May st week I accidentally reset one of my preferred applications, Kodi, which is a very popular program which manages video, music and other content, on pretty much any computer. While working on an issue I inadvertently reset the app, deleting all of the everything. Initially, I was, well, to put it politely, was really pissed off. Anyway, with no other option, time to rebuild from scratch. I started by loading the add-ons I knew that I enjoyed, but because Kodi was written by a bunch of techie types, the installation process is best done with a full set of instruction from the net. Being lazy, and working on my smartphone, I generally type in general questions like “how to install the best add-ons for Kodi”, rather than “install Neptune Rising Kodi”. That way I get back a wider number of choices, usually with a few surprises in the replies. Among other things, the answers from Google reminded me that technology is a dynamic industry where most software has a cycle time of about 6-months, meaning if you install the best of the best, 6-months later there’s probably a better solution available, that you will be happier with. Long story short, I was surprised to learn that there a pile of new add-ons for Kodi which work faster, and are better a sorting out the files you want to watch. One big problem that bothers me is accidentally ending up with a camera version of a movie. Most of the time, they really suck. Might not be so bad on a smartphone, but on a 70-inch TV, it’s really awful. One of the addons actually sorted out files by the picture quality and put all the camera versions in one group, so you don’t waste your time on a really bad version. Another menu selection sorts the files showing you movies that have recently been upgraded. Again another real time saver.

Reporting for Computer Insider, I’m Bob Pritchard