Online since 1998
Alternatives to Netflix
What happened Netflix? I used to be a big fan, but then you got greedy. In less than a year, I watched the price almost double. It was $8.99 for 1-DVD rental and Instant Streaming. Now those two services have been split up — costing $7.99 each. Unfortunately, I don’t think either service is strong enough to be separated. Receiving DVDs by mail is a slow process and Netflix’s Instant Streaming library is weak. At $15.98, the alternatives start to look a lot better.
The Poor Man’s Apple TV
When I first learned about the 2010 Apple TV, I thought it was an amazing. This device represented an opportunity for Apple to truly enter the living room — with a gaming console. Apple’s iTunes App Store is already putting fear into Nintendo. The biggest threat to the Wii and the Nintendo DS is not from Sony or Microsoft, but from Apple. With 99¢ games and ubiquitous Apple hardware, Nintendo is in trouble. The Apple TV can literally be a game-changer. But instead, the latest version of Apple TV has been rather wimpy.
Netflix Instant Streaming on the Wii and PS3 – Without Discs
It is inevitable. CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays will go the way of the Dodo. The popular storage mediums of today will become no more important than 8-Track tape players or 5¼ floppy disks. A recent change to Netflix is one of the many catalysts for the impending obsolescence. You no longer need a disc to launch streaming video on your Wii or PlayStation 3 gaming consoles. Instead, you can simply download the Netflix software directly to the machine. I tested out the new software. The convenience was impressive.
The Netflix Experience – Wii vs. PlayStation 3
I’m late to the party on this one, but I finally tried Netflix. After years and years of ignoring television commercials and banner advertisements for Netflix, instant download movies and TV shows have entered my home. Disks in red envelopes are appearing in my mailbox too. But if not for the Wii and the Playstation 3, I probably would have continued to miss out on the joys of modern day movie rentals. Long gone are the days in Brooklyn, where I would run down to the local video store. As for Blockbuster video, you were cool in the 90′s. But today, a gaming console does so much more than play games.