Category Archives: TV

Billy Mays Checklist for Inventors Who Want to Be Seen on TV

Business & Economy, TV, Video

‘As Seen On TV’, Billy Mays summed up what he and his partners are looking for in an invention or product on the interesting tv series Pitchmen.

1. Does it have the wow factor?
2. Does it have mass appeal?
3. It is demonstrable?
4. Does it solve a problem?
5. Does it give instant gratification?

So now you know the minimum requirements for developing a product that might make you rich and be seen on tv via Telebrands, the “As Seen On TV” company.

UPDATE: Billy Mays died while sleeping on 6/28/2009.

Slingbox SlingPlayer iPhone App is Available for $29.99

Apps, Movies, TV

the much anticipated slingbox iphone app has been published in the itunes store. but somewhat to my suprise it’s not a free app for slingbox owners. it’s currently listed for $29.99. the iphone slingplayer is now the most expensive iphone app i’ve paid for; i guess in a few weeks or months i’ll know if it’s worth it, right now i’m not happy that i had to pay for it.

the bad: it only operates on wi-fi, no doubt an at&t restriction. as a u-verse cable customer, the app doesn’t have a remote feature for the “ok” button. there is an “enter” button which acts much like the “ok” button when typing in channel numbers, but the big problem is that when i connect to my u-verse cable box and it’s not active on you must hit the “ok” button to bring up the guide and/or channels. when you hit the “enter” key on the sling iphone app without a number it alerts you to select a valid number… no bueno (PROBLEM SOLVED, SEE UPDATE). the biggest bad is the price 🙁 it should’ve been free, or least a lot cheaper. i wouldn’t even complain if it was $4.99.

the good: video and audio quality are good. slick and intuitive interface.

funny thing is i just happened to discover the slingplayer iphone app was out on my own, but randomly logging into the app store on my iphone.. instead of being alerted by slingmedia.. why did i sign up for the email alert?? maybe it went into my spam folder.. o well.

here’s the official slingmedia info page about the >> slingbox iphone app

UPDATE: the tech support folks at Sling were quick to resolve this issue for me.. it’s just taken me a while to post this update but better late than never. check it >> iphone slingplayer missing remote buttons

Got Slingbox? iPhone app almost here

Apps, Movies, TV

i finally bought a slingbox. i ordered it from amazon at an insanely discounted price with free shipping. anyhow i set it up last night in 5 minutes and tested it at work today for just a couple of minutes and it was soooo clean. i’m looking forward to having access to the other information superhighway (my uverse cable account) every i go so long as i have internet access.

slingmedia said that they would release an official slingbox iphone app before the end of the quarter. so, any day now 🙂

How to Pitch an Angel Investor (and how not to)

Business & Economy, TV, Video

so a friend recently turned me on to a tv show that’s been running for a couple of years now on the BBC called Dragons Den. it’s awesome. i wish i had known about it sooner. basically it’s a group of successful wealthy business men and women who are currently occupied primarily with angel investing. btw, raising venture capital and getting angel investments are two different things. here’s a good article detailing the differences between venture capitalists and angel investors.

anyhow, this is a great show where money is ‘won’ not necessarily because somebody ate the most bugs or randomly picked an appropriate sequence of numbered briefcases or knew the 5th POTUS wife’s name.. or knew what POTUS stands for… but rather because they successfully pitched something valuable and creative with the potential to improve the quality of life for a number of people. those who don’t ‘win’ usually get an ear full of.. umm.. constructive criticism.

here’s a sample video clip of the Dragons Den show:

Liberty, Thomas Jefferson, Ron Paul

Movies, Politics, TV

have you seen Ken Burns documentary on Thomas Jefferson? I just watched it last week and I’ve got to say it was extremely impressive. my intrique with Liberty has been re-energized. however, i’ve got to thank Ron Paul for this. if i hadn’t heard his political views in last year i don’t know when i would’ve taken the time to dig a little deeper into our country’s founding on the principals of Liberty. as an American it’s easy to take our privledges for granted; from here on out i refuse to do so.

in the upcoming elections there a 3 primary political philosophies that are battling for the acceptance of the American people. they are Federalism, Anti-Federalism and Socialism. i’m not going to spoon feed you my beliefs on these matters, but i do think you should take the time to research these political philosophies for yourself… start with Wikipedia… that’s easy enough right?

Democracy is young and because it affords more personal liberties than any other form of government it allows the few ‘representatives’ put into power the ability to take legislate away Liberty itself.

Republican Debates on YouTube

Politics, TV, Video

dunno if you watched the Republican Party Presidential debates on YouTube and CNN… but i did. i’m not a party member.. in fact i’m not a huge fan of ‘political parties’ in general. btw, i also watched most of the last Democrat YouTube/CNN debate (i forgot to DVR it, so i didn’t catch it all).

anyhow, i figured i would give you my synopsis… remember these are my personal opinions (it’s cool if you don’t agree)

Mike Huckabee: used his Southern Babtist charm to come across a humbled yet driven man of virtue. who’s goal it seems is to be President regardless of what group of people will vote for him… even though he might openly disagree on moral and ethical issues… cause he’s ‘gonna do whats right’ instead of ‘represent the majority of Americans’. this guy seems very nice, but i fear that he has that ‘God tells me what to do… not you the American People’ philosphy GW subscribes to. ~kinda scary

Rudy Giuliani: the guy did a lot for NYC… he didn’t fold under the serious pressures and turmoils after 9/11… but this guys closet has waaaaay too many skeletons that haven’t been dealt with. Bill Clinton looks square compared to the stories that come out about this guy. after all his talk… the only thing i get from this guy is that if elected we’ll get a lower crime rate. but, he’s not convincing me on any specific policies. ~this is the guy the Dems want to race against

John McCain: wow this debate openend my eyes a little on this guy. pure politician. thanks McCain for your military service, but did i hear you imply that we should’ve stayed in Vietnam??? maybe he’s had that opinion all along and i’m too out of the loop to have known that… but yuck. he absolutely detests torture… no surprise there. ~becoming scary

Mitt Romney: flip flopper? well… he saw the light… can a Republican trust him??? i dunno, but he’s the ‘slick willy’ of the Republican Party. ~slick willy

Fred Thompson: this guy would play a great President on a made for TV movie… jk… but i’m thinking i’ll pass on this guy… he’s already running dirty ads against his fellow party members… canibalization begins. ~not a bad guy, just too vanilla

Ron Paul: this guy is the ‘real’ Republican.. even though the watered down lobby’d to the brim party shuns him. RP is the kind of no BS representative that the others on the stage should hope to emulate… regardless their personal political views. ~rocky

the other guys: ho humm… great guys i’m sure… but if you missed it… then you missed it.

there ya go… you made it this far… wish i had a cookie for ya! just remember to VOTE!!

Apple TV $299 Now Shipping

Movies, Music, Technology, TV

it’s out now, the set top box from Apple known as AppleTV. the reviews are mixed, but for the most part it seems that this is the best product of it’s kind that has been released… that’s a trend apple hopes to keep moving forward. i’m seriously considering a purchase for myself on this one. i’ve been wanting a nice way to remote control my ipod, while it’s plugged into my home theater, and the solutions that were previously available just kinda sucked. the appletv would be an overpriced solution for just remoting my ipod, but having access to the itunes library might prove to be worth it. i dunno tho… i already have movies on demand through my cable provider (time warner) and a blockbuster@home video subscription that already tends to provide more video than i seem to ever have time for… so i dunno. anyhow, just wanted to spread the word about the appletv, i think a lot of people are gonna love it. (aapl)

more info >> http://www.apple.com/appletv/

Man Versus Vegas

Fun, Funny, TV

have u seen Man vs. Vegas… it’s insanely cool. this guy, Darren, apparently lost several million dollars in the late 90’s and has decided to take his last 1 million and share the wealth playing high stakes games with whoever is around and willing to play with him. i saw where he got a group of ladies playing penny slots and took them over to the $100 slot machines and gave them each $500 but they had to spin the machine 5 times ($100 each spin) and they would all split the total winnings… they ended up with a few hunderd dollars profit after all the spins… but Darren decided to give each of them a little extra!! how cool is that… i hope i bump into this guy on my next trip to Vegas.

check it out it’s on CMT >> Man vs. Vegas

The Oscars

Movies, TV

did u watch the oscars? i caught the end.

i was happy to see Jamie Foxx win best actor. actually it was a little surprising. not because he didn’t deserve it, but because the academny is known for passing on ‘one hit’ actors. but i think this year the academy realized that Jamie’s portrayal or Ray Charles was undeniably genuis.

the other oscars nominees and winners can be found at:
http://www.oscars.org/77academyawards/nomswins.html

if u haven’t seen Ray, check it out!