I want TV to be like an RSS Reader

I'm tired of paying my cable bill to have at my disposal tons of shows that I don't want to watch.  At my home we have officially dropped cable.  We set up an  indoor antenna so now all we get is over the air local broadcasting.  Now I only have about six channels that provide shows I don't want to watch.  Not true really.  Most of our TV viewing was done through local over the air stations anyway, the "big" networks.  We purchased a Roku Box, applied our Amazon Prime Account, Netflix Account and Signed up for Hulu Plus.  Each of these services cost approximately $8 to $10 per month (the Roku Box is a one time fee, no subscription) so our monthly bill is about $30 per month (U.S. Dollars) and not $100+.  That savings adds up.  What ever I want to watch, I go and get.  That's great and all, but it's still not perfect.  Not all of the content that I want to watch is available this way.  I don't mind having to wait an extra week or two for the networks to release new content after they broadcast it via the typical over the air way.  But I do want access to the entire season.  I don't even mind waiting until the season is over for access.

But what I really want is for TV to be like my RSS Reader.  I sign up to the feeds that I want to watch.  When I have the time, I watch the episodes until there are no ore to watch.  TV is near to this model only there is no que of past episodes.  I want the que.  I want to watch TV on my own time, whenever that might be.  Is that too much to ask?

So give me my content when I want it.  Just like my RSS feed.  That's all.

I can't take credit for this idea though.  Mrs. CAD-a-Blog had the idea.  She's the one that mentioned to me that she wanted one device that could find the show she wanted to watch and load it up on the screen, regardless of which service or network it aired on.  We want (need) RSS for TV.

CAD-a-Blog: It's what's inside that counts

In case you are new to CAD-a-Blog, here are some links to some posts from the past.

AutoCAD 2009 - This is a list of all posts on CAD-a-Blog that have anything to do with AutoCAD 2009. Check them out.

How to stay up to date with AutoCAD – This article was guest written by Ellen Finkelstein. It provides methods and resources that will help you keep your AutoCAD skills current, a very difficult job.

Impression – This link will take you to all of the posts about Autodesk’s Impression software. I write about impression for AUGI World Magazine.

Quick Tips – Need a little CAD pick-me-up? These tips are short and to the point. You might know about most of them, but sometimes, just a little bit of information can go a long way.

CADsmart Review – This is the first of three articles written on CAD-a-Blog reviewing an AutoCAD assessment Program and service provided by CADsmart. I have used the software and feel it is great. Check out the second and the third reviews articles too. You need them all to get a more complete picture.

Store – Are you a CAD Nerd, or a CAD Geek? Do you need t-shirts proclaiming your geekdom? Well, visit this link and get yourself some CAD GEEK GEAR! You can customize the shirts and color changing coffee mugs if you don’t like what I came up with.

If you like what you see then feel free to sign up for either the e-mail alert or the RSS feed to CAD-a-Blog. These alerts will let you know when a new post has been, well, posted!

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100th Post

Yay CAD-a-Blog. we have hit a milestone here at CAD-a-Blog. This is our 100th post! Ok, it's not that big of a deal really, but hey, I'm having fun. I wanted to take this time to remind you, or if you are not aware, to inform you of some great ways to know when a new post is added to CAD-a-Blog.

There is the obvious way, just show up to the site. But lets face it, you'd rather that I came to you right? If you have e-mail then you can sign up for the free E-mail notification. When a new post is made you will get an e-mail letting you know. Click the link and you are there.

If you use an RSS reader, then again, when a new post is here, your reader will be notified. Click the link and you are here. I've posted about these things before.

Here are the links you need to use to sign up for either notification method. I will never pass out or sell your information, I promise. Right now there are over 100 people signed up for these notifications, and more are joining every week. So sign up, you know you want to.

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I also want to take the time to talk about some ideas that I have for CAD-a-Blog. If you have any ideas in mind, please let me know. Use the Skribit panel on the right to vote for the ideas you like. Or use it to post some of your own ideas. OR, e-mail me at benton.brian@gmail.com.

I am looking at setting up a discussion board. I haven't worked out all of the details yet, but I'm looking into it. I am also looking at setting up a Wiki. It would be similar to Wikipedia, but it would be CAD-a-Wiki. One other item that I want to add is video. I had a link to one of Lynn Allen's videos from her Cadalyst website. It seemed to work, what do you think?

I am also looking to expand the content topics to include GIS. I am getting more and more into that realm and feel it can have a place here at CAD-a-Blog. That one is a while away yet, but keep your eyes open.

I currently have links across the top of the site that take you to specific tag topics. They are:

• Home
• Articles
• AutoCAD 2009
• Impression
• Store

I think that most of these topics are obvious as to what they cover. Home takes you back to the main CAD-a-Blog page. Articles takes you to posts that I have made about articles that I have written outside of CAD-a-Blog. The Store link is to the CAD-a-Blog store. There you can buy CAD related items, like t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. I plan on adding more items soon. If you have a great idea for a CAD T-Shirt, or polo, or mug, let me know, I might be able to set it up in the store.

I am looking to add some topics, maybe remove the Articles link, add more content to those topics specifically. I have started some blogs with the title and tag QUICK TIPS. they are short tips about AutoCAD. They don't go deep in detail, but simply say, "Hey, here's a great command (or idea) that you might want to know about, try it out." Look for those in the near future. Once I get this video thing going I will probably make that one of the links too. Oh, and when AutoCAD 2010 comes out, there will definitely be a link for it! Other topic ideas I have are POD Casts (I might not do this if I can get the videos to work out right), WORKAROUNDS, BUGS, and News items. I have lots of ideas, just not enough time to do them. If I quit my day job . . . . (my wife would kill me!!)

One more item, I am planning on getting my own URL for CAD-a-Blog within the next few months. That will make CAD-a-Blog more searchable, more legitimate, etc. When that day comes I will let you know. It might not be until the end of the year, I don't know yet.

Well, that's that for my 100th post in CAD-a-Blog. I hope you all enjoy the site and that you can glean some type of valuable information from it, because that is it's purpose. Keep coming and I'll keep posting!!

Happy CADDING.

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Several readers of CAD-a-Blog already subscribe to it's feed or e-mail alerts. Other readers have found us by accident, or word of mouth, or more accurately, word of shared links! This is great, I welcome everyone to the blog. Come early and come often. Leave a comment, send me an e-mail, I love to hear from you.

If you are interested in receiving alerts and feed notifications whenever a blog entry is posted, use the items below to sign up. It's free, it's easy, and there are lots of great tips about AutoCAD, Impression, and designing in general. So jump on board CAD-a-Blog. Sign up today.

Happy CADDING

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CAD-a-Blog

I know how annoying it can be to have to go to a website or blog to see if anything has changed, been added, or deleted, etc. Many times you can't tell if it did or didn't. With that in mind, I have added an RSS feed to CADaBlog. This means that it is very easy for the readers to know when a new post has been added.

There are two ways to sign up: 1) Through an RSS feed, 2) via e-mail.

If you use an RSS reader then I recommend that. It keeps your e-mail in box clean, plus it is easy to get to the post. If you don't use an RSS reader, then e-mail alerts work great too. When ever a new post is up, you will get an e-mail notification.

To sign up, look at the top right of this blog and click on the method you wish to use. Or just click here at the bottom of this post. thanks for coming by, and happy CADing.

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