Hasta La Gadget!

Over on Netflix’s official blog, company head Reed Hastings has announced in a surprisingly humble blog post and video (embedded after the break) that it’s splitting the DVD-by-mail business away into a new venture dubbed Qwikster. While the recent price changes already split the cost for each service, when this takes effect in a few weeks it will result in two different websites, two different sets of movie ratings and queues, and two different charges on customer’s bills. He admits two separate sites may make it more difficult to manage a presence on both, but says dropping the need for compatibility between the two will enable new features to balance that out. Another change? Netflix Qwikster (is there anything good about that name?) is getting into video game rentals, available for an extra charge similar to the existing Blu-ray disc option.

While the blog post blames a lack of communication for much of the backlash (and obviously cancellations), it’s about to become very clear that Netflix is “primarily a streaming company.” Also mentioned is “substantial” additional streaming content coming in the next few months. Whatever the company calls itself, charges, or changes on its website, if Netflix wants to talk its way back into subscriber’s good graces, starting with something new to watch is the way to do it.

Continue reading Netflix spins DVD-by-mail service off into Qwikster, says it’s ‘done’ with price changes (video)

Netflix spins DVD-by-mail service off into Qwikster, says it’s ‘done’ with price changes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first quarterly earnings report post-Wake Up Call have just been published for Canada’s own Research in Motion, and while the cash is still flowing, investors and analysts alike aren’t feeling too rosy about the future. Despite Q2 revenue of $4.2 billion and a GAAP net income of $329 million, RIM’s stock plummeted nine percent following the news. Why? That reality was at the lowest end of estimates, and as we’ve seen, it takes a blowout quarter to please the folks on Wall Street. Nevertheless, the company’s touting a subscriber base that ballooned 40 percent year-over-year (surpassing 70m total), and while it’s quick to trumpet the rollout of seven new smartphones, not a one of them managed to astound the QNX-desiring critics. The report also notes that 10.6 million handsets were moved in the quarter, around $780 million was invested as “part of a consortium of companies that successfully bid to acquire intellectual property assets from Nortel,” and it’s forecasting that BlackBerry smartphone shipments in Q3 will grow between 27 percent and 37 percent compared to Q2. Sadly, the company only “shipped” 200,000 PlayBook tablets, with the prevailing thought being that it actually sold far fewer. Moreover, nary a forecast was given for future PlayBook sales.

As for thoughts from the head honcho(s)? Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO, stated that “overall unit shipments in the quarter were slightly below our forecast due to lower than expected demand for older models,” further noting that his firm will “continue to build on the success of the BlackBerry 7 launch to drive the business as we focus our development efforts on delivering the next generation, QNX-based mobile platform next year.” Next year is a long, long way away, though, and there’s no doubt whatsoever what kind of competition will be in place by the time 2012 rolls around. We’ll be hopping on the analyst call here in a few, and you can look beyond the break for any notable mentions.

Continue reading RIM’s Q2 earnings report: $329 million in net income, not enough to fend off critics

RIM’s Q2 earnings report: $329 million in net income, not enough to fend off critics originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mark this Sunday on your calendars, if you’re the kind that still has a paper calendar and a pen lying around somewhere. The magic date has now been declared by AT&T CFO John Stephens to be the official launch of the carrier’s LTE network. The exec used the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Entertainment & Communications conference as the company’s golden opportunity to announce the upcoming deployment. Just to play it safe, we also reached out to an AT&T spokesperson and received confirmation that the carrier is indeed ready to make the upgrade from “faux G” to true, vanilla 4G. We don’t see it pushing any more Jetstreams out the door, but travelers relying on the almighty USB data stick will certainly be hoping for the company’s promised speeds of up to 28Mbps.

AT&T to officially deploy its LTE network September 18th originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s just announced in Tokyo that the PlayStation Vita will debut in Japan on December 17th, and it’ll partner with NTT DoCoMo for the console’s prepaid 3G service. Customers will have two choices of connection here: 980 yen ($13) for 20 hours, and 4,980 yen ($65) for 100 hours — see press release after the break. Alas, the rest of the world will still have to wait until 2012, but you’ll know more concrete dates as soon as we do. For now, head over to our sister site Joystiq for the SCEJ press conference liveblog.

Update: Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono came on stage to mention that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 would launch simultaneously with the console. Square Enix also announced that the PS2’s Final Fantasy X will be remastered for the PS Vita, and it’ll be in PS3-like quality; sadly, there was no date nor demonstration.

Update 2: The first 500 units sold will come with 100 hours of prepaid 3G connectivity. Want in? Pre-orders open on October 15th.

Update 3: We now have a video demonstration of the Vita’s interface. Enjoy!

Continue reading Sony PlayStation Vita debuts in Japan on December 17th, partnering with NTT DoCoMo for 3G (updated)

Sony PlayStation Vita debuts in Japan on December 17th, partnering with NTT DoCoMo for 3G (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If your Dish Network-connected TV is claiming total signal loss, then at least take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. While the company hasn’t revealed exactly what the problem is, Facebook and Twitter posts indicate a “technical issue” with satellite location 129. The really bad news comes when we learned that bird is responsible for carrying many HD channels and HD locals (check the links below for a list of all channels on 129). Switching over to SD channels will let you watch (if that can really be called watching TV) most content in the short term — DBSTalk posters advise hitting menu and selecting 1 on your remote to pull up the guide if you’re having trouble. If you currently hide standard-def channels, press menu, then 8, then 1 and uncheck the “HD only” box to see the working channels for now. We’ll keep checking for any updates on the situation, but for now you’re on your own in a 480-line wilderness, so good luck.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Dish has a new webpage up to help customers deal with the situation here, while those who can’t get through on crowded helplines are advised to check out @dish_answers on Twitter.

Update 2: Dish’s site linked above indicates it has “identified the issue” and estimates it will be fixed overnight.

Update 3 (9/14): According to Dish Network’s official Twitter account, things should be up and running again now. Satisfied? PS – Another helpful DBSTalk post recommends a guide data update by pressing Menu, then 999 and then the right arrow.

Continue reading Dish Network satellite 129 outage knocks out HD channels nationwide – Update: Fixed!

Dish Network satellite 129 outage knocks out HD channels nationwide – Update: Fixed! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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