Hey... have you heard of this thing called Netflix? I think they've been in the news recently or something.
I've been a Netflix subscriber for years, and never had any complaints about my service, until they upped the prices a few months ago. I wasn't happy about that, but I understood it, and even at double the price, it's still a good deal considering how ridiculously cheap it was for years until this recent price hike. Then they made online streaming an additional price, which was annoying. I opted to keep the discs and ditch the streaming since my internet isn't very reliable or fast and the selection of movies on disc just blows away the instant streaming options. Everything the instant people can watch, I can get on disc, but everything I can get on disc they can't get on instant. Then they announced they were going to split off into two different websites, one for instant streaming and another for discs, so I figured this was a good time to look at my other options. They have since recanted on the move to split to two different websites, but by then I had already started my month long free trial of Blockbuster Online.
Long story short... I'm not leaving Netflix anytime soon... at least, not for Blockbuster Online. It totally sucks.
In order to understand why I'm staying with Netflix over Blockbuster, let me walk you through my month-long trial by comparing and contrasting the two services:
I bought a new iPod Touch about a week ago. I didn't necessarily want a new iPod Touch, but after my old one died, I was left with little choice. Just to be clear, every iPod I've ever owned has died after about three years or so, which maybe is a good lifespan for an MP3 player, but it's certainly a bad track record for Apple products. I bet I could find an original Sony Walkman on ebay and it would work perfectly. Every time one of my iPods die (and this will be my fourth), I tell myself I'm never going to get another one. Obviously, I got another one. Apple always lures me back, not only because over the years I've purchased so many songs and videos over the iTunes Music Store that can only be played on an iPod (unless you got to an insane amount of trouble to rig a work around), but also because their products are just so damn sexy, and as long as they last, they're a hell of a lot of fun to own.
I honestly thought about getting a regular iPod instead of a new Touch (to replace the first generation model I previously owned), but the new features won me over. It has a build in speaker, microphone, faster processor, better graphics, (almost) high def display, and even a video camera that takes HD videos at 720p. And, of course, it also does all the old stuff that the original Touch used to do, like connect to wi-fi and play music and videos. Of course, nobody needs an HD video camera in their music player, but it's pretty nice feature to have, all things considered.
I bought the 8GB version, since I'm fairly poor and even that was a bit hefty in price (but I got a 10% rebate by trading in my old iPod Touch. Nice). The 4G Touch also comes in 32GB and 64GB. If I had it all to do over again (and if I had had a little more money), I'd maybe consider the 32GB version, since these aps, songs, and videos really add up faster than you think. Also, even before loading anything on to my just-taken-out-of-the-box iPod, it actually only had about 6GB of free memory for my stuff, after the operating system and preloaded apps are accounted for. I understand that this stuff is going to take up some space, but using about a quarter of the entire hard drive is really excessive in my opinion. That's about 1200 songs I can't fit onto my iPod because Apple wanted to stick on a bunch of apps like Youtube and Voicerecorder that I'll never use and I can't delete.
Taken on my Touch
The 4G Touch feels about the same weight and dimensions as my old Touch, but I still had to buy a new case because of the added front and back cameras. It's just as thin and lightweight and easy to use as any iPod. The highly touted "Retina Display," looks nice, but it's still just an Apple buzzword to mean "nice screen." If I had the 4G and the original Touches side by side, maybe I'd notice a difference in the displays, but as it is now it doesn't seem to be all that much crisper or more defined. That isn't to say it isn't lovely, however, just that the screen on the original Touch was already fantastic. The only times I've really appreciated the "retina display" is when I'm reading text on a website. I can now read most pages without having to zoom in. But movies and graphics and photos looks about the same to my eyes.
The 46 Touch comes with two cameras, a low res one on the front and an HD one on the back, both of which also take still photos. The low res camera above the screen is mostly used for video chatting, but I haven't managed to get the Facetime ap to work yet. If any of my loyal readers have that ap installed, drop me and email and we'll hook up! The real camera is on the back, and the quality is absolutely fantastic. I mean, you're not going to be able to director Avatar Part II: Electric Bugaloo, but your home movies are going to look great. When Apple says HD, they mean HD. The videos are all recorded at a native resolution of 720p and they look fantastic. They look best in highly lit environments (namely, outside in direct sunlight), but even in low light levels the videos look pretty darn good.
The videos are also going to be shaky as hell, since the Touch makes for an awkwardly shaped camera that is hard to hold, and there is no image stabilizing feature so far. The side of the Touch is rounded, making it impossible to set it down in order to film things on a level surface. I'm sure you can buy some kind of stand, but it's probably 30 bucks. Also, taking photos is awkward as well, since you have to hit the shutter button on a very small, specific part of the touch screen. Holding the camera up to take your own picture is all but impossible since you can't see the button unless you are looking right at the screen. Apple could really solve this problem by having the volume buttons on the side of the Touch act as the shutter when you're in camera mode. Why has nobody thought of that yet? Get on that, Steve Jobs. You aren't going to take many photographs with this thing anyway, however, since the camera pretty much sucks. I'm not sure what the megapixel rate is, but the photos are only slightly better than what you'd get from a normal cell phone.
Taken on my Touch
Charging your iPod and syncing it is just as simple as plugging the cable into your computer. One thing that has always annoyed me about the iPod is how you have to charge it by plugging into a computer instead of the wall. Sure, you can buy a power adapter to work around this, but it's about 20 bucks or so. Why would I buy 20 bucks for something that should come packed in the box? Also, another nitpick is how both my computer and my iPod have Bluetooth capabilities, but I still have to plug them both together in order to sync my stuff. Even my cell phone lets me port music and applications via Bluetooth. Why do I still have to plug my iPod in? Not a dealbreaker by any means, but it is annoying and kind of weird.
But I like it. No wait, I love it. It's not perfect and there are lots of annoying little things that I would change, but it's still the best, most versatile, and fun MP3 player money can buy. I've had a Touch for maybe three years (whenever the original model came out), and with the exception of the month or so when my old model was broken, not a day has gone by that I haven't used my Touch for... something, be it checking my email, calculating a tip in a restaurant, watching a movie on a plane, reading a blog on the toilet (sorry), or playing a game on my couch. It's just incredibly useful and a lot of fun. But it.
Oh, and I didn't really mention this above, but it also plays music!
I had to get a new phone this past Sunday. And when I say "had to," I mean that, since my other one broke. It had been breaking in bits and pieces over the past couple of years, mostly because I kept dropping it. The screen was cracked all over, the ringer no longer worked, and it had been well over a year since I could really see much on the screen because there was so much dust under the glass. But on Sunday I reached into my pocket at one point to check my phone, and the screen was completely dead. Ah well.
So Shannon and I went to T-Moble to get a phone, and not for the first time either. I had been there a few other times with her over the past couple of years to look at phones, because mine sucked and didn't work properly, but I never got one. I mean, it didn't work properly, but it still worked. And I don't really care about phones, which is odd I guess because I text all the time, but that's about it. I don't need it to do GPS, facebook, twitter, or play music. I don't even really use it to make phone calls.
Long story short, I got the Samsung Gravity 2. I was going to get the Gravity 1, because it was cheaper, but Shannon talked me into upgrading to the newer (and more expensive) version. I figured after three years using a cracked, dusty phone, I could afford to splurge just a little. And I do mean a little, since this was still a fairly cheap phone with my 2-year renewal with T-Mobile. Since I was out of contract, I was able to get a good deal on a smart phone, but I like my phones to just be bright, not smart. Like I said, I wanted a phone, not a webbrowser or music player. That's what my ipod is for. Also, I didn't want any features that would up my monthly rate.
So far, it's a pretty good phone. For starters, I can see the screen and it actually makes noise, although the speaker isn't as good as on my old Nokia Music Xpress. But that was a music player as well as a phone, while this one is just a phone that can also play music. Texting is easy, with better, more raised buttons on the front, and a full qwerty keyboard that slides out. I'm still getting used to the qwerty board, since I'm so used to texting with T9 on a numeric pad, but it's nice to have. It is really small, however, and I have big fingers, so it feels a little off. Also, the buttons on the keyboard don't always register, so there is a lot of hitting backspace when texting, which is a little frustrating. But I'm sure I will get used to it if I keep it up.
Transferring data to and from my phone and computer is easy as pie. I could've bought a $15 data cable, but bluetooth works just as well, although it's probably a little faster. If I didn't have bluetooth on my Mac, however, I'd be annoyed that I'd have to by Samsung's proprietary USB cable. My Nokia phone worked with the same USB cable that came with my digital camera. And speaking of cameras, the 2 Megapixel camera on this phone is way better than the one on my Nokia.
Here's a comparison of a picture I took on my old camera and one that I just took on my new one:
Sorry I didn't go to the effort of putting on the same shirt, but you get the idea. It's a pretty decent camera, which is a step up from my old one which was a really awful camera. There's also a video function as well, which I haven't tried yet. Hold on and I'll test it out...
Yeah, that's not very good, both the quality and the content. But I guess it's a nice feature to have.
As far as phonecalls go... I dunno yet. When I call Shannon's cell, she says she hears an echo. She also said she heard a bit of an echo when I called her on a landline as well. But I've called a couple other people, and they heard no echo. So maybe there's a problem there, but maybe there isn't. I'll have to look more into that and get back to you. It sounds fine on my end. I mean, it sounds like a cell phone.
It has the option for other stuff, like Facebook, email, web browsing, and even GPS, but I'll never use that stuff because you have to pay for data as you go. I'm not even sure how that works or what it costs, which is fine because I don't care. If you do care, however, there you go. And there are also all those other options that come standard these days, like a calendar, alarm clock, calculator, tip calculator, etc. No games came preloaded, however, which is also fine because games on cell phones suck and just take up memory.
Bottom line: It's a nice phone. It's not going to change my life or anything, but it will make texting easier and pictures I take on my cell look better. So far the only real caveats are that the qwerty keyboard is a little hard to use if you have big fingers and the screen is almost impossible to see in direct sunlight. But I still like it.
And if you know me and are confused, no, I didn't buy an iPhone... I still just have an iPod Touch. But for the sake of argument (and to boost any potential hits to this website through a search engine), I'm just going to refer to the device as an iPhone and leave it at that.
Anyway... here are somethings I'll never use an iPhone for:
Read a Comic Book
There are numerous applications devoted to putting comic books on an iPhone, from simple readers that allow you to download digital versions of the books to just the books themselves. Some of these applications are better than others, but all are completely worthless in my opinion. If you want to read a comic book, chances are good you like comic books. The screen of an iPhone is about one tenth the size of a standard American comic book, so the art either has to be shrinked down to the point where it's too small to read, or stretched out and pixelized so it's too ugly to look at. I definitely think that digital downloads will be the future of comic books, but not on an iPhone. No way, no how.
Read a Novel
I have the Kindle app, but I only use it for one reason: To send samples of novels to my iPhone so I can see if I want to go to a bookstore and buy an actual copy for real. It's a neat feature that allows you to read the first twenty or so pages of any book that is currently available for purchase on Amazon's Kindle store. I've never made it through more than five pages or so of any "book" on my iPhone, however, because it gives me a headache and just feels all wrong. The text is either too small to read, or so big that you have to "flick" the page after about two sentences. Sometimes I'll try to read an iPhone book while sitting on the toilet, but I'll usually just give up and read the back of a shampoo bottle instead.
Play any Game More Involved than Tetris
I love videogames and I think the iPhone has incredible processing power, but most games for it just aren't very fun. There's just something unpleasant about rubbing your finger across the screen for longer than, say, two minutes at a time. Also, the fact that you have to put your hands in front of the screen to control the games means you can't see what you're actually playing much of the time. Tetris is fun. Solitaire is fun. Some of the other puzzle games are fun. But I'm not going to play Metal Gear Solid on this thing, thank you very much.
Watch a Movie or TV Show
Apple obviously assumes somebody is watching stuff on their iPhones, because whenever I actually download an HD episode to watch on my computer (hooked into a TV!), it automatically downloads the SD version alongside it. Again, thanks, but no thanks. First of all, if I actually want to put a movie or TV episode on my iPhone, I have to remove about half of my music just so it will fit. Second of all, the screen is smaller than the palm of my hand! Who's watching movies on this thing? I own a Widescreen TV for a reason: I like being able to see what I'm watching.
Following on the heals of my roundup of the online movie/TV watching websites, I figured I'd go ahead and explore the winning site in search of the 10 best movies they to watch.
Right now.
For free.
These are listed in no order, with no consideration for genre, popularity, or anything other than my own personal opinion. And, no, I'm not getting any money from Hulu, NBC, or anybody else. I'm just a nice guy who wants to keep you entertained.
Rocky III
This is the only Rocky film on Hulu, but it's a good one. Stallone, Mr. T, Hulk Hogan... this is a classic. Just go watch it.
The Thing
This is one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. This was an over the top, special effects extravaganza back when that actually meant something. It's also one of the weirdest, most horrifying movies I've ever seen. That scene where the head grows spider legs and crawls away still freaks me out.
Dragonheart
Hey... I said these were all free, right? What were you expecting? Citizen Kane? Settle for Dragonheart, which is actually a ridiculously entertaining fantasy film, and even years later the CG holds up and looks great. I love this movie.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
See the original before the remake comes out later this summer. This is one of the greatest thrillers from the golden age of the genre: the early 1970s. Walter Mathau and Robert Shaw are amazing and the suspense doesn't let up for a second. Check it out.
Nobody's Fool
Paul Newman's last, great performance might be his all time best. This is one of those movies that gets better and more funny every time I watch it. And you get to see Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith naked.
Opportunity Knocks
Oh man... this movie is sooo bad. So bad it's good? That depends on how much you like (or even remember) Dana Carvey. Personally, I like the guy and this movie cracks me the hell up... but I can't really say it was a good movie.
Black Knight
Did you like Opportunity Knocks? Well, then you're going to love this one.
Near Dark
This isn't my favorite vampire movie, since the pacing is a little too slow, but it's a cult classic that's still a lot of fun. Check it out if you're into that Twilight crap and want to watch some real, badass vampires.
And, remember, Hulu won that contest because they are free and because their TV content is still unsurpassed, not their film selections. But that's another post for another time.
Or, in my case, Kindle for the iPod Touch, but it amounts to the same thing: A free app that lets you read Kindle formatted ebooks on your Apple iPhone or iPod Touch. I downloaded it the other day, installed a few books, and think it works pretty much as advertised. But I'm not about to give up on books entirely just yet.
The best part of Kindle for iPhone (or KiP, as I'll call it from this point on), is that it's free. Amazon seems to understand the same thing that Gillete and Remington have always known: Give the razors away for free, make a killing selling overpriced razors. You can't install anything on this app that wasn't purchased from Amazon.com.
So that begs the question: Why is the real Kindle $360? I've never understood that ridiculously exhorbitant price and I know it will never take off until it becomes affordable. The Kindle is too expensive, and books are expensive. It's a no win situation.
"But, Donald," some people are probably asking, "the iPod is expensive too, but those are huge even though people have to pay to install content on that as well. So doesn't that prove you wrong?"
No, for a couple of reasons. First of all, you can install your entire CD collection on an iPod. You have to purchase all new material for a Kindle. And if you can't find it on Amazon.com, it ain't going on your kindle. You can put any CD (or almost any music file) on your ipod. Second of all, having an ipod lets you carry around hours or week's worth of music (or more) in your pocket. For most people, one or two books is probably a week's worth of reading (or more). Who really needs to carry around their entire library wherever they go?
But I've digressed from my main review. Yes, nobody needs to have their entire library in their pocket at all times, but it would still be cool. And Kindle does make that a possibility, and KiP makes it an affordable luxory.
But how does it work already?
It works fine. It's mostly just a question of whether or not you can stand reading from your iPhone without getting a headache. I couldn't. It's just too bright. You can go into the settings and turn down the brightness, but then you have to go back in to adjust it when you want to use a different app. Amazon needs to allow you to adjust the brightness within the app itself. The only real functional adjustment you can do is choosing between four or five different font sizes, but none of them are really all that great. Too small and your eyes start to hurt, too big and you're turning the page after every couple of sentences.
But, you know, it's a book... on your iPhone. So it does what it says it does.
Putting books on there is pretty easy, but it could be easier. You have to register the device and make all purchases through amazon.com, either on your computer or through the browser on your iPhone. Once you make a purchase, it automatically sends it to your device, but it still would've been nice to have this built in to the app itself. And why can't I send ebooks from my computer to my device? All books have to be purchased from Amazon.com and sent wirelessly by them to your device. This is needlessly obtuse and means you're out of luck if you don't have wi-fi.
As far as content goes, Kindle is pretty good. For this review (and probably forever), I've restricted myself to the stuff Amazon.com is offering for free. They actually have quite a bit of free content, ranging from older stuff that is in the public domain, and a few newer works by famous authors. Most of their new books cost about ten to seven books, with some stuff being just a few bucks or a few cents. Chances are good, you'll find something you'll want to read.
I changed the layout to a different blogger template. The white was starting to hurt my eyes. Minima is clean and I like that, but some of these others are a little easier to read when all you have are long, blocks of text. Minima with a slight outline or box around the posts would be perfect. Get on that, somebody.
Also, why can't you modify the width of the columns in these blogger templates? I guess I could always go back and write my own page like I did with my last blog, but it's more trouble than it's worth trying to force blogger's weird code into straight html. At least, it's more trouble than it's worth for me, because I'm not that good at it.
Here's another thing that's annoying: Somehow, blogger, yahoo mail, and gmail are all linked, so when you log into one, the browser thinks you want to log into all of them. So if my gmail, blogger, and yahoo accounts are different, I have to log out of each one and re-log in each time. It makes no sense and it's really annoying and pointless. Why do I have to be logged in to gmail and blogger with the same account during the same web session? Fix that already.
Why pay for Cable? With so many options for watching movies and shows through your computer, only a sucker would still shell out the big bucks to the Cable companies. Well... maybe not quite yet, but the online TV/film revolution is coming, and lucky for you I've had nothing better to do these past few weeks than watch a lot of movies and shows on the various online offerings.
I've whittled the choices down to the four best and most popular: Hulu, Netflix, the Itunes music store, and Surf the Channel. I'll give you my thoughts on each, and also ranking them in four main categories:
1. Content: In other words, do they have a large library of programs worth watching?
2. A/V Quality: How do the programs look and sound?
3. Interface: How easy to use is the service? What's the format like? Does the search feature work, etc.
4. Pricing Structure: How much does it cost? And is it worth it?
Overview: Hulu is owned and run by NBC, but don't let that scare you away, since their library contains shows from most of the major networks.
Content: If all you want is to watch current TV shows, Hulu can't be beat. Since it's owned by NBC, all of their shows are on there, but most of the biggest shows from their competitors are as well. Most new shows are updated the day after they originally aired, so as long as you don't mine waiting 24 hours after everybody else, it works. They also have a fairly respectable library of older TV shows, which grows everyday as they continue to add more and more content.
Movies are another story, however, and at these point seem like more of an afterthought or "bonus feature" than anything else. Sure, there are some good movies on there, but you really have to search for them, and none of them are exactly Hollywood blockbusters. But if you really love old B movies like Smokey and the Bandit III or Any Which Way You Can, you'll enjoy Hulu's movie library.
Score: 8 out of 10
A/V Quality: Not bad, not great. The shows and films look pretty good -- certainly good enough to watch -- but where's the HD? Ever since they first came online, they've had a tiny "HD Gallery" touting the power and quality of HD programs, but they have yet to follow through. As it is now, most of their shows and films can be played in 480P, but it doesn't really look like it. I can't tell a difference between their "high res" and their "low res" options. But both look pretty good, all things considered. Also, playback usually runs without a hitch without almost any lag or choppiness.
Score: 8 out of 10
Interface: Here's where Hulu gets a little annoying. First of all, their search feature is actually too powerful. Search for something like "Heroes" and you'll get 3,000 hits with that word in the title, description, or footnote somewhere way on the bottom of the screen. Also, it isn't very good about filtering between actual programs or just trailers or clips. And when you click on the tabs for films or TV, then do a search, it will always seem to search the entire site instead of just the section you want.
Watching the programs is fine, though jumping around or fast-forwarding and rewinding can be annoying. First of all, you can't move through the progress bar in full screen without pausing the video or shrinking the screen. Also, because of the mandatory commercials (more on that below), you can't jump too far without being forced to stop and watch the ads. But none of these are deal breakers, but the entire thing could be streamlined and cleaned up.
Hulu does make it easy to share and embed clips on the web, which is pretty cool:
Score: 7 out of 10
Pricing: Hulu is completely free! You just have to sit though a few, very short ads during the programs. This isn't so bad, but it is kind of weird how each program has only one sponsor. So if you sit down to watch, say, an episode of Psych, be prepared to watch four commercials for the same product.
But free is free. In my opinion, they all should be free. Kudos to Hulu for getting this one right.
Overview: Everybody has heard of Netflix, the website that pioneered renting movies online. They have since expanded into the realms of streaming to your TV and computer.
Content: If you're a film-lover who wants to rent DVDs through the mail, Netflix is a godsend. Pretty much, if it's on DVD, it's in their library. That goes for TV shows on DVD as well as films. They also offer Blu Ray, but since I don't have a BR player, I can't speak for their selection. But I would go so far as to say that they have the best, and most complete selection of DVDs for rent in the civilized world.
Online-streaming content is another story, however, but it's still pretty good. I can't really figure out any rhyme or reason as to why some films are available for online-streaming and some aren't, but it's probably a rights issue. Their film selection is actually really good, with more and more popping up every day. Everytime I take a look at my DVD queue, I notice that there are a few more that are suddenly available to watch instantly on my computer. That's cool. TV isn't quite as good, and the content is pretty much restricted to what is already on DVD. In other words, there are no current episodes or seasons to be found. If you want to watch the entire run of Quantum Leap or Miami Vice, no problem, but you'll have to go elsewhere for last week's 24.
Score: 9 out of 10
A/V Quality: Honestly, the quality here is pretty much identical to Hulu, which is to say it looks pretty good. However, their streaming is a real system hog so there can be a lot of lag and choppiness, especially when you are in full screen and have too many programs running. It's watchable, but close your other programs and hope for the best. And, so far, there's no options or mentions of HD content.
Score: 6 out of 10
Interface: Using and searching and watching programs on Netflix is a breeze. The search feature is intuitive and powerful, allowing you to search by genre, format, director, actor, etc. It easily lets you know what can be viewed online and what is only available by DVD, and it even lets you set up two queues for both formats.
The section for user comments, ratings, related films, and other recommendations is probably the best I've seen on the internet, with suggestions that actually seem to make sense. I've found a lot of films by just surfing through the suggestions and related films tabs. The only real problem I've noticed is that the screen ratio format listings are for the DVDs only, so there is no way to know if the streaming content is in full or widescreen until you actually start to view it. That's lame. Why are any of these films not in their original aspect ratio?
Score: 9 out of 10
Pricing: Online streaming is free with any Netflix subscription, so you could sign up for only $5 a month. You have to pay a lot more than that if you want more DVDs out for longer periods of time however. As far as online DVD rentals are concerned, Netflix is cheap and well worth whichever plan you decide is right for you, but at this point, watching programs online is more of a bonus than anything else, and probably not worth paying for on its own. If you have a Netflix account already, you'd be insane not to take advantage of this service. But as it stands now, it's not worth it by itself.
Overview: The iTunes Music store is the online depot for content that you can download to view and hear on itunes or on your ipod. Do you have a Mac or an MP3 player? Then you already know what itunes is.
Content: Pretty good. Their selection of current TV shows is right up there with Hulu, if no even more expansive, though their catalogue of anything older than a few years ago is sorely lacking. Movie selection is really good as well, with most things available for rent or purchase.
Score: 9 out of 10
A/V Quality: Programs purchased from the iTunes store look and sound great. And they actually have a lot of HD content! The HD programs are limited to just TV at this point, but they look fantastic. In my opinion, HD should be the norm at this point, and iTunes definitely delivers, more than doubling their HD content than they first had just a few months ago.
Score: 10 out of 10
Interface: Itunes is a great, easy to use program. The music store itself is really buggy and goes down a lot and gives the occasional error when you try to download something, but most of these are fixed with a simple program restart. But it can still be really annoying when all you want to do is download a song or TV show. Also, nothing is streamed, so downloads can take a while and take up a lot of space, especially for the HD stuff. So be aware if you set up an entire season to download automatically each week in HD. It'll eat up your memory faster than you think.
Score: 7 out of 10
Pricing: Way, way, way overpriced. Seriously, I have to pay for TV now? Sure, the selection is great and the programs look fantastic, but I still have to pay for every episode? And entire seasons cost almost as much as they would on DVD. Why is there no option for a monthly subscription fee for all of their TV or movie content? Also, who is buying movies on itunes? Renting may, though I've never done it, but purchasing them? And they're not even in HD?
Get with the program, iTunes. Lower your prices or at least have them make more sense for loyal customers. I would be perfectly willing to watch ads in my shows if they were free, or even cheaper.
Overview: Surf the Channel is a website that just provides links to TV shows and movies. That's all. No more, no less. The website claims its perfectly legal, but I'm not sure how. I guess because they don't host the content, just link to it, and maybe it's all on servers in different countries. I dunno.
Content: How about every TV show and movie ever made? Ok, it's not quite that all-encompassing, but it's close. Chances are good if it's somewhere online, it's going to be found on this website. And everything is online.
Score: 10 out of 10
A/V Quality: Because the programs aren't hosted on one website, they vary in quality. But one thing is consistent: It all looks awful. The bit rates are low, the picture looks like crap, and a lot of them have weird, Asian subtitles covering much of the screen. They're watchable, I guess, but most have the same quality as a youtube video.
Score: 3 out of 10
Interface: There's no bells and whistles here, folks. Just search for a program then pick the link you hope will work. Most won't, and those that do won't look good. A lot of trial and error is involved, since you'll be following dead links most of the time. I also wouldn't recommend using this site without a good pop-up blocker and virus program running. I wouldn't trust most of these websites not to be malicious in some way.
Score: 4 out of 10
Pricing: It's all completely free, and you definitely get what you pay for. But unlike Hulu, there are no ads to support the site or to keep the production levels in check. But, you know, it's free. If you've absolutely looked everywhere else and can't find that missing episode to Car 54 Where Are You? you may as well look here. I bet they've got it.
I'm slightly ashamed to admit I actually paid the 10 bucks to update my iPod Touch to the newest software. But I'm more than slightly annoyed that I had to pay anything to update my iPod at all. By charging Touch users and not iPhone users, Apple is basically creating a tier system that says I'm a somehow inferior consumer of their products. It's somewhat insulting, nonsensical, and lacking sense from a business perspective. Sure, I paid the ten bucks, but it left me slightly resentful and with a bad taste in my mouth. Why charge for the ability to pay to download more applications?
But that's neither here nor there. There's no sense complaining about the charge since I was the sucker who forked it over the first day of release.
No wait... I paid on the second day, since the itunes store was down for the first 24 hours. So not only did I have to pay for the new software, but I had to wait a day to pay for it.
But, again, that's beside the point. Let's talk about the software itself. Was it worth the ten bucks?
Meh.
There were some interesting updates to the OS and functionality of the device, almost all of which are for the better, most of which are most beneficial for the iPhone, and all of which are too boring to discuss here. The real meat of the update, and the reason why I, and most people, downloaded it was for the App Store.
And it's pretty cool. But, frankly, it's also something that should've been available since day 1. And it shouldn't been free. But there I go again...
The App Store is just as easy to navigate and use as the Music store and everything else Apple has invented. Browsing is easy, downloading is easy, and syncing the iPod with my Mac is easy. You can download apps to your computer or directly to your iPod via wi-fi. Everything is sorted and ranked the same as on the music store, by category, popularity, etc.
The pricing structure seems a little wacky though. Lots of stuff is free, and much is so cheap it may as well be free, but some is just way too expensive. According to the App Store, Super Monkey Ball is the most downloaded game so far. I'm sure it's a fun game and all, but there are actually enough people willing to pay 10 bucks to play a game on their iPod?
There isn't even a way to play a demo for any of these games. You just have to purchase them on faith. That's ok if the game is 99 cents, or even a couple bucks, but ten dollars? No thanks. Especially considering the fact that playing games on a touchscreen isn't actually much fun. Here's a note to all of the game developers: Rubbing your finger back and forth across a glass touchscreen is actually really unpleasant. Try rubbing your finger tip against your monitor right now for a few minutes and you'll being to understand what I mean.
Anyway, I've stuck with all of the free stuff, and thankfully there's a lot of it. Here's what I've tried out so far:
Bubbles: This sucks. Touch the screen and bubbles appear. Touch the bubbles and the disappear. They don't pop mind you, even though they make a popping sound effect. They just vanish from the screen. The animation is bad, the look is garish, and the fun factor is non-existent. I thought there'd be some kind of pleasure from popping bubbles, but the control is so far removed from what is actually happening on screen that it just doesn't feel right. I don't expect much from a free game designed for the iPod, but this one fell short of even that.
Check Please: A slightly obtuse but functional tip calculator. Once you get used to the design, it's actually really useful and powerful, as tip calculators go anyway. You can set the tip percentage, tax, and even the number of people in your party. I like this one and recommend it.
Jirbo Break: This is basically Arkanoid, or Brick Breaker, or whatever else it's been called over the years. You rub your finer along the screen to move your cursor under the ball. You've played it before. It's fun... but not on an iPod. As I said above, rubbing your finger along a screen over and over again just doesn't feel good. In fact, it feels bad. Play this to long and you'll get caluses.
Jirbo Match: This is a kind of fun match game. You know the drill: You get to uncover two cards at once, until you find and make matches. It's cute and addictive. I like it and recommend it, if you know that you like match games.
Light: This is completely pointless. It's a "flashlight" application that turns the screen all white... so you can see in dark rooms. There's nothing to say about this. It works and it might even come in handy. And I'm sure it doesn't take up much memory. Go ahead and download it.
Tap Tap Revenge: This is actually a really fun, really clever music game. It's sort of like Guitar Hero, but on a touchscreen. You have to tap the dots as they fall down the screen in time to the music. It's hard to explain but it's easy to get into. This is actually a great game and I recommend it. It's just fun.
Urban Spoon: Unsure of where to go for dinner? Download Urban Spoon and let it decide for you. It logs through a wi-fi connection to access information about restaurants in the area. Then you just shake your iPod (or press a button if you're in public and don't want to look like an idiot) and it randomly picks a restaurant, offering links to reviews information, etc. You can enter parameters that limit your search to certain cuisines or price ranges as well. This application is awesome.
And that's all I've downloaded so far. Was it worth the time and money I spent to upgrade the software? Probably not at this point, but as the App Store grows and the applications get better and more plentiful, I'm sure it will be a worthwhile investment.
A couple days ago, I bought an 8GB iPod Touch. Why did I get a Touch instead of an iPhone? For some reason, everybody keeps asking me that. I keep having to justify my purchase, as though I'm an idiot for buying the Touch when the iPhone does everything the Touch does but so much more.
But here's the deal... I didn't want a phone, ok! First of all, the phone is about $100 more, and that's before the fees for the AT&T service, and before the cancellation penalty I'd have to pay to get out of my contract with Sprint. And why would I do that since I'm perfectly happy with Sprint? But that's another review for another time.
Anyway, I bought an iPod Touch. Deal with it, America.
But, yeah, I do wish I could've afforded an iPhone. I mean, it can do everything the Touch can but so much more! And that's saying a lot since the Touch is a pretty amazing piece of machinery.
First an foremost, it's an iPod, so that means it's a fantastic MP3 player with above average playback quality, an attractive appearance, an an absolutely amazing interface. It just looks cool and it's fun to use. It has something Apple refers to as a "revolutionary multi-touch interface." That means you can use your fingers to move stuff around. And it actually is kind of revolutionary. It's just fun and intuitive and comfortable. The items on screen seem to have real world weight, and scrolling through the menus feels a lot like using your fingers to spin a globe. It such a cool interface, and one that feels so right, it almost sucks going back to my laptop's touch pad after using the Touch for a long period of time.
The minimalist design, and the "multi-touch interface" does get kind of annoying when you're listing to music with the Touch in your pocket. Since there is only one button, all of the major features have to be accessed via your fingers on the screen. So that means you have to take the Touch out of your pocket every time you want to do something as simple as adjust the volume, skip to the next song, or pause the music. This isn't a deal-breaker by any means, but it is annoying. They should've thrown on a couple more face buttons that you could map to adjust the volume or control the music player.
But the Touch isn't just a music player. It's a multimedia device that also plays videos and... well... I guess that's it. Just music and videos. But, for its size, the video capabilities are pretty amazing. The screen is small, but it's crystal clear and looks pretty good. I'm not going to replace my widescreen TV or anything, but it's good enough to watch while you're on a plane or in the waiting room for your proctologist. It supports any videos you download from the iTunes music store, and it also plays MP4s, after you use the conversion program in iTunes.
The other key feature of the iPod Touch is the ability to log online via wi-fi.
This is totally the bomb.
Unlike the Wii or PSP, which took hours to configure to work online, the Touch automatically finds a list of available networks and connects in seconds. It's easier to get online with the Touch than it is with most laptops I've used.
And the browser is... pretty good. It's Safari, so it's reliable and fairly fast, if not all together exceptional. The screen is kind of small, but it senses if you're holding the Touch vertically or horizontally and tilts the screen to match. And you can double tap or "pinch" the srcreen to zoom in and out. It's not ideal, but if you want to be able to check facebook on a device you can hide in your pocket, this thing is a dream come true. Wi-fi is a bit of a battery hog, however, so you'll want to turn it off when you're not actively going online.
Email is also built in as a feature, and setting it up is as simple as syncing your music. You can either manually set up your email information, or plug it into your computer and let it pull your settings from your mail account. It's pretty nifty and works well. My only problem is nobody ever emails me. But it's still nice to have.
There's also a notepad, calendar, map feature that lets you search and find directions. This is also the bomb. As long as you're connected to wi-fi, it will find your approximate location and center in on that. Then type in, say, "starbucks," and it will point out every nearby location, with a link to the website and to step by step directions on how to get there. So far, this might be my favorite feature.
Rounding out the features are the built in youtube program, which seems weird but it's nice if you're into that kind of thing, weather, calculator, and stocks, which I'm sure is great but I wouldn't know since I don't care.
Do I wish I could make phone calls on it? Sure. I guess. But is it a fantastic multimedia device that also lets me get online? No doubt. It's an awesome iPod and I'm glad I got it, even if I have to take it out of my pocket every time I want to crank up the volume on "Walkin' in Memphis."
For the past few years, I had Time Warner Cable and all was right in the world. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't choose Time Warner because I thought they were a fantastic company or because they offered amazing service for a low price. I chose Time Warner because, for whatever reason and no matter where you may live in American, there's only ever one cable company that you are forced to use. I don't understand why that's legal or how it works out, but there you go. But lucky for the Minneapolis - St. Paul area, Time Warner was pretty good.
But they they were bought out (or something) by Comcast and everything changed. To begin with, for a while I was getting two bills a month, one for my old Time Warner account, and one for the new Comcast account. How could that happen when they are actually the came company and I only had one account, let alone only one TV? Don't look at me. It was a question I never got answered, and only got sorted out after about three months. They finally waived the late fees they kept tacking on to my account after those three months of constant complaints and phone calls.
But I told you that story so I could tell you this one:
Earlier this month, my sister and I decided to upgrade to digital cable, with HBO and an HD DVR. It had been a couple months since my trouble with Comcast so I felt confident enough to go ahead and upgrade my service. Ha ha ha. Anyway, my sister called up and ordered all the stuff and set up the appointment. We made sure to ask for the HD DVR, because we were also getting the HD package and wanted to take advantage of those channels.
So maybe a week or so rolls by until the morning of the appointment. Or should I say morning / afternoon since these companies only schedule four hour blocks when you have to be home, though you can be sure they'll be late anyway. This guy wasn't late, but he did arrive in the last ten minutes of that four hour block. But that's technically still on time so I can't complain.
"Hi, I'm here to install a DVR?" he asked as I opened the door to let him in.
I replied in the affirmative and showed him in to my living room.
When he saw my TV he said, "HDTV, huh?"
"Yup," I agreed.
"Ever think about upgrading to an HD DVR?" he asked, which is funny for a few reasons.
I pointed out that that was why he was there. He was supposed to be installing an HD DVR.
Oh no, he told me. Comcast had been out of HD DVRs for weeks. There's no telling when more will be coming in.
"So you don't have the thing you came to install?" I asked, trying to be polite.
He said he did not. Then he said, "I do have a regular HD digital box though. It's exactly like an HD DVR."
"What's the difference?"
"Well, you'll get all the channels. But it doesn't record."
"I see. I really want the DVR though, so why don't you just hook up the regular DVR and I'll upgrade to the HD DVR when one becomes ready."
"I don't have a regular DVR. I just have this digital box."
"You don't have a regular DVR? So why did you ask me... forget it. Just set up whatever you have."
"Ok," he said, and then did. He told me I would have to call to reschedule, which I did as soon as he left. I explained the situation to the man on the phone, letting him know that this guy showed up with no HD DVR and said they were out of stock.
"I have no idea why he said that," the guy on the phone said. "We have plenty." They couldn't send anybody back out until saturday morning. Since this was a monday or tuesday, I was annoyed.
"You can't send anybody out sooner even though this was your mistake?" I asked for no good reason. It's impossible to talk logic with a cable company. No, they couldn't send somebody out sooner.
So as the week draws closer to Saturday, my sister and I decide to just call in and pick one up ourselves. But when we called in to ask about this, they told us they had none in stock and have no estimate when they'll arrive, so not only can we not pick one up, but there's no reason to have somebody come on saturday. So they rescheduled again to have somebody come on the 17th.
That's tomorrow. This was two weeks ago.
Two days ago, I realized that I wouldn't be here on the morning of the 17th, so I called in once again to reschedule. They had nothing later that day, but the 16th was open. Awesome, I thought. I'll get my DVR that much earlier. And, because I had learned my lesson at that point, I made sure that they had some in stock. Of course they did.
So I woke up this morning so I could be ready to let the cable guy in any time between 9 and noon. He finally called at 11 and said he would be late, probably closer to one.
That's fine, I said. I was just happy he was coming at all.
"There is one other thing," he said after we agreed on the time. "I don't have the HD DVR. We are all out of stock. All I have is this HD digital box. It's just like a DVR except..."
So that didn't work out. I let him know that this had already happened, and that the person I talked to on the phone two days ago said they had plenty.
"Oh, they always say that," he said. Thanks.
So I cancelled that appointment and called back to see what was up, and to make sure I wasn't being charged for the DVR service. By some odd twist of fate, I wasn't. Weird. I thought for sure they'd be charging me for three DVRs.
So now instead of having another pointless, standing appointment, they took my name down and will call mw when one becomes available, probably no sooner than March 1st.
