This week I decided to take up the task of setting up my old laptop as a “media center” for my 42 inch rear projection television.

The program “Boxee” is what sparked my curiosity and made me start pursuing this.

Boxee is a media center application based on the source code of Xbox Media Center (or, XBMC).  It has one simple and clean interface to various media outlets – including Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Flickr, ComedyCentral, CNN, etc.  PLUS it will scan and index any media you have stored locally.  Bottom line, it makes a pretty sweet application especially when you have an open laptop to plug into your television.

At first, I fought Ubuntu linux trying to make the s-video output work.  Literally fought it.  And I lost.  This was most unfortunate because Boxee on linux is supposedly quite a bit more stable than Boxee currently is on Windows.

Finally though, I had to just give up and  install Windows XP.  I finally got an invite to Boxee (if anyone else would like one, let me know) and I downloaded the Windows version immediately.  My sheer enjoyment quickly turned to utter disgust because the lesser stable Windows build will not even start on my laptop.  It just core dumps immedately leaving a indecipherable message in my event logs.   CRAP.

Anyway… All was not lost.  I have a closed laptop hooked to my television that allows me to stream Netflix, Hulu, and is running XBMC.  I must say – it works pretty dam nicely.  I took it one step further by enabling Wake on LAN for the laptop; so I can shut it down when it’s not in use – but the laptop sits closed nicely and fits well between my HD receiver and my modded Xbox.

I can’t believe I didn’t think about doing this sooner… this old laptop has been sitting around for like 6 months completely un-used…

PS – WordPress 2.7 is just awesome.  All should install it immediately.

I finally got around to doing the Xbox 360 dashboard upgrade yesterday…

This new version of the dashboard blatantly copies the Nintendo Wii’s “Mii” functionality where you can create a mental projection of your digital self for all fellow persons and virtuosos to perceive.

It’s really the exact same functionality and it’s almost a shameless ripoff. But, the avatars you can create are a little more human looking and a bit more “grown up” overall vs the childish/anime feel of the Wii caricatures.

I’m going to start using my X-Mii as my profile picture on various online arenas, since the picture I use for nearly all my online profiles looks absolutely nothing like me anymore.

The picture above is my “Gamer Pic” but it is tiny.  Here’s the full Vanberge:

Everyone pull twice for Obama today.

I saw “Crank” (great action flick with Jason Statham) when it came out in theaters like 2 years ago… But, I hadn’t seen it since then.

It’s a 100% guy movie, and it’s unique enough to be an interesting watch.

Anyway – I re-watched it today because I woke up way too early, and it was available for free on demand. I noticed that Jason Statham’s character, Chev Chelios, has a cell phone with a pretty sweet ringtone.

I’ve been diligently searching for ANY replacement to my “CTU 24” ringtone, but all the ones I’ve tried have ended up being temporary: Metal Gear codec ringtone, GTA4’s mission complete – gg vanlandw, and a couple other random ringers. It’s been difficult to find a suitable replacement, but I’m digging this ringtone and plan on keeping it for the foreseeable future.

If interested:
http://www.palmerforpresident.com/misc/Ringtones/Crank-Ringtone.mp3

Or, just click on ‘files’ on the header nav – there’s a couple more ringtones in there. I found a sweet plugin that lets you list out directory contents within the wordpress content. I’ve been meaning to get that installed for awhile now.

So today, as previously posted, I worked. Our bank is trying out new saturday hours where one IT person has to be on staff in case of issues.

Overall a pretty quiet day, and then I misused the shutdown command.

At our Lansing branch, there’s been a computer on for a few days that still has somebody logged in. It’s been throwing tons of account lockout errors into our logs and flooding the crap out of our logging reports. So, I figured I’d do myself a favor and shut that computer off.

I know the microsoft windows shutdown command very well… It can be used to remotely shutdown or restart computers as long as an administrator account is used. Well, I used my admin account and I typed the command so fast and fluidly that I didn’t realize my mistake until it was all over. “shutdown -s -m \\xxx.xxx.xxx.130” …Hmm… Wait… the computer IP that I wanted to shut down was .30, not .130… shit… what did i just shut off? Pull up our IP list… Double shit. The Lansing domain controller/print server.

A couple people were working at the Lansing branch, but nobody had the necessary clearance to get into the datacenter. And Lansing being a remote market, I didn’t configure HP’s integrated Lights out on that server. There was simply NO possible way to get that server to turn back on aside from driving two hours round trip.

I drove one hour in pouring rain to arrive at our lansing branch, I pushed a power button, and I drove an hour back to GR in pouring rain. But, I stopped at Arby’s at least.

For about the past year, I’ve used a small indoor antenna to pick up local HD channels.  It’s always worked pretty well for me – allowing me to pick up Wood, WZZM, and Fox17 without any trouble.  This has served pretty well for me, especially since I downgraded my Comcast cable to the LOWEST possible level which cost 14 dollars and gives me like 15 channels.

However, there’s always been one issue that’s plagued the entire setup: wireless internet.

As soon as Flo, Vanlandw, and/or Vanbergs would boot up their laptops and connect to my WLAN – the HD tv reception just immediately tanks.  I tried changing my wireless to different channels, I tried three different antennas, and overall I messed with the setup WAY too long.

So over the weekend, I decided to try something completely random.  I took my standard Comcast analog cable and plugged directly it into my HD tuner (removing the antenna completely).  I used the HD tuner to rescan the channels…  And, to my sheer surprise, I picked up about 25 channels – and about 6 in pure HD.  I get more HD channels this way than I did with the antenna!

I thought for a minute and tried to figure it out…  But I couldn’t come up with an answer.  How could I possibly be picking up crystal clear HD over an analog cable signal?  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining – but at the same time I absolutely hate when I can’t figure something out.  So, I did the inevitable and consulted the smartest man on the planet:  Mickeyvb.

His statements made perfect sense, and I was almost embarrased that I hadn’t thought of it.  But seems like my cable, connected to the telephone pole outside my house, is acting as an antenna and pulling the signals out of the air.  With miles and miles of cable to pick up the signals, the reception is perfect.  Every channel has a perfect and full signal, even with laptops around. 

Looks like I can ditch my little indoor antenna for good…