I'm still loving the Blockbuster Online service. In fact, it's gotten even better since I started.
Pros:
- The signup process was quick and simple. In just a couple minutes I was adding movies to my queue.
- The shipping is FAST! If I drop a movie in the mail on Monday, I have a new one by Wednesday. Fantastic!
- The movies come even faster if I return them to the store. I have used the monthly coupon and the free rentals for returns. It's a great bonus over the other services.
- There have only been a few movies that I couldn't find and they were all low-budget independent films. I didn't really expect them to be there anyway.
- I like the "top rentals" section that shows me what other people are watching. There are some online services that don't have this (ie.
Gameznflix.com) - I can now rent games with my monthly coupons! This was one of my biggest complaints, and I'm very happy to see it added in.
Cons/Areas to Improve:
- I still like the Netflix web site better. You can quickly reorder items in their queue. When I reorder on the Blockbuster website, it takes a second or two to refresh the whole page. (I think Netflix is using AJAX technology.)
- I also prefer Netflix for their handling of HDDVD and BluRay titles. I have an HDDVD player and always prefer that format over standard DVDs. With Netflix, I can just say "I prefer HDDVD" and it will automatically place that format in my queue if it is available for the movie I selected. With Blockbuster I have to specifically browse the HDDVD Collection or click "Other editions" for any movie I look up.
I wonder how this is affecting their brick and mortar businesses. It seems like the stores are just becoming places to exercise your free rentals. I'm sure the bean counters have it all worked out.
Kudos to Blockbuster. They're really putting the heat on NetFlix, and they've completely won me over.
Technology is fun, but I realized recently that the real excitement comes when I start combining technologies in new ways. For example...
I'm building shelves to fit the hole above my fireplace. Tim and I are into the staining phase so I should have some pictures soon. The shelves are going to hold XBox games, DVDs, books, a fish tank, and a digital picture frame.
I could have gone to the store and bought a digital picture frame, but I wanted to try building one myself. Thanks to a donation from a reader, I have an old laptop to work with. I'm going to tear that laptop apart and attempt to turn it into a photo frame which fits neatly into the shelves. I should be able to control the photo frame via wireless keyboard and mouse from my couch and stream videos and pictures from my main computer.
I could stop there, but why? I picked up a TV tuner card for my main PC. Using that card, I can now stream television to the picture frame.
But why stop there? Using that tuner card and free software from Orb, I can now stream TV, movies, and pictures to any device on the internet... including my phone. My phone has broadband access on it, and I'm able to get a fairly high quality television stream straight to my phone.
See? It's much more fun when you start combining devices together. I'll put together some sort of video demonstration once this is all hooked up.
I have a pretty nice set of poker chips, but they could be oh so much cooler if I had purchased them from thechiplab.com. You make the design, and they send you the chips. You have to order at least 150 at a time, and they cost about $0.99/each. If I played more poker this would be pretty tempting. Unfortunately, my chips have sat in the closet since I arrived in Seattle. I can't even play online since that's illegal in Washington. [via TechCrunch]