Bill Watt’s Blog

Yup- we’re geeks. Even when we go to baseball games we are constantly on the blackberries. Click here to check out some pics from a recent day at an A’s game.

So, after 8 years of combined service between the two companies I get to take between 4 and 6 weeks off and I’m trying to decide what to do. I’m thinking about spending some time in Tahoe or trying out skiing in a couple places around the US but the bulk of my time will be to spend 4 weeks in Europe.

I have no idea where to go but I’ll post updates as I get more ideas and start planning. For those of you that don’t know me… planning for personal trips and such is not what could be considered a strong ability or interest of mine. Considering this trip requires planning it’s probably a crap shoot if I’ll actually get around to taking it.

Let me know if you have suggestions or alternative things I should consider. I have 2 years from now to get this trip in. Fun fun!

So, you’ve probably seen my previous post about Comcast and poor service. A big topic is competition in the TV market because AT&T is trying to break into the TV market by lobbying at the state level instead of going community by community. Their big reasoning is competition.

Now, as my previous post may have hinted, I have no burning desire for Comcast to rule the world but is it really going to be forced to improve service, quality, and programming by having AT&T (the local provider of crap DSL) in the market?

This is all about convergence. All the providers are encroaching on one another. A variety of companies are providing TV, internet access, phone…. everything. Cell companies are getting pissed at Slingbox for cutting into their paid content asperations.

Basic ways that Comcast needs to improve:

1. Allow customers to pay their bill online
2. Allow customers to sign-up for autopay online
3. Allow customers of Comcast high speed internet access to actually use the internet to interact with Comcast

When I moved to San Jose I was amazed to find A/B selectors on the cable boxes. Comcast had just bought into the market and was bringing high speed access little bit by little bit. DSL was in the area and everyone had line filters on their phone lines. Not so cool for Silicon Valley but in the last 2 years it has caught up with what I had back in Boston.

We had a great birthday dinner for my wife last night at Crimson in Los Gatos. If you’re in the area you can book this through OpenTable. If you go, you’ll love it.