"Binge-watching", Game of Thrones, and watching television

"Binge watching", on cable and satellite, is effective.  For the audience, due to current lifestyles, it's a way for them to try a show they haven't been exposed to.  For broadcasters and channels, it might be a way to get people consider a show.  HBO had a marathon showing of Game of Thrones over the weekend.

I never understood why people watched the show.  I never wanted to.  For me, it was like The Sopranos.  Or American Idol.  A television show that seemed to be more in fashion than anything else:  people were watching it because others were.  I assume it has a cult following (this from a self-confessed "Trekkie").  And, Game of Thrones is not in the genre I have been interested in.  I like few productions with medieval themes.  The movie "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" and the television show "When Things Were Rotten", both produced by Mel Brooks.  And the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".

Unless I have a fondness for a television program, I channel-surf.  When I did not see a program I wanted to commit to...out of curiosity, I tuned to Game of Thrones.  I did not focus any attention to it, and was involved in other activities.  I did watch on and off throughout the entire weekend.  But I cannot say I will be watching future episodes.

The characters of Osha and Ygritte reminded me of (the types of) women I had dated, and would...that's a different subject completely.  Tyrion Lannister and Bronn questioning Podrick Payne as to why he didn't pay prostitutes was very entertaining.  The storylines are intricate...I would prefer to follow them by reading books so I can understand how everything relates.

When the channel BBC America had a Doctor Who marathon, I did the same.  I never had any interest in the show...but, it was available, and it was easy for me to become accustomed to it.

Binge-watching appears to have been successful for Netflix with their show "House of Cards".  I have no interest in that particular show, as well as paying to watch any programs.  As it is I have not had free time to follow shows on over-the-air television I favor, which are available for streaming for free via the internet:  The Big Bang Theory, The Blacklist, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Almost Human, and many more.

Crackle, Hulu, and others provide free content for when I have time.  The economy has been rough on many households and people.  It's bound to cause (more) changes in how consumers get their content, including the content they choose to partake of.

Amazon Fire TV, and Bloomberg West's Lee

Edmund Lee was on Bloomberg West discussing the Amazon Fire TV.

The Vice President of Amazon, Peter Larsen, mentioned the Amazon Fire TV device has three-times the processing power of Apple TV and Roku...Lee stated:  "...I don't know how to quantify that..."  And that Larsen's statement was "vague"...

I was stunned.  Was Lee indicating that he didn't understand Larsen's general comparison of performance differences of the units?  I began to wonder to what degree Lee might be "tech-savvy"?  Maybe Larsen didn't mention technical specifications during his presentation.  After the presentation, and before appearing on Bloomberg West, maybe Lee didn't investigate the specifications.

To begin with, the Amazon Fire TV has a quad-core processor.  Competing units have dual-core and single-core processors...

Two phones, one computer (for work)

Some thoughts after reading:

People for Whom One Cellphone Isn't Enough
Many use a second mobile device to keep photos and text messages private

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I've always been able to have a "buffer" between work and my personal life...

Sometimes, I never had a home phone (landline)...didn't feel as if I needed one.  When I did have a landline, I had an answering machine.  Then, an answering service...no phone.  Next, a pager...no phone.  After, (for emergencies) I had a voice pager...no phone.

At one radio station broadcasting company, we had great remote pickup units (RPUs) at the studios and in the vehicles.  I had a portable scanner that monitored the frequencies, and used that as a voice pager.

When a company felt they needed to be able to contact me "at any time", they provided a pager or phone (with service) for me.  One company purchased a vehicle for me to use while I was employed.

Because they wanted to promote their companies as much as possible, others purchased clothing with their logos on it for me to wear.  There was a time when my wardrobe was mostly comprised of shirts and coats from radio stations on them...and it was a very rare occasion when I wasn't wearing them.  I know one guy who, because his company provides his, can always be seen in his uniforms from a public transportation company.  I know a woman I remember regularly seeing in her United States Postal Service uniforms.

I have always had one computer designated for my professional activities.  There are a lot of great reasons to do that.  One is, if you are unable to use your "personal" computer, the odds are in your favor that the one designated for business might not have been exposed to things that may  have compromised the computer you use for personal activities (malware, software and hardware instability, etcetera).

I don't own any phones now...I don't need one:  all of my communications are done via various internet services.