Dave Zatz, Author at Zatz Not Funny!

Is Netflix Really Bigger Than Comcast?

Netflix (NFLX) released its quarterly earnings earlier this week and, while the market was somewhat underwhelmed, subscriber numbers are impressive. In fact, GigaOm declares, “Netflix Now Officially Has More Subscribers Than Comcast.” Indeed, at first blush, Netflix’s 23.6 million subscribers does exceed Comcast’s 22.8 million. But what exactly does that suggest and is it a reasonable comparison? From a financial stand … Read more

DirecTV Real Interested In Netflix, Contemplates Launching A Competitor

directv-survey

DirecTV (DTV) hit up some of their customers today with a web survey. A very interesting web survey. As it’s nearly all about Netflix (NFLX) – usage patterns, both physical discs and online streaming. Most intriguing is revelation of a DirecTV “concept” that would provide a “Netflix-like service” to existing satellite television subscribers:

In this next section, we would like you to evaluate a new service that DIRECTV is thinking about offering to their customers. DIRECTV plans to offer a streaming-only Netflix-like service for a flat fee per month, which would appear as a line item on your monthly bill.

The service would allow you to stream thousands of movies and television shows over a broadband internet connection to your television, computer or tablet.
The content available would likely be past season of current shows as well as older TV series and older movie released (released more than 5 years ago).
You could watch as many programs as you want for one flat monthly efe, similar to what Netflix streaming offers.

PSN Down For The Count

As we creep closer to a week of PlayStation Network downtime, gamers are increasingly frustrated… and concerned. When will PSN be back online and is our credit card info safe? (Yes, I too have a PSN Wallet.) Unfortunately, Sony isn’t saying much of anything at all. From their latest blog post: I don’t have an … Read more

Virgin Media TiVo Updates Reinforce Roadmap

Over on the TiVo Community, one member who identifies himself as representing Virgin Media Customer Relations has posted a long list of possible VM TiVo enhancements. Amongst the bullet points… As you might expect, UK customers will ultimately receive access to the iPad app we currently enjoy here in the US. However, it appears TiVo To Go … Read more

Sony PlayStation Network Still Down, No End In Sight

As the story goes, Sony voluntarily brought down the PlayStation Network last Wednesday in reaction to a security breach:

An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned off PlayStation Network & Qriocity services.

Unfortunately, no one knows when the PSN will be up once again and Sony’s not saying. In fact, their most recent blog update doesn’t provide much hope of a timely resolution:

We are working around the clock to bring [the PSN] back online. Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure.

Wow, rebuilding the network on the fly? I wouldn’t be surprised if PSN is down a few more days…

Sony Disables PlayStation Network After Security Breach

Sites and services go down all the time. Just ask Amazon. And all their customers. But they weren’t the only ones to suffer a massive outage this week, as Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN) has been offline for several days now. After a long period of silence, Sony has finally provided some situational insight: An external … Read more

Revisiting The Google TV

Logitech Revue Google TV

We aim to serve. And, by request, the Logitech Revue Google TV was dusted off for a quick look at HBOGo. At least that was the plan…

Like CrunchGear, I originally had a difficult time constructing our Logitech Revue, er, review headline and ultimately settled on the Star Wars inspired ‘A New Hope’ – as there was a whole lot of anticipation ahead of Google TV’s launch. Indeed, I was pretty fired up when the $300 box arrived, courtesy Logitech.

Without doubt, Google TV features the very best television-based web browsing experience. And the Logitech Revue IR blaster functionality is the most powerful I’ve come across. But this is the provence of geekdom, and not really suitable for the civilians amongst us. They’d only wonder why watching TV requires a (wireless) keyboard and touchpad while searching the couch crevices for a traditional remote that just doesn’t exist. Heck, the unexpected delight of discovering something new on a daily basis even became a frustration for a geek like me as it turns out the interface and keyboard interaction are both a mess. And, like so many other half baked products, our Google TV review unit was banished to the Land of Misfit toys (aka the basement cupboard).

Blocking Calls With Verizon FiOS and wireless

verizon-fios-call-block

We haven’t had a true home phone since 2005, when we sold our last place in favor of a gypsy lifestyle. But, now that we’ve settled down once again, we’ve bundled voice services with our Verizon FiOS plan. I’d probably have settled for putting the first gen Ooma back into service or abstaining entirely. Especially as the wife subscribes to an unlimited AT&T wireless calling plan. Yet, the way Verizon constructs bundles, their triple play (voice, data, tv) is the best value – effectively giving us unlimited national calling and various phone features for about just $10/month. So, why not?

The original idea was the new home phone line would exist for our convenience (i.e. outgoing calls) and we’ve only given the number to relatives for emergency use. But I seem to have forgotten how insidious the telemarketers can be. Sadly, the worst offender has been the Indiana University (which is where I picked up my master’s degree). Due to where our phones are located and the times when they typically call (dinner), I’ve been unable to pick up in time and tell them to knock it off. I began contemplating dropping Verizon voice as it’s become a (minor) nuisance and we’ve made only a handful of outbound calls in the last couple months.

So yesterday I went online to see if Verizon offered some sort of Ooma-esque blacklist for FiOS Digital Voice. And, given the existence of this post and screenshot above, you already know that they do. Once the feature has been enabled, nuking specific incoming numbers is as easy as bringing up a context menu and clicking Call Block via the VZN web portal. Although, we’re limited to prohibiting only ten total numbers (along with all anonymous callers). I’m not exactly sure how future calls from these numbers are handled – are the perpetrators sent to voicemail, get a busy signal, or, better yet, receive some sort of message indicating that they’re unwelcome ’round these parts?