coax anymore.  The transport for the Video to all of my TV's is Cat5 and that is a lot easier for me to get in than Coax.  The potential is there for this to be Wireless in the future as the video stream is only about 3 Meg for an SD stream. The faster Internet is a nice benefit that comes along with U-Verse.  On my old DSL connection I was too far from the Central Office to maintain a signal above 3 Meg.  With U-Verse I now have a 6 Meg connection and they will start offering a 10 Meg connection on 2/1 and I plan to try it as soon as I can.  I try to use the products that my company sells as it just makes sense to support my employer.  It makes it a lot easier when the prodcut actually works well and you can get excited about it.  U-Verse is one of those products for me.  I am not a TV power user so the limitation of a single HD stream at the current time really does not impact me.