This update is recommended for owners of MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro with Mini DisplayPort. The update addresses an issue where some standard definition purchases from the iTunes Store do not play on some external displays.

It should be emphasized that this only resolves issues with standard definition versions of purchases. So, if you were having troubles before and are now hoping to watch that download in all its high definition glory, you are still out of luck.

The update is currently only available via Software Update for all Mini DisplayPort equipped systems.

I am lucky enough to attend MAX this year, but have not blogged a single peep about it. That's not because it's been terribly dull, with no great announcements or code insights or geeked out super nerds with kilts playing Unreal Tournament on bean-bag chairs. Ho, no. There's been a ton of that. Sadly, there's also been a broken VPN client on my MacBook.

The problem was Heisenberg quirky for a while, such that any time I had some spare time and would swear I would figure out how to fix it, the problem would stop occuring. It only seemed to occur when I was stressed for time, at the client, or already grinding my teeth over some other problem. Luckily, if you use Google to search for 'Error 51: Unable to communicate with the VPN subsystem', you get two entries, one of which explains the whole thing. Note that, if you type 'Area 51', you will get considerably more than two results.

First, the word on the internet is "the Cisco VPN client tends to break with most OS X updates.". Like a good solider, I tend to accept OSX updates from Apple, mostly because I hope it will fix various annoying broken things, like the kernal panic when unplugging my Apple keyboard. While that issue persists, it looks like I've gained a new hassle by having an intermittently broken VPN. Expect it stopped seeming intermittent, starting last week, just before MAX and all the fun things I wanted to blog while sitting on a bean bag at Moscone West. So I'm fixing it.

The page continues; 'I've found the Cisco VPN client to be the least reliable VPN client I've ever used. In fact, I think it breaks during most updates, possibly because Cisco (a) doesn't bother to write a more modern launchd version, and/or (b) they put their StartupItem in the System/Library/StartupItems folder, which (unless I'm mistaken) is intended to be reserved for Apple software."

The best part of all was finding the solution. There is nothing that delivers greater nerd joy than a shell command for punching a troublesome process in the kidney. Since the console log reported "com.cisco.VPNClient[301]: Could not attach to driver. Is kernel module loaded?", the idea of giving the VPN driver a kick seemed worth a try. Here's the command:

sudo /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN/CiscoVPN restart

Which I ran as such:

Type that into terminal, along with your password, and you should be up and running. More on MAX in a bit; it's my turn (finally) to play some Unreal Tournament.

Those weren't the words of President-elect Barack Obama. It was the Pied Piper of Web 2.0, Tim O'Reilly, making his opening remarks at the Web 2.0 Summithere Wednesday.

Against the backdrop of the change in power in Washington, D.C. (opportunities) and the economic meltdown (one of the problems), the navel-gazing tech industry lives on. Speakers at the event include VC legend John Doerr, Yahoo's Jerry Yang, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Alibaba's Jack Ma, Intel's Paul Otellini, Al Gore, and Lance Armstrong. Co-host John Battelle, who is also the CEO of ad network Federated Media, was quick to thank the sponsors who came through with the money, citing the tough climate for advertising.

But the Web 2.0 Summit inaugural session didn't start with talk about Web 2.0 business models, entrepreneurial riches, or surviving the downturn. In the spirit of the new era in American history, philanthropy and investing in a better future were the first topics of discussion.

Google.org Executive Director Dr. Larry Brilliant talked about how his organization put $100 million to work in the past year. Google invests 1 percent of Google's equity and profits (in various forms) and employee time to fund the organization.

Google.org Executive Director Larry Brilliant speaks Wednesday at Web 2.0 Summit 2008.

(Credit: Dan Farber)

Most recently, Google.org's "Predict and Prevent" initiative gave grants of more than $14 million to support partners working in Southeast Asia and Africa to prevent the next pandemic.

Google.org isn't purely philanthropic in its approach to investing in a better future. The Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal initiative, for example, has made $50 million investments in alternative energy companies. "It's different than pick and shovel investments," Brilliant said. "It is important that we make money on these investments and for the companies to make a profit...If they don't make money, no one else will and we won't be able to take advantage of capital flows and market forces."

Google.org has invested more than $10 million in enhanced geothermal energy. "Geothermal, if it works, is better than intermittent producers of solar and wind, and it's also ubiquitous," Brilliant said, noting that he meets with Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page every week to discuss Google.org.

Brilliant also touted the virtues of The WELL, which he co-founded in 1985, over the current set of online communications services, such as Twitter and instant messaging. The WELL is structured to support more coherent conversations on important issues, he said. "Coherent" is probably the key word, given the more linear and chronological nature of WELL conversations, but the use of blogs, instant messaging, wikis, and social networks, as well as more traditional forum software helped to catapult Barack Obama from relative obscurity to the White House in two years.

First of all, you’ll need to identify which shows you want to watch.  If you’re still reading this article, I’m going to assume that you at least already know what you’re missing.  Even if you’re not aware of every new show, we’ll get to how you can find new ones in a little bit.

Once you know what you want to watch, you might do some research.  The best place for this is The Internet Movie Database or IMDB.  Contrary to the name, the IMDB has expanded its scope to encompass just about anything to grace big or small screens.  For our purposes you might want to use it to look up which shows are on which networks.  The benefit to using IMDB is that it will also clue you in to show stats like who’s playing who and the concept behind the show.  Another reason to use the database is that they are fairly good about keeping spoilers out of their listings.

If you have determined the network that owns your shows, you can move on to the process of finding them online.  Of course there are less than legal methods of doing this, but nowadays there are fewer reasons to because most of the major shows are already available for free from the networks themselves.  Finding them on their flash-heavy websites can be tricky, so I’ve compiled a handy list that should (fingers crossed) take you through the fog and straight to the steaming goodness.  [Note: Some of these sites heavily divide the videos so that each show has its own page.  The links as close to the videos as possible.]

• NBC
• CBS
• FOX
• ABC
• USA
• Sci Fi

Of course not every show will be encompassed by this list because there are a number of really great shows on the smaller networks.  Unfortunately these are a little harder to track down because the digital rights agreements may not have been drawn up for them beyond DVD sales and the like.

There is another option at your disposal.  If all the flash menus are starting to get to you, you can switch over to Hulu, which has largely the same content as the network site, but also has a wide range of other agreements, including entire catalogs of older shows. In fact, here’s the direct link to their alphabetical television listings.

Personally, I love Hulu.  Their player is fantastic, with several notable features and neat style choices.  First is the interface.  With a translucent simplicity, the player is soft on the eye and doesn’t clash with the video.  Once you’ve got the show started, there is a “lower lights” button that casts a dark filter over the rest of the window.  This little add-on, which probably required three lines of code, makes the entire experience a lot better and reduces eye strain.

Even the ads, dreadful as ads are, remain fairly unobtrusive.  They stay within the original box, tell you exactly how long they are going to last (so you might grab something in another room if it is a long one) and they are clearly experimenting with new ad models.  Whenever an ad comes up, you can actually rate whether or not you like it.  Also, occasionally Hulu will prompt you as to whether you want to see one long ad (usually a movie trailer) at the beginning or the normal intermittent ads. Unfortunately the latter option tends to show the same ad over and over throughout the show.

Hopefully one of the above options was able to help you find that new sitcom or the season premier of The Office.  If it didn’t work out, you’re one of many, struggling to find an easy way to access television online.  At this point, rips on YouTube and torrents are the only technological option and they are usually illegal.  Even so, keep your hopes up, because sooner or later every network will get on board with online distribution sites like Hulu.

You might also want to check out the MANY past posts on Make Use Of covering online television.   Here are a selection :

Watch Television on your Desktop with Livestation

Internet TV: A Closer Look at JOOST

Socialize Your Television Experience With TIOTI

Ditch Your Cable Company With Free, Legal Alternatives

The only TV and Movie Websites you Need

What are your favourite methods of watching television online?   Are you a Hulu fan?   A Joost watcher?   What shows do you watch?

[Images from papermag.com, NBC, and Hulu]

(By) Jimmy Rogers is a biology major at George Mason University and an avid freelance tech blogger. Check out his blog, Mason Tech Beat.

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