Alexandria
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Comcast gifts Arlington, Virginia with 9 new HD channels
For those that escape the hectic D.C. work day and travel back to Arlington / Alexandria in order to catch your favorite shows in HD, here's some good news. As of this week, the same channels received by Reston residents -- Discovery Channel HD (239), TLC HD (240), Animal Planet HD (241), USA HD (235), Food Network HD (231), HGTV HD (229), CNN HD (234), Sci-Fi HD (236) and History Channel HD (237) -- have made their way to your nook of Virginia. We know, that commute is hellacious, but knowing that you're heading home to nine new HD channels has to make things somewhat better. Right?[Thanks, Brian D. and Sam P.]
Microsoft's Argo, Pyxis, Zune and Alexandria -- confused yet?
It's raining Zune rumors again, or more properly, "Project Argo" rumors, and far be it from us to keep these to ourselves. The latest word comes from BetaNews and their "sources close to the situation," and things just keep looking better coming from the Redmond camp. They're claiming that Microsoft will start showing off the device to the public in the last week of August, followed by more presentations mid-September, and an October release. The August announcement would come a few weeks after Apple is rumored to release new iPod nanos at WWDC, but would come a fair bit before the flagship iPod refresh is expected, giving Microsoft a great shot at the "you have to buy a new iPod at least once a year" crowd pining for a fix. BetaNews also has some more code names from Project Argo for us to kick around: Pyxis and Alexandria. The former is a rumored iPod nano competitor, with similar size and functions, but the addition of video support. The latter we've heard of before, back when Origami rumors were in their prime, and appears to be the music/video service that will complete Microsoft's utopian ideal of end-to-end content and device provider -- and which is sure to piss off a few PlaysForSure music services in the process.
Apple continues to irk nation's architectual boards
It's not easy to be cutting-edge. You may remember last month when Apple was having difficulty getting Boston's Back Bay Architectural Commission to approve the design of what should be a new flagship retail store in Beantown. Similarly, NYC shot down a design for an all-glass storefront facade that was proposed for the city's flatiron district. However, it's been a different story in Alexandria, Virginia.According to ifoAppleStore, the city recently approved Apple's proposal for a steel-and-glass building with two Apple logo signs in place of what used to be a McDonald's. Kudos to Alexandria's Board of Architectural Review, which stated that it "...[discourages] standard, off-the-shelf, aluminum storefront components that tend to result in repetitive storefront designs.” Like I said about the proposed Boston store, I think the juxtaposition of contemporary and historic architecture in a city is quite attractive. Are you listening, Back Bay Architectural Commission?[Via ifoAppleStore]
