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Why So Cheap?

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment

   OK. I’ll admit it – I’m guilty. I knew I was doing it all along, but really didn’t think anything of it. I’m certainly not the first to point this out, but a friend called me out on it and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Why is it that we can sometimes be such cheapskates when it comes to buying apps, but won’t hesitate with other purchases? Is it that we feel we deserve free apps because we’ve spent so much on our mobile device(s)? Do we think the developers of apps don’t deserve to be compensated for their work? Is it that we feel we’ve been “burned” in the past by purchasing apps so we feel that we will never fall for that again? Actually, I personally think it’s something a bit more simple – quite frankly, we’re spoiled.

   What brought it to light for me was that one day I had downloaded/installed a pretty awesome video editor app (the name escapes me at the moment). You could take videos and pictures from your device and add them to the app. These clips were uploaded to a web service and after a few minutes, you would have an awesomely edited video with transitions! You could add filters, music, and text. The catch? In the free version, you were limited in the length of the video, and you could only view the finished video in the app or on the website. Want to be able to download/save the video, or share you your favorite social media sites? No problem! Just pay $4.99 for the premium app!

   When I found this out about the app, I turned to my friend and said, “$4.99!!?? Are they crazy!?”
To which, my friend calmly said, “Oh. So, you don’t think they deserve $4.99 for their work on making the app, then taking your videos and making them awesome automatically for you, then allowing you to edit them  and download them from their site that they’re paying for?”

   Wow. My friend was right. This got me thinking about how I approach all apps. You see, I tend to be a $.99 or free kind of guy. I may splurge from time to time and plop down $1.99, but that’s my limit! Anything above that takes some serious though, consideration and research.

   And isn’t that simply pathetic? 2 BUCKS!? You would think I was considering purchasing a new car! On top of that (and I’m sure many of you are the same), I won’t hesitate to buy some other thing that can cost much more than that, and then rationalize the purchase by saying something like “…oh well…if it doesn’t work out it was only 20 bucks…” Case in point – years ago, I saw a commercial for a little red gun-like gadget that claimed to fix ANY strand of Christmas lights if one light went out. It was just like any other infomercial in that it claimed to not be sold in stores anywhere. However, as Christmas rolled around that year, I noticed it at our local Walgreen’s in the “As Seen On TV” section for $10. I used that old rational I mentioned above. I didn’t even hesitate like I would have had this been some app! By the way, turns out this little light gun works and I still have it although I’ve since moved on to LED Christmas lights. Fortunately the manufacturer has released one for LED bulbs

   But the point is, it seems that if it is a tangible item, we are more likely willing to risk getting ripped off than we are for even a mere $.99 app. I do agree with many who say that all app developers should make a free, limited version so that we can try before we buy. But in some cases this isn’t feasible – especially in the case of a lone developer.

   “Buyer beware” applies to all purchases. But risk losing $.99? I think I can spare it.

   Have you noticed yourself acting the same way about app purchases? What is your typical per-app purchase price limit? Please feel free to share!

“Why so serious cheap?”

Plex Parental Controls….sort of.

Leo J. Allen Jr. 12 Comments

   As many of you know, I am a huge fan of Plex. In fact, I consider it an essential element of Cord Cutting. As far as I’m concerned, there is no equal for managing you movie / TV library.

   For my home, I have my Plex library divided into 3 categories –
1. Movies
2. Kid’s Movies
3. TV Shows
   Plex does an excellent job with all the Metedata for all my content. Cover art, theme songs, movie/show descriptions – it’s all there.
  As we currently have 2 little ones in the house who have no problem using Roku to select their favorite movies, it dawned on me that there is one important element missing from Plex – Parental Controls.
   For the most part, our boys stick to shows / movies that they know have content that we as their parents feel is acceptable for them to watch. And we have no issues with trusting them, as far as trusting a 4 and 7 year old can go. But in my movie category, there are selections that I simply don’t want them to stumble upon. To me the solution seems somewhat simple, and there are actually a couple of things Plex could do to address this.
   Multiple User Profiles: This seems like a rather obvious answer. Since Plex is a server, there should be an Admin profile which controls what content is available to any other profiles the Admin creates. This would include what categories, channels and settings would be available to these other user profiles.
   Folder PIN and/or Passcode: This initially seemed like the obvious answer to me. For every category that the Admin saw fit, there could be a PIN or Passcode required in order for others to view the content. 
   Simple request, right? Well, I thought so. So being a lifetime Plex Pass owner, it was off to the forum I went and posted my suggestion / request. The only response I got was notification that there was already a “Very Popular” thread about the same topic and I should go there. I guess I should not have been as surprised as I was to find that there are countless others who have the same concern. Not only that, but it seems this issue has been brought up to the Plex Devs over the past year and a half at least. 
   I reached out to the Plex folks via Twitter, and was informed that they have plans to address this.
   This is good to hear, but in the meantime I stumbled upon an alternative while visiting the forums – Plex RARflix. 
As you may note from my Tweet above, I initially thought RARflix fell short of what I was attempting to accomplish. But then the Dev contacted me and told me the simple (and almost genius) steps to make it all work –
“On Computer
1. Confirm your PMS is logged in with your primary myplex account (preferably with PlexPass)
2. Create secondary myplex accounts @ https://my.plexapp.com.  After creating secondary myplex accounts logout of my.plexapp.com
3.  Login into https://my.plexapp.com as your primary myplex account Share whatever sections you would like from your primary myplex account with secondary myplex accounts. You will then have to log into my.plexapp.com as the shared user and accept the invite.
4.  Login into Plexweb (via my.plexapp.com), with each secondary account and verify shared library sections are working correctly & are accessible.
5.  Log into Plex/Web with your Primary myplex login. Click on settings (wrench & screwdriver logo on top right). Click on “Show Advanced settings”. Click on myPlex. Check “Require authentication on local networks” checkbox.
On Roku
1.  Launch Rarflix and sign into myplex with your primary myplex account on your default user.. 
2.  On Rarflix go to Preferences > User Profiles & create another profile. (User 1)
3.  Exit out of Rarflix app
4. Launch Rarflix again, this time you should see an option for default user & User 1, select User 1
5. While logged into User 1, goto Preferences >myPlex & log in with your secondary account.
6. Go back to Rarflix home screen and confirm you can view your shared library sections..  If you can, then everything should be done..
You should now be able to exit out of Rarflix & select either user profile & everything should work as expected..
After you have confirmed every works correctly with your 2 user setup, you can add more users bye repeating steps 2-4 on your computer & 2-5 on the Roku.”

 One other step I had to take that he didn’t mention was that, before connecting the additional profile(s) account(s), be sure to go into Preferences and remove the local server address that is there (it’s your local machine that you have Plex installed on), and disable Discover at Startup. Otherwise, a loop is created and the app will simply crash. It may be that I probably skipped step 5 on the computer setup side, so if you follow those steps correctly you may not have this issue.
  As of now, Plex RARflix has replaced the regular Plex app on all my Rokus. Each has 2 profiles – the “main” family profile, which is PIN protected, that contains all content, and the “kids” profile, which only has the kid’s movies and TV shows. Below is an example of a multiple user setup (not mine) –
   and the PIN screen –
   So as of now, my Plex server has the parental controls I need!
   I don’t in any way mean this post to be a jab at the Plex guys, but I wonder why it’s taken so long to implement such a thing as Plex has gone practically mainstream. Maybe just an after-thought? Who knows. And I’m confident they’ll get it worked out.
   But in the meantime, if you’re like me and are looking for this type of control, I suggest giving Plex RARflix a try! It has tons of other customizations that I haven’t even mentioned here!
   If you want to give it a try and have questions, as always feel free to contact me. 

Chromebook – A Laptop With Its Head In The Cloud

Leo J. Allen Jr. 2 Comments

Many moons ago, there was chatter and speculation about “The Cloud”. It seemed there was no getting away from all the countless discussions regarding Cloud Computing’s pros and cons. In all honesty, during that time, I was highly skeptical. In fact, I have to admit, at one point I called the whole idea stupid, and a foolish security risk – especially to enterprise systems.

Fortunately the world doesn’t revolve around me, so “The Cloud” continued to grow and grow until it reached the point of normalcy that it is today. Along the way, bit by bit, I found myself embracing more and more of this “stupid idea”. For me, it all started with Drop Box. I’m not sure why – maybe I was finally seeing a practical, day-by-day end user use for “The Cloud”.  Drop Box seemed to be the trigger for me.

I had already been wrapped up in GMail, and unable to survive without Google Calendar. But then Google dropped a huge bomb… Google Drive. This was huge for me because finally all of my Cloud solutions were going to be in one place. In the interest of time, and to try to bring the focus back to the true topic, I eventually got an Android phone and tablet – the rest is, as they say, history…

You’re probably wondering, “Brother, what does all of this have to do with the Chromebook?”. The simple answer is – everything. I mention all of this to preface what I believe is absolutely essential when considering purchasing a Chromebook. Quite simply, you have to have at least a basic understanding of Cloud Computing in order to understand and use a Chromebook. I also wanted to point out my current state in The Cloud before reviewing this device so that you understand that I’m not speaking purely from a “Google Fanboy” perspective – I do most all things cloud-based. In fact, aside from  recent installations to achieve Cord Cutting, and a piece of music production software, it has been a few years since I’ve actually installed a physical PC application for day to day use.

The Chromebook I am using is the Acer C710. Unlike most blog posts of this type, I’m not going to list all the specs here – you can simply click on the hyperlink to view them. In fact, this blog post really isn’t about the model I’m using. It started off that way, but after speaking with some upset clients, reading negative reviews and comments online, I began to feel it that it was more important to clarify what a Chromebook is and isn’t. One quick blurb about this Acer model – it’s smooth, speedy, and has a beautiful display. I may do a full product review of it at a later date.

First, what Chromebook isn’t – Chromebook is not a Windows laptop. Chromebook is not a Mac Book. If your day-to-day depends on downloaded or disc installed applications, Chromebook will not run those applications. In fact, you cannot install Windows (.exe) applications on it. You won’t be able to download Microsoft Office (though Google Drive offers a similar productivity suite). Chromebook is not Windows. Chromebook is not Mac OS. Chromebook is Chrome OS. You can download pictures, videos, documents and the like. You simply cannot download and install applications like you are accustomed to on PCs and Macs.

What Chromebook is – as the title says, Chromebook is a purely cloud-based laptop. From office productivity (via Google Drive), to entertainment (Play Music, YouTube) and social networking (Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter) – everything is done online via cloud computing. I personally see this as advantageous. Remember the days of working hard on a presentation, spreadsheet or document, only to have your PC crash for whatever reason and you lost it all? Not with Chromebook. All of your pictures and music? All safe in the cloud. Even if, for some reason, your Chromebook died all of your work is stored safely in the cloud and is accessible via any PC with an Internet connection – simply log into your GMail account. No more computer running slow as it waits to load an installed application – all apps and extensions are run through Chrome itself.

If you already are used to extensively using Google’s cloud based services, either via a PC or Android smart phone or tablet, you are pretty much experiencing what a Chromebook experience is like minus a physical keyboard and larger screen. From a personal perspective, I have yet to come across anything that I do during my normal day-to-day on a PC that I can’t do on my Chromebook. But again – I have not relied on installed PC applications for some time now.

From a larger scope perspective, I have seen reports of school districts around the world adopting Chromebooks in the classroom. I think this is an excellent idea. Seeing as everything is web-based, a school with a well secured network and knowledgeable admin will have a better, more hassle free experience than a PC or Mac based environment in my opinion. From a security perspective alone, removing the ability to download potentially harmful pieces of software is well worth the switch to Chromebooks. Having all the apps the schools would use based in the cloud also eases the hassle of having them locally installed or based on an in-house server. I could go and on promoting cloud computing for schools, but perhaps I’ll save that for another entry for another day as well!

All said and done, would I recommend a Chromebook for someone looking to buy a new laptop? Most certainly! In fact I would encourage anyone to become more familiar with cloud computing, learn how to use cloud based productivity tools, familiarize themselves with uploading their music and picture libraries, and enjoy the many games and videos available. With this blog entry I hope to offer at least a bit more understanding as to what to expect when taking a Chromebook into consideration. Sadly, I’ve had clients tell me, “but, the sales person at ____ told me it’s just like laptop x, but I can’t get it to do….” It’s this lack of understanding that I hope I’ve at least shed a bit of light on. Bottom line is, I love the Chromebook and I think others will too provided that they fully understand what it is.

12/10/2013: A date which will live in Cord Cutting Infamy

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment

Back in August, I blogged about  my first weekend with Chromecast, in which I shared my feeling that although Chromecast has a very attractive $35 price tag, the actual content left a lot to be desired. Sure – there were the usual suspects: YouTube and Netflix. But that was about it.

Being a lover of pretty much all things Google, I knew that (based on Google’s track record) it would only be a matter of time before this changed. Well that time came yesterday, 12/10/2013.

A date which will live in Cord Cutting Infamy

In fact, there were 10 new apps announced on this day for Chromecast. But keeping in line with my continued support (and often trumpet blowing) of Cord-Cutting, the most significant of these is Plex.

If you would like a recap, or if this is your first time viewing my blog, please feel free to check out The Truth About Cutting The Cord – Part 3: Suggested Software as well as The Truth About Cutting The Cord – Part 4: Optimizing Your Experience. These 2 entries will explain what Plex is as well as how to set it up to better optimize your Cord-Cutting experience.

Now back to the matter at hand. Plex and Chromecast. Needless to say, I (like many) have been waiting and hoping for this. I’ve told many people that if Plex made its way to Chromecast, this would be a game changer in my opinion when it comes to endorsing Chromecast for Cord-Cutting.

  For the most part, provided that you follow my setup suggestion, I can most certainly endorse Chromecast with this welcomed addition that adds more choice and more content. As the picture above illustrates, with the Plex app installed on your mobile device, you are able to “cast” all of your Plex content.
   Unfortunately, however, at the moment you have to have a Plex Pass subscription, which costs $3.99 a month, $29.99 a year, or (the option I paid for some time ago) $74.99 for life. So if you’re new to Cord-Cutting and you’re looking into this option, be prepared to spend a little to get this to work.
  One other factor to consider is that the only way to use it with Chromecast, you will have to do so from a separate device. Unlike the Roku, and most other streaming devices, there is no physical remote control. This could present an issue if your household is similar to mine – simply put, I’m the only one in my house interested in the “techy” stuff. My wife and children simply need to be able to turn on the TV and select what they want to watch. My children are too young for mobile devices, and my wife has no interest in installing the Plex app on her phone. As such, when I’m not home, there is no way for them to use Plex via Chromecast.
 Perhaps one of the most awesome factors to consider is travel. If you’re a business traveler, on vacation, or simply travel frequently for other reasons, you can take your Chromecast with you and have access to all of your content on your Plex wherever you go! (provided, of course, there is WiFi available and a TV with an open HDMI port).
 Overall, Chromecast is slowly but surely taking its place in the growing arsenal of Cord-Cutting gear.

Must Have App – 500 Firepaper

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment

 I’m not a fanatic about it, but I must admit – I love a nice wallpaper on my mobile devices! So, I search and finally decide on a beautiful wallpaper that I love….for about a month or so. Then, I’m back to square one – looking for that ultimate wallpaper for my mobile devices.

500 Firepaper to the rescue! This must-have app does all the work for you. It pulls beautiful, high-quality photos from 500px.com at update intervals that you set (30 seconds, 1,2,5,10,15 or 30 minutes, or 1 hour) and automatically sets them as your wallpaper. In fact, there are quite a few cool settings included –

  • You can display all images in black and white
  • Change the categories of pictures to pull from
  • Adjust the brightness
…and more!
What if a wallpaper shows up that you don’t like? NO PROBLEM! Simply tap the wallpaper with three fingers and 500 Firepaper will load a new image!
 So, if you’re like me and like to have a great wallpaper on your mobile devices, but want to have an easy way to keep it fresh, 500 Firepaper is a must have app! 
 One word of caution – I would strongly advise parents of children with mobile devices to proceed with caution with this one. Every available category may not be suitable for the kiddies (specifically, there is a “Nude” category). Not that any of these categories are distasteful in any manner, but I think it’s worth a mention to avoid any shock or surprises.
500 Firepaper can be downloaded for Android devices via Google Play.

I Told Ya’ It Would Make Sense (sorta)!

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment
Today, Moto X users found out what the seemingly force-installed Motorola Spotlight Player is all about in a fun-filled, interactive short titled “Windy Day“.
  This short was created by Jan Pinkava, co-director of Pixar’s “Ratatouille”. Simply put, a mouse discovers a pretty red hat and he simply HAS to have it. The only problem is the annoying gusts of wind that keep snatching it from his clutches – reminiscent of the squirrel from “Ice Age” chasing the acorn.
   And that’s where the fun comes in – you move your Moto X (and your whole body at times!) around to keep your view on the hat and the mouse, seeing all things around you in this make believe world as if you were there! 
    There’s all types of other woodland creatures, trees, and even a cool ending scene with a view from the sky.
   Overall, I think it’s a cool and interesting Easter Egg type surprise with plenty of future potential. Windy Day did get a bit, well, long-winded (it lasts for about 4 minutes) so I’m not sure if maybe making the experience a bit shorter would be more enjoyable. 
   But hey – I like goofy and fun things and this certainly falls into that category! So I say “Good job on this, Motorola!”
  If you’re a Moto X user, I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below about Windy Day, and the whole idea behind Motorola Spotlight Player.

You Get What You Pay For, But How Much Does It Cost?

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment
It’s one of the oldest of old school pieces of advice ever given –
You get what you pay for

  In fact, I’ve said it countless times throughout my life, and tend to follow it – especially when it comes to tech gadgets. And for the most part, it trends to hold true without fail. Recently however, I may have run into the all-important exception to the rule.

  In  The Truth About Cutting The Cord – Part 2: Equipment and Cost, I suggested the Motorola SURFboard eXtreme SB6141 (DOCSIS 3.0).I also mentioned that I had originally purchased a Netgear equivalent to this model, the CMD31T, but it kept periodically dropping the connection.

At the time, I purchased the SB6141 for $149.99 – not the most expensive modem on the market, but enough of a price that I expected top-notch performance with no hassles. In other words, I expected to get what I paid for. Unfortunately the SB6141 turned out to be anything but hassle free.

 From the onset, something seemed odd. Whenever I would log into the modem’s interface, the log would have countless errors listed – some controlled, many others not. At first, this did not present an issue. But over time, many errors began showing up as critical, and the modem would reboot on its own. At first, it happened a few times so I didn’t think much of it. But over time the condition got progressively worse.  Then, the oddest thing happened.One day, I was home with my sons – one taking a nap and the other on the couch with me watching a movie. It was raining pretty hard outside, but I didn’t think much of it. But then, there was an earth-shattering BOOM! Yep – of all things, our house got struck by lightning. As you might imagine, there were a few electronic items that were lost. But that’s what insurance is for!

  The SB6141 was still functional though, so I replaced all the other damaged items and in a day or so my network was back up and running. 


  Well, sort of….  The rebooting issue got worse and worse. The error log was multiple pages long. Finally, after day or so of hoping things would get better, and having Time Warner come out and replace the main run to our house and several inside, I decided to go ahead an replace it. Thniking it had to have been damaged by the lightning strike, I returned it and got another SB6141. Two days later, I got a text message from my wife telling me the Plex channel would not play. I established a remote connection and checked the error log of the brand new SB6141 – it was deja vu all over again…

   Fortunately, the Time Warner tech who came out was the kind of tech all techs in any industry should be – an honest one. He had told me that the SB6141 was actually known to have these issues. In fact, although it’s listed in the top group of modems to buy on the Time Warner website, he said he would not recommend it. In fact, he had one at his home and had the same problems with it and got rid of it.

  Now, before anyone asks “didn’t you read any reviews before you bought it?” – yes I did. However, the majority of the reviews were positive so I chose it. Plus, I’d had Motorola modems in the past that didn’t give me any problems.

  So, as soon as I could, I took down the new SB6141 and headed to Best Buy for yet another warranty exchange. Oddly enough, while reading random reviews of other modems, I found one that seemed to consistently get 4 – 5 star ratings from users.- the Zoom 5341J. Better yet, this modem was only $74.




   The Zoom has turned out to be what a modem should be – a simple, working device. I’ve logged into the interface periodically to find what I should have found with the Motorola – 0 errors, 0 correctable, with 0 noncollectable. And, to this day, it continues to simply work, as a modem should.

   For the most part, “you get what you pay for” may ring true. But the exception to the rule is –

Higher price does not always mean higher quality

It Will All (probably) Make Sense Soon

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment

 If you have the Moto X, and if you are like me, you’re loving it. Smooth running, great battery life, etc. You may have also noticed that you got an “update” to an app you never installed and didn’t even know you had – Motorola Spotlight Player.

That’s because you didn’t have it. There was no associated app icon or widget. When I first saw it in my notification drawer, I chuckled a bit and thought it had something to do with the recent SOAK. But then I tapped on it and immediately realized that something entirely different was going on.

  As Android Central’s Jerry Hildenbrand puts it –

 “After installation (yes, you’ll install it, too) you have a new 1 x 1 widget and three new activities in the software. Tapping the widget will show you two of them — the page that tells you Motorola can’t wait to show you how all this works and that your Moto X loves you, and a page where you can opt in or out of the service — which Motorola swears will have no ads.”

   Some people have freaked out about this. I’m not one of them. Some hate when apps force install. Me, not so much when it’s an app that’s installed on a device I already love, from a trusted company. Sure, it may end up being lame, but I can opt out and uninstall if I think it is.

   So sit back and relax, fellow Moto X’ers, and wait until the 29th to see what this is all about (or, “aboot” for my Canadian family and friends!). From what I’ve seen from Motorola thus far when it comes to all things “X”, I’m banking on it being pretty awesome!

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/VAJXkZ0WB_o&source=uds

Advertise All The Things

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment

 Today, you may have noticed an interesting banner in your browser, received an email from them, or (if you’re on Google Plus) got a notification.

  Well, it seems Google is taking advertising to another level. As they put it, in simple terms, they might start including your picture and name.

From the Terms of Service update page –

  • First, clarifying how your Profile name and photo might appear in Google products (including in reviews, advertising and other commercial contexts).
  I’ve already seen some negative feedback about this. It seems to me that, in today’s NSA paranoid society, anything that may even give the hint of personal information possibly shared without one’s consent has many ready to call foul. However, as I tell people all the time – you’re logged in right now, reading this blog, you’ve probably checked Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, or what have you…guess what? You’ve already given consent. YOU have already made the personal choice to share “yourself” with the world. Of course you have, and deserve, an expectation of privacy when it comes to personal emails and messages, but the things you do out in the open (especially on social media sites), are pretty much fair game.
 The fact is, it’s not like Google is simply doing this, or forcing you to participate. You have the option to choose not to participate. As for me, it simply doesn’t bother me. In fact, I welcome it. I would love to research an item or device and see a picture or review from someone I actually know giving their review or rating of it, as opposed to someone I don’t know giving the same run-of-the-mill review as every other web site. This, I feel, is a welcomed attempt by Google to make what we may be considering to purchase an even more personal experience. 
 Others may argue that, if I were included in an actual commercial from Google, I would be getting paid so Google is basically “pimping” free advertisement. But to me, this is like arguing against being a background extra in a movie – people volunteer for that sort of thing all the time, the movie makes millions, and the background extras get $0. Again folks, you don’t have to participate in this and Google has made it very simple to tell them “no”.