What's Noo?
A blog for noobies by Patric Welch, techie and all around fun guy.
There is a lot of buzz in the news about the upcoming conversion to digital television. While I am a big fan of educating the public on what they need to do to prepare for the conversion, at the same time I am getting frustrated at how the messages are being conveyed to consumers. Take, for instance, the coupon program offered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). It seems that the media thinks everyone should scramble right now to claim their two $40 coupons which can be used towards a digital-to-analog converter box. While this may indeed be… Continue reading...
I’ve been caught on more than one occasion preaching about how easy TiVo is to use. TiVo is one company that just gets user interface design. But in case you aren’t convinced, consider what my six year old son did tonight without a stitch of guidance from anyone: Powered on the television and A/V receiver. Pressed the button on the remote for the TiVo main menu. Pressed the down arrow on the remote three times to highlight “Pick Programs to Record”. Pressed the select button on the remote. Realized “Search by Title” (the option he wanted) was already selected. Pressed… Continue reading...
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I finally got around to downloading my first movie to my TiVo HD DVR using Amazon.com’s Unbox service. The service was a little tricky to set up given that I had to do some of the work on Amazon.com’s web site and some of the work using the TiVo interface. Although I stumbled my way through the setup process without too many issues, I do worry that noobies may have a little difficulty with the process. the setup process The setup process basically involves identifying your TiVo device, assigning a credit card to your account used to pay for the… Continue reading...
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One of the first questions people ask me when they hear the name of my company is what is a noobie? I usually give them my standard answer of someone who struggles with or is afraid of technology. But sometimes it just helps to have a real world example. Take, for instance, this article I read on Gizmodo, a popular technology-related blog. The mom mentioned in this article is definitely a noobie. sony confuses my mom …and she has a PhD. Here’s the adorable email I had waiting in my inbox this morning. Subject: blu-ray So, Mark, this would replace… Continue reading...
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Upon returning from some morning errands today I realized that I did both of my errands without ever speaking to a human being. The first stop was the post office where I used the automated postage machine to mail a Priority Mail package to my accountant. The second was to fill up the car with gas using my credit card to pay at the pump. This got me to thinking. With today’s technology how many more errands could I have made without ever speaking to a human being? I could have run to the grocery store and used the self-checkout.… Continue reading...
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