Bob Caswell – Page 16 – Media consumer, tech enthusiast, and gamer

Apple TV 2.0 vs. Netflix Unlimited: This Will Be Interesting

January 15, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 9 Comments

Apple TV 2.0 So today is Apple’s yearly coming out party where good ol’ Steve Jobs takes the stage and releases big surprises (even if most are leaked days earlier). There’s a new ultra-thin notebook, new features for the iPhone (SMS messaging to multiple friends), new apps for the iPod Touch (Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes, and Weather), iTunes movie rentals, and the second generation Apple TV.

Despite the fact that plenty of people already seem to be professing a new found love for the MacBook Air, my interest is more towards Apple’s desire to be in the center of my living room. So let’s take a look at the newly released Apple TV set-top box and iTunes rental package:

Apple, Media, Netflix, Tech News, Web 2.0

Netflix Preemptively Takes On Apple: Unlimited Online Movies

January 13, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 5 Comments

Netflix will be making a big announcement tomorrow, coincidentally one day before Apple will be making some [similar] big announcements of its own:

Starting Monday, January 14, 2008, Netflix subscribers will have unlimited access to movie viewing online. The company plans to do away with its quota/hours system it had in place before (viewing hours per month were based upon how much you paid for you mail-in DVD plan). The only group of Netflix subscribers to be left out of this unlimited plan: you who pay the minimum of $4.99 to rent just two DVDs per month.

Apple, Media, Netflix, Tech News, Web 2.0

HD DVD Price Drops while Blu-ray Screws Early Adopters

January 12, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 153 Comments

HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Not sure if this is related to the news of Warner Bros. going Blu-ray exclusive, but Amazon has this Toshiba HD DVD player with seven movies for only $129 (the same one I thought I got a deal on a month ago for $174).

Blu-ray players, of course, are still well above $300. Amazon also has a bunch of HD DVD movies for $15. Interestingly, the site has a Blu-ray movie sale going on at the same time. But the difference between the two sales is a telling story:

Amazon, Media, Netflix

DRM Officially Dead for Music: Amazon Now Offers DRM-Free Tracks from All Four Major Labels

January 10, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 1 Comment

Just a few days after our coverage of DRM-free music options for 2008 comes news of Sony BMG now offering its music on Amazon restriction-free. Sony BMG represents artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Santana, and Justin Timberlake. And this makes Amazon the first online music store to offer DRM-free songs from all four major labels: Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, and Universal Music.

Amazon, Apple, Music, Tech News, Web 2.0

Data Privacy & Portability: Who owns what? Who can see what?

January 10, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell No Comments

The privacy and portability of your online data may become more of an issue in 2008. News is out today of a Federal case which will investigate whether the use of a false identity could be considered Internet fraud under federal statutes. This was originally triggered by the October 2006 case in which a 13-year-old named Megan Meier committed suicide after receiving “cruel” messages on MySpace (messages allegedly received from the mother of a school rival who was posing as a 16-year-old boy).

Internet, Privacy, Tech News, Web 2.0

Mozy: Still the Best Option for Online Backup

January 9, 2008 Bob Caswell 7 Comments

Backing up your computer is something you don’t want to think about; you wish it would just happen. With that perspective, I thought I’d bring up the online backup service offered by Mozy. I use it for both my laptop and desktop and now think of backups only when I desperately need to restore something (which can happen more often than you think).

Mozy has a free version, which allows you to backup two gigabytes of data. It requires no credit card and is quick and easy to install. And it’s no different than the version you pay for in terms of features and options. The only difference is that if you do pay $5 per month, your backup has no size limit (if you are interested in the Mozy Unlimited version, when signing up, use promo code TECHCONSUMER to get 10% off an annual subscription or TECHCONSUMER2 to get 10% off a biannual subscription).

Do-It-Yourself Tech, Internet, Tech Reviews, Web 2.0

Irony Alert: HD DVD Eases the Pain of Its Death for Owners

January 8, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 20 Comments

HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Back in November, I asked for help in deciding between HD DVD and Blu-ray. I ended up choosing HD DVD via an amazing Amazon deal: HD DVD player and 10 HD DVDs for $174. (That deal is now over, but now there’s an even better deal: HD DVD player and 7 movies for only $132.)

But it wasn’t just the price being nearly half of any Blu-ray equivalent (check out Amazon’s Blu-ray page, where every player is well above $300 with not nearly as many included movies), it was other little things. For instance, HD DVD is region free. This means that any movies bought in Europe or the U.S. can work on any player bought anywhere as well. The same isn’t true for Blu-ray.

Do-It-Yourself Tech, Media, Tech News

Get Ready for DRM-FREE 2008: Amazon, Napster, Sony, Yahoo Music

January 7, 2008August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 8 Comments

DRM-free 2008 Last year around this same time I wrote on the then current companies killing DRM (Digital Rights Management, music with restrictions). Coincidentally, this year has the month of January giving us even more news on the battle-for-unrestricted-music front.

Here’s the latest news about music within the context of Amazon, Napster, Sony, and Yahoo:

Amazon, Internet, Music, Sony, Tech News, Web 2.0, Yahoo