Netflix Shipping on Saturdays (Again)

Great news for Netflix customers. According the Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, they’re beginning to test Saturday shipping during the first quarter of 2009 in “certain parts of the country.” This means if you send a disc back on a Friday, Netflix receives it on a Saturday and you could receive your next disc as soon … Read more

The Cost of Music

We’ve finally seen some definitive proof (above) that Sirius XM will begin charging for online streaming ($3/mo), Pandora has brought audio advertising into their web player/experience, and Apple, along with their studio partners, is implementing variable track pricing. Obviously, there’s also a sizable contingent of people who feel free to help themselves. In light of … Read more

Your Movie Wish Is Jinni’s Command

For those of you still not satisfied with the current crop of movie recommendation services, you’ll soon have another option available to you. Jinni’s new interactive movie rating website is trying to do for movies, what Pandora has done for music. Although the site doesn’t stream any of the films that they recommend, but provides convenient links to places where you can find the films online (Netflix, Blockbuster, Hulu, etc.) Apparently, the company has been live for a few months now, but I just discovered them after catching a review of the service on Read Write Web. Last week, I signed up for the private Jinni beta and have been pretty impressed so far.

Jinni includes reviews, photos and even trailers for each film in their database, but their movie filtering software is the real bread and butter. Most of the content you’ll find on their movie description pages is pretty much available on any of the other movie sites, but their “movie genome” information is exclusive. Through a process of human and computer intervention, they’ve categorized every film in their library using information from the movie’s plot, mood, genre, time period, critic reviews, story type, and attitudes. Viewers are then able to filter their search results by using these definitions.

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ZNF ‘Round The Web

Leaving comments across the blogosphere… Reach Your Broadband Cap With Comcast Backup Service I’m still waiting for a way to track my data usage from their cable modem. Whatever software utility they’re working on doesn’t account for my Xbox, TiVo Amazon, and Netflix Roku VOD. However, I can’t bash Comcast too much… 250GB/month looks absolutely … Read more

New Codec Support in Windows 7

An interesting bit of news from the doom9 forums. As anyone who is testing the Windows 7 beta has discovered, and as the above screengrab shows, Microsoft is breaking with tradition and including more codec support in the upcoming Windows bundle. Previous Windows versions did not even include MPEG-2 decoding, which proved to be quite … Read more

HTPC, Extenders versus Computers

I have a confession to make. While I used to believe there was no device that could compare with a home theater PC (HTPC) at each television set, I’ve come to realize that in a multi-TV home, that there’s no better solution for your Media Center than an extender. Not a full-blown computer (HTPC) at … Read more

PSA: A Note On Web Insecurity

Last Friday, the job hunting website Monster.com announced a data breech: We recently learned our database was illegally accessed and certain contact and account data were taken, including Monster user IDs and passwords, email addresses, names, phone numbers, and some basic demographic data. The appropriate and traditional way to handle an intrusion like this is … Read more

Tech in Style

I’ve been known to succumb to my girly side before – see ultra pink Flip Ultra case – and lately I’ve noticed more and more opportunities to girl up my gadgets. At CES, the the most stylish booth by far was the one for Golla Bags. Housed deep in the South Hall, the Golla stand … Read more