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A week with the Galaxy Tab
I was lucky enough to get a Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab android tablet for Christmas this year. I have been using it pretty extensively every day since I got it, and figured it was time for a review. First, the specs: I have the Verizon model, but it is not activated on the Verizon network; I have been using it exclusively as a Wi-Fi device at home, and occasionally through wireless tether via a Droid X. My first reactions to the Tab are that it is a lot of fun, even though I realize that the Tablet OS for Android will evolve dramatically in the next six months.
In many ways the Tab is like the ipad in that it is a 'big' version of an Android 2.2 phone, just as the ipad is like a 'big' ipod touch. Both the Tab and the ipad lack the ability to make phone calls on their respective networks (although both permit VOIP calls via skype; which I have successfully tried). The thing I like the best about the Galaxy Tab is its form-factor; at 13 ounces (380 grams) the Tab is extremely light. It comes in 100 grams heavier than the Kindle 3, in a shape that is almost identical to the Kindle, although with a 7" screen rather than a 6" screen. By comparison, the ipad has a 10" screen, but weighs 1.6 pounds (725 grams). The Tab has a 1024 x600 resolution screen, in comparison with the 1024x768 resolution of the ipad. The tab has a 4000mAh battery, a proprietary 30-pin USB port, and a microSDHC card port (which is compatible for 32GB cards). The Verizon model ships with a 16GB microSDHC card; 1.2GB of internal storage, and 512MB of Ram, on a Cortex A8 1.0GHz processor.
Out of the box, the device tried to immediately launch the Verizon activation screen, but the Best Buy Mobile people gave my wife a handout with instructions on how to disable it (power + vol up; vol down 2, vol up 3, vol down 4). It has never bothered me again.
Anyways, enough specs… none of that was new. My review…
Form Factor
The 7" form factor is perfect. I can hold the Tab in one hand, and use it for extended periods of time. With the Swype keyboard, which works great on a 7" screen in horizontal mode, I can swype words extremely quickly, and its very comfortable. If I want to hold it 2 handed, I can thumb type easily in horizontal mode. I tend to work more frequently with it in horizontal rather than landscape mode. When I first got a Droid X I was blown away by how BIG the keyboard on it was in comparison with the 3.7" Motorola Droid I used before. Now, my DX feels tiny. (One gripe, my brain struggles swyping on the DX now, as I have to be more precise on the smaller keyboard!)
I have been a Kindle user for almost two years, and I have always thought that the Kindle's size was what a "tablet" should be. Chalk it up to being a long-time Star Trek fan, but the Kindle was the first device I ever owned that felt like a "comm padd." And the Tab goes even further, since it is actually interactive with a touch screen. As a Kindle user, I also loved the ability to use the device in my hand, with little fatigue. While the Tab weighs 3 ounces more than the Kindle (380 vs 280 grams) it really is extremely comfortable in the hand.
E-books on the Tab.
The kindle app on the Galaxy Tab is the same reader as it exists on other android devices, but on a 7" screen it is a very good substitute for a Kindle itself. That said, I think the software needs improvement. For crisp text, I have increased the text size larger than I would on a Kindle. But by doing so, I get a vibrant rich black text on white. I also lower the brightness to about 20% to minimize the issues of glare from the LCD. I have tried the sepia and black backgrounds, but the dull white is the best on my eyes. As an experiment I read an entire book (Michael Harvey's "The Chicago Way") on the Tab this week. It was a pleasurable experience, EXCEPT when reading in bed with the lights out, and the Tab providing the sole lighting. As I expected, the LCD is just much harder on the eyes than the Kindle's e-ink. Plus, the need to swipe the page to advance it, or tap in the very far right column, is not as user-friendly as the kindle's four buttons.
For reading books, I say Kindle 3 still wins out; but only by a short margin. I have absolutely no doubt that an e-book Tab vs ipad competition would go to the Tab, hands down, due to the light weight of the device, and ability to easily hold it in one hand.
Swype Keyboard.
The Tab comes with the swype keyboard enabled, and it works extremely well. Holding the Tab with my right hand, my left index finger is quite fast in swyping with very few errors. I prefer it in horizontal and not landscape mode, as swype on the full-landscape keyboard works, but takes longer given the larger surface area. But there is little reason to use the Android keyboard when swype is such an efficient effective means to inputting information.
Battery
I can use the device all day without draining the battery (although obviously video usage would suck that down); When I put it on the charger (I have the multimedia dock for it) at night, it is usually about 40-45 percent of battery. During the day it is not in the charger, and is in a leather portfolio I was given for Christmas by my sister. The portfolio was something I did not anticipate wanting, but it looks professional, feels good, and does not appreciably add to the weight or bulk. I can still put the Tab in my coat pocket with it on.
Apps.
The ipad has the win in terms of the sheer quantity of tablet-designed apps for the moment. There just are not a lot of tablet-optimized apps out for Android yet. The ones I use the most are the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. The Times is probably the better of the two as it updates constantly, and is extremely readable on the 7" screen. The WSJ replicates each morning's paper, and works well, but there is not as much text adjustments available, and I think the default text is too small. Samsung ships the device with its own customized browser, as well as an email client (for imap/pop), and a decent memo pad designed for a tablet. I use their email program for my campus mail, but gmail for my personal mail. The gmail app is great at 7."
While the stock browser (different from the Android stock browser) is ok, I prefer Dolphin HD; it provides total customizability, including the ability to launch pages in "Desktop" rather than "Android" mode. I never cared for Dolphin on the OG Droid, but on the Tab, it works great.
With a quick install of the app "spare parts" it was possible to disable compatibility mode, and cause all android apps to launch full screen. This works extremely well. For example, the SatelliteGuys app is exactly the same as on the Droid X, but with much more screen real estate. It works very well. I have had no compatibility issues with any android app running full screen. The Slingplayer app works great, particularly with larger screen real estate – but it seems as if it could benefit from being enabled to sling higher quality video. The app thinks it is still on a 3.7 – 4.3" screen.
Samsung has provided a Media Hub and a Media Player, both are decent. The media hub is Samsung's version of an itunes video app store. I downloaded (bought) an episode of Dark Blue for $1.99 and it was on the device and playing in under two minutes. Video quality was excellent, and it was enjoyable using the Tab in the gym on an elliptical machine. I with the audio was a bit louder though with headphones.
The media player works great. It has an excellent user interface, and organizes music by artist, genre, or album, very itunes-esque. I downloaded a few gigs of music, by copying folders from my itunes library, and it worked great. I don't intend this to be my primary music device, I have a 160GB ipod classic for that, but for the ability to listen to music while working on the tab, its very nice. It would be nicer with a 32GB microsdhc card. (Or if the Verizon version included 16GB of internal memory like the T-Mobile one does, grrrr…..).
The video player is separate from the MediaHub, and pretty much any non-DRM'd video will play on it. I am still experimenting with various ripping programs to find the one that provides the best quality, and the best encoding tool. It accepts H.264, eGp, mp4, avi, and wmv video. I used tunebite to rip an itunes video to an ipad format (which uses 1024x768), and that seems to work well, but the jury is still out in the best approach for ripping video aimed at the tab.
Games.
Comes on, it's a 7" device, there has to be some gaming done. In fact, there are several high quality games available for Android that are labeled as "HD" and work very well. For example, X-Plane is a top flight simulator my son loves on his ipod touch (the Android version works great). EA Sports' FIFA 2011 soccer is very good. The GameLoft series all work on the Tab with excellent PQ. The only game that would not run on it was EA's The Sims 3. Angry Birds works great on the device as well, but the game I use the most is Easy Sudoku, which I became addicted to on my Droid X. The Tab takes it to a new level. Full screen mode, with the grid taking 2/3 of the screen, and 2 full 9-key keyboards enabled to enter numbers (and enter pencil marks); this is the best Sudoku video implementation I have ever seen.
Final Thoughts.
I am an early adopter. I fell in love with the Tab when I first saw demo's of it in September, and while I know there will be faster more powerful tablets out in the next several months, the Galaxy Tab is the "real" deal, and was well worth the investment. I have no regrets about asking for this for Christmas. And I definitely am happy I got it instead of the bulkier ipad. I love the customizability. I am running my Tab rooted, I quickly disabled Ads (from such things as Angry Birds – or even the SatGuys app); but as there is not a custom Kernel out yet, it is not over-clocked. I am going to use root explorer to disable some of the Verizon bloatware, and to do Titanium backups of my settings.
This is not a full review; that's been done elsewhere, but my reactions to the device are generally very favorable. Yeah it was expensive, but I am very pleased.
I will be very curious to see where we are in three or four months in terms of app availability, and when this thing is running Honeycomb.
I was lucky enough to get a Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab android tablet for Christmas this year. I have been using it pretty extensively every day since I got it, and figured it was time for a review. First, the specs: I have the Verizon model, but it is not activated on the Verizon network; I have been using it exclusively as a Wi-Fi device at home, and occasionally through wireless tether via a Droid X. My first reactions to the Tab are that it is a lot of fun, even though I realize that the Tablet OS for Android will evolve dramatically in the next six months.
In many ways the Tab is like the ipad in that it is a 'big' version of an Android 2.2 phone, just as the ipad is like a 'big' ipod touch. Both the Tab and the ipad lack the ability to make phone calls on their respective networks (although both permit VOIP calls via skype; which I have successfully tried). The thing I like the best about the Galaxy Tab is its form-factor; at 13 ounces (380 grams) the Tab is extremely light. It comes in 100 grams heavier than the Kindle 3, in a shape that is almost identical to the Kindle, although with a 7" screen rather than a 6" screen. By comparison, the ipad has a 10" screen, but weighs 1.6 pounds (725 grams). The Tab has a 1024 x600 resolution screen, in comparison with the 1024x768 resolution of the ipad. The tab has a 4000mAh battery, a proprietary 30-pin USB port, and a microSDHC card port (which is compatible for 32GB cards). The Verizon model ships with a 16GB microSDHC card; 1.2GB of internal storage, and 512MB of Ram, on a Cortex A8 1.0GHz processor.
Out of the box, the device tried to immediately launch the Verizon activation screen, but the Best Buy Mobile people gave my wife a handout with instructions on how to disable it (power + vol up; vol down 2, vol up 3, vol down 4). It has never bothered me again.
Anyways, enough specs… none of that was new. My review…
Form Factor
The 7" form factor is perfect. I can hold the Tab in one hand, and use it for extended periods of time. With the Swype keyboard, which works great on a 7" screen in horizontal mode, I can swype words extremely quickly, and its very comfortable. If I want to hold it 2 handed, I can thumb type easily in horizontal mode. I tend to work more frequently with it in horizontal rather than landscape mode. When I first got a Droid X I was blown away by how BIG the keyboard on it was in comparison with the 3.7" Motorola Droid I used before. Now, my DX feels tiny. (One gripe, my brain struggles swyping on the DX now, as I have to be more precise on the smaller keyboard!)
I have been a Kindle user for almost two years, and I have always thought that the Kindle's size was what a "tablet" should be. Chalk it up to being a long-time Star Trek fan, but the Kindle was the first device I ever owned that felt like a "comm padd." And the Tab goes even further, since it is actually interactive with a touch screen. As a Kindle user, I also loved the ability to use the device in my hand, with little fatigue. While the Tab weighs 3 ounces more than the Kindle (380 vs 280 grams) it really is extremely comfortable in the hand.
E-books on the Tab.
The kindle app on the Galaxy Tab is the same reader as it exists on other android devices, but on a 7" screen it is a very good substitute for a Kindle itself. That said, I think the software needs improvement. For crisp text, I have increased the text size larger than I would on a Kindle. But by doing so, I get a vibrant rich black text on white. I also lower the brightness to about 20% to minimize the issues of glare from the LCD. I have tried the sepia and black backgrounds, but the dull white is the best on my eyes. As an experiment I read an entire book (Michael Harvey's "The Chicago Way") on the Tab this week. It was a pleasurable experience, EXCEPT when reading in bed with the lights out, and the Tab providing the sole lighting. As I expected, the LCD is just much harder on the eyes than the Kindle's e-ink. Plus, the need to swipe the page to advance it, or tap in the very far right column, is not as user-friendly as the kindle's four buttons.
For reading books, I say Kindle 3 still wins out; but only by a short margin. I have absolutely no doubt that an e-book Tab vs ipad competition would go to the Tab, hands down, due to the light weight of the device, and ability to easily hold it in one hand.
Swype Keyboard.
The Tab comes with the swype keyboard enabled, and it works extremely well. Holding the Tab with my right hand, my left index finger is quite fast in swyping with very few errors. I prefer it in horizontal and not landscape mode, as swype on the full-landscape keyboard works, but takes longer given the larger surface area. But there is little reason to use the Android keyboard when swype is such an efficient effective means to inputting information.
Battery
I can use the device all day without draining the battery (although obviously video usage would suck that down); When I put it on the charger (I have the multimedia dock for it) at night, it is usually about 40-45 percent of battery. During the day it is not in the charger, and is in a leather portfolio I was given for Christmas by my sister. The portfolio was something I did not anticipate wanting, but it looks professional, feels good, and does not appreciably add to the weight or bulk. I can still put the Tab in my coat pocket with it on.
Apps.
The ipad has the win in terms of the sheer quantity of tablet-designed apps for the moment. There just are not a lot of tablet-optimized apps out for Android yet. The ones I use the most are the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. The Times is probably the better of the two as it updates constantly, and is extremely readable on the 7" screen. The WSJ replicates each morning's paper, and works well, but there is not as much text adjustments available, and I think the default text is too small. Samsung ships the device with its own customized browser, as well as an email client (for imap/pop), and a decent memo pad designed for a tablet. I use their email program for my campus mail, but gmail for my personal mail. The gmail app is great at 7."
While the stock browser (different from the Android stock browser) is ok, I prefer Dolphin HD; it provides total customizability, including the ability to launch pages in "Desktop" rather than "Android" mode. I never cared for Dolphin on the OG Droid, but on the Tab, it works great.
With a quick install of the app "spare parts" it was possible to disable compatibility mode, and cause all android apps to launch full screen. This works extremely well. For example, the SatelliteGuys app is exactly the same as on the Droid X, but with much more screen real estate. It works very well. I have had no compatibility issues with any android app running full screen. The Slingplayer app works great, particularly with larger screen real estate – but it seems as if it could benefit from being enabled to sling higher quality video. The app thinks it is still on a 3.7 – 4.3" screen.
Samsung has provided a Media Hub and a Media Player, both are decent. The media hub is Samsung's version of an itunes video app store. I downloaded (bought) an episode of Dark Blue for $1.99 and it was on the device and playing in under two minutes. Video quality was excellent, and it was enjoyable using the Tab in the gym on an elliptical machine. I with the audio was a bit louder though with headphones.
The media player works great. It has an excellent user interface, and organizes music by artist, genre, or album, very itunes-esque. I downloaded a few gigs of music, by copying folders from my itunes library, and it worked great. I don't intend this to be my primary music device, I have a 160GB ipod classic for that, but for the ability to listen to music while working on the tab, its very nice. It would be nicer with a 32GB microsdhc card. (Or if the Verizon version included 16GB of internal memory like the T-Mobile one does, grrrr…..).
The video player is separate from the MediaHub, and pretty much any non-DRM'd video will play on it. I am still experimenting with various ripping programs to find the one that provides the best quality, and the best encoding tool. It accepts H.264, eGp, mp4, avi, and wmv video. I used tunebite to rip an itunes video to an ipad format (which uses 1024x768), and that seems to work well, but the jury is still out in the best approach for ripping video aimed at the tab.
Games.
Comes on, it's a 7" device, there has to be some gaming done. In fact, there are several high quality games available for Android that are labeled as "HD" and work very well. For example, X-Plane is a top flight simulator my son loves on his ipod touch (the Android version works great). EA Sports' FIFA 2011 soccer is very good. The GameLoft series all work on the Tab with excellent PQ. The only game that would not run on it was EA's The Sims 3. Angry Birds works great on the device as well, but the game I use the most is Easy Sudoku, which I became addicted to on my Droid X. The Tab takes it to a new level. Full screen mode, with the grid taking 2/3 of the screen, and 2 full 9-key keyboards enabled to enter numbers (and enter pencil marks); this is the best Sudoku video implementation I have ever seen.
Final Thoughts.
I am an early adopter. I fell in love with the Tab when I first saw demo's of it in September, and while I know there will be faster more powerful tablets out in the next several months, the Galaxy Tab is the "real" deal, and was well worth the investment. I have no regrets about asking for this for Christmas. And I definitely am happy I got it instead of the bulkier ipad. I love the customizability. I am running my Tab rooted, I quickly disabled Ads (from such things as Angry Birds – or even the SatGuys app); but as there is not a custom Kernel out yet, it is not over-clocked. I am going to use root explorer to disable some of the Verizon bloatware, and to do Titanium backups of my settings.
This is not a full review; that's been done elsewhere, but my reactions to the device are generally very favorable. Yeah it was expensive, but I am very pleased.
I will be very curious to see where we are in three or four months in terms of app availability, and when this thing is running Honeycomb.
9 Replies
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1890 views
Its a cortex processor not cortez 
I'm glad you discuss the comfort and weight issues between the ipad and tge galaxy tab. The weight is one of the issues I have with ipad.
I haven't read the entire review, did you root it and install an alternate rom?
Swyped on my PC36100 using tapatalk!
I'm glad you discuss the comfort and weight issues between the ipad and tge galaxy tab. The weight is one of the issues I have with ipad.
I haven't read the entire review, did you root it and install an alternate rom?
Swyped on my PC36100 using tapatalk!
You geeks need to get a set of dumbbells and build up some muscle strength.
You geeks need to get a set of dumbbells and build up some muscle strength.
Funny.
Its a Star Trek thing.... tablets are meant to be held in one hand, with a phaser in the other. OR if we are talking Captain Picard, pad in one hand, cup of earl grey hot in the other.
Staff member
Pub Member / Supporter
Cutting Edge
The TPN Map Excel Presents all DIRECTV Channels:
Understanding the TPN Map
Making Sense of the TPN Map Display Conventions
National (50-States or wide/NAT+PR beams)
Local (Local-Into-Local or narrow/Spot beams)
Local (Local-Into-Local or narrow/Spot beams)
Additional tabs provide:
OTA the (Over-The-Air) Database
VOD (Video On_Demand) Records
Offline Records
Engr Records
Net Decoder a graphic presentation of all satellites and transponders
VOD (Video On_Demand) Records
Offline Records
Engr Records
Net Decoder a graphic presentation of all satellites and transponders
Domestic Satellites
@99W...... D11, D14
@101W.... D16
@103W.... D12, D15
@110W.... D5
@119W.... D8
@99W...... D11, D14
@101W.... D16
@103W.... D12, D15
@110W.... D5
@119W.... D8
Understanding the TPN Map
Making Sense of the TPN Map Display Conventions
2179 Replies
·
953622 views
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Over the past year I have been tracking the changes on Western Arc. The past 3 months have had a lot of changes that I posted in the other MPEG2 Western Arc shutdown thread. Now that 129 is (basically) out of commission, here is where Western Arc stands. This is just a national channel list, (no local channels) based off what I can see and what others have contributed. Thanks to everyone who has helped me come up with the locations of some of the channels – I would try and list all of you out, but I know I would forget someone! As has been suggested in other parts of the forum, it would be great to collect the spotbeam data for those who could contribute!
A couple of pieces of info:
When I talk about number of channels on a transponder, all my numbers are unique channels – for example, channel 101 and 199 are the same channel mapped to two different numbers, but in terms of space, only takes up 1 channel worth of bandwidth on the transponder.
Finally, I have to give Dish a ton of credit. When it was 110/119/129, Dish had 82 transponders they were using – it took a lot to get it down to 50 transponders and figure out where all the pieces were going to go. What are the things they did to get there? Here are the things I saw:
A couple of pieces of info:
- Out of the 64 transponders between 110/119, there are currently 50 transponders that Dish is licensed to use. 22 are Spotbeams, 28 are ConUS transponders (14 transponders are licensed to DirecTV and Dish doesn't have access to them)
- Those 28 ConUS transponders are divided as follows:
- 10 are dedicated to National HD channels (ESPN, CNN, Disney Channel, etc). Dish is maxing out at 16 HD channels per transponder (note – in an earlier post I said there was one transponder with 17 HD channels, that was an error on my part. When I double checked my listings, one channel changed transponders). Before the transition, there was a maximum of 14 HD channels per transponder.
- 1 transponder is dedicated to adult content
- 2 are a mixture HD PPV Movies/4k channels
- 3 are set aside for HD Sports channels that are only on for live games (NBA League Pass, the PAC 12 alternate channels, some PPV events, etc); 3 SD PPV Sports Channels are there as well.
- 7 are for SD and/or music channels. Dish is maxing out at 26 SD channels per transponder thus far on the SD transponders.
- 5 transponders on 110 I have no channels listed but Dish operates. (they are labeled as ConUS on my chart below) There are other things that could be on those transponders, like RV Distant Networks, internal testing channels, etc, that I can't see. They might be able to be used for additional content, but I am not sure exactly what is on those transponders.
When I talk about number of channels on a transponder, all my numbers are unique channels – for example, channel 101 and 199 are the same channel mapped to two different numbers, but in terms of space, only takes up 1 channel worth of bandwidth on the transponder.
Finally, I have to give Dish a ton of credit. When it was 110/119/129, Dish had 82 transponders they were using – it took a lot to get it down to 50 transponders and figure out where all the pieces were going to go. What are the things they did to get there? Here are the things I saw:
- During this migration from 129, Dish converted 7 ConUS transponders on 119 into Spotbeams – that is how they ended up fitting on all the HD locals that used to be on 129. (for those interested, TP 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 are the ones that used to be ConUS on 119 that are now Spotbeam)
- Removed almost all SD duplicate channels that are offered in HD
- Converted remaining SD channels from MPEG2 to MPEG4
- There are also 2 subtle things that changed from the HD channel perspective
- At the beginning of the transition, Dish decreased the number of PPV Movie channels – prior to this transition the PPV channels HD PPV movies were 502-522; now they are 502-517.
- At the beginning of April when MLB, NBA, and NHL regular seasons were all going on at the same time and this transition began, there were a ton of games "joined in progress" for the HD feeds. That wasn't common since the days before the full time HD RSN's. The reason for that was prior to the transition, Dish had 4 transponders set aside for HD Sports – 2 transponders was the bandwidth set aside from the HD RSN's before Dish dropped the RSN's, then 2 transponders were for alternate channels. Now we are down to 3 transponders for HD sports.
255 Replies
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66634 views
I ran the Schedule S through ChatGPT to analyze the data quickly, and according to ChatGPT, the 16 transponders currently being used for SpotBeams on 110 is all that has been authorized by the FCC. So Dish might be using TP 01-13 for ConUS on 110 for the foreseeable future. If that is the case, Dish has a ton of space to bring in more HD channels nationally or use that bandwidth for something else.
I know my lists aren't perfect as I can't see all the test channels and behind the scenes channels, but for channels available to subscribers - there are no channels on 119 TP 01-08 and 10; and on 110, TP14 has only 4 channels. With Dish putting 16 HD channels per transponder right now, that is about 145+ slots for HD channels that are available if Dish does keep 110 as ConUS for TP 01-13.
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Thought some might find this encouraging. It turned out good but I still feel a little bad about it.
Had to drop by Walmart on my way to the store this morning, I had enough time but no time to spare either. As I was walking across the parking lot I noticed an older gent pushing his buggy with a confused look on his face. I said hello as I passed but he didn't respond...something was bothering him. I kept walking and then stopped and chided myself for being in too much of a rush. I turned around and asked him if he needed some help. Turned out he had NO idea where he had parked his truck. He told what color and model and looked around...nothing. I asked him if he had tried his key fob, he wasn't sure what I was talking about and got it out and handed it to me. Hit the lock and listened for a horn like my F150 does. Nothing. Finally I hit the panic button and we heard his truck...it was on the complete other side of the parking lot. He thanked me and I went on about my business.
I felt bad however because I almost didn't stop. I was so focused on what I had to pick up that I almost just kept walking without seeing if I could help. Years ago I wouldn't have hesitated. It seems that as we age it is easy to focus more on ourselves and ignore others which is why you'll see footage of these muggings in big cities and people just walk by the wounded victim who is laying on the sidewalk.
Moral to the story: Don't let your humanity die just because so many others have allowed theirs to.
Had to drop by Walmart on my way to the store this morning, I had enough time but no time to spare either. As I was walking across the parking lot I noticed an older gent pushing his buggy with a confused look on his face. I said hello as I passed but he didn't respond...something was bothering him. I kept walking and then stopped and chided myself for being in too much of a rush. I turned around and asked him if he needed some help. Turned out he had NO idea where he had parked his truck. He told what color and model and looked around...nothing. I asked him if he had tried his key fob, he wasn't sure what I was talking about and got it out and handed it to me. Hit the lock and listened for a horn like my F150 does. Nothing. Finally I hit the panic button and we heard his truck...it was on the complete other side of the parking lot. He thanked me and I went on about my business.
I felt bad however because I almost didn't stop. I was so focused on what I had to pick up that I almost just kept walking without seeing if I could help. Years ago I wouldn't have hesitated. It seems that as we age it is easy to focus more on ourselves and ignore others which is why you'll see footage of these muggings in big cities and people just walk by the wounded victim who is laying on the sidewalk.
Moral to the story: Don't let your humanity die just because so many others have allowed theirs to.
0 Replies
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13 views
Supporting Founder
Lifetime Supporter
Comcast is the first to report, with a massive 274,000 loss in video subscribers.
In the 3Q of 2016, Comcast had 21.42 million video subscribers and was the #1 provider, now at 10.39 million and is the #3 Provider, YTTV is #2 ( who also surpassed DirecTV-8 Million and Dish-under 5 Million), Charter/Spectrum is #1.
cordcuttersnews.com
In the 3Q of 2016, Comcast had 21.42 million video subscribers and was the #1 provider, now at 10.39 million and is the #3 Provider, YTTV is #2 ( who also surpassed DirecTV-8 Million and Dish-under 5 Million), Charter/Spectrum is #1.
Comcast Just Lost 274,000 TV Customers & 144,000 Internet Customers In Just Three Months | Cord Cutters News
Comcast Corporation reported its third-quarter 2026 results on October 22, showing continued erosion in its domestic residential broadband internet and video customer bases as competitive pressures intensified across the connectivity market. The company recorded a net loss of 144,000 domestic...
cordcuttersnews.com
18 Replies
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727 views
iJustine
Time for another AWESOME video from iJustine!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzzHaM8IAhI
Direct YouTube Link - I Tried Meta's New AI Agent… Meet Piggy
The official iJustine Website's Website
Buy her book!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzzHaM8IAhI
Direct YouTube Link - I Tried Meta's New AI Agent… Meet Piggy
The official iJustine Website's Website
Buy her book!
0 Replies
·
5 views
'Rockford Files' Reboot Gets NBC Pilot Order
I grow tired of all the reboots. Most I don't bother with but will depend on the actor chosen.
I grow tired of all the reboots. Most I don't bother with but will depend on the actor chosen.
21 Replies
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809 views
Pub Member / Supporter
America’s Fastest-Growing EV State Isn’t California—Not by a Long Shot
New data shows electric vehicle adoption is increasingly driven by state policies, electricity prices and charging access—not federal incentives
www.autoweek.com
The number-one US state for EV growth, according to the June 22 Yardi report?
Oklahoma.
It has no ZEV mandates and "minimal" incentives, Yardi says, but also has cheap electricity, high multi-car household rates (so, for example, a non-Lightning Ford F-150 pulls their trailers), and a consumer base willing to switch.
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tomwellborn3rd (@wellborn.net)
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bsky.app
Never realized that Tesla is losing to BYD at manufacturing too, which IMO is Tesla's biggest accomplishment and area of innovation. Nice writeup about the state of play and how we got here though. I have no faith that we're moving any productive direction though sadly, most changes and efforts feel reactionary rather than rooted in making use of the time being bought by tariffs, with few exceptions.
So: how are the cars so cheap, and what is being cut to get there? The best public accounting comes from the Rhodium Group, which compared BYD, Geely, and Leapmotor against Tesla's Chinese operation, a fair comparison because it removes labor costs and shipping from the equation entirely. Their estimate is that BYD builds a car for about $4,700 less than Tesla builds a Model 3 in Shanghai, roughly 15 percent of the Model 3's price. The breakdown is the interesting part. Direct government grants account for about $292 per vehicle, which is 5 percent of the gap. The biggest single factor is vertical integration: BYD makes about 80 percent of its top-tier components in-house, against 37 percent for Tesla, and that eliminates roughly $2,369 per vehicle in supplier markups. Lower overhead, meaning cheaper engineering talent and administrative cost spread across enormous volume, accounts for another $1,719. And BYD pays its suppliers on 155-day terms, against Tesla's 60, which is worth about $214 per car in float. When people say the Chinese advantage is subsidies, the per-vehicle number says otherwise. When people say it is slave wages, the Tesla Shanghai comparison says otherwise too. The advantage is mostly that BYD decided, twenty years ago, to make its own batteries, its own motors, its own power electronics, and its own semiconductors, and Western automakers decided the opposite.
T
That's how Ford did it- vertical integration. He even set up a rubber plantation in S. Americatomwellborn3rd (@wellborn.net)
This author has chosen to make their posts visible only to people who are signed in.
Never realized that Tesla is losing to BYD at manufacturing too, which IMO is Tesla's biggest accomplishment and area of innovation. Nice writeup about the state of play and how we got here though. I have no faith that we're moving any productive direction though sadly, most changes and efforts feel reactionary rather than rooted in making use of the time being bought by tariffs, with few exceptions.
So: how are the cars so cheap, and what is being cut to get there? The best public accounting comes from the Rhodium Group, which compared BYD, Geely, and Leapmotor against Tesla's Chinese operation, a fair comparison because it removes labor costs and shipping from the equation entirely. Their estimate is that BYD builds a car for about $4,700 less than Tesla builds a Model 3 in Shanghai, roughly 15 percent of the Model 3's price. The breakdown is the interesting part. Direct government grants account for about $292 per vehicle, which is 5 percent of the gap. The biggest single factor is vertical integration: BYD makes about 80 percent of its top-tier components in-house, against 37 percent for Tesla, and that eliminates roughly $2,369 per vehicle in supplier markups. Lower overhead, meaning cheaper engineering talent and administrative cost spread across enormous volume, accounts for another $1,719. And BYD pays its suppliers on 155-day terms, against Tesla's 60, which is worth about $214 per car in float. When people say the Chinese advantage is subsidies, the per-vehicle number says otherwise. When people say it is slave wages, the Tesla Shanghai comparison says otherwise too. The advantage is mostly that BYD decided, twenty years ago, to make its own batteries, its own motors, its own power electronics, and its own semiconductors, and Western automakers decided the opposite.
The Tesla Cybertruck Is Dead, The Ford F-150 Lives - The Autopian
The Cybertruck was supposed to make the F-150 obsolete. It wasn’t supposed to be boring, like a Ford or a Chevy. It was supposed to be “more truck than truck.” It turns out, people just wanted trucks that were trucks, and CEO Elon Musk announced on X earlier this morning is that the Cybertruck...
www.theautopian.com
The Cybertruck was supposed to make the F-150 obsolete. It wasn't supposed to be boring, like a Ford or a Chevy. It was supposed to be "more truck than truck." It turns out, people just wanted trucks that were trucks, and CEO Elon Musk announced on X earlier this morning is that the Cybertruck is dying.
Ending production in middle of next year at gigatexas for cybercab production.
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Cutting Edge
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
68762 Replies
·
2685689 views
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Stumbled across this ... http://www.gaspricewatch.com/USGas_ZipSearch.asp
I found no local prices, although it did show stations at my location...
Added these to this post...
USA National Gas Temperature Map
State By State Gasoline Taxes
Gas Buddy
Ethanol Free Stations
I found no local prices, although it did show stations at my location...
Added these to this post...
USA National Gas Temperature Map
State By State Gasoline Taxes
Gas Buddy
Ethanol Free Stations
5566 Replies
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462311 views
