Don’t ask why, but somehow through the month of December I ended up buying a Fire TV Stick and a Fire TV. What makes it even more baffling is that I already own a Chromecast. Ok, I’ll admit it, they were impulse purchases.
Now that I have all three devices, I’ve been able to do a little comparison of the pros and cons of each device. Here’s what I like about each, what isn’t so great, and some recommendations.
(Clicking any image will take you to the description for that device)
During lunch with a friend towards the end of last year, he mentioned how much he enjoyed reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Since recommendations from friends has become one of my top criteria for adding books to my reading list, I made sure that I put Red Rising at the top of my 2015 reading list.
As the website for the trilogy says, the book contains “…shades of The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and Game of Thrones….” I couldn’t think of a better analogy for the characters and plot. It’s a really strong effort for Brown’s debut novel. The characters are well developed and he does an excellent job keeping the story moving and the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
I look forward to CES every year. I’ve been to a few shows in the past, but even when I don’t go, I like seeing and hearing about the new products that are in the works.
I didn’t attend this year’s event, and I’m kind of glad I didn’t. I wasn’t very impressed by what was announced or demonstrated. Maybe I’m getting older, or maybe my “impress me” bar is set a little too high. Either way, I didn’t see anything that got me excited (here’s a quick rundown of some of the top products as covered by Wired).
There was one disturbing trend that continued from last year’s show – the continued emergence of smart TVs. For example, Google, with partners Sony, Sharp and TP Vision (Philips), announced the integration of Android TV into televisions. As I wrote after last year’s CES, I don’t want a smart TV. I want a 4K television that provides the clearest and sharpest picture at a reasonable price. I don’t want it to be smart. I can provide that on my own.
There was a great article written by Darren Orf at Gizmodo titled “3D TV Is Dead. Let’s Hope Smart TV Is Next.” It’s worth the read, and he’s right on. In case you don’t have time to read it, here are a few high points from the article:
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Running a software development business, I am always looking for ways that we can improve. We use agile development concepts to manage our projects, but I felt like we weren’t getting the most out of the agile methodology. In an attempt to get better , I decided to pick-up a book on user stories. It’s one of the basic philosophies of agile development that makes it different from other development methodologies such as classic waterfall and requirements method.
My quest to read one book turned into reading three. In this post, I’m going to do a brief review of each book, and at the end, I’ll share what I learned about user stories and the agile development methodology by reading all three books.
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One of my blogging goals for this year is to start a new category about business, startup and bootstrapping lessons I’ve learned while running my own business over the past ten years. I realize that there are many sites out there that cover business and startups. I’m sure I’ll repeat some lessons learned, but I may also share a few new ones. In short, I’m doing it to share my experience and as a way to collect all of the things I’ve learned in one place.
For the first entry, I want to review “The Men Who Built America“, an 8-epsiode mini-series that was on The History Channel recently. It is the story of the first American capitalists who built businesses in the aftermath of the Civil War. It chronicles the rise of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, oil magnate John Rockefeller, steel mogul Andrew Carnegie, financier J.P. Morgan, inventor Thomas Edison, and auto pioneer Henry Ford.
Chromecast by Google
Amazon’s Fire TV stick
Amazon’s Fire TV