News:

Comcast, Time Warner Cable (TWC), and all other top cable companies lost pay-TV subscribers in 2013, but the companies were able to boost their total broadband Internet subscribers, according to research by Leichtman Research Group.

Comcast and TWC, the two biggest cable companies in the US, combined for 1.1 million lost video subscribers. Comcast finished 2013 with 21.7 million multi-channel video subscribers, down 305,000 according to Leichtman’s research. TWC lost “The top nine cable companies lost about 1,735,000 video subscribers in 2013—compared to a loss of about 1,410,000 subscribers in 2012,” the research said.

At the same time, Comcast added 1.3 million broadband Internet subscribers, to hit a total of 20.7 million. TWC gained 211,000 broadband subscribers, to bring its total to 11.6 million. Comcast’s 1.3 million broadband subscriber gain accounted for “49 percent of the total net additions for the top providers in the year,” the research said.

A Comcast spokesperson noted that the video subscriber loss of 305,000 in 2013 was an improvement over the loss of 336,000 in 2012. Comcast turned things around in Q4 2013 with a net gain of 43,000 video subscribers, which came after 26 consecutive quarters of subscriber losses.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/03/comcast-and-time-warner-cable-lost-1-1-million-video-customers-in-2013/

Lucasfilm has been releasing details about the upcoming (and still untitled) Star Wars Episode VII on the slowest of drip feeds — and the latest news is practically a tidal wave by comparison.

The Disney-owned company announced Tuesday that Episode VII will feature a “trio of new young leads along with some very familiar faces.” The movie will commence principal photography at Pinewood Studios outside London in May.

Lucasfilm also confirmed that the new movie will be set “about 30 years” after Return of the Jedi — which was released 31 years ago this May.

The “trio of new young leads” suggests that director J.J. Abrams has concluded his year-long hunt for talent to represent the next generation of heroes. It seems, then, that the movie is consciously trying to echo the Han, Luke and Leia triumvirate. Open casting for the rolestook place in November in both the U.S. and the UK.

More recently, casting rumors have included almost every hot young actor in Hollywood — from Girls actor Adam Driver, said to play the villain, to Breaking Bad antagonist Jesse Plemons and 12 Years a Slave Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o.

The “familiar faces” line in Lucasfilm’s announcement hints at the movie’s worst-kept secret — the return of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in their original roles. George Lucas himself pretty much let that out of the bag talking to Bloomberg Businessweek in early 2013.

“We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison — or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation,” Lucas said of Episode VII preparation before the Disney sale. “Maybe I’m not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them.” Then Lucas walked his statement back: “I won’t say if the negotiations were successful or not.”

The question of how central a role Han, Luke and Leia would take in the film appears to be at the center of script disputes. Original Episode VII writer Michael Arndt was said to want a quick passing of the torch, and had written a screenplay that focused on the next generation of actors.

But Abrams allegedly wanted the original trio to play a larger role in the movie, and brought veteran Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan on board to help him redraft the script along those lines.

The “familiar faces” will also include R2-D2, whose presence in the movie was confirmed back in November.

Pinewood, in Buckinghamshire, isn’t where the original Star Wars movie was shot — that would be Elstree Studios in South London. The Phantom Menace was shot at Leavesden Studios. Pinewood is better known as the home of James Bond and the original Superman series.

http://mashable.com/2014/03/18/star-wars-vii-young-trio/

Google is officially getting into wearables. The company has announced Android Wear, a version of the operating system designed specifically for wearable devices. To start with, the system is made for smartwatches, and Google is moving aggressively to make itself the key name in wearables.

The company has released two videos that show off what the watch interface will look like, and from what we’ve seen, it’s very impressive. In addition, Motorola and LG have already revealed their first Android Wear smartwatches, which look more attractive than any smartwatches we’ve seen to date. Motorola’s first device is featured in the picture above and the videos below.

There are several key features that have been announced. Of course, fitness is a key component. Google says that you’ll be able to get “real-time speed, distance and time information on your wrist for your run, cycle or walk.” Naturally, that means Google Maps will be built in so that you’ll be able to get directions directly from your wrist.

The company will also be using Google Now in the watches. Automatic, passive reminders will be sent to users via their smartwatch. The watches will also connect with Android smartphones so that you’ll be able to get all the notifications that you want from whatever apps you have installed on your phone.

Google is officially getting into wearables. The company has announced Android Wear, a version of the operating system designed specifically for wearable devices. To start with, the system is made for smartwatches, and Google is moving aggressively to make itself the key name in wearables.

The company has released two videos that show off what the watch interface will look like, and from what we’ve seen, it’s very impressive. In addition, Motorola and LG have already revealed their first Android Wear smartwatches, which look more attractive than any smartwatches we’ve seen to date. Motorola’s first device is featured in the picture above and the videos below.

There are several key features that have been announced. Of course, fitness is a key component. Google says that you’ll be able to get “real-time speed, distance and time information on your wrist for your run, cycle or walk.” Naturally, that means Google Maps will be built in so that you’ll be able to get directions directly from your wrist.

The company will also be using Google Now in the watches. Automatic, passive reminders will be sent to users via their smartwatch. The watches will also connect with Android smartphones so that you’ll be able to get all the notifications that you want from whatever apps you have installed on your phone.

You’ll also be able to say “OK Google” to perform voice searches, à la Google Now. Lastly, the company is teasing multi-screen functionality from the smartwatches that use the operating system. As an example, Google says that you can use a voice command to cast a video to your Chromecast or get a certain song to play on your phone. It’s not hard to imagine more exciting uses for this technology as Google works to get Android into more hardware around the world, such as the connected smarthomes and cars of the future.

Google is working to make sure these watches aren’t hideous: Fossil and other “fashion brands” will apparently offer watches using the operating system later this year. The company says it is also already working with current Android partners like Asus, HTC, LG, Motorola, and Samsung on wearables. LG’s first device with Android Wear will be called the G Watch, and it’s being produced in collaboration with Google just like the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 before it. The device will be available in the second quarter of this year.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/18/5522226/google-reveals-android-wear-an-operating-system-designed-for

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Geek This Week:

Aaron: Compiled my 1 Second Everyday video. Veronica Mars movie!!!

Gozer: Titanfall & South Park: The Stick of Truth

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Feedback and items of Note:

So I’m running now, better weather, and I am catching up on my backlog of podcasts.

So I’m current.

Apple really did do right by you when they scuffed up your Mac. Very good stuff, however if the microphone has a “Made for Apple” logo on it — you gotta understand that Apple takes a percentage of sales from that Microphone because they actually test it and guarantee it will work with their products. So that’s really their responsibility to make sure every third party product which has that logo works as advertised — hence they are obligated to troubleshoot your Mac even if it’s a third party microphone, that’s kinda the promise when you buy into the Apple ecosystem.

Doorbot — problems not resolved. They got till end of this week — I haven’t even heard back from their “Push Notification specialists” what a crock!

If it doesn’t work — I’m trying the skybell — competing product — similar idea. (same sketchy rep, but heck, worth a shot, if that’s a no go — I’m making my own — I gotz skillz)

PS — let’s work it out off line, and setup a visit, I got lots of tech toys to geek out on.

Yakov

Hey guys. I recently downloaded a game on our Mac called rigs of rods. It is a soft body physics engine that when you crash the vehicle, the car model dents and warps the way a real car would. The game downloads as a disk image. I was attempting to install extra vehicles to one of the files in the disk image, the thing is it wouldn’t allow me to move the files. So, I used the online chat support with apple. The person on the other side couldn’t figure it out so he used the screen sharing and he figured out that you can’t modify files in a disk image. The representative was a big help and now I can play my modified version of rigs of rods. The amazing customer support of Apple is the reason why I will never buy anything that isn’t apple if there is an apple version of that.

Dawson

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