Thoughts on the Netflix offshoot- Qwikster!?

The news, delivered overnight from Netflix HQ, seems to be foreboding of bigger changes to come.  Most customers had just adjusted (begrudingly) to the new payment structure, and this split of services may make more than a few people simply give up and walk away.

Netflix claims spinning off the DVD rental portion of the company will make the entire company "leaner" and save money and resources.  It will be interesting to see how many people leave, how many join both services, and how many make the full switch to streaming-only (the point of the entire exercise, perhaps?)

Will the changes affect you?

Retro Tech Tuesday: Streaming video circa 2010

(c)TheDigitalLifestyle.tvThe constant pace of technology is quickening. Need proof? Today's retro tech goes all the way back to the early days of 2010. Gather round young folks for a story of a bygone time. A time when streaming Netflix video to your Nintendo Wii and/or PS3 meant inserting a disc into the system first. Granted this was pretty much merely a provision caused by the exclusivity of streaming to the XBox without a disc, but still, it's an interesting mile marker into how far Netflix has come. Today it streams directly to the Apple TV, dozens of set-top boxes, and even TV themselves. My how time flies.

Macgirl's Media Pick of the Week: Farscape Flashback

I'm going way back for this favorite TV show, to the turn of the century...the year 2000.  Just moved into a new apartment, this one with cable included!  Sc-fi junky that I was, the commercials for the new show Farscape had me hooked. I was thrilled to have the Sci-Fi Channel, and watching Farscape was a can't miss event each week.

Airing in the US on the Sci-Fi Channel (now sy-fy...sigh), this creative space-journey TV series was conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon.   Produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark, the show featured Henson Muppets as key characters.  The main plot point revolves around a US astronaut from our time (John Crichton) who gets sucked through a wormhole near Earth and is ejected into the middle of an epic space battle.  He clips a passing ship as he arrives, leading to a death and a brother's revenge plot.  After being rescued by a rouge group of escapees flying in a living space craft (Moya), each show is formed around a mini-arch for the episode, and follows the overall arch of Crichton being pursued by multiple baddies, and his trying to get back to the wormhole.  It may sound a bit hokey, but the set design, acting and writing are compelling and just plain entertaining.

All 4 seasons and the concluding mini-series are available on netflix, or through iTunes (links below).

Farscape, Season 1 - Farscape

Farscape, Season 2 - Farscape

Farscape, Season 3 - Farscape

Farscape, Season 4 - Farscape

Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars

PS3 Streaming Disc Arrives. Quick Review: As Advertised

Our Netflix PS3 streaming disc just arrived. The process is fairly straightforward as you insert the disc, then login to netflix, and enter a verification code from the tv screen into an activation screen on the computer.

After that, your queued movies are presented, and you pick one to start watching. Unless it was just a funky tv issue, it seems not all the titles are in HD, as the tv would switch from 720p to 480p depending on the title. You can use the same scene by scene navigation as the netflix player on the mac/pc. Additionally, the resume playing feature remembers where you left off in a movie on other streaming devices as well. Not sure what happens if you take your disc to another ps3, but it seems the verification code is probably linked to the ps3, not the disc.

The movies generally look great, with just some pixelation if you're looking for it. It's a solid implementation, despite having to put the disc in for each use. But hey, if that's what it takes to get Netflix on more devices, then I'm all for it.

November Apple Fantasy Merger of the Month: Netflix

(Each month we weigh the pros and cons of a particular potential merger for Apple. Please note the "fantasy" part of this speculation: Many times the mergers mentioned couldn't or wouldn't be realistically possible. But put all that aside and enjoy this month's edition of Fantasy Merger.)

Earlier this month Netflix brought its movie streaming service to the Mac, with the help of Microsoft's Silverlight Technology. This service allows mac(and pc)users to instantly stream thousands of movies, making Netflix more of a direct competitor to Apple's iTunes than in the past. But that alone doesn't make Netflix the subject of this month's fantasy merger. With Netflix, Apple would gain an instant subscriber base. Rather than trying to build a base on top of their current rental and purchase options, Apple would have a sandbox in which to experiment with the subscriber model.

Apple could also vastly increase it's movie library overnight. Movie studios have made thousands of movies available via Netflix's streaming service that are not available on iTunes (at least not for rental).

Of course, it would also mean the quick demise of the physical dvd portion of the Netflix business. Apple would move quickly to get Netflix users to switch to digital distribution, while selling off the customer base who couldn't or didn't want to switch, to someone like Blockbuster.

What do you think? Should Apple pickup Netflix, for what amounts to a few coins in their cash-laden sofa?