ray aguilera

Now Playing: Net Flix, Sans DVDs

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:29:13 -0800

Despite the bold promise of Internet video, the reality is that your couch is much more comfortable than your computer desk. But there's that old "last mile" problem--how to get the movies and other video content from the Net to your TV. Netflix has offered video streaming for well over a year, but the MPAA's insistence on DRM-protecting the content delivered to paying customers, and Apple's refusal to license its Mac DRM solution--while scofflaws continue to download things for free--has kept Mac users shut out. Roku has mostly solved both of these problems, with its new Netflix Player, a set-top box that brings Netflix's streaming content directly to your TV.

Setting up the box was painless. All told, we went from zero to watching a movie in less than 10 minutes, including the time it took to move our entertainment center and navigate the maze of cables back there. The player sucks down video via your home network, connecting either over Wi-Fi or a wired Ethernet connection. Out of the box, the player comes with a composite A/V cable, but it also sports HDMI, component video, S-video, and optical audio outputs if you bring your own cable.

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Great Wine Found At Lost

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:38:20 -0800

The Bay Area food scene is known for an almost obsessive focus on the local. This most virtuous culinary goal is fairly easy to achieve, since we're next door to some of the greatest food and wine producers in the country. You might be surprised, however, to find that some maverick winemakers are making their homes even closer than you might think.

In a nondescript building in the industrial section of Oakland, Lost Canyon Winery is turning out award-winning pinot noirs and syrahs in addition to a single white viognier. What started as a hobby for the winemakers has turned into a full-fledged commercial winery operation that's spitting distance from the 880.

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Top 10 Apple Screensavers

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:22:11 -0800

Truth be told, the necessity of the screensaver is behind us. Since CRT monitors have gone the way of the 12-inch Powerbook, most people don't need to worry about screen burn. Yet we still love screensavers.

Why? Some of them do useful things. Others are pure eye-candy. Your friends couldn't care less about seeing TPS reports on your new Cinema Display, but fire up one of these cool screensavers and watch as everyone becomes mesmerized.

10. SETI@Home

SETI@Home falls into the "useful" category‚ sort of. It fills your screen with colorful graphs, but it's what's behind the scenes that's truly fascinating. SETI is a "distributed computing" project that connects your computer to a network of machines analyzing data. In this case, your machine's idle cycles are used to search for aliens. I want to believe.

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Distraction-Free Writing: WriteRoom Review

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:04:09 -0800

There was once a time when I was obsessed with bells and whistles. If there was a new feature in a piece of software, I wanted it. More sliders, buttons and fiddly bits was always better.

Lately though, my tastes have changed dramatically. Once my bread-and-butter app, (so much so that it automatically opened on startup) I can't remember the last time I opened Microsoft Word. And I doubt I'll ever go back. These days, I'm finding myself living more and more inside simple text-editors for grinding out writing projects, grocery lists, html, and pretty much everything else I do on my Mac.

One of my favorite new writing tools is WriteRoom by Hog Bay Software ($24.95). The genius of WriteRoom is that it's stripped-down interface doesn't let you do much besides write. Essentially, WriteRoom gives you a full-screen blank slate, with no buttons, menus, or other distractions. WriteRoom can even be set up to completely obscure all your other open windows. So instead of fiddling with tables, line-spacing, or your iTunes playlist, you can just sit down and write. As it turns out, rather than being a limiting experience, the ability to focus 100% on content is quite liberating.

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Ghetto Love

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 17:12:47 -0800

It takes a certain kind of person to enjoy The Getto Gourmet. You have to be adventurous, and in the words of founder Jeremy Townsend, you must be willing to "let strangers put things in your mouth." A couple years ago, he and his borther inadvertently started The Ghetto Gourmet, a roving underground speakeasy/restaurant/performance venue that offers stellar food by professional chefs in living rooms, backyards, and parking lots across the Bay Area and beyond. The A.V. Club recently sat down with Townsend to discuss what makes his Ghetto so special and where his band of culinary pirates is headed.

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Cool Space

Thu, 01 Mar 2001 18:56:30 -0800

What is cool space? Ask a broker or developer in the Bay Area, and they'll give a knowing look and a nod. But ask a twenty-something South of Market dot-commer flush with stock options what cool is, and you'll get a very different answer than that of her fifty-something investment banking counterpart.

Despite the vagaries of the fuzzy term "cool space," nearly everyone in the commercial real estate business has something to say about it. The buzz seems to be that cool space is in demand. Whether it is chic office space in renovated warehouses on the outskirts of business districts, or traditional high-rise offices designed with sleek, flexible interiors, cool space is here to stay. Today, forward-thinking companies know that on-site coffee bars and spaces that support working by collision are better for stimulating productivity thatn gray-paneled cube farms and private corner offices.

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