Category Archives: Technology

Changes

Technology

Despite the issues I encountered with my mom’s Comcast installation at Christmastime, I made the decision to move our service from RCN to Comcast. We’ve been happy enough with RCN except for their price hikes. We signed up with them a couple of years ago at a reasonable price. When our year of cheaper prices was up they also implemented a Digital Vision tier that we had to get because we had an HD converter box – so instead of just having to pay about $7 more for the HD converter, we had to pay $27 a month for it.

We’ve wanted a DVR for a while (and even tried to install a DVD recorder ourselves – with no success) so I called RCN to find out how much more a month the DVR service would be. They wanted nearly $20 more a month for that.

I tried to compare prices online and couldn’t so called Comcast to see what they could do. With their service we now will have an extra converter box, a DVR, HBO in addition to Showtime & Starz (the best of the movie channels) and online management of our voice mail (something I’ve been wanting for a while). All this for about the same, or less than we were getting with RCN. Of course it is a special offer – only good for a year or two, but still – we will be saving a little. By the time they’re ready to charge us more we can move to FiOs or something else.

Hi, I’m Jane Doe and I’m a Betaholic

Technology, ,

There, I’ve said it. I love betas. I join beta groups because I want to be the first to know. My email address must be out there in hundreds of beta databases, even ones I’ve long forgotten about. Especially in ones I’ve long forgotten about.

Sometimes I realize I’m not a good candidate for the beta group – either as soon as I sign up or when it moves out of beta. Very occcasionally I find a perfect niche, a place I feel as if I really belong.

What is best about betas is this – especially if you are among a small group of testers – you get to be part of the in-crowd for a while, especially just when the beta goes out of beta. You already know the ropes and perhaps you had a say in some of the features. It’s like high school and you are one of the popular kids!

The best way to find out about betas is the website of Saurier Duval, Museum of Modern Betas. Add it to your favorite RSS feed and learn about new betas daily. Go ahead, you know you want to.