Players Will Be Required to Pay for Xbox One Features

Xbox One console

Was there ever any doubt that Microsoft would go this route?  Not in my mind.  Why?  Simple, because they already do this.  A story reported on today from BBC News mentions that the Xbox One will require the user/player to subscribe to a Live Gold account in order to utilize some functions of the new Xbox One.  Is this really that much of a change?  Nope.

Long story short, here is the deal.  In order to use the following functions, players must be an Xbox Live Gold account subscriber.  Items marked *Currently Required indicates Xbox 360 features that currenly requires a Gold subscriptions well.

-Multiplayer Gaming *Currently Required
-Netflix (or other video streaming services) *Currently Required
-Matchmaking for Online Games (considered a function of online play) *Currently Required
-OneGuide (think of a recommendation service for online media content)
-Access to communicate via Skype.

I don't particularly see anything worthy of arguing about int his list.  As it stands, it doesn't appear that all that much will change between current Live Gold accounts and current-gen Live Gold accounts.  This doesn't mean that changes will not pop up elsewhere, it just means there isn't a whole lot that us current-gen gamers can argue about.

And with Sony also starting to charge for online access and similar features on the PS4, there goes the excuse that paying for online on an Xbox console is more expensive.  Looks like we're all on a level playing field now.  Like it or not.

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Nexus 7 Review

Shortly after Christmas, I found myself purchasing a Nexus 7 tablet.  And believe me when I say they were few and far between in our local brick and mortar stores.  In early December I saw them on sale at a two of our local Walmart stores.  But apparently they were a pretty hot item this year.  I ended up finding one at a Gamestop about 30 miles away.

Needless to say, it was well worth the near 60 mile round trip.  So here is my quick review.

First up, like most tablets or mobile devices; there are several different versions of the device.  The Nexus 7 was made by Asus for Google (as Google doesn't produce hardware themselves).  The Nexus 7 is a 7 inch, Tegra 3 tablet and it comes in three flavors.
- 16GB Wifi only                               (MSRP: $199.00)
- 32GB Wifi only                               (MSRP: $249.00)
- 32GB Wifi & 3G (3G via AT&T)     (MSRP: $299.00)

Most of the local brick & mortar stores around here carry the 32GB WiFi only model for $249.  At first, $249 may sound a little steep.  But when compared to the price of devices like the Kindle Fire HD or the Nook HD it's still pretty much in the same price range.  And from the software perspective, the Nexus 7 is quite a bit more open (out of the box) than either Amazon or Barnes & Noble's offerings.

The market definitely has no shortage of tablets and mobile computing devices, so what makes the Nexus 7 stand out?  For me, it's the software that jumps out at me.  The Nexus 7 runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) out of the box.  So big deal, it runs the latest version of Android... Who cares?  Well, most Android based devices include apps that aren't used of wanted.  Smartphone's are the same way.  My Galaxy S2 from Sprint came preloaded with Sprint branded apps and even a couple games that I didn't really care to have on my device without my choice.

This doesn't happen with the Nexus 7, reason being it runs pure Android without any vendor UI overlay or without any Vendor specific apps preloaded.  What you do get preinstalled on the devices are the apps from Google that are run of the mill on Android devices:
-Google Play Store (and associated apps)

So what about the specs:
- Tegra 3 Quad-Core Processor
-1GB of RAM
-Storage Capacity: 16GB or 32GB
-WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
-Bluetooth
-NFC
-3G only available is the 3G model
-Front Facing 1.2MP camera
-4325 mAh Battery (rated at approximately 8 hours of battery life)
Screen Specs:
-7 inch (1280 x 800) at 216ppi
-Back-lit IPS display

Other Features:
-Microhone
-Accelerometer
-Magnetometer
-GPS
-Gyroscope

You may have read through those specs and said: "What a minute, where is the SD Card slot or the rear facing camera?!".  And you'd be right, the Nexus 7 does not sport either of those.  And to be honest with you, I haven't even missed them.  Here's why.  My phone has a 8MP camera on it.  The majority of my pictures are taken while I am out and about in the world on a daily basis.  I have a 10 inch Android Tablet that sports both of the Nexus 7's missing features and I rarely use them.  I have taken less than 10 pictures with my 10 inch tablet's rear camera.  I use the SD card slot only to load a small collection of ROM's to play.  That's it.  So not having these two features didn't hinder me from picking up the Nexus 7.

And if these missing features might deter you from checking out the Nexus 7, then don't let it.  Because there is a work around for the missing SD Card slot.  You can pick up what is called an "On the Go" USB adapter.  There are a couple types of these available on Amazon.  The popular one basically splits the micro-USB connector on the bottom of the device into two USB ports that allows you to connect Flash Drives for extra storage of file transfers (although some of the file transfer features will require ROOT access).  That means it is still possible to swap files on the fly.  Albeit, with an extra cable.  The good news is that most of these adapters are really dirt cheap.  And there is even one that has a card reader/USB/HDMI Output on it as well.

So enough about the specs, how does it perform?  So far I have read books on the Nexus 7, watched quite a bit of Netflix programming on it, surfed the web and social networks, and yes; I have indulged in quite a few games as well.  Everything works just as smooth as silk.  The games I have played so far include:
-Need for Speed Most Wanted
-Dark Meadow: The Pact
-Sonic 4 Episode II THD
-Beach Buggy Blitz
-Marvel's Avengers Initiative

And every game has been fast, no lag, responsive and an overall fantastic experience. I am excited to load up the multiplayer version of Shadowgun to see it in all it's glory.  One of the common complaints tends to be more with the apps from Google Play; as not all of them are designed to work on a 7 inch display.  What I mean is the Facebook app downloaded from Google Play is essentially the same as the phone version of the app.  This has been an issue with Android pretty much since Day 1.  They call that "fragmentation" and is one of the large reason's Apple fans slam Android fanboys.  For me, there are so many other awesome apps out there, I can't let the quirks with just a couple hinder my overall experience on something that really isn't the tablet's issue in the first place.

The 7 inch screen size is perfect for reading books, as it feels like using a paperback sized book.  And the tablet is pretty light (weighing in at 340g) so you can easily hold it with one hand and not tired of holding it.  And when paired with books from Google Play (or as I prefer to use Aldiko), it really feels great kicking back on the couch with a good book on the Nexus 7.

Battery Life
Sure, it's got great specs with a great screen size and can run movies and games without a problem.  The battery life must be terrible, right?  Nope.  In fact, the battery life is the best I have seen on an Android device this size.  For example, over the weekend I pretty much carried the Nexus 7 with me everywhere I went.  I haven't altered any of the display or power settings from their default settings.  At the end of the day Saturday, I looked at the Battery usage and it had been off of the charger for a little better than 9.5 hours and I was still showing around 32% battery left.  My usage that day was connecting to three different WiFi connections, web surfing/Facebooking for a while on each.  Did some lite reading, used the web surfing to find resources and information on PC repair for a friend, watching YouTube, playing Need for Speed Most Wanted, and later that evening watching an episode of "Sons of Anarchy" on Netflix.

That is way more activity than my phone could handle without begging for a charge midway through the day. So you shouldn't have to worry about battery life.  If you can charge it up before bed, you'll not have much to worry about.  The only issue I can forsee is that the battery is enclosed (much like the iPad devices).  So you can't replace it when it's charge cycles are used up.  Hopefully, by the time that happens; it'll be time to upgrade devices anyway.

Cons
The Nexus 7 only has one downside that I have found thus far and I wanted to save it for last.  And really, it isn't that big of a deal (it can be resolved); but out of the box it may be an issue for some people.  The Nexus 7 has one speaker bar in the bottom of the back of the device.  Out of the box with the volume turned all the way up, it is still somewhat difficult to hear the audio anywhere but in a semi-quiet room.  You can however download a Speaker Booster app from Google Play that will fix this.  So not a serious issue by any means.

Overall Verdict: Must Buy!
Today marks 1 week spent with the Nexus 7, and I haven't regretted purchasing it yet.  It is a great device, offering the latest and greatest that Google has to offer on the software side.  And the awesome specs that Asus slammed into the Nexus 7's casing.  I honestly gave thought to initially purchasing the iPad Mini.  But with it's price point higher than the Nexus 7's, and the fact I really didn't like the idea of having to use iTunes again.  So I veered away from Apple's offering.  And honestly, I'm glad that I did.

For more information on the Nexus 7 please visit:
Google Play's Nexus 7 Product Page

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"The Cloud" + Gaming = Can it work?

So this afternoon I read a story concerning a new development in "Cloud Gaming".  Yep, that's right "Cloud Gaming".  If you don't know exactly what that is, let me briefly explain.  A "Cloud Gaming Service" has a bunch of servers that they have their games installed on.  Much like user's stream movies via Netflix, a cloud gaming provider's servers would run the gaming locally on the server side and stream the video output from the game through the internet (aka "The Cloud") to it's customers.

This type of gaming solution gives players access to games without having to be concerned with upgrading their computer's hardware (namely RAM, video card/chipset, and processor) nor purchasing expensive video game consoles that try to be your "entertainment hub" in the living.  Since all the customer is coming into contact with is the video feed and sending back the controls being input back upstream to the game's server.  Sounds pretty awesome, doesn't it?

That's because it is, in theory.  Some time back I wrote a post about OnLive, and I still stand by my original thoughts that they were "before their time".  And that hopefully they could pave the way for a larger market for this type of service.  If you haven't followed the situation with OnLive, there have been reports/rumors of mass layoffs within the company.  And an ill fated financial future doesn't look good for them.

But there may be hope that OnLive can pull through with the help of Vizio & Google who seem to see value in the service as the latest run of Google TV boxes will support the OnLive service.  On top of that, if you have followed the KickStarter project OUYA, which touts to be an Android based game console, it will support OnLive as well.  So all may not be lost with OnLive.

I haven't personally played the OnLive console.  But I have played around with a couple demo's via the Android tablet app on my Acer Iconia a500 tablet.  I have attempted to the same with the Windows client.  But this is where these services enter some murky waters: bandwidth.  Yep, in order to use the mobile app with much success you need a very decent/stable broadband connection.  My network speed is among one of the upper tiers for my area; yet it is a little slower than a national average.  For me, the mobile app worked but it looked a little fuzzy.  Whereas, the Windows client would only kick up an error that I didn't have enough bandwidth to run their service.  My network speed isn't the greatest, but it handles everything I through at it with ease; with the exception of OnLive.  Even Netflix streams to my 40 inch HD television and looks good.  So why not OnLive?

For a service like this to succeed, it needs to be accessable to lower network speeds.  However, this too is a double edged sword, because bandwidth will also limit the video quality of the stream coming downstream to the client.  Meanwhile maintaining a low latency for quick response via the network.  Although I still believe this type of service could flourish.  I still think it is a little before it's time.

With all of the said (and most of it just my opinions); AMD has invested in a company similar to OnLive by the name of CiiNow.  What do you think?  Will  OnLive's tumultuous past and uncertain future mean a bumpy take off for an AMD backed solution?  Or can AMD help CiiNow take off and flourish?  CiiNow is a little different than OnLive as it is designed to be a turnkey solutions for service providers.  Meaning that more than likely you'll not become a "CiiNow Customer".  But say your ISP could become a service provider and offer a game streaming service to you as part of a bundle or package, etc. while utilizing this technology service as a foundation for that particular service offering.

Whereas, OnLive is much like Netflix. It sells the service to the end user directly.

Time will tell if the world is ready for this type of service.

What do you think?  Drop us a line at the bottom of this post and let us know!

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Review: Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic 4G Touch

A couple of weeks ago I managed to get my hands on a Samsung Galaxy S2.  And in short, it has to be one of my favorite devices yet.  I'm using the Sprint model which is dubbed the 'Epic 4G Touch' surname.  I have had my hands all over this phone for the past 2 weeks and it continues to get more and more awesome all the time.







Let's cover some of the phone's specs right quick:
- Dual-Core 1.2GHz processor
- 4.52" Super AMOLED Plus screen
- 8 MP rear camera and a 2 MP front facing camera
- Voice Talk by Vlingo
- Expandable Storage up to 32GB via MicroSD card
- 16GB of onoard storage
- Mobile Hotspot Feature
- 3G/4G compatible where speeds are available
- WiFi built-in

So you can see from the specs that this phone packs some serious punch under the hood.  But how does it perform?  In a nutshell, smooth as can be.  I have experienced very little to no lag from this device.  And lag is one thing I have noticed in both my Acer Iconia a500 Honeycomb Tablet and my wife's HTC Evo 4G.  Usually the lag on those devices occurs between screen transitions from Applications Menu to Home Screen or when loading up a resource heavy game.  But none of that has been evident thus far in my Galaxy S2.

Samsung packs this phone with the TouchWiz UI overtop Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) by default.  This means we get some pretty useful shortcuts and a nice, clean looking User Interface.  Some of the shortcuts are pretty awesome too.  The one I especially like (since I shuffle app shortcuts all over the place) is the tilt to move feature.  Simply tap and hold an app shortcut and tilt your phone to cycle through the available home screens.  It works flawlessly.  If you're not a widget fan, you'll have some work to do since by default there are numerous widgets running onscreen from the first power on.

Namely, you will see the clock and weather widget on the main home screen.  If you scroll to the left one screen you will see a Driving/Handsfree Widget and and a nice looking AP News widget.  If you scroll to the right one screen from the Home Screen you will have the Google Search Widget.  This being the Spring version of the phone it does come with some bloatware from Sprint.  In the form of: Spring TV, Sprint Zone, Nascar, Sprint Radio, etc.

The phone does come with a cool app named Kies Air.  In short it lets you control the phone's contents from a computer's web browser (as long as your computer and phone are on the same WiFi network.  The layout is nice and allows you to see pretty much everything you have on your phone from pictures to the most recent text messages all within your web browser.  That being said, I could play music back but had issues copying files through the network from the PC to the Phone.  Maybe I was doing something wrong.  Still, not a deal breaker for me as I could care less about this feature overall.

The default social networking app is 'SocialHub'.  I had some issues with SocialHub (just being in the form of having to track down settings and options from where I felt they should logically be placed).  Still, not a big deal as I ditched SocialHub for the Plume and Facebook apps for Android anyways.  Another great app that comes loaded on the phone is Polaris Office. And it appears to be the full version of the app as well which includes Windows format compatibility.  So that is a nice inclusion as well.

One of the big topics that is discussed with every Android device is battery life.  And most of the time this is one of the biggest complaints from Android user's.  I can honestly say that my battery life with the Galaxy S2 is pretty good.  In short, carrying it around during the day (from an 8 to 5 workday) my phone doesn't outright die halfway through the day.  Usually when I get home in the evenings around 5:00p or so it is down to about 40% life left.  Which is pretty good in my opinion.  Especially when my wife's HTC Evo 4G tends to get something like 4.5 to 5 hours of life from a full charge.

With that being said, I'm also running it with 4G turned off (we have no 4G in my area yet) and the WiFi and Bluetooth radios turned off as well.  Surfing the web on WiFi around the house causes the battery to discharge much faster.  But still it is fine for casual use or updating a Facebook status.

The camera is outstanding and does a great job.  In low-light areas the pictures still look as long as the flash is turned on.  And the flash is freakin' bright too.  So, if you're into mobile photography with your smartphone you'll not be disappointed.

One last thing to touch on is the hands-free features.  The hands-free/voice recognition features are powered by Vlingo.  Vlingo has been around for a while and can be thought of as an app similar to Apple's Siri in functionality.  And it is pretty good.  Out of the box you can have it read your text messages and send text messages for you.  It can do web searches and pull up GPS info for you as well.  All powered from your voice.  If using a Bluetooth headset it is setup so if you say: "Galaxy Hi" it will wake the phone and allow your voice input to use the phone.  Pretty awesome.

I had only one issue with the phone, and it was more with the software and with Facebook than with the device itself.  If you sign in to Facebook for Android, you're contact list will compile all of your Facebook friends info into your Contacts List.  I didn't like this feature and quickly found an easy way to turn it off in the settings.  Once again, it was an easy fix and not that big of a deal.

I could go on and on all afternoon about how awesome this device is.  I mean, I essentially replaced my iPod Touch with this device because it everything my iTouch did in terms of music and podcasts, not to mention Netflix and Crackle run great on it.  And gaming is jaw dropping on this device.  If you are looking for a great Android phone, without a doubt I would highly recommend the Samsung Galaxy S2.  The great thing about this device is that Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile all have their own version of the Galaxy S2.  So if you're on one of these services you can have a go at the S2 yourself (sorry Verizon customers).

Easily this phone gets a 5 star/5 star score!

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Netflix Shares and User Base Drops

Since we're on the topic of big brand companies going crazy, we might as well chat about Netflix.  Remember a few months ago when they announced the changes to their service pricing?  And remember a lot of people got pretty upset about the matter.  Then after their current customer's were already rocked by the pricing change; they almost immediately announced that they would be moving their DVD Rental Service from under the Netflix brand to the new Qwikster brand name.  Which seemed kind of crazy, but at least they were still supporting the DVD Rental customers.

And yes, a bunch of customer's got equally upset about the name change to Qwikster as well.  This change meant that both your DVD Rental queue and your Instant Streaming queue would be in two different locations and not associated with each other.  The only thing Netflix was looking to add to Qwikster were game rentals for game consoles (like the Gamefly rental service).

Very shortly after revealing the Qwikster brand, Netflix decided to scrap it's plans to even start up Qwikster in the first place claiming they have listened to their customers.  So for Netflix the last several months have been pretty busy with them running in circles and getting nothing accomplished.

And nothing screams 'We have no clue what we are doing.  But we're doing it like a boss' to your customers than to publicly change your business plan so many times and only end up back where you were to start with and leaving your customer's just as empty handed for all the trouble.  And by the way things look, hopefully they learned their lesson.

It was reported earlier this week that Netflix has lost something in the neighborhood of 800,000 subscribers.  I don't care who you are or what your business is.  But 800,000 subscribers is a metric crap-ton of former customers (and lost business).  And due to the all of the fiasco and canceled accounts their stock prices dropped around 37% on Monday alone.  This isn't good Netflix.

So what does it look like going forward?  Netflix has already announced new content would be making it's way to the service over the coming months.  And a bunch has already been added with them scoring deals with the AMC and CW networks.  So as a current user/customer, I certainly hope they continue to add more content.  Especially since their streaming content is still nowhere as large or full as their DVD offerings.  Maybe with time that will change.  And for their sakes, they need to remember lessons learned from the last couple of months when it comes to them looking to mix things up.

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New Roku Streaming Set Top Box Revealed

Today, Roku has revealed it's newest product.  For those who aren't familiar with Roku, they make a sweet little set-top box that is basically like a cable box for your internet streaming needs.  There are currently several Roku devices on the market, some just stream video from different streaming services like Netflix and Hulu (and a whole bunch more).  While some of their newer offerings can also handle apps like Angry Birds.

The new Roku LT is a slightly smaller version of the Roku 2 HD.  They have stripped it of Bluetooth and microSD features (that the Roku 2 HD has); and it will output video at 720p.  They have also announced that HBO Go would be making an appearance on Roku boxes as well.  If you are a current HBO subscriber, you get free access.  They have yet to announce what the cost to new subscribers (or non-subscribers) will be.  The Roku LT will retail for $49.

For more info on Roku visit: http://www.roku.com/

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Netflix Scraps Qwikster Plans

Announced today that Netflix has already killed Qwikster.  Yep, you read that right.  Apparently, they listened to their customers (about freakin' time). That managing two websites with two different movie queues would be too much of a hassle.  So, Netflix decided to pull the plug on moving the DVD Rental portion of their business over to their new brand: Qwikster.

This has got to be one of the quickest company deaths in history (aside from children's lemonade stands), lol

Anyways, existing and future Netflix subscriber's will continue to be able to use and access the queues from the traditional Netflix website as they always have.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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Netflix on the Acer Iconia a500 Works without Root!

It's no secret that the only feature I am lacking in my Acer Iconia a500 is the ability to stream movies via Netflix Instant Streaming.  This afternoon I was doing my usually weekly Google search for a solution.  I was even open to the idea of looking for a way to root my Iconia a500 to get this ability.  But to my surprise, I accidentally stumbled across a great discovery (which requires no root, and since 3.2 isn't easily rooted on the Iconia a500 I figured it was worth a shot).  I will go on record to say that I did not come up with this solution, the hardwork belongs to ezterry and snickle at the XDA Developers forums.

I found a link to the XDA Developers forums which provided a promising solution patched by ezterry and refined by snickle on the forums.

Apparently, ezterry made the initial edits allowing the Netflix apk to work on the Iconia a500.  But according to snickle's post, screen rotation didn't work (I didn't try ezterry's apk first).  So snickle did a little refining to it and got screen rotation to work.  

I can verify that snickle's version of the apk does work.  When I initially ran it, after logging in to the service via the app, I got a white screen with some errors in the top corner.  I closed out of the app and relaunched and it worked just fine on my Acer Iconia a500 running stock (non-rooted) Honeycomb 3.2.

For ezterry's solution:

 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18058380&postcount=147

And for snickle's solution (the one I tried): 

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1289346

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some old episodes of Doctor Who to watch!

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Netflix Will Be Coming to Linux In The Next 12 Months

What the crap!  Why does it take Netflix a flippin' year to do anything?  As if the Netflix/Android situation isn't bad enough.  Why has it take them this long to recognize not only other operating systems, but deploying on those systems.  You'd think that would be a no-brainer.  An idea like: "let's cover as many platforms as possible, to get as many subscribers as possible, to make money" just sounds absurd to me.

If Netflix is really planning for streaming to be the future of their company.  They need to understand the concept of change.  As that is the way many businesses are having to start operating.  As time moves on technologies grow and change.  Computing is the same way.  With Linux gaining steam over the last several years, I understand why we haven't had a native client before now.  But with one of the major operating systems in use being Ubuntu, now is the time Netflix!

Anyways, enough of my rant.  Read the entire story at: http://benjaminkerensa.com/2011/07/30/netflix-instant-is-coming-to-the-entire-linux-community/

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So what is the Honeycomb 3.2 Update for the Acer Iconia a500 good for?

So, as mentioned in a previous post; I received the Honeycomb 3.2 OTA Update last night on my stock Acer Iconia a500.  It weighed in a little over 350MB's, and took four attempts to download before completing successfully.

One of the big questions with every Honeycomb Update is: 'What does it do/change/fix?'

Apparently, there isn't too much significant included in the update.  It improves SD and USB notifications when attaching these devices, smoother scrolling, and proper stretching/zooming for apps designed for smaller screens (the a500 sports a 10.1 inch screen).  So far, that seems to be about it.

I have one recommendation for Google or Acer concerning Honeycomb Updates: How about including a change notice with the Update Dialog when the device gets prompted for the new OTA Updates?  Theoretically, it should be fairly easy, it could be handled the same way permissions are displayed prior to installing a new app or .apk file.  Right now we just get to see the name of the update and what the download size is.  A little more info would be nice, just a thought.

For those who root or run ROM'd versions of the Acer Iconia a500; you better hold off on updating (as of this writing) since there currently isn't a way to root Honeycomb 3.2 on the Iconia yet.  And you will loose your custom ROM should you apply the OTA 3.2 upgrade.

And it appears that Netflix still isn't supported on the Iconia a500 (as we guessed).

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No Netflix love for the Acer Iconia a500 yet...

I have approached the topic of how much I love my Acer Iconia a500 tablet on this site before.  As well as how much I loath Acer's update process for the device.  In my opinion, it is a great tablet and has handled everything I have thrown at it since I purchased it.  And believe me, it gets a work out.  As a matter of fact, I'm using it right now to author this post.

My only real complaint is that Netflix has yet to rollout an app compatible with the Iconia a500 for streaming video.  And I know it isn't Acer's fault; the issues lie with Netflix themselves.  Their streaming app works on select devices.  But not my Acer tablet.  I had read on a blog about a month ago that with the Honeycomb 3.2 OTA Update, there may be a chance of getting Netflix to work.  Initially, that news was exciting.  After all, my iPod Touch can stream from Netflix, but my tablet cannot.  It just doesn't seem right.

But after trolling around some forums tonight, the general understanding seems to be that the 3.2 Update will not usher in Netflix to us.  Time will tell when the update finally hits (it has been delayed several times now); however, I'm not getting my hopes up.  As of right now, you can get it Netflix to run.  But only on a rooted and possibly cutom ROM'd Iconia a500.  And I'm not sure if I am ready to go quite that far yet.

But if Netflix doesn't get on the ball, then I may be heading down the road to rooting.  Rest assured, if rooting becomes an option for me;  I will document my experience here for future reference.  I would hope it doesn't come to this though.

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Netflix DVD Offering soon to be renamed as Qwikster

If you are a DVD by Mail subscriber with Netflix, then beware.  Very soon you're access to the service is going to change.  So, what's going to happen?  And how will it be different?  First, the name is changing.  Netflix has separated it's two offerings: Instant Streaming and DVD by Mail into Netflix Instant Streaming (name is staying) and Qwikster (with the subtitle of 'A Netflix Company').


With a name change also comes a new URL or homepage to use with the service.  Now, according to Andy Rendich (the newly appointed CEO of Qwikster), "the new site will maintain the look and feel" of the Netflix site but with the new logo; in their announcement video on YouTube.  Great right?  Maybe not.  Because in an apology email I received from Netflix this morning authored by Reed Hastings (CEO/Cofounder of Netflix) and sent to all Netflix customers; he mentions this towards the end of the letter:

"A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated."


So, I read this as you will now have to maintain 2 separate Movie Queues that aren't linked in any way.  Maybe not a huge deal for some because we originally had 2 queues (one for Streaming and the other for DVD's) but at least they were only a tab away on the same site.  Another way the service is changing is there will now be a 'Video Games' option that will allow user's to rent PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii titles for additional cost.  But so far, I have yet to read what that 'additonal cost' will entail.  Also, the envelopes will still be red, but will sport the new logo.


So why the recent changes?  After all, the company took quite a bit of heat when the decided to hike up their rates to what would equate to a 60% price increase a month for customer's who use both DVD and Streaming services.  So, was it perhaps the best idea to announce such a drastic change with the company's structure and offerings by way of an apology letter, which was intended to help smooth out some of the damage done by the price increase? I'm not so sure.  Time will tell.  I'm not a business minded guy.  Maybe they decided to go ahead and piss of the DVD customer's all at one time and try to immediately start building that service back up if they start loosing subscriptions?  No clue.  Or maybe it was done in the spirit of transparency to let everyone know what is going on with the company.


For those of you who subscribe to the DVD by Mail offering and Streaming, you will see two charges on your credit card statement each month once Qwikster goes live. Those charges will be from both Netflix and Qwikster (instead of a single deduction from just Netflix).  If you would like to see or read more about the changes and why the changes are happening checkout the Netflix Blog: http://bit.ly/pdA81h


And checkout their announcement video on YouTube:  http://youtu.be/c8Tn8n5CIPk


On the bright they, the story now is that there will be no more price changes.  However, I'm sure that may change over time as cost of operations may increase.  But once again, time will tell.

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HP is doing what? Is the PC Market Approaching Death?

So by now you've probably heard that HP is selling of it's Personal Systems Group.  Basically, that includes PC/laptops/smart phones, and that little HP TouchPad tablet that all of the cool people are advertising but nobody is buying.  So what does this mean?

This is obviously a huge turning point for HP as a company.  Until now HP was primarily known as the computer and printer company.  They are one of the 3 leading PC manufacturers in the US.  But suddenly they are getting out of that market?  What are they thinking you may be asking?  It is very obvious that computers are becoming faster, smaller, and in the case of this story cheaper.  As the hardware gets cheaper, of course the profit margin that these manufacturers tap into is of course getting smaller.

Ten years ago, a PC half as powerful (if that) as an average use computer is now, would cost well over $1,000. My first Dell (purchased in 2004) cost me $1,100.  It was a Pentium 4 running 2.4GHz, with 1GB of RAM and an older Nvidia Gforce card (I can't remember it's specs).  My current rig is an Intel Core 2 Duo running a 3.0GHz with 2GB's of RAM with an nVidia 8600 GTS built almost 3 years ago for $400 with parts from Newegg.

The only company that seems to be able to make a rather substantial profit from their hardware sales appears to be Apple.  And they sell quite a few less machines, but make more money on what they sell than any other PC manufacturer in the US.  So, how do they do it?

Not sure, personally I believe it is smart implementation of their peripheral products.  Namely, the iPod brand.  Think about it.  Before Apple released it's very first iPod music player, Apple computers were basically commonly found in graphic design offices.  Applications were pretty scarce for it, and since their computers ran the older Power PC processors they were incompatible with anything else on the market.  Then came along the iPod and a small program called iTunes.

Now people who never thought about Apple were picking up iPod's and using iTunes.  The next step of course would be for a new customer to see what else Apple makes that might interest them.  So they get into the older iMacs or early MacBooks.  Fast forward several years, Apple makes a deal with Intel and replaces the Power PC processor for Intel.  Now you have the ability to pick between Windows or Mac OS X.  You can virtualize Windows using Parallels.  Now that their machines are 'Intel-Based' more software is being developed for their platform.  All the while, they continue to upgrade and build features into their devices that are based around apps like iTunes, easy use with their iPods.  Meanwhile, iPods are getting bigger and better and being turned into phones and tablet devices.  So in my opinion the iPod helped direct a lot of attention back to Apple over an extended period of time.  Instead of being one of these: "Hey, look what we have, shiny new tech" and then a couple years later they fizzle out.  Fast forward to 2011, people who own a Mac computer absolutely adore them.

Does this build up over time explain why Apple can sell a laptop and ask a substantially higher price for it and make more profit off of a single sale?  Maybe, I'm not market analyst but this makes sense to me.

As of late HP hasn't made the best business decisions, but at least they have taken risks other companies may have stayed away from.  For instance, remember when they bought out Palm?  They bought Palm for $1 billion dollars the other year.  Pretty much to strip out the webOS developed by Palm for the smart phone devices (which had a hard time selling) for use in future products.  Fast forward to now, they have released the HP TouchPad which has snazzy commercials being about the only thing going for it.  And in the meantime, will someone decide webOS is still valuable enough to invest in from HP?  Time will tell.





BTW, I love the Russell Brand 'Ostrich Commerical' for the TouchPad.  HP tried to do exactly what RIM did.  Both companies attempted to bring a tablet device into a market completely owned by Apple and Android at the moment.  As RIM found out with the Blackberry PlayBook, other devices are having a difficult time breaking through the crowd of Android devices and iPads.  Sure, they are nice devices.  But let's face it, why not go with the flow and ride the cash train while we can.  And it's at the point now that even Best Buy is trying desperately to be rid of the TouchPad.

So what does this mean for HP as a company?  Well, they are doing pretty much what IBM did years ago.  They are going to be focused more towards enterprise solutions where the sales are typically larger with a larger profit margin.  And for the most part, this has worked pretty well for IBM.

And what does this mean for the home PC market?  Is it dead?  Not quite.  There will always be a need (at least in our foreseeable future) for PC's.  After all, even devices that rely solely on the cloud (looking at you Google Chromebooks) without a PC or Server sitting in a data center somewhere, those devices will not have a reason to access the 'cloud'.  And let's face it, sure mobility is great.  But there comes a time (and some tasks) that a mobile device just can't handle yet.  Would Pixar be able to render another sequel to 'Cars' solely on an iPad?  Not currently.  Would Netflix be able to serve millions of subscribers using a data center of Android Tablets (definitely not at the rate they allow these devices access to their services).   So as far as I can see, PC's are going to be around for a while to come.  This doesn't mean they will be the most popular or most practical form of computing.  But they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Maybe one day a form of cluster computing may emerge that allows the internet to become a thriving, mobile entity as many devices are trying to make it now where everyone's computer serves everyone else's.  But that is a whole other security story in itself.  In the meantime, don't expect to see many TouchPad's floating around and the household HP Pavilion Laptop appears to be going the way of the dodo bird.

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Feeling Jilted over NetFlix? There are other choices out there...

I have no problem letting it be known that I was more than a little torqued off about the 60 percent Netflix price hike.  Personally, I have been a NetFlix subscriber for quite some time now.  We only occasionally would rent a physical DVD, and between my wife and I; I was the primary user for the NetFlix streaming through my Wii and PS3 (occasionally through the iPad).  The previous pricing for their subscriptions was nice.  Basically, streaming account with one DVD rental at a time via snail mail for $2 extra.  Bringing it to a $10 cost each month.

Even though we didn't use it that much, it was nice to have when you do want to waste a Saturday afternoon.  Therefore, for the extra $2 bucks a month it wasn't worth my trouble to change my account to a streaming only setup.  However, now that the price has basically rocketed up from $10 to $16 ($15.98 to be spot on).  I'm re-evaluating our options.  So, I figured I'd make my thoughts public in this post.  This is me 'think out loud' about our current streaming/DVD options.

For DVD Rentals:
RedBox is a pretty prominent offering here in my area.  It's nice because you can reserve and hold movies for pickup. And their kiosks are everywhere in this area.  So going out of the way to return a DVD isn't a problem, and I have a couple kiosks closer that the post office is (where I'd normally return my NetFlix DVD's).

If RedBox doesn't have what we are looking for, there is a really good video store about 5 minutes from the house.  Their selection is huge, and they are one of 2 or 3 rental stores still left in our county.  They have movies ranging from the newest stuff to really old (and even some VHS for VCR lovers out there).

And the chances of us adapting to this method for DVD/BluRay rentals is a nonexistent problem, because we have been using these two sources all along.  So we'll continue doing this.

For Streaming:
This is where it gets a little messy.  I like to stream video from the web.  It's just simple to do it.  Find a good site with a nice offering of shows to stream and I'll have a blast.  At least until I watch most of their catalog that strikes my interest or until they quite updating it.  Currently, my streaming options include Crackle.com, Hulu.com, and OVG Guide for searching for shows to stream.

These are all nice offerings, but Crackle is very limited.  And Hulu has a good selection, but I'm not sure if it's worth the $8 a month for a Hulu Plus account.  I liked the fact that with NetFlix Streaming I could watch all of the old Doctor Who episodes.  And I've yet to find a different source for those.  But not a deal breaker for me.

My wife has a smartphone, and I have an iPod Touch, access to an iPad, a PS3, and my android tablet.  Which supposedly all have access to Hulu Plus except for my android tablet (as of this writing).  And I know my wife would use it to watch more current shows than she could find on NetFlix streaming.

I know there are other options, but I may ended up rolling through the free week trial of HuluPlus and seeing what they have to offer as far as selection goes.  Watching ads isn't a big deal to me, especially since I won't be living and breathing on their website all the time.  My other options include: video rental on my Xbox 360 and PS3.  I'm not a big fan of how Apple has setup their Apple TV offerings, so I'll be staying away from that option as well.

Other alternatives if you're shopping around too:
Green Cine: a mail order service much like the NetFlix DVD service starting at $9.99 a month.  I don't know much else about this service.  But here you go. http://www.greencine.com/main

Mspot Movies: they work off of a club or credit style service.  And you can rent digital movies starting at $1.99 and going up to about $4 to $5.  Not bad for the occasional rental, but could get pretty costly with prolonged use.  They do have a Rental Club you can join as well. http://www.mspotmovies.com/

And of source Blockbuster has a mail order style service and some On Demand stuff, as well. 1 Disk at a time will cost you $9.99 a month and 2 at a time will set you back $14.99 a month.

And Amazon has an offering now as well that is pretty limited but is likely to grow: http://www.amazon.com/gp/prime which is $79 a year.

So if you know of any other legitimate sites that can act as a NetFlix replacement, drop us a line in the comments section and let us know!

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Netflix's New Deal? Yep, sucks for those who like DVD's.

Looks like Netflix is going to be raising the price of their Streaming/DVD offering.  For those of us who still get DVD rentals from Netflix and are using the Unlimited Streaming + 1 DVD Rental at a Time offering.  Well we're fixing to get screwed.  In a big way.  Netflix raised the price of this offering not by some measly 25 cents or a simple $1.  But by a whopping 60%.  That takes the price from $9.99 a month to $15.98.

This price is said to include both the $7.99 price for the Streaming only plan and the same $7.99 for the DVD Rental plan bringing it to a total of $15.98.  The change in pricing will start on Sept. 1st with current members noticing the change then, and new customer's will be hit immediately when their first payment is processed.

I understand the whole streaming video is the way of the future for these video retailers, and this is how they'll throttle down the use of the DVD.  However, think about those of us who don't necessarily want to burn our already capped and monitored internet bandwidth for family movie night.  It's a shame, and may cause my horizons to look elsewhere in terms of online video.

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Minutes to Midnight..And the Wii

This morning at 10:00a EST (3:00p GMT) there will be a live streaming event from the New York Academy of Sciences, looks as though the hands on the Doomsday clock are being moved again. Which way will they go? Tune in to find out. The streaming event can be found at: http://www.turnbacktheclock.org/

When the Doomsclock was first setup it was set as as icon upcoming world catastrophe by nuclear threat. That was in 1947. And since the clock has been moved less than 20 times. Now the clock is more a symbol of threats such as nuclear, global warming, and other such threats. For more information on the history of the clock, check out this really good article which was featured on Google News this morning. ABCNews: Doomsday Clock to Be Moved


And on a lighter note, all you fans of the Nintendo Wii and Netflix. Rest assured, you have not been forgotten. Now that the 360 and PS3 both have Netflix streaming features, so do you. Looks like this spring, Netflix members will be able to stream to the Wii console. Article

Ok, great. But one request Nintendo. Before the end of the world, could you please release a firmware update that unlocks the Wii's dvd player without having to do a softmod? It just makes sense.

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