As each year goes by, all the gadgets and gizmos get smaller and smaller. And more and more start to become obsolete. You would never think that the cable box could disappear. Well, think again.
The wonderful folks over at Microsoft has showed us that the process of elimination has begun. With the most recent update, the Xbox 360 will now be able to do more than just play video games, watching movies using Netflix. Besides Hulu Plus, there will be more selections of what you can watch now on your system. MSNBC’s The Today Show and Epix, cable movie channel, are a couple of the first channels to be added. More are expected to join, such as Youtube, DailyMotion, and HBO GO (coming sometime in 2012) are just some the the channels coming.
Of course, not all are free. You need an Xbox Live Gold membership to be able to use the new features, which is understandable. That is the easy part. There are, and will be some channels that you will need separate service accounts to use, such as Netflix and HBO GO. Now if you think you can get rid of you cable provider, hold on for now.Verizon FIOS and Comcast Xfinity will be bringing their services to Xbox, but not until later. Verizon will be using the gaming system as a limited set top box, which will start later this month. Comcast is hoping to have their system ready by early 2012. They will be offering ther “On-Demand” services, but not live television.
The other part of this update is for the Kinect. With advanced terchnology now at hand, you will now have the ability to search through your xbox using voice activation. The system uses Bing search engine to find what you are looking for. With everything squeezing into our Xbox 360, certain products like Boxee and Google TV might have some good competition.
Tonight’s show is a pleasant mix of fun tech and wonderful caffeinated stories. We have Coffee in film, a hilariously SFW view of the adult industry and Sony… well being sony. Netflix, Nintendo and a Baby link also show up
About a month ago, I released a story about how Netflix was making big changes. This news did not sit well with just about every subscriber of Netflix. Comments came pouring in about splitting the company into 2 different services. The overall feeling was that it was the worst idea for Netflix to come up with. Well, that and raise in prices. It was a decision that would have devastated the company.
After all the complaining finally settled, Netflix finally realized what they were about to do. So, to make sure everything clears up, Netflix sent all the customers, like me, an email like this…
Dear Stephen,
It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.
This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster.
While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.
We’re constantly improving our streaming selection. We’ve recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we’ve added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.
We value you as a member, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get your movies & TV shows.
Respectfully,
The Netflix Team
For probably all of us, this was a sign of relief. The idea just seemed to complicated. And the company would have definitely lost a decent amount of customers.
We have a fun show tonight, lots of little things went right this week and the news flow was nice and smooth. Work is still crazy and no one is sleeping but that is what coffee is all about AMIRITE? Let’s Do this.
So today we have a heap of coffee news, a smattering of awesome tech bytes, and the fun just don’t stop! I’m pretty sure we may even find a bad pun or two to throw down as well. Join Steve and Myself for a fun filled episode.
I put as much effort into this image as the CEO did in making his choice.
How to Kill a Giant:
Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix is a David to his companies Goliath.Netflix is a successful and thriving business of providing entertainment to millions of satisfied customers. No one should kid themselves here. Netflix is first and formost an entertainment company, my 5 year old kid knows that netflix, either in the mail or on the Google TV, means a bowl of popcorn and a good time is on the way.
People were a bit upset
First we have the insanity of a 40 – 60% price increase. If your company makes that choice, and you weather the public relation fire storm why on earth would anyone poke the bear a second time? The powers that be have now decided to pull the massive and full catalog of DVD choices and spin it into a new company, Qwikster (not a brand similar Quixter or anything intelligent) Your que will soon move over to that site.
Netflixwill become streaming only, complete with their lack luster catalog and massive amount of B movies and horrible animation. yes there are a couple Gems, but who ere hasn’t looked into watch instantly and said, I swear I’ve seen every movie worth seeing. Its because movies people want to see are not available. Oh yeah they will add a video game option. Boring, and predictable move.
That great feature where you can look at your DVD que and see what movies are currently available to watch? GONE. See that wonderful functionality of reviews and rating sof DVD movies used to reccommend Watch instantly titles? GONE. See that lush and full customer base? Gone…
People are still displeased
The CEO has been putting out fires all night and some of the morning. But what he hasn’t done is make sense. At what point do the Stockholders throw down and find someone a bit more prepared to lead the company forward. This is a company that has spent millions improving their recommendation algorithm to increase the chances that the movies you see recommended will be good choices. I wonder what algorithmic recommended this course change?
This would be like Apple saying hey, I know you love our computers and our phones. how about we change the name of our computer company to Blando and keep Apple just for the phones, no support ties, no common customer database, no brand recognition. I don’t see that one happening either.
Gap clothing has one website and one common brand for all of their satelite companies. All of the discount programs and card member benifits have been integrated, to make things simple.
The only simple choice is the blame the last 6 months on some bad cough syrup and fix the mistakes. The good thing is if you choose to keep the companies together no one will fall back to bitching about the price increase. Way to wag the dog there Reed.
Here is Reed Hastings from 2009, talking about integration and simplicty. And a slight shout out to studio greed. This dude needs to come back
When Netflix raised their prices, people were outraged. Many dropped the service, feeling it was too expensive to keep receiving DVDs in the mail. So, to try and get rid of the confusion, get back some old customers, and grab some new ones, Netflix is making some drastic changes.
One of the changes they did to infuriate customers, was splitting up the streaming movie service and DVD-by-mail service. So what they are going to do, is completley change the name of DVD-by-mail service, which will be called “Qwikster.” Netflix will still keep the name, however, it will only be for the streaming videos. Their will also be a change in your credit card statement, but the prices will stay the same.
For me, the best part is what they are adding to the service. Not too long ago, I wrote an article, Gamefly vs. Redbox, that talked about how Redbox started video game rentals. What will be known as Qwikster, will not only be using the DVD-by-mail service, but they will be giving into the video game rentals. Many customers having been wanting this service for years. At this time, there is no information as to when this will start and the price of the service. It is great to hear that they are going ahead and trying this out. Now that Netflix will be doing game rentals, it will be another company to add to the list of companies who give the same service. Since Netflix is a popular name, they might have a better chance of succeeding.
This comes to light after Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix, released a statement on the Netflix Blog , explaining the changes that have happened and that are coming. Many comments about this blog are showing disagreement on all the changes. Some explain the problems it will cause. Only time will tell how well this new system will work
While all the new games are coming out, with better technology and software, the video game industry sales are have fallen to its lowest point since 2006. Everything is becoming more expensive, making it harder to purchase any of the new releases. So gamers have started to do the next best thing, use game rentals.
While Netflix is still doing great with their movie rental system, some companies have taken that idea and tried to make a profit. Although Blockbuster has been doing game rentals since Nintendo came out, it really wasn’t popular. And companies such as Gamerang, Gamemine, and Gottaplay, have been using this technique for quite some time as well. However, renting video games didn’t hit mainstream until Gamefly showed up. It is the same concept as Netflix, just for the gaming industry.
Gamefly offers a wide variety of video games, for all the console out there today. With such features as Gamefly rewards, and the opportunity to keep the game, Gamefly has risen to the top of game rentals. They also do it for a reasonable price, $15.95 for 1 rental. They also give you the option to add 1-3 more games for an additional $7 each. Although they have had little competition, RedBox has decided to step up to the plate.
RedBox, who has only done movie rentals since it started in 2003, has decided to take a chance with the video game rentals. RedBox handles their DVD’s through kiosks, which you can find outside most grocery stores and convenience stores. Now with video games being an option, they just might become #1 in game rentals. For $2 a day, you can rent some of the new rentals that are being released. So if you are like I am with games, $10 later, you will be on your way to get another game. If you do not return the game within 30 days, it’s yours to own. So, in the end, you spent the same amount if you were to buy it.
If you calculate the costs, they are pretty much even. And although they both give you the option to keep the game, with RedBox using kiosks, you don’t have to wait 4-6 days for a new game. It would be a big surprise if RedBox fails to come out on top in the game renting.
A fun episode with lots of good and shiny articles, We cover topics from how to wash your bling to horrible and beautiful design. Dogs and Cats living together… The wonder of a good cup of tea and how technology and process affect the coffee you drink. Plus we make a couple of horrible puns as per usual along the way, how can you not be excited about that?
We are still stuck between a dank spot and dry rot here in the cavern. Once more I had to delay actually fixing it back into a lair for another week. I’m really going to try and work out the bugs and get a new floor down. Living in disarray is bothering me something fierce. Entropy is real and its taking my house with it!
Netflix announced not too long ago that they would enable Media and Movie Streaming to the Wii. All of this is done via a disc which you need to get from Netflix for your wii. The disc has to be in the machine in order to watch a movie. Which is a bit of a pain. The Xbox 360 has a much nicer setup. Probably something to do with the agreement Netflix and Xbox have regarding movie streaming. But if you’re a Wii owner and a Netflix Subscriber this is the way to go. To get your disk be sure to sign up to get it delivered to your house as soon as they are available.
Tonights show has a good mix of both sections. We go from how social media is effecting change in earthquake ravaged regions of Haiti to talking about the Universities being forced to pull Kindles. On the lighter side we discuss the evils of flavored coffee, dirty decaf, and soe awesome eating utensils for kids.
So while this episode is released I’ll hopefully be relaxing on some sandy beach drink in hand enjoying my son terrorizing the local seagull population. You however have the distinct pleasure of enjoying a fresh cup of CaffiNation, pre recorded and lovingly steeped for your enjoyment.
This time on TPNW I’ll be doing a short informative session on Podcasting Setups and Coffee Basics. Nice short and to the point.
The CaffiNation is also very proud to take part in the Summer of Podcasts Contest Make sure you check in on August 10th to see the winners!
Our RSS feed had some issues, make sure you have the correct link
Tumblr for the back channel links has been awesome thus far
Intro Music thoughts
Today’s extended show we discuss the best in tech news and caffeinated tid bits explained for everyone. No heavy handed tech just plain old fashion silly news and fun links today. I got some funny reactions to the last show so Apparently i’m either a “riot” or there was going to be one if I really switched over to an all Spanish show
As each year goes by, all the gadgets and gizmos get smaller and smaller. And more and more start to become obsolete. You would never think that the cable box could disappear. Well, think again.
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