Cutting the Cord: Getting NetFlix, Hulu, Pandora and other US only services to work in Singapore

Traditional linear broadcast TV (either over the air or via cable) as an entertainment medium is increasingly becoming anachronistic. Beyond the price gouging and inflexible bundling schemes that the cable company imposes, my other pet peeves are the inflexible program schedules, poor HD 16:9 format support and the delays in bringing newly released content from the States (like in Singapore where I live and other non-US markets). Some might argue that with the advent of cheap PVR set top boxes, the program scheduling issues goes away. But having used some of these PVR cable set top boxes, I have been less than thrilled by the Soviet era user interfaces that they sport and the indignities that a user needs to go through just to time-shift the crappy local cable programming.

So after having dabbled in building my own Home Theatre PCs (using PVR software like Showshifter, SageTV and Windows Media Center) to time-shift OTA and cable programming over the past 5 years, I decided that it is high time that I truly “cut the cord” and dump the local cable service, and venture into the brave new world of online streaming videos.

At a minimum, I wanted to be able to access US-based services like Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, CBS.com, TV.com, and many other countless free and paid content delivery services from the US, and also possibly the BBC iPlayer service from UK. Having done some research into these services, I realized that all of them were “geo-locked” in the sense that they will not stream content to IP Addresses beyond the designated territories (the territories being mostly the US).

The solution of course was to acquire an US based IP address, via either a US based Proxy or VPN service. Because most US based services use certain “Geo-locking” services that are able to sniff out proxy servers and reject them, I decided to go with a VPN service. I chose the VyprVPN service because of their excellent service, support and robust uptime.

The challenge to work on was how to configure my home networking setup. I wanted to ensure that only certain network destinations that require US IP addresses be routed through the US based VPN service. I wanted all other regular traffic to be routed through to my cable modem internet service provider’s local gateway because of the speed gain (VPN traffic can be slightly slower, with more hops and latency).

The final solution that I came up with called for two routers to get the setup working. I bought 2 used Linksys WRT54GL routers from ebay and replaced their stock firmware with the latest DD-WRT firmware (this WRT54G and DD-WRT makes for some of the most stable and eminently configurable consumer class router). I designated one of the routers as the primary router linked to the cable modem. This primary router will have a customized routing table to route all US based specific net destinations to the second router. I added all the US based server and CDN (content distribution network) IP addresses on to the routing table, to point to the second router as the default gateway (instead of using the primary router as the gateway). The second WRT54GL router, which I call the VPN router, has its built-in VPN client configured to use the VyprVpn service (with special scripts to do auto redials to ensure constant uptime). Any PCs or media devices on the home LAN trying to access Netflix, Hulu, Pandora or other US based media sites will have their traffic routed to the second router automatically from the primary router, and will then traverse the VPN link to the US to reach its final destination.

Because all the routing magic are taken care of at the router level, any of the 12 different devices in the house (Boxee box, Apple TV, iPhones, iPads, Macs, and PCs) do not need any special configuration at the client level. On the Boxee Box, accessing the Netflix app automatically logs in to the service and streams video seamlessly without any stutter. Likewise my kids can also watch Netflix on their iPhones, iPads or their iMacs anytime (using a single paid account subscription). I get to stream Pandora on my iPhone and PCs and have access to a vast library of free music. My kids can also browse Hulu to catch up older TV episodes. I have also enabled the VPN server on my Windows 7 based media PC on the LAN, so that I can access Netflix and other content at home remotely while I’m traveling.

So far our attempt to “cut the cord” and stop using local cable service for a US based streaming approach has been very successful. We have managed to cut our over SGD$60 dollar monthly bill to about SGD$20 per month (for the Netflix and VPN subscription). In return, we now have access to a vast library of content which were not accessible otherwise earlier due to geo lockout.

My next project is to install a 2nd VPN router to accommodate a UK VPN server, so that we can finally get access to BBC’s excellent library of content and live channels via the iPlayer.

A piece of computing history is now sitting on my desktop!

It is finally here! Ever since I laid my eyes on Steve Jobs NeXT Cube workstation almost 19 years ago, I have been lusting for it. The NeXT Cube was Steve Jobs vision for the future of the workstation, and at the time it was released, the specifications were unheard of. Megapixel display, Read Write MO disc, DSP on board, Mach OS with full Display Postscript, etc.

It is no secret that Tim Berners-Lee literally invented the WorldWideWeb on the NeXT Cube. The first Web Browser and the first Web Server first ran on the NeXT. The NeXT was far ahead of its time, but as with most visionary leading edge technologies (think Xerox Star,etc) , it didn’t quite make it in the marketplace. But when Apple bought NeXT, the NeXT OS became the foundation for the Mac OSX, and the NeXT DNA lives on in the current and next generation of Apple machines.

After almost a year of searching for the right NeXT Cube on the eBay US site to come along, I finally snagged a great one for a grand. A NeXT Cube with the NeXT Dimension board, with an SSD internal drive! The system boots and works flawlessly and is now sitting on my desk purring away.

I finally have a piece of computing history sitting on my desk, right next to my Apple Mac Pro.

Computing Nirvana indeed.

My thoughts on the rumored Apple iTablet…

I have been recently mulling over this whole iTablet MID thingy that Apple is reportedly working on, to try to put this in perspective of what the market is ready for, looking back at the way the PC has evolved over the years.
 
A number of companies in the past 15 years have run after the touchscreen computer market intently, only having had their collective fingers burned badly. I remember AT&T with their EO, Slate computers, and later followed by Momenta (remember that disaster anyone?), 3COM Audrey, various other Internet tablets and more recently Microsoft with their Tablet PCs and the laughable Origami UMPC disaster of a form-factor. None of these have ignited the imagination of the consumers and have been largely relegated to niche uses in certain verticals like healthcare, logisitcs and education.
 
But the recent phenomena of cloud based computing and increasing interests in devices like the Asus EEPC and the Everex Cloudbook (and to extraploate this to include the OLPC from Nichloas Negroponte and team), I believe the circumstances are right for a unique class of device that straddles somewhat between a mobile phone device and the traditional laptop. And at the sametime, with continued the evolution of the “Software as a Service” (SaaS) concept, cloud computing, media-rich browsers with technologies like Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight for rich mobile content/applications, along with ubiquitous access to bandwidth (like community wifi or celco wifis, and the inevitable “WhiteFi”), all the elements are in place for the evolution of a third type of computing platform/form factor: a ultra-portable, small factor, always on, solid-state, wireless, touch screen, internet cloud based device, for use on the go.
 
So if Apple takes their iPhone platform, adds a faster energy efficient processor (Intel Atom), OS X with multi-touch, Safari with Adobe Air thrown in, Wifi, with a larger screen at 800×600 resolution, front & back cameras for chat and collaboration, wifi/HSPA, and a good size battery. And added to this, they launch an improved .Mac service, with more storage, iWork “cloud edition” web based producitivity apps, social network application with IM, an improved “back to my Mac” service, media player with Itunes and TV streaming via MediaFLO, we have the perfect “half-way” platform between the iPhone and the Mac.
 
This type of device will appeal to mobile knowlegde workers who need mobility, but with slightly larger screen to access remote applications, something bigger than an ipod but smaller and less wieldy than a laptop. This will also appeal to students (imagine access to learning content, online collaboration, chat, IM), to gamers, and casual users. And of course, this will be something that Apple can push for certain vertical markets, especially Medical and Education sectors. And at the right price, it might even win over the OLPC as a low cost educational tool.
 
Hope El Jobso gets another home-run here, where others have failed…

Apple “In App” purchase micropayment scheme – more to it then meets the eye?

I was just thinking about all the hoopla surrounding the impending iTablet launch from Apple, and how Apple is going to do to eBooks what they did to Music (as the pundits are claiming).

But the truth is that the book publishing industry is far different the music industry. The book publishing industry is far more chaotic and less structured than the music industry. Also, there exists other titans like Amazon, B&N and others, who have pioneered a lot of the hardwork required to get licenses to ebooks, crafting ebook standards and investing in ebook infrastructures. It does not make sense for Apple to re-invent the wheel and muscle in on the ebook market this late in the game.

But the fact is the current method to buying ebooks on the iPhone is less than desirable. On the Kindle for iPhone, one has to buy the book on the Amazon site and then force a download to the iPhone.  Same for B&N. Other ebook publishers had to resort to creating ebooks as individual apps.

But now that Apple has introduced “In Apps” purchase, theoretically any ebook publisher can now modify their ebook reader app to allow “In App” purchase of the ebook content within the ebook reader app, allowing for a more seamless user experience. Sure they have to give a cut to Apple (where they previously would steer the user to their own website and keep all the revenue to themselves).

Looking at the way Apple has been pushing “In App” purchase, it seems they were meant for a lot more than just for buying virtual goods. In fact they are just perfect for books, comics, manga, magazine subscriptions or just article, or any other digital content imaginable.

I believe Apple is setting up the iTablet to be the ultimate digital consumption device. The “In App” purchase was the one remaining piece left, and it is now in place. The Apps store already has a very viable ecosystem of content publishers. But imagine if you were to allow individual smaller publishers to create, publish and monetize their digital contents directly on the iTablet.

For example, in Asia, there are literally thousands of comics and manga writers/illustrators trying to find an outlet for their content, and make money out of it. Publishing on the web is still out of the question due to a lack of established digital content aggregators with a micropayment system. Apple with their iTablet and the Apps Store will give them access to another larger format of the existing platform, and letting them monetize their content in a more direct and secure way.

If this indeed pans out, I believe Apple may be about to create a Global Cottage Industry of digital publishing soon.

I think it is high time his Steveness reevaluates iPhone 3rd party apps multi-tasking…

You know I totally understand Apple’s decision to limit the iPhone’s multitasking of 3rd party apps. Battery technology has not kept up to even 1/100th of the Moore’s law rate of technological advancement that chip tech enjoys. Current 3G/4G chipsets, along with the associated Bluetooth stack, are battery drains. And you cannot tack a fat-ass battery to the iPhone and fsck around with the all important Apple product aesthetics.

Product design is all about balancing constraints, to extract maximum benefit for the vast majority of the target audience. So 80% of iPhone users want all-day battery performance. <1% of the iPhone Digerati demand background Pandora audio streaming. Of course Apple is going to design for the masses, damned the rabid geekboys and the “i want to run QIK, Pandora and Apache on my iPhone simultaneously while surf the net and Skyping to my buddies now” crowd. So of course Apple’s is going to cater to the vast majority.

But having played with assorted varieties of the Android phones in the last few weeks, I must admit it is indeed useful to have a limited number of 3rd party apps running in the background, especially music streaming apps like Pandora. I think Apple needs to relook this aspect of the iPhone perhaps for the future generation of iPhone models. Surely Apple has enough engineering talent to improve their battery power management technology (perhaps that’s why they bought PA semi) to allow some form of limited 3rd party apps multitasking. Perhaps hardcode the number of 3rd party apps that can be multitasked (call them apps slots), and initially limit them to perhaps to only 2 apps running simultaneously (one in the foreground and one in the background). Despite the platform limitations of Android (fragmentation, VM limitations, poor hardware abstraction layer drivers, increasing OS version disparity rates ,etc), the Android platform will increasingly become a short to mid term threat because of their superior 3rd party apps management. Apple should not discount the importance of this feature.

My first love, the Atari 800

The Atari 800 celebrated its 30th Anniversary last week, with PC World doing a nice spread here. The Atari 800 was my first computer. I was in my early teens and I pestered my father to buy me a home computer. Not just any computer would do. No, I wanted the most graphically gifted computer at that time, the Atari 800. The Apple II was too utilitarian for me. The others like the TRS-80, Vic-20, Sinclair ZX-81 and the rest were just junk. So after much pestering, my father gave in and bought me one. I was the only kid in the whole neighborhood with a home ‘puter.

Man I loved that computer! I learned BASIC on it, wrote some educational courseware to make some money, played games, logged on to the first BBS on it and even joined an Atari users club. Great times those!

The Atari 800 was the first computer that was designed and sold like a consumer electronics appliance. It was super easy to install and use, had foolproof sealed-box design, and was really built like an appliance. Whereas the Apple II had more of hobbyist computer design ethics.

The Atari 800 used a type of serial daisy chain-able bus called the SIO, something like the present day USB. I’m not sure if this is true, but apparently the gentlemen who was instrumental in designing the Atari SIO later joined Intel was part of the USB design team.The SIO allowed peripherals to be added simply by daisy chaining them, without having to open up the computer.

I still think Steve Jobs got his inspiration for the sealed box design of the first Mac from Atari!

Hello world!

I was a wee lad when the digital revolution started (about the time that the Altairs and IMSAIs were launched). Thirty years hence, I created this blog to wax nostalgic on the past and to try to extrapolate what the future may hold.