The Boxee Box by D-Link

This device is similar to WD TV Live and the O!Play where you can play Movies from a hard drive (Network drive etc…) on your HDTV with additional features like:

1) Full QWERTY keypad on the remote control

2) Thousands of shows and movies

You can preorder now from Amazon. Click on the Amazon icon at the end of this blog to bring you directly to the product page.

Boxee Box (Front & Remote)

Product Specs: (from Amazon.com)

·         Dimensions (LxWxH): 4.5" x 4.5" x 4.6"

·         Language Support: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish

·         Network Protocol Support: IPV4, ARP, TCP, UDP, ICMP, DHCP Client, DNS Client, DDNS Client, HTTP Server, Samba Client, RTP/RTMP, VPN: PPTP, DLNA 1.5 (DMP)

·         Wireless: 802.11n/g/b

·         Ports: HDMI 1.3, 10/100 Fast Ethernet, 2x USB 2.0, Optical Audio (S/PDIF), Analog Audio (RCA L/R)

Boxee Box (back)

·         Memory Card Support: SD, SDHC up to 32GB, MMC

·         Audio Formats: MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AIF/AIFF, AC3/AAC, OGG, FLAC, DTS, Dolby Digital/Dolby True HD

·         Video Formats: Adobe Flash 10.1, FLV/On2 VP6 (FLV/FV4/M4V), H.264 AVC (TS/AVI/MKV/MOV/M2TS/MP4), VC-1 (TS/AVI/MKV/WMV), MPEG-1 (DAT/MPG/MPEG), MPEG-2 (MPG/MPEG/VOB/TS/TP/ISO/IFO), MPEG-4 (MP4/AVI/MOV), DivX 3/4/5/6 (AVI/MKV), Xvid (AVI/MKV), WMV9 (WMV/ASF/DVR-MS)

·         Image Formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF

·         Playlist Formats: M3U, PLS, WPL

·         Subtitle Formats: SRT, SUB, SSA, SMI, ASS

·         Supported Resolutions: H.264: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps; WMV9/VC-1: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps; MPEG4: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps; MPEG2: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps

Boxee Box Remote Control

·         Two-Sided RF Remote: with 4-way navigation and full QWERTY keypad

What's In the Box

·         The Boxee Box by D-Link

·         1x HDMI Cable

·         1x AC Power Adapter

·         Remote Control with Full QWERTY keypad

Dickey's Barbecue Pit (McKinney, TX)

I never had BBQ (at the restaurant that is) until 5 years ago when my wife and I took our first trip from Dallas to San Antonio. We stopped by a town near San Antonio (I forgot what the town name was), we decided to try American BBQ for the first time. We just picked randomly a BBQ restaurant (I forgot what the restaurant name  was) and went in. It was lunch time and the line was amazingly long. Seeing every one buying ribs by the pound and bring to the ‘picnic style’ tables and eat, we decided to try the regular and the baby ribs. I couldn’t believe how amazing it was.

After coming back from that trip, we were looking around for BBQ restaurants around our areas and even tried a very famous one down in Dallas. Nothing came close. We eventually settled for “Spring Creek BBQ” (on Warren and Preston in Frisco) and “Dickey’s Barbecue Pit” (on 75 and 380 in McKinney). Though not as good as the one we tried down south, still enough to satisfy our craving for BBQ. These two places have distinct taste to themselves and we thought we like them both….until Dickey’s Barbecue Pit opened another branch in Mckinney at the north east corner of Custer Road and 121. Everything from this branch taste fresh and far better (to me at least) than the other places. Give it a try. Yum Yum BBQ.

BTW, kids always eat free here with an adult entry. Plus, FREE yummy ice cream. You gotta try the Peach cobbler too. You can pick the cobbler as a side if you decided to try.

Website:

http://www.dickeys.com/index.aspx

Address:

8628 Hwy. 121 
McKinney, TX 75070

Phone:

(972) 727-1300

VL Rating: Excellence (for Mckinney/Frisco area)

Founders' Plaza Observation Area (DFW)

I have been here a couple of times now with my son who loves to see airplanes landing and taking off. He would run back and forth and try to take pictures of the airplanes. He loves this place.

From this plaza, the view is better to see the airplane landing than take off. The plaza has parking, picnic tables (some with covers so you don’t have to sit under the sun), telescopes, historic information, a commemorative monument and a radio that broadcasts LIVE air traffic control communications from the FAA tower. This is definitely a good spot to bring kids to spend for 30-60 minutes and it’s FREE.

Website: http://www.dfwairport.com/founders/index.php

Direction:

Exit at Highway 114 on to Texan Trail and head south towards the Airport. Founders’ Plaza is at Texan Trail and N. Airfield Drive.

Click here to view the map to the plaza location.

VL Rating: Excellence

Allen Premium Outlets (Allen, TX)

If you’re in the DFW area and want to shop for great deals, a half an hour drive would bring you to Allen Premium Outlets. This place has about 100 stores with brand names like Banana Republic, BCBG Max, Brooks Brothers, Calvin Klein, Coach, Polo Ralph Lauren, Nike just to name a few and Neiman Marcus Last Call.

I wouldn’t say it is the best outlets out there but it is one of the closest to Dallas. The best outlets in Texas would be the Prime Outlets and the Tanger Outlets (they’re literally next to each other) in San Marcos, TX. You can literally shop until you drop there. But this Allen place is good for at least a few hours and it is close by.

On the other side of 75 (Central Expressway) are the Village at Fairview and Village at Allen. You can find Target, Best Buy, Macy’s and a long list of stores and restaurants. Check out this link for a complete list.

The Allen Premium Outlets:

Address: 820 West Stacy Road, Allen, TX 75013 
Phone: (972) 678-7000

VL Rating: Good