Hasta La Gadget!

The concept’s far from new — Warner and Paramount signed up way back in the heyday known as “2009” to offer movies on SD cards, and select Blockbuster rental kiosks have been popping ’em out ever since. But Flix on Stix is an expected twist on the models that are already out there, and it’s one that will no doubt face some difficulty in reaching the same level of acceptance as Redbox. Put simply (or as simply as possible), consumers waltz up to a kiosk, select a TV show, game or movie, and then they choose whether they’d like to purchase or rent the title. The outfit has yet to come clean with specific pricing, but the (presumably mocked up) video embedded after the break shows rental rates of $1, $2, $3 and $4 for 3, 6, 9 and 12 days. There’s also no clear indication how TV episodes and games will be handled, but we’re hearing that users can either bring their own USB stick (USB 3.0 is accepted!) or opt to procure one directly from the machine. Swipe your Visa or Mastercard (c’mon, no Discover or AMEX?), and then… wait.

In fact, this is apt to be the biggest hurdle. What are the resolutions being offered? What if you select a 1080p film that’s 7GB, and only have a 4GB USB drive? Or better yet, what if you’ve got a 8GB USB 2.0 drive and a doctor’s appointment in ten minutes? Comically enough, the demonstration video actually shows the patron playing a game of poker while she waits for the transfer to complete — something tells us that’s not going to go over well with prospective customers waiting in line. We’re guessing that most folks will peace right on out if the wait to purchase something from a box exceeds a few minutes, and given the very nature of this scheme, it sounds like that scenario is almost guaranteed to happen ad nauseum. At any rate, expect to see the first of these popping up in two to three months, and meanwhile we’ll be digging for more details on pricing and distribution plans.

Continue reading Flix on Stix kiosks coming soon: it’s like Redbox, but with USB thumb drives

Flix on Stix kiosks coming soon: it’s like Redbox, but with USB thumb drives originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Dec 2010 14:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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News that Comcast had threatened to block internet backbone Level 3, which is one of the companies delivering Watch Instantly streams, sent shockwaves through the industry yesterday. Net neutrality advocates geared up for battle, Comcast insisted it was only enforcing the same arrangements other networks abide by while Roger Ebert and the rest of us fretted over Netflix access. Today, Level 3 issued a response to Comcast, claiming it is “distracting from the fundamental issue” which is free use of all content on the internet for its customers. Meanwhile, Multichannel News points out industry analysts say Level 3’s claims of traffic discrimination “appear unfounded” while VideoNuze editor Will Richmond supposes Level 3 may have “bid too aggressively for the Netflix business and is now trying to recover.” Most damaging to Level 3’s argument are its own words from a dispute where it sought financial compensation from Cogent for using too much of its network’s bandwidth:

“For example, Cogent was sending far more traffic to the Level 3 network than Level 3 was sending to Cogent’s network. It is important to keep in mind that traffic received by Level 3 in a peering relationship must be moved across Level 3’s network at considerable expense. Simply put, this means that, without paying, Cogent was using far more of Level 3’s network, far more of the time, than the reverse. Following our review, we decided that it was unfair for us to be subsidizing Cogent’s business.”

Beyond analyst opinions and posturing the question of whether or not Comcast has the power to set pricing for access to its network, creating the toll road Level 3 is accusing it of being, is still at issue. That will certainly come into play at the FCC, where chairman Julius Genachowski mentioned at today’s meeting that the agency is looking into Level 3’s claims at the same time it continues to review the joining of Comcast and NBC. As far as your Netflix streams? Safe for now, though the company isn’t commenting, Level 3 isn’t the only provider it relies on for access and how any deal it might reach with Comcast could affect the service is still unclear.

Update: Comcast has issued its own salvo of PR, including a video meant to breakdown exactly what internet peering is and what it wants to charge Level 3 for, 10 of its own facts about what it is, and is not doing, and a copy of the letter it’s sent to the FCC about the issue. You can them all out in full after the break.

Continue reading FCC looking into Comcast / Netflix blocking threat, Level 3 responds as analysts chime in

FCC looking into Comcast / Netflix blocking threat, Level 3 responds as analysts chime in originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Multichannel News  |  Level 3 response, Videonuze  | Email this | Comments

Level 3 Communications, the networking company that delivers streaming video to Netflix users, says that Comcast is demanding a “recurring fee” for the transmission of such videos to its subscribers. This, it goes without saying, is very shitty news. Updated. More »

Oprah? Total tech junkie. There are a number of gadgets dotting the queen of daytime’s lift of “favorite things.” At the top of the list is Apple’s iPad, which Winfrey told her audience is “the best invention of the century so far.”

As is her custom, Oprah gave the tablet away to customarily overzealous audience members. The free iPads were also stocked with a Scrabble app and a digital copy of O Magazine.

“Words cannot describe what I feel for this magnificent device,” she told the audience “Thanks to my iPad, I now read about four newspapers a day. I write my column for O magazine on the iPad way before the deadline because I love writing on it so much.”

Also on her list this year was a Sony BRAVIA LX900 3D HDTV ($3,600), a Nikon D3100 Digital SLR Camera ($700), and a five-year subscription to Netflix, which, as we all know, is worth more now than it was a few weeks ago.

The biggest prize prize? That fleet of 2012 VW Beetles.

Netflix today finally unveiled its long-awaited streaming-only movie plan. The company will charge $7.99 for the service, which does away with DVD mailers, in exchange for unlimited online streaming of movies and TV shows to PCs and TVs.

The company’s CEO Reed Hastings had big words for the move, which the company seems to be regarding as a major paradigm shift,

We are now primarily a streaming video company delivering a wide selection of TV shows and films over the Internet. Today’s action reflects the tremendous customer value we’ve injected into streaming from Netflix, our initial success with a pure streaming service in Canada for $7.99 a month and what our U.S. members tell us they want.

Netflix has offered streaming for some time now, but the selection has been noticeably lacking since launch. The company has made a large push toward extending its offerings in anticipation of all streaming service.

The company is also upping the price of its non-streaming plans, bumping its one-at-a-time DVD plan up a dollar to $9.99 a month. The price increases will take effect in January for existing users and immediate new customers. The streaming-only plan, meanwhile, is available now.