David Ancell's Virtual Home

NY Times to Start Charging for Online Access

  /   Saturday, March 19, 2011   /   Comments(0)

It has long seemed to me that the days of print newspapers are numbered. Besides, many newspapers are putting out at least part of their content online for free. I’ve wondered how long that can last as the people who spend their time writing news stories have to make a living somehow. Last week, I got an e-mail that the New York Times is now going to be offering paid digital subscriptions.

There are some newspapers that I’d be willing to pay money to access. The New York Times is not one of them. Really, though, I think their main problem is with the way they are offering subscriptions. You get the web site access no matter what you buy, but if you want to use the iPad app, you have to pay an extra $5/month. At that price, you can’t use it on a smartphone unless you pay another $15/month on top of that. What were they smoking when they came up with this business model? Then again, I wonder if the problem is really caused by Apple’s in-app purchase rules.

On the iPad, one can easily just use the browser and pay $15/month for web and smartphone. Hey, NY Times, if you want to offer digital subscriptions, then just charge one price for access to the same content. Oh well, I think I’ll save my money for a subscription to a good Catholic publication.

Category: Technology


Happy Catholic Media Promotion Day

  /   Tuesday, March 15, 2011   /   Comments(0)

There is a lot of great Catholic media out there showing us the real picture on the Catholic Church.  However, many Catholic still aren’t aware of it.  That’s why I will glady participate in Catholic Media Promotion Day.

I now have the longest commute to work that I’ve ever had.  So, I use the opportunity to listen to Catholic podcasts.  What do I listen to?

  1. Catholic Underground.  I look forward to hearing it every week.  They have a lot of great tech talk, and, like me, they are Apple fans.  Then, they give perspective on current events in the Church.
  2. The Break.  Fr. Roderick in the Netherlands has a great show, and, yes, it’s in English. I’m not a big fan of the sci-fi part, but I do like what he has to say on other technology and the Church.
  3. More2Life.  It’s no secret anymore that my wife and I have a baby on the way.  This podcast is actually a radio show hosted by Greg and Lisa Popcak.  They talk about Theology of the Body in our marriage and family life.

I am also thankful that my wife found iCatholicRadio as I now no longer need to subscribe to Sirius or XM to get EWTN Radio.  The EWTN site never would work on my Mac, even with Flip4Mac installed and updated.  As for my favorite blogs, it’s probably best to just check out my blogroll on the right-hand side of the page.  I might add that the National Catholic Register (NOT the National Catholic Reporter) is a great place to get Catholic news and commentary.

Needless to say, I’m a big fan of Catholic media, and I even like to produce some stuff myself.  Surely you have seen my podcast.  I used to record talks for RCIA for a couple of parishes in the Memphis area, and I have links to talks I have given and recorded here.

Category: Catholic


iOS4 So Far

  /   Thursday, March 10, 2011   /   Comments(0)

Although I mentioned giving up the iPad 2 for Lent, I didn’t give up iOS4.  In fact, I installed it on Ash Wednesday.  So far, it is working great.  Safari really is a lot faster.  The home sharing feature also appears to work well.  At first, I couldn’t find it, and here is a Macworld article on how to set it up.  One thing that the article mentions but may be missed is that you’l need to go into the settings of iPad, go to iPod, and enter your Apple ID and password.  Once you do that, you’ll see the option to use a library from a computer on your network in the upper left-hand corner of the program.

Enjoy!

Category: Technology


Podcast Episode #6: Lent and Giving Up the iPad 2

  /   Tuesday, March 08, 2011   /   Comments(0)

The newest episode of the podcast is available:

Get it here.

Sure, the iPad is a great device, but it’s Lent.  Besides, we haven’t had our iPads a year yet.  I’ve only had mine since Christmas.  It has some great features, and I’d recommend it to anyone who doesn’t already have an iPad.  However, I start this podcast talking about why I don’t want one.  Of course, in a couple of years, I’m sure I’ll want to upgrade.

Along those same lines, I begin talking about misunderstandings around giving up something for Lent.  There is an article on my web page that I reference in case you’d like to read it.

Category: Podcasts


And Now There Are Three

  /   Saturday, March 05, 2011   /   Comments(0)

It has been so hard to hold our news inside me.  Thankfully, the time to announce has come.  Are you ready?  Well, you probably already figured out from the title that our news is . . . (drum roll please) . . .

Yana and I are expecting our first baby in September!

This baby has already been to Disney, though in utero.  We didn’t know we were expecting at the time.  During our first weekend in January, we went grocery shopping.  Yana noticed that she couldn’t stand the smell of the fish in the seafood department or the sight of the chicken in the meat department.  Then, she noticed she was getting unusually tired.  Well, these symptoms were a little suspicious based on what we know.  The next morning, it was time for a little test.  You can probably guess the results.  Yana wanted to get to the doctor’s office the next morning, but it was closed due to a snowstorm.  Two days later, she got in and confirmed what we already knew.  Four days later, we saw a little one and a little heart beat on ultrasound.

Things have been going well, and we are excited!  Of course, prayers are very much appreciated.

Category: News on My Life


           



David's Pages

RSS Feed
Atom Feed

Archives