When I started off as an installer back in the late '90s new clients would frequently ask my opinion on whether I thought they should go with cable or satellite. (Over-the-air antenna is not really an option in our area. Unless you really like watching all ETV all the time, in which case, brother, we have got you covered!) My pat response was that our systems were technology agnostic and they would work fine with either one and it was really up to them and what they want...

This year’s International CES could just as easily have been called, “The Great Big Giant 4K TV Show!” because if you ventured anywhere into the central hall, that is practically all you saw or heard about.

(OK, it actually isn’t 4K, as that technically refers to the theatrical format that is 4062x2160 resolution at 17:9 aspect ratio. We all need to start getting into the habit of nipping this 4K thing in t...

Your ISP wants to put the cable guy in charge of your security, automation and more…

Like a modern proof of Newton’s Third Law of Motion – for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction -  as more people look to cord-cutting as a way to sever ties with their cable and satellite providers, service providers continue looking for ways to retain customers and bring new customers back into the fold. To maintain this delicate Yi...

I’ll admit that watching reality TV is one of my vices. (Though, after coming clean about listening to Taylor Swift, I feel like I’ve pretty much thrown the medicine cabinet door wide open and invited you all to have a good long look.)

My particular brand of reality fetish has nothing to do with singing or dancing...

Many of you are likely ISF and/or THX certified video calibrators and thus have a terrific understanding of color temperature. And even if you haven’t been through the certification, you’re probably at least familiar with the term 6500 Kelvin – or, more accurately in cal-speak, D-65 or, even more precisely, points x=0.3127, y=0.3290 on the CIE Chromaticity Diagram. And if you are associated with this industry and don’t have any idea what I’m talkin...

If you watched the Super Bowl – or even surfed the Web at all in the past 24 hours – you likely read about the little power disruption that occurred just after halftime at the Superdome in New Orleans. (Insert jokes here about New Orleans forgetting to pay the power bill, or Beyonce’s halftime show being too much for the power grid or whatever...)

Had the Niners gone on to come back and win the...

Taking a cue from the "Random Thoughts..." banner on my home page, where I said that this blog will “contain all the latest things I'm watching, doing or listening to…” I figure that I would give the current rundown on these very things…

So, here’s the December batch of What I’m…

Watching:

We were watching TV last night and the opening dialog from the show Up All Night was just so full of spot-on, brilliant amazingness that I had to share it for all to enjoy.

So, I’ll set the scene; married couple Reagan (Christina Applegate) and Chris (Will Arnett) are sitting on their couch eating and watching TV. (I think it is an episode of Real Housewives of Something-Something they are watching.) When – poof! Sudde...

Leap Year. Presidential Elections. The Olympic Summer Games.

These items all roll around the same time each four years, and I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for the Olympic Games. (The Summer ones. Besides ski jump and curling, I don’t have much use for the Winter Games. If ONLY they’d show some Biathlon! Skiing AND shooting?! You throw in Drinking and you’ve got the greatest event in the history of EVER!)...

For some insane reason, I decided to start blogging this season of Survivor. Of course, I jumped headlong into this venture without really knowing how far down the rabbit hole that decision would truly lead. Well, thank the reality TV Gods, season #24 of Survivor is finally over! (You can read my finale blog here if you want to get caught up....

Previously on Survivor… (It’s Human Nature):

The girls have a nervous chuckle over Kat declaring her love of blindsides right before HER blindside and how bitter that’s gonna make her on the jury. Tarzan says that strategically the girls should have voted HIM out ins...

Previously on Survivor… (It’s Gonna Be Chaos):

Back at camp Kat says, “Did you hear what [Troyzan] told me when he knocked on my shoulder? He’s like, ‘Do it.’ And I was like, ‘What?” Then Alicia is like, Christina is dumb. Every time she opens her mout...

Previously on Survivor (Never Say Die)...

Tarzan realizes that with only two boys left they are in a tight spot and Troyzan feels like he’s all alone. “Like I’m one man against all the women. And Tarzan.” Reward challenge reveals a bunch of dolls fashioned in the caricature of each of the playe...

Previously on Survivor (I’m No Dummy)...

The episode starts off in Bizarro world when Troy starts “attacking” Christina and none other than Alicia comes to her defense! It’s a strange new world where enemies are BFFs and share clothes. Troyzan realizes that he is on his own and it’s now him agains...

Previously on Survivor…(Go Out With a Bang)

There’s a ton of bad news and foreshadowing for Jay throughout this ep starting with him saying, “I dreamed I got shot. I was about to get capped again and I woke up.” We get another DIY challenge this time in the form of randomly dividing into two teams...

With the nature of my job – installing TVs and sound systems and what-have-you's – I am often called on to follow behind the work of other trades. And with very few exceptions – and I mean VERY few -- I’m pretty unimpressed by the quality of work that I encounter.

Cheap wire, poor workmanship, things just plan connected incorrectly, settings setting-ed wrong, all that stuff. It’s not unusual for us to go beh...

Previously on Survivor…(Just Annihilate Them aka the 7-Up episode)

Jay and Troyzan lament that Jonas kinda got screwed by the (un)luckiness of the merge, but now that they voted out a guy, the next vote is obvious: it has to be a girl. 100%. Fair is fair. We find out the reward challenge is a 7-Up sponsored event...

This episode also known as: “Survivor One World - Brought to you by 7-UP”

Previously on Survivor…(Beauty in a Merge)

Following The Queen&#...

So I started doing the Twitters a couple of months ago (@SciaccaTweets) and one of the things that I immediately liked about it was the high level of interaction. Compared to Linked In -- where I am "friends" with like 500 people I have absolutely no idea who they are and (fortunately) never hear from -- on Twitter you are personally engaged on a daily basis with people as...

Previously on Survivor…(Thanks for the souvenir)

Back at camp after blindsiding Monica Calientepepper, Evil Queen Colton and Alicia make certain that there is no misunderstanding with Christina on her place in the tribe. After calling her “a thieving cockroach” they say that no ...