Well, Todd wanted me to write an intro for myself as the newest writer on Geek News Central, so here it goes.
My name is Alan Buckingham and I live in Maryland. I work for a major credit card company doing a job that’s hard to explain, but suffice to say I am at a PC all day and listening to my Zune.
For geek cred let me give a brief overview of my tech – I currently have 4 PC’s in my house, a laptop, a desktop and an HTPC, all running Windows 7. I also have an old desktop which has been recommissioned to run FreeNAS and serve as my all-purpose backup server. We (me, my wife and kids) also have various MP3 players, digital cameras, various computer peripherals and lots of home theater gear.
I plan to write, primarily, about HTPC’s and Media Center, but I may get into some other things as well.
If you are interested in more information, then you can check out the software I use at Wakoopa, follow me on Twitter or go to my own web site where I write how-to articles on various Windows related things.
Last, but not least, I’d like to thank Todd for giving me the opportunity to write for his great web site. I have been a fan of his podcast since sometime prior to episode 100.
Don’t forget about Canucks!
We all give an angsty kind of sigh when people mention sites that are not available outside of the united states.
If I could get HULU, I’d drop my Starchoice satellite in an instant.
Alan, I look forward to what you have to say about HTPC’s and Media Centers. I’m still in the process of trying to decide exactly what the ideal HTPC/Media Center is. I currently have a Dish Network HD-DVR, and I like the way it functions. The problem is that it’s functionality is very narrowly focused to keep one within the Dish Network walled garden. If you want more content, they want to be the ones that sell it to you. Same goes for Apple TV. Perhaps the ultimate solution is the newly-released Mac Mini that comes with an HDMI port.
I’m coming very close to completely dropping Dish Network and saving the $97 dollars per month. I am watching it minimally. When I dropped my land phone line years ago it was a bit painful to let go, but afterwards it was no big deal and I’ve saved a ton of money since then. I suspect that dropping satellite TV is likely to be the same.