Archive for the ‘Tech Updates’ Category

Google Chromebooks… Will They Be a Hit?

If you haven’t heard yet, Google is coming out with their own form of netbooks in June, called Chromebooks

Based of their minimalistic web browser, Chrome, it will strictly be a web netbook.

No need for a BIOS, Hardware detection, Login, Splash screens, Anti-virus, anything that slows boot up and load times.

They say the Chromebooks boot up in 8 seconds and resume instantly.

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iPhone + Netflix = Awesome

How practical is streaming Netflix movies and TV shows to your iPhone?  Who cares.  I just downloaded the Netflix app on my iPhone 4, and Arrested Development is playing on 3G pretty well.  On Wi-Fi I had no issues.  On 3G, it only stopped to buffer a few times during the show, which is pretty good.  It’s very usable in 3G which makes the app worth it.

I used to be a Blockbuster guy until I switched to Netflix a few months ago.  Before Blockbuster shutdown a ridiculous amount of stores, I was having the time of my life.  I could rent 2 movies from Blockbuster online, they’d get to me in a few days, I’d watch them, return them to a local Blockbuster, they would ship them back and let me rent 2 free movies in the store for free while I was waiting for the next movies in queue to be delivered.  I’ll be honest, sometimes I’d get lazy and not send back movies for a few months (and my credit card would get dinged $14.95 each month), but in my prime I could get 2-4 movies per week, which was a good deal.  The 2 free in-store rentals is what kept me a Blockbuster fan.  Now I don’t even know where a Blockbuster is so…

I finally came around to Netflix because I wanted to stream movies through my Xbox 360.  I rarely rent online movies.  Again, I think I’ve had The Blind Side on Blu-ray for over a month, but I stream movies and TV shows a few times a week, which makes the $9/mo subscription worth it.

The best part is that the Netflix iPhone app is free, and they easily could have charged at least a few bucks for it.  Giving away this “added value” was smart on their part.

So, if you have an iPhone/iPod Touch and Netflix, what are you waiting for?

Here are some screenshots of Netflix on my iPhone:

Netflix iPhone App

1) Netflix home screen, 2) After loggin in, 3) Browse by Category, 4) Takes less than 5 seconds to load your instant queue, 5) Instant Queue, 6) Show description screen, 7) Loading movie or TV show, 8) Watching Arrested Development :)

By the way, I didn’t get a screenshot of it, but after the Arrested Development Season 1 page fully loaded, it recognized that I had watched about 50% of episode 5 on my Xbox/TV and asked if I wanted to resume.  A simple, yet elegant and appreciated feature.

Introducing Microsoft Kinect

The next big ‘thing’ in gaming has just been announced called Microsoft Kinect. It seems as though Microsoft is coming out with its own answer for the Wii with this extraordinary new technology that literally makes you the controller. It offers a range camera that detects your movements and gets you off of the sofa on moving. As of now, Kinect is supposed to hit stores this fall and the price could range as high as $149.99. This video shows you how Kinect is played and gives you a glimpse of a couple sweet features it offers on the dashboard interface that is said to be Minority Report-like. Will it be a hit? You be the judge.

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