Cut the cord with the iPad; sort of: It’s more like an extension

There are now apps that will let you watch most of the TV that is important to you while on the go. The TNT and TBS Apps are just a just the latest in a long line of media entertainment extenders. Over the weekend  NBC had released a new version of their iPad app that allows users to watch full episodes of their favorite shows on the iPad. Watch by ESPN has been out for a while and ABC was the first to do it when the iPad came out. Lost was still on the air.  The only catch is that you are still married to a cable company because you have to log in with your credentials to use these apps to their full capabilities. That is the part that needs to be addressed. Someone needs to do what Netflix has done for movies but for TV channels.  No, Hulu is not there yet.

InfoGraphic: Where are you spending your time online?

I just ended my Netflix because I was not using it enough. everything on there was old or not full seasons. Luther was the last straw. It only had season 1. Not cool Netflix. I will not being going to Hulu until they end the 30 Second spots. If I am paying for something why should there be commercials? Just make it free.

Amazon Prime gets Fox & Netflix gets Dreamworks

Fox shows and movies will be available for unlimited streaming later this fall through Amazon Prime, which costs $79 per year and also includes unlimited two-day shipping on retail items.
Amazon’s Prime instant video now has 11,000 movies and TV shows. They have deals with CBS, NBCUniversal, Sony, Warner Bros and now Fox. “Since launching earlier this year, we have now doubled the number of titles available in Prime instant videos, and there’s still more to come,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wrote on the company’s home page.

Netflix has about 20,000 titles in its catalog. Netflix will feel the loss of Starz content and from changes to its pricing now more than ever. When you have angered customers and they hear about other services adding content at $16.88 cheaper than you; that is a problem.

Amazon Prime may have all the content in the world but as they say its all about Location Location Location. Netflix is on every device out there.

Netflix does understand however that customers are not happy. They know Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime are out there. After Starz leaving they needed someone to fill the void. Netflix has inked a deal with DreamWorks Animation over the weekend. That should fill the void very well, thank you very much.

This is a costly deal to Netflix and might more for PR than anything else. DreamWorks content won’t show up until 2013. This deal is the first time a major Hollywood studio has chosen a video streaming service over pay television. We don’t know how long the deal but understand that Netflix is giving out $30 million per film to DreamWorks. New York Times states that DreamWorks walked away from a deal with HBO and chose to partner with Netflix instead.

YouTube adds Google + Hangout: Watch videos along with friends. Could Netflix be next?

It seems that you can now watch a video with your friends on Google Plus’ Hangout. It works very similar to Xbox Live’s Movie Party. I was able to get 3 people to Hangout and watch a short clip. It worked very well without any issues.

Once Google + adds business to the to the mix. I see this feature becoming very useful for marking. You could debut a trailer to only very loyal fans or contest winners. Think how this might work for Superbowl ads. You could all do Hangout instead of flooding my inbox with links.  I mean other people’s inboxes with links.
So far I have not been able to find a video that Hangout does not work on. From Tech New Today with Tom to even the very limited movie selection that YouTube has. This is a feature I would love to see come to Netflix. Unlike the Facebook  Like button. The Google + Hangout only goes to who you invite to participate. Thus circumventing the whole its illegal to share the entertainment you rent law that is stopping Netflix from using Facebook.

Xbox 360 Ruled 2010

The debut of Kinect and smash-hit games like “Fable III” and “Halo: Reach,” drove Xbox to the biggest year in its history in 2010. More December 2010 highlights from NPD, an independent market research firm, include:

• Xbox 360 was the only console to show year-over-year growth at 42 percent, making it the fastest-growing console in 2010.

• With $6.2 billion spent at retail, more money was spent on Xbox 360 than any current generation console in 2010.

• December Xbox 360 console sales remained strong, with 1.9 million units sold, our biggest month ever in the history of Xbox 360.

• During December, three of the top 10 console game titles were for Xbox 360, including “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” “Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood” and “Kinect Sports.”

Last week at the 2011 CES in Las Vegas, Microsoft ended the year with 50 million Xbox 360 consoles sold worldwide since launch, 30 million active Xbox LIVE members and 8 million Kinect sensors sold in just the first 60 days on the market.

Like I always say The Xbox 360 is for games and my PS3 is for Blu-Rays but of late with Netflix and ESPN I don’t even do that anymore. That was a run on sentence but it had to be said. Only more great numbers will come out this year for the Xbox 360 due to Gears of War 3, more Kinect games,  Hulu Plus and Avatar Kinect.

 

Netflix right in Facebook: FaceFlix

 

Like Netflix? Then get ready to prove it by sharing your film interests with your social network. Netflix is looking to hire a “Facebook Integration — Engineer / Architect” into its new Social Systems engineering team. According to the open position posted to the Netflix jobs board, the senior web engineer will, “conceive and build the systems that enable Netflix applications and systems to use the social graph to create a more social Netflix experience” Specifically, the ideal new hire should be familiar with Facebook’s Open Graph API to build a customer-facing service. It’s just a guess, but we’d expect this to ultimately allow Netflix subscribers and wannabes to like, view and filter Netflix offerings based upon their social input and preferences. Interesting, because Netflix abandoned its homegrown Friends feature earlier this year.

Now if you could watch Netflix right from the Facebook site there would be no reason to ever leave the site. It’s not like your TV doesn’t miss you already. Now this. In other news Hulu held a press conference to say in the future they to will have Facebook integrating. In other words “me too”

[via:  Engadget]

Netflix over 3G

So yesterday my internet went out. After just a small bit of panicking. I called Comcast to find out what was going. I was informed by an automated voice that there was a known issue with the area. The machine conveniently gave me an option to leave my number for a call back when everything was working again. After two hours though. I needed something to do on a lazy Saturday afternoon. It was either nap or Netflix. So after my nap.

I got online with my laptop using my phone. HTC has a program called Wi-Fi Router that you can get with any rom on XDA-Developers. So yes your Windows Mobile Phone needs to be in a since jailbroken.

What do you need:
Any Windows mobile phone 6.5 or higher
Any ROM from XDA-Developers
Wi-Fi Router if the ROM you downloaded did not have it
Netflix subscription
Laptop/desktop

The buffer takes a little bit but once it does reach 100% it does not go off at all. Happy watching