Wednesday, January 17, 2007

NetFlix Instant Online


It's nice to know when I get something right. A year ago I said the way Netflix should improve their product is to create some sort of program that people can download and then watch movies on their computer. That way they wouldn't have to deal with DVDs and customers getting upset about having to wait for their movie.

According to this article, Netflix has done just that. You can download their applet and then stream video onto your computer. It sounds like they're just testing it out with a few customers, but I'm pretty sure this is going to work and soon everyone will have access to this.

If anyone at Netflix is reading this, I still need a job and I thought of this idea a year ago. Furthermore, Netflix put out an offer of $1,000,000 to anyone who can come up with a better, which I'm going to be working on this semester.

Back on topic. This move for Netflix makes complete sense. They save money because they don't have shipping costs or replacement DVD costs. Customers can watch movies faster and don't have to worry about the DVD being damaged. Furthermore, with all the new technology coming out it's becoming easier and easier to put this content onto your TV. Image, you could by a Mac Mini, download the program, connect it to your TV and now you can watch DVD's, downloaded video (music, pictures, etc), play computers (oh wait, it's a Mac) and all sorts of other activities. Isn't technology fun?!

Monday, January 08, 2007

Michigan


This last holiday I had the pleasure of visiting my Dad's side of the family in Michigan and it was a blast! We played tons of games, watched lots of movies and traveled all over the place. We were there for Christmas and stayed all the way through to the new year. Most of our travels involved seeing family members, we we also got some quality shopping in and visited the Ford Museum. That museum is amazing! If you're ever in the area, I recommend checking it out. Some highlights are:
  • The car JFK got shot in (by the way, did you know he wasn't the last president you use the car?!)
  • The bus Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up on
  • The Chair President Lincoln got shot in (it happened in the Ford Theater)
  • The picture is of one of the largest trains I have ever seen
Another amazing part was the weather. Surprisingly, it was beautiful the entire time. As a matter of fact, it was constantly one or two degrees warmer that it was in California. But don't think of a second it's global warming because this is the exact same time that the Denver Airport got shut down because of the horribly bad weather. Over all, it was a wonderful trip.