The Princess Geek

With the H1N1 flu continuing to make headlines all over the world, it is useful to track the outbreaks.  There are several good maps available to help people visualize the spread of this disease.  Many areas have scaled back routine testing for the H1N1 virus, making the recent confirmed case numbers lower than actual, but the fatalities should continue to be reported.

One map available is the Rhiza FluTracker (pictured above).  It uses data compiled by Dr. Henry Niman, a biomedical researcher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, using technology provided by Rhiza Labs and Google.  The map is interactive and allows the user to drill down to local levels.  The legend helps locate suspected and confirmed cases and identifies fatal cases.

The New England Journal of Medicine’s HealthMap also provides an interactive map which allows the user to check boxes to bring up desired types of cases on the map, including suspected, confirmed, ruled out, and fatal cases.

Please visit http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/ for current CDC statements on the H1N1 virus.  The site has several easy-to-use maps that allow the reader to see the current situation in particular areas.  The World Health Organization (WHO) at http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/ provides a status of the progress of the disease from a gloabal perspective.

It was a very pleasant surprise to receive the message yesterday that AT&T had implemented Media Share which allows users to stream Pictures and Music from your computer to TV.  I had never used Windows Media Player on Vista and couldn’t immediately see the settings to enable media sharing within it.  The U-verse Media Sharing window pointed me to  http://helpme.att.com/mediashare which links to a Media Share Wizard.

The Media Share Wizard was very easy to use and made the Windows Media Player and  network setting changes necessary for U-verse Media Share to see my picture and music folders.  I also attempted this on my XP computer and had no luck.  I still have not been able to get it working.

Back on TV, the Media Share function is quite responsive and easy to use.  Of course, since Windows Media Player does not play well with iTunes I could not see all of my music.  However, there was enough to give me some great choices of music to play while watching a slideshow my family vacation pictures.  Easier than ever to bore company!  LOL  When a song changes, the song information is displayed on the screen for a few seconds.  The DVR remote can be used to pause the slideshow, back up to previous pictures, increase or slow down the show, etc

The new update also allows you to bring up a News, Sports, or Kids Multiview which allows you to see 4 screens at a time.  I think there would be times that it would be useful, but would like to see more choices, like movies or documentaries.  That might be tough because the channels shown would have to be dynamic.

The TV & News Shows (not a good name) helps you find new programming by seeing lists of Nominated Shows New Fall Shows, Primetime Emmy Shows, Teen Choice and TCA (critic association) Awards.  You can also view Bios and Vote for Your Favorite Shows.

All in all, this is a great U-verse update.   As a few recommendations, I’d like to be able to randomly show all pictures in all of the folders instead of having to select a folder.  Same with the music…I want to be able to choose to shuffle all of the available music.   It would also be nice to save a slideshow/music combination to be able to bring it up quickly when a new victim shows up at the door!  This update really shows how great fully IP TV can be.  I just hope they quickly release the  iPhone app to allow us to use the iPhone as a U-verse remote and to allow us to watch recorded shows on the phone!