QNE_p034

QC08062015

34 The QUEE NS Courier • august 6, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com Major honor for Flushing House executive BY THE QUEENS COURIER STAF editorial@queenscourier.com/@QueensCourier Flushing House’s director of operations will receive later this month a major award for his exemplary service. David Barr will be presented with the “Employee of Distinction” award and a $100 check from LeadingAge New York during a ceremony at Flushing House on Thursday, Aug. 13, from 1 to 2 p.m. LeadingAge Executive Vice President Dan Heim is scheduled to perform the honor. LeadingAge has invited local state lawmakers to presented a legislative resolution in recognition of Barr’s dedication to serving older adults. Nominations were sought for LeadingAge New York’s 15th annual “Employee of Distinction” Awards to recognize the extraordinary dedication of front-line staff from member facilities. Members of the New York State Legislature, state regulatory agencies, advocacy agencies, plus other groups, served on the awards committee to review the nominations. LeadingAge New York represents not-for-profit, mission-driven and public continuing care providers, including nursing homes, senior housing, adult care facilities, continuing care retirement communities, assisted living corporations and community service providers. Barr started at Flushing House in 2003 and previously served as its food service manager and a member of the marketing department. He was promoted a few years ago to become the director of operations at Flushing House. As such, he is responsible for supervising a staff of several management and union employees. Barr interacts daily with many outside contractors, such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, elevator mechanics and a variety of building service and product providers. He makes sure day-to-day operations run smoothly. Among Barr’s accomplishments include overseeing the expansion and renovation of the Flushing House kitchen and dining room, and working to eliminate basement flooding following Hurricane Sandy. In the latter instance, Barr — because of his technical expertise — realized the foundation needed an emergency overflow ejector pump, which required the foundation floor to be excavated. No other flooding episodes have occurred since this project was completed. Built in 1974, Flushing House is the largest, notfor profit, independent living retirement community in New York State. For more information, visit www.flushinghouse.com Photo courtesy of Flushing House Flushing House Director of Operations David Barr What streaming box should I get? by OLEG RABINOVICH Apple TV, Roku, Nexus Player, NVidia Shield TV, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, etc. There are just too many choices when it comes to streaming media players. There are in fact hundreds of different options. My job today is to help you decide on a particular model. Let’s talk about the pros and cons of some of the top models. Apple TV ($69) Pro: If you are an iTunes junkie, this one is a no-brainer. Get an Apple TV. This is the only option for those folks who purchase lot of music and movies on iTunes. It has most of the big players like Netflix, Hulu, HBO GO and ESPN. On their website they list 61 different content providers. Con: Very limited channel selection compared to some of the others. No Amazon Prime TV channel, which is a big miss. Tiny little remote with only a few buttons. Roku 2 ($69) Pro: More channel selections than any other streaming box. Literally thousands of different streaming options. Headphone jack built right into the remote so you can watch TV late at night without waking up the significant other. Excellent search capabilities. Con: No iTunes Amazon Fire TV ($99) Pro: It has some of the fastest chips of any streaming box. Everything is just fast on it. Great channel selection. Great device if you own a lot of Amazon media. Great Amazon Prime voice search right through the remote. Allows you to side load almost any app from the Android ecosystem. Decent basic game machine. Con: Voice search does not work on all the channels. Price is higher than some of the other boxes. No iTunes. Xbox One ($349) Pro: A full-fledged, top-of-the-line gaming machine that has a lot of great streaming options and most of the major channels available. Con: If all you want is a streaming box, then you are paying way too much for this. No iTunes. PlayStation 4 ($399) Pro: A full-fledged, top-of-the-line gaming machine that has a lot of great streaming options and most of the major channels available. In fact the PS4 even includes its own streaming TV service called PlayStation Vue that is not available on any other service. This service competes with the more traditional cable services. Con: If all you want is a streaming box, then you are paying way too much for this. No iTunes. Chromecast ($35) Pro: The cheapest streaming option out there. You just send whatever is on your smartphone screen over to the Chromecast that is plugged into the back of your TV. It doesn’t even need to be plugged into a wall jack; the TV USB connection can power it. Con: No remote. You must use your smartphone to control it, otherwise the Chromecast won’t work. Not everything can be streamed from your phone to the Chromecast easily. Nexus Player ($99) Pro: Google’s answer to all the other streaming boxes. Great if you own a lot of media from the Google Play library. Does everything a Chromecast does plus includes more powerful hardware and a remote. Voice search. Con: Very limited channel selection compared to some of the others. No Amazon Prime TV channel, which is a big miss. NVidia Shield TV ($199) Pro: The newest and most powerful streaming media player on the market. Plays 4K content (only box with that capability). Excellent game play box. Con: Very limited channel selection compared to some of the others. No Amazon Prime TV channel which is a big miss. Expensive. Games are not as great quality as on the Xbox One or PlayStation 4. Verdict: If you are married to iTunes, get an Apple TV. If you have a 4K television and are desperate to watch the limited 4k content that is available, get an NVidia Shield TV. If you are a huge video game player get either the Xbox One or PlayStation 4. If you are really cheap, get the Chromecast. Otherwise get the Roku 2. It is by far the best bang for your buck in the streaming media box competition. Enjoy. Oleg Rabinovich is a self-described tech geek who loves to play with, put together and take apart technology. He only gets mad when technology doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to. You wouldn’t like him when he gets mad. If you have any questions for him please email him at olegrabinovich@aol.com.


QC08062015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above