Archive for September 29th, 2013

Your loser update: week 4, 2013.

Sunday, September 29th, 2013

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Pittsburgh
Jacksonville
NY Giants
Tampa Bay

And Cleveland has won two games in a row, which foils my plan to offer them Matt Schaub for next year’s first round draft pick.

In other news, the Astros played their last game of the season this afternoon, took the Yankees to 14 innings…and lost, 5-1. Houston finishes at 51-111, with a .315 winning percentage and having lost the last 15 games in a row.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Consumer advisory: iTunes 11.1

Sunday, September 29th, 2013

If you have not updated to iTunes 11.1 yet, don’t.

atp

This is a screen snapshot from my iTunes 11.1 of one of the podcasts I listen to, the Accidental Tech Podcast. Click to embiggen.

In spite of what you see in the “Plays” column, I have actually listened to every episode of ATP. I delete podcasts from iTunes as I listen to them.

When I “upgraded” to 11.1, all of these podcasts I had already listened to, and deleted from iTunes, popped back in with that little “cloud” icon under the “Unplayed” column. Apparently, Apple wants me to know that these podcasts are available in “the cloud”.

That’s great, Apple, but if I want to find an episode I’ve missed, I can go to the podcast’s page in iTunes, or to the podcast’s website. How do I turn off the display of podcasts in “the cloud”?

Surprise! According to everything I’ve been able to find on Apple’s support sites, you can’t. You can’t delete them from iTunes. You can’t get rid of them. The “Show iTunes purchases in the cloud” option does nothing for podcasts.

You can use the “My Podcasts” view to show just the podcasts you’ve downloaded and not deleted, without the “cloud” podcasts. But I have sound reasons for preferring the “List” view over “My Podcasts” – “List” shows you more information and less graphics.

Bad job, Apple. May the person who decided on this develop a case of painful rectal itch.

Posted in Apple, Consumer, Geek | Comments Closed

You’re (not) watching CSN.

Sunday, September 29th, 2013

Longer story from the HouChron about the Comcast SportsNet Houston dispute I touched on yesterday.

As best as I can tell, here’s the deal:

  1. CSN Houston is run by a four member board. Two members represent Comcast/NBCU, one represents the Astros, and one represents the Houston Rockets (who are also carried on CSN Houston).
  2. The board has to agree unanimously on any carriage agreement or retransmission deal.
  3. The board doesn’t agree.

  4. …the disagreements among the parties are so sharp, the petition said, that they “go beyond mere acrimony” and that the board “will continue to be working at ‘cross-purposes’” unless a trustee is appointed by the bankruptcy court to oversee CSN Houston while the parties sort out their differences.

  5. As long as the board doesn’t agree, they can’t make carriage agreements.
  6. Or, apparently, pay their bills. CSN Houston admits they owe the Astros three months of broadcast fees.
  7. Thus, the involuntary Chapter 11 petition.

Posted in Clippings, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

Memos from the Sports Desk.

Sunday, September 29th, 2013

It is kind of early for a Sunday morning – I haven’t had breakfast yet, or even coffee – but I wanted to get these up before I wandered out in the rain (Yes! Actual rain!) in search of both.

Lane Kiffin out as USC football coach. USC lost 62-41 to Arizona State yesterday; if other reports are to be believed, Kiffin was fired before the plane even got back to LA.

Kiffin was 28-15 overall. So far this year, the team is 3-2 and 0-2 in conference.

And the Astros have hit the 110 loss mark with one game left in the season. Right now, the team is at .317. .300 is sort of the bar for Wikipedia’s “List of worst Major League Baseball season records”, so the 2013 Astros won’t make that list. But I do still find this achievement refreshing.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Loser, Sports | Comments Closed