Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Making the Digital TV Switch A friend has ruined me with his huge digital TV. I won't go into the gory details, but let's just say I'm saving up for a huge digital TV. Since I have digital television on the mind, it's a good time to remind you that all stations in the U.S. will be transitioning from analog to digital-only broadcast on February 17, 2009. If you live in Wilmington, NC you already have digital-only broadcast and Hawaii will go digital-only on January 15. The rest of us have two months prep time. My post from August talks about the difference between analog and digital TVs and the chart below outlines what you need to do: Do you own: Get your programming from: By Feb 17, 2009 you'll need: Analog TV Over-the-air or an antenna A Digital-to-Analog Converter box or to purchase a digital TV. Analog TV Cable, satellite, or other paid service You DO NOT need a converter box. Your service provider should handle everything. Digital or High Definition TV Over-the-air or an antenna Do nothing. Digital or High Definition TV Cable, satellite, or other paid service You Do Not need a converter box. Your service provider should handle everything. If you have an analog TV and need a digital-to-analog converter box, you can apply for a coupon to get one and you can go back and check the status of your order. Be sure to test your converter box after you install it. We had some great discussions the last time I posted about this and since then I've found this PDF paper that answers some more detailed questions. If you have any questions or issues with the transition, let me know in the comments. Suggestions for a new large screen digital TV are also appreciated. - Jake [Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog] 6:00:11 PM     BookCrossing Tracks Your Books In The Wild [Recycling] . If you're looking for a novel way to keep your books out of landfills, release them into the wild with a tracking number from BookCrossing.com to see how far and wide they roam. After signing up for an account you can begin tagging your books and releasing them. Give them to friends, leave them on airplanes or coffee shop tables, anything to put them out where they can be found and enjoyed. Each book you release will have a unique ID number that allows future readers to visit BookCrossing and track where the book has been and what other people have to say about it. Some of the more well traveled books have hundreds of entries showing where they were found and what the readers has to say about the book. You can order labels or simply download the templates from their website and print them on label paper. If you'd like to jump right in and start sending lots of books on new adventures, you can order packets of pre-numbered labels. All the pre-numbered labels are registered to your account so all that's left to do is slap them in the covers of the books and leave them in interesting places to be found and passed on. If you're in a tracking mood, check out Where's George and track the meandering paths your dollar bills take. Bookcrossing [via DumbLittleMan] [Lifehacker] 5:51:31 PM     Security Experts Advising You Stay Off Internet Explorer (For Now) [Internet Explorer] . A serious scripting hack that can grab passwords (or, potentially, do worse) from any version of Internet Explorer is leading security and malware experts to suggest switching from Internet Explorer to Firefox, Chrome, Opera, or any other browser, if only for the time being. Microsoft itself is, of course, asking users to just be cautious while it works on a fix. The BBC article thumbnails security tips, including switching IE's security settings to "High," if you won't be migrating (or can't switch at work). [via] [Lifehacker] 5:50:55 PM

© Copyright 2009 Jocelyn Shaw. Last update: 1/2/2009; 2:24:07 PM. Photo curtesy of Marjorie O'Brien