Bob Caswell – Page 33 – Media consumer, tech enthusiast, and gamer

Why Netflix Will Make Online Movie Watching a Reality

January 22, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 2 Comments

If you missed the Netflix news last week, the company announced that it will offer existing subscribers the option of watching movies and TV shows online at no additional cost. So if you pay $18 a month for your regular three DVDs at at time mailing plan, soon you’ll be receiving 18 hours of free online watching time too.

What I found intriguing about the story is that just days and weeks earlier, certain prominent bloggers posted why Netflix is in trouble. Mike Arrington had his post “Why I Am Breaking Up With Netflix” while Robert Scoble had his thoughts on “Netflix is dead.” Both came back with follow up stories after the news release (“Netflix, I Was Just Kidding About Breaking Up With You” and “Netflix tells Scoble he’s wrong” respectively).

Media, Netflix, Tech News, Web 2.0

Germany & The Netherlands Consider Banning Video Games: Why This Is Wrong

January 19, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 2 Comments

The Economist (subscription required) has an excellent piece outlining the silliness associated with banning video games. The proponents of banning use the same old tired arguments that have been used throughout history, including: games poison your mind and corrupt your morals, games make you excited or aggressive, and my personal favorite: games lead to criminal behavior. Here’s why each of those arguments is false:

Gaming, Tech News

Philanthropy 2.0: Kiva.org Teams Up with Google & PayPal for P2P Microfinancing

January 15, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 4 Comments

Most of us want to be more charitable, though somehow giving to a random charity often leaves us with too many unanswered questions: Where specifically does my money really go? How much of it actually makes it to the end destination?

Enter San Francisco based non-profit Kiva.org: a peer-to-peer microfinance gateway, which combines the Nobel Peace Prize concept of microcredit with the power of the Internet to facilitate micro-lending to small business owners in developing countries. Here’s how it works:

Just For Fun, Microsoft, Tech News, Web 2.0

Bye Bye Cingular, AT&T Name Taking Over Monday: Cool Traded In for Stuffy

January 12, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell No Comments

AT&T won’t say how much the rebranding will cost but claims it will benefit from having one name on all its services. But is it worth it? The company will have to change signs in around 2,000 stores. And let’s not forget the cost of letterhead and employee uniforms. Though perhaps the most difficult cost to calculate: young consumers who like the hip feel of Cingular over the stuffy AT&T brand of yesteryear.

Gadgets, Tech News

Apple Releases iPhone, Changes Name, and Gets Sued: All Smart Moves

January 10, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell No Comments

So unless you’ve been hiding under a rock the past couple days, you’ve inevitably heard that Apple released its highly anticipated iPhone, fusing the ubiquitous iPod with the even more ubiquitous cellphone. Apple Computer even went as far as changing it’s name to Apple Inc. to illustrate just how serious this move is. The company has officially graduated from computer company to consumer electronics superstar.

But Cisco, the company that owns the iPhone trademark (incidentally, the latest rendition of the Cisco iPhone was hurriedly released three weeks ago: a VOIP phone that was and is talked about more for its name than anything), is now suing Apple.

Apple, Cyberlaw, Gadgets, Music, Tech News

Letter from IT Personnel at Purdue University: No Upgrades to Vista, Office 2007, or even IE7

January 9, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 10 Comments

Purdue University is a Big Ten school with 40,000+ students and a fairly tech savvy campus. But due to bugs, compatibility issues, and lack of backwards compatibility, Purdue is holding off on Microsoft upgrades for now. Reproduced with permission, here’s the letter I received explaining why Purdue will not upgrade Windows, Office, or even Internet Explorer on thousands of computers:

Internet, Microsoft, Tech News

Samsung New Technology: Live TV on Your Cellphone at 170 Miles per Hour

January 4, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell No Comments

Samsung now has a way of delivering video and even live TV to on-the-go gadget-aholics: cellphones that get digital signals from local TV broadcasters. Cellphones with the new technology implemented will basically become portable television sets that will have the same reception as TVs with antennas.

Gadgets, Media, Tech News

Google Increasing (Or Decreasing?) Self Promotion… Again

January 4, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell No Comments

Googlelogo_6 Less than a week after the blogosphere-proclaimed scandal of Google displaying “tips” right above search results, the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) decides to run an article entitled “Google Steps Up Self Promotion.” Interestingly enough, there is no scandalous tone from big media; rather, the WSJ thinks its about time. Here are a few choice quotes:

Internet, Microsoft, Tech News