Figured I would list the Podcasts I listen to and watch. There may be one you might want to check out. I get all of the shows through iTunes:
(in alphabetical order)

Cranky Geeks: John C. Dvorak and guests talk about tech stories from the week. They tend to be cranky.

Diggnation: 2 guys on a couch talking about some of the top stories on digg.com. Been watching for 3+ years. Still very silly and funny.

Film Score Monthly: Great audio show about movie film scores. I’m not sure if they are still doing it (they haven’t released a show since July) but if they are or not check out all of the eps. if you love film scores you will like it.

Futures in Biotech: Science show about Biotech and other sciences. Very in depth at times. If you don’t like hard core science then don’t bother.

MacBreak: Video show about all things Mac. They go over Mostly Final Cut and other high end software but there are a lot of episodes at trade shows and other little tips and tricks.

MacBreak Weekly: Part of twit.tv. Audio show about Macs. Great show.

No Agenda: This has probably become my favorite show. John C. Dvorak and Adam Curry discuss anything and everything going on. Very political show but you will get a wide variety of topics: food, science, tech, MTV inside info,(Adam was one of the first VJs in the 80s), anything goes. Adam can get a little conspiracy crazy at times but he is just exploring things openly. If you don’t have an open mind and are offended easily don’t listen.

NOVA Vodcast: This keeps me up on what NOVA shows are coming up. Video previews of what hour long specials they air.

NPR - Car Talk: well if you don’t know about Car Talk I would like to know what rock you have been under so I can go there occasionally and get away from things.

Pandora Presents… the Musicology Show: Pandora.com does a music education show about styles and other music info. Pretty good show.

This Week in Tech: twit.tv ’s premier show and probably one of the most popular podcast out there. Hate to use this but title says it all.

Tiki Bar TV: Comedy show about a Dr. who prescribes drink recipes for what ever problem they are having at the Tiki bar. I don’t drink but it still is funny.

The Totally Rad Show: 3 geeks talking about movies, video games, tv and comics. Good show. I mainly watch it for the movie reviews and some game reviews.

Vic Firth Percussion, Drumset and Marching Video Podcasts: Performances of percussion marching and drum set. They do interviews as well.

The Wood Whisperer: Just started watching this. Great wood working show. Very educational if you like wood working.

You Look Nice Today: “A Journal of Emotional Hygiene”. Comedy audio show. Very funny.

The 1UP Show: Video show about video games. It is how i keep up with the latest video news.

What is it: The Roku Netflix player is a set top box that lets you stream Netflix movies over the internet to your TV either wired or wirelessly.

Who is it for: Netflix customers with an unlimited movie account - $9 and up

How much is it: $100

How many movies can I watch: Unlimited from the Instant section

I just received my Roku Netflix player today and am loving it. Lets just jump right in.

First impression on opening the box was that this thing is small. Being only 5 in. x 5 in. x 1.75 in. it is exactly the same size as 4 cd cases stacked. It also weighs less than the 4 cds. Comes with a small remote control.

Setup is very simple. Hook up your audio and video cables(I’ll talk a/v options later), plug it in the wall, turn on your tv and start going through the setup menu. If you are not using wired ethernet it checks for wireless networks in the area. It supports 802.11b and 802.11g open networks and with WEP, WPA and WPA2 encryption. I am using a WPA network, so I entered my password(you only have to do this once, it remembers) and moved on to the activate screen. The box gives you a code to enter online at your Netflix account so your box will activate and sink. Process is done and the box shows you all of the movies in your instant queue in a album art/coverflow type view.

I am pleasantly surprised by the movie quality of the player. I didn’t know what to expect but am really happy with it. The quality is based on a few factors, your internet speed and the video connection type you use. I have a 4-6 Mb connection so that wasn’t a factor but I do only have a 27″ standard def TV. They have a little rating list in the setup booklet ranking the video connections. Composite < S-video < Component < HDMI . I went with the S-video and stereo connections for the audio.(They do have Optical for 5.1 support) I would have to say the quality is just as good as the cable signal if not a little better. I don’t know what it would look like on a bigger HD set since I don’t have one. Maybe someone will let me come over and try it on their tv *cough Thomas cough* and I can update :). When you select a movie it takes 1-2 min to start playing. Which wasn’t really a big deal to me because you have to go through 5-10 minutes of other stuff anyway on Netflix DVDs before you get to the play menu. I’m probably saving time this way.

Couple things. Fast forward/rewind is ok. Probably what you would expect from streaming. One thing I don’t like though is that there is no chapter support. I know why they don’t have it, extra file size, but it would be nice to have. I doubt I will ever use any of the skipping features since it remembers where you left off if you pause or turn off the box. Something I did forget is that HD support is coming some time down the road and the box is HD ready. Probably the signal will be 720p at the max. Broadband connections can’t handle anything over that right now.

So who is this box targeted toward. If you have a unlimited Netflix account($9 and up) you will want to search the play instant section to see if there is enough content for you to watch. If you love documentaries, TV shows and older films then this is right up your ally. If you want new movies this box is not for you. They don’t have new movies as watch instant yet. I doubt they ever will.

This box is going to be something that I use a lot. I probably will watch 365 movies and shows this year. I will get my moneys worth in the first month. If you watch a lot of content then this is something you would want to consider. I’m sure a forgot something so if you have any questions, leave me a comment.

My ipod mini finally died this week. It wasn’t surprising since most batteries for ipods only last 2-3 years. So I had to decide whether to send it to apple for $65 or do it myself. I looked around at battery prices and tutorial videos and decided that doing it myself was the way to go. I found a battery at ipodbattery.com for $16 + $5 ship. Cheapest I could find. The battery comes with a little screw driver as well. And then I found a great tutorial site at ipod how to video.com. The site has great videos for getting this stuff done without hurting your gadgets. Their biggest tip, which is very important, is to only pry open the device with a Plastic tool of some kind. Other tutorial sites I saw used a screw driver or metal tool to pry it open and they damaged the ipod a little each time.

This was a great little learning experience. I always like doing things myself if i can. It is always cheaper that way too. You can do this in under 20 minutes for under $25.

Drop.io is a fairly new website that allows you to create a page to put files on for others to download. I first heard about them on Net@Night a while ago. At the time it sounded great but I really didn’t have anything that I wanted or needed to put up.

I just decided to make a page for my whole family(I have a big one) to share files among us. I really think it is going to work out great. Mostly I think we will share photos this way. Even though I think when people get more comfy with it some video might make its way on there as well.

The site is free to use and you can buy upgrades if you need more space. If you have big files that need sharing go check it out.

If you haven’t heard about Hulu.com yet you might want to check it out. Some of the studios (FOX, NBC, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, and more) got together and put content on the web. It started out as an invite only site about a year ago and finally just opened up to the public. I got into the beta kind of early so I got to see it progress over the year. The amount of content started out very small and went to I can’t believe they have this much on here. And now they have over 100 movies as well.

If you don’t mind watching on your computer, this site is great.