Gawker
-
online video
Netflix raising prices, with Blu-ray as the excuse
Every Netflix subscriber who's ever added a Blu-ray disc to their queue — which triggers a setting for Blu-ray movies — is getting a $1 a month fee added to their bill for "access" to the high-def movie discs on the rent-by-mail service, even if they didn't intend to watch Blu-ray movies. Users can log into their account and remove the fee if they change the setting to stop all Blu-ray movies. So what this really is: A tax on laziness. [Silicon Alley Insider]
677
8
By Owen ThomasComment by gogetemguy: in defense of my post, I was going by what I ready here, and admit to not checking my netflix... more » | Other threads
-
online video
Netflix streaming service goes from bad to "Superbad"
In a deal with premium cable channel Starz, Netflix will now be able to offer Walt Disney and Sony Pictures films to its streaming video service. (Netflix's films play in a browser or on your television through a set-top box made by Roku.) It's an important step — what's been holding back better content from many online sources aren't technological hurdles, but contractual hurdles. Starz and other premium cable channels have had rights to on-demand distribution locked up for some time. [Los Angeles Times]
547
By Jackson WestComment by WagCurious: Everyone who is paying $6.95 a month for the current Starz download service please raise your hand... That's what I... more » | Other threads
-
online video
Blockbuster desperately seeking ex-customers
A tipster reports that Blockbuster is blast-emailing former customers to Total Access, its DVDs-by-mail Netflix knockoff. The offer: $25 if customers sign up again using PayPal. Odd, since Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes recently bragged about how the company was cutting off online advertising for its money-losing rent-by-mail business in favor of promoting its stores. Has he not talked to his marketing department recently?
322
By Owen ThomasComment by giania: I dunno, the blockbuster online service has always worked well enough for me. I can see where it might lose... more » | Other threads
-
journalist math
Blockbuster CEO won't buy Netflix — he can't afford it
Blockbuster has abandoned advertising TotalAccess, its also-ran DVD-by-mail competitor to Netflix. CEO Jim Keyes would like you to think his company's still a contender, though, and PaidContent's Rafat Ali is happy to oblige in a softball interview. Ali's far-from-knockout closer: "This is a hypothetical one. Would you be ever interested in buying Netflix?" We won't bother giving you Keyes's pat response about how he doesn't need Netflix. Instead, we'll just point you to PaidContent's handy financial summary included in the post. Blockbuster is worth $312 million. At $1.93 billion, Netflix is worth six times as much as Keyes's company.
767
By Owen ThomasComment by giania: That's too bad. I use the Blockbuster by mail service and it's pretty convenient. If I don't feel like waiting... more » | Other threads
-
breakdowns
Netflix crash caused by botched Oracle upgrade
How did Netflix end up with massive delivery delays? "Because of massive database corruption in their Oracle cluster caused by a botched upgrade," according to a tipster. But don't blame Oracle (or Microsoft), necessarily. The tipster believes Netflix's own database adminstrators who bungled the upgrade. Why not just roll back the system? More »
8,356
By Jackson WestComment by Brian_Sullivan: Even if you have a valid backup, it may not be potitical to 'restore' it. Many transactions may have been... more » | Other threads
-
breakdowns
Netflix shipping system crashes for two days running
Woe be unto Netflix if my parents don't get the latest installemnt of Foyle's War. In an email sent out to customers and a notice posted to the site, the DVD-by-mail company says it is having problems with its shipping system affecting around a third of the company's customers. It has now persisted for two days. So if your friendly mail carrier doesn't show up with a red envelope or three today, don't blame it on a Postal Service "blue shorts of death" error. Graciously, the company has preemptively offered a credit for any delays. Why not tout its online-video offerings, like Watch Now streaming on its website or the Roku set-top box? Oh, right, website outages and inventory problems. But hey, at least if your request gets returned "404 Not Found," it won't cost you a stamp. Netflix's alert, after the jump: More »
1,629
By Jackson WestComment by amillians: @caesar32: Say what? Their back-end is custom + Oracle apps. They f'd up a DB upgrade. And funny, but I've never... more » | Other threads
-
porn
Vudu sexes up its set-top box, but is it too late?
Vudu, a startup which sells a set-top box for downloading HD movies over the Internet, has finally added adult content to the mix through a partnership with AVN. Neither Netflix nor Apple will let you watch folks bump uglies — in stunning 1080p resolution, no less. Vudu rival FyreTV won't let you download anything but porn, so it's certainly a differentiator. But is it enough to save Vudu's business model? Unlikely. At $299 (marked down from $399), the box is pricey, the selection of videos still limited, and the premise that viewers will spend up to $20 to virtually "own" Ashlynn Goes to College 3 questionable. And of course, the real competition isn't other paid services — it's the millions of hours of free porn available on the Internet.
1,223
By Jackson WestComment by WagCurious: 1998 called and it wants it's technology back more » | Other threads
-
online video
Netflix sells out of Roku set-top boxes, but could it have been intentional?
The $99 box from Roku that allows Netflix customers to watch videos on their televisions streamed over the Internet is all sold out, and there won't be any more shipped until at least July and possibly August. Which could be a deliberate strategy — underproduce the initial batch, sell them out, and look for the business press to bite on the hype. At least, that's what Scott Kirstner at Cinematech suggests. I just think that if Netflix has any shot at making this box ubiquitous, partnering with a company that can't sustain a supply line for six to eight weeks at a time isn't going to help. But then, such are the woes that have bedeviled all potential IPTV providers — thanks to the mysterious curse of the set-top box.
597
By Jackson WestComment by Syrenia: Or maybe I'm not the only person that they double-shipped to. I sent them an e-mail days ago asking for... more » | Other threads
-
-
online video
Netflix DVD-rental business to peak in 2013
The trade in DVDs by mail that Netflix pioneered will be a business in decline within five to ten years according to CEO Reed Hastings. But he's bullish about online delivery, not surprising considering the recent release of the Roku set-top box. "Our key challenge is growing earnings per share and subscribers while funding streaming (online video) which should give us years of subscriber and earnings expansion." [Reuters] (Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)
306
By Jackson WestComment by BobDope: Who gives a shit? Everybody knows the world is ending in 2012. more » | Other threads
-
photoshop
What If Websites Were Realistic?
What if Facebook let you properly express your rage against the tool who just added you to the "Buying and Selling Friends" app? What if Netflix knew you'd skip to the dirty bits? I paid Jay Hathaway a slave's wage to draw up what this would look like. More »
4,216
By Nick DouglasComment by Mike_Jahn: Websites, realistic? Who wants that. If I want realism I'll read a James Frey book. more » | Other threads
-
online video
Netflix and Roku hope to avoid the curse of the set-top box
What makes Netflix's new living-room box for Internet video downloads different from all the other set-top flops? Everything. The price is low: At $99, it's much cheaper than the $229 Apple TV. It connects to regular TVs as well as HDTVs, and can stream video in variable quality depending on your Internet connection speed. And you can eat all you want from the buffet of available titles on Netflix, with movies available online that happen to be in your Netflix queue already lined up and ready to go. Hardware partner Roku has introduced it with a chipset that other manufacturers can license, and Netflix has a huge domestic subscriber base as potential customers. So what three things could doom this product to the same fate as every other Internet-video set-top? More »
1,392
By Jackson WestComment by Darascon: @sample032: Riiight, a "good" set top box. But adding all the stuffs to it essentially makes it a dedicated HTPC.... more » | Other threads
-
10 best workspaces
Rank tech's 10 best workspaces
After reviewing our post "Tech's top 10 workspaces" commenter Dweezil complained that our choices were full of "to much modernism bullshit." Commenter Web2PointOhShit tore at everybody:Six Apart's offices seem pretty ordinary to me. Their meeting space is *tiny*. Googleplex's niceties are all about enticing their workers to stay at work longer — yeah, that's real HAWT!. Valleywag offices look like a dump to me.
So, OK, not everybody goes for our taste in brick, exposed ceilings and Googley amenities. Let's find out who's in the minority. Below, vote for your favorites and help us rank tech's 10 best workspaces. More »
31,699
Comment by webwebweb: just visited the UGO Networks offices in the east village, coooooooooooool. more » | Other threads
-
cubicle culture
Tech's top 10 workspaces
What makes for an appealing workspace? The envelopes they leave in your mailbox every two weeks. But after that, it comes down to design and amenities. Also, we like windows and brick. Lots and lots of brick. After spending some time on Office Snapshots, we present the ten best-looking offices in tech, below. More » -
10 best workspaces
Googleplex
Most of the Googleplex is ugly — gray and corporate. But then there's the gym, swimming pools and vollyball courts. Photos by jyri, spanaut, FrameSniper and kikidonk More » -
10 best workspaces
Netflix
There's a movie theater at Netflix HQ. That and movie quotes from Dr. Strangelove will put you n this list every time. Photos by HackingNetflix More » -
online video
Netflix signs deals with manufacturers to offer movies on demand
In a conference call yesterday, CEO Reed Hastings of Netflix explained to analysts that the company's profits were down partly due to investment in the online delivery of movies. He also revealed that the company has signed deals with four manufacturers, including LG, the large Korean conglomerate. Netflix's partners have agreed to build the ability to watch movies downloaded from Netflix directly into their hardware, and promised to deliver these products by the fourth quarter — just in time for the holiday shopping season. Netflix customers wouldn't have to pay for individual titles, just their normal monthly subscription fee, similar to Netflix's current Web-based movie distribution service. What he didn't say, but we're wondering: Will LG and the others get a cut of the fees, as Apple does from AT&T for the IPhone? (Photo by AP/John Todd)
480
By Jackson WestComment by matto: @pab2k8: He's not the most technical fellow. more » | Other threads
-
online video
Blockbuster wants to clutter your set-top
When not bawdlerizing movies or trying, and failing, to kill Netflix, Blockbuster has been busy planning to develop and ship a set-top box that will allow customers to download movies at home. The company purchased online movie download service Movielink for $6.6 million last August. But it still hasn't integrated Movielink into Blockbuster.com after seven months. The chances they can come out with an inexpensive, easy-to-use hardware device in the foreseeable future seems slim — look for the company to partner with or acquire an existing manufacturer, such as struggling startup Vudu. (Photo by AP/Ron Heflin)
802
By Jackson WestComment by WagCurious: Let's see, the last STB that Movielink appeared on was Akimbo, and that didn't go so well. Why would it... more » | Other threads
-
defamer
Netflix Site Down; Millions Left To Discover Other Entertainment Options
If you made plans to watch something that Netflix was scheduled to deliver to you tomorrow (probably Perfect Strangers: The Complete Second Season, Disc Four), now might be a good time to find something else to do. Seems that Netflix has been undergoing some major technical issues all day, issues that have prevented customers from accessing Netflix.com since 7 a.m. this morning. According to the AP, the undisclosed issues have also had a ripple effect that resulted in problems at their distribution centers nationwide. So tomorrow night, we guess this means that you'll just have to watch something on your DVR instead. Don't worry, you'll live. That is, unless you're a stock owner — in that case, be prepared for a bumpy tomorrow. [AP] More »
2,906
By Mark GrahamComment by Meiran: Since I sent back my movies yesterday so they're sending out my new ones today/tomorrow, it looks like I just... more » | Other threads
-
deals
Microsoft and Netflix may partner to offer movie downloads over Xbox Live. An announcement would likely come tomorrow, at the Game Developer's Conference. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is a member of Microsoft's board of directors. [MSNBC] -
stocks
Wall Street unimpressed with Jobs, less impressed with competition
Stock traders weren't blown away by Steve Jobs's Macworld announcements, sending Apple shares down 5 percent. Rivals faired even worse, however. From the numbers, they expect Apple's movie-rental service with support from all of the major studios to pummel brick-and-mortar competitor Blockbuster, and to a lesser extent Netflix. Blockbuster is trading down more than 15 percent in after hours while Netflix is down 3 percent.
499
By Tim FaulknerComment by BartKela: We really need to find a way to stop bloggers from writing about personal investment. To all bloggers, writers, journalists, hacks,... more » | Other threads
-
netflix
Netflix removes limits on online rentals ahead of Apple's news
Is Apple CEO Steve Jobs prepared to announce iTunes movie rentals tomorrow? Netflix is sure acting like it. Over the weekend, it announced that it will remove restrictions on how many movies its customers can stream in a month. More »
698
Comment by mullingitover: Unlimited rentals don't help me when it doesn't work on OS X. more » | Other threads
-
dvr
Netflix has ditched plans to enter the hardware market in favor of partnering with LG Electronics — and every other set-top box manufacturer on the planet. So far, Netflix's streaming subscription will support LG's combo Blu-ray and HD-DVD player and a standalone box, but it plans to market the service to makers of DVRs and game consoles. [Reuters] -
netflix
Netflix envelopes jam post office, Wall Street
DVD rent-by-mail operation Netflix may be kicking rival Blockbuster where it hurts, but all is not well with the company. According to the U.S. Postal Service, the ubiquitous red return envelopes used by Netflix, hailed for saving the company millions of dollars, are prone to jamming mail sorting machines. The USPS estimates the cost at $21 million per year. To recoup that amount, the postmen propose a 17-cent surcharge per mailer. Such a charge would cost Netflix two-thirds of its operating income and lower its monthly profit per subscriber from $1.05 to $0.35. Netflix is likely to redesign its return mailer, yet again, to mitigate the burden. A company so vulnerable to the price of postage must be thinking that video downloads are looking better and better.
664
By Tim FaulknerComment by sample032: They're diversifying. When content media do become obsolete, Netflix doesn't want to be left with piles of DVDs. Look at... more » | Other threads
-
online video
Netflix stomps Blockbuster in movies by mail and digital downloads
Through-the-mail movie rental outfit Netflix has been very aggressive in fighting Blockbuster's competitive advances — and winning. Analytics firm Compete has a rundown of Netflix vs. Blockbuster and lists Netflix.com as having four times the visitors Blockbuster.com does. Also, Netflix's download strategy seems to be having some success with 450,000 "Watch Instantly" users in November. Blockbuster is still attempting to roll out a download service it gained from its purchase of movie download site Movielink. Good luck to both of them. Apple is rumored to be introducting movie rentals to iTunes. Will they be battle-tested veterans by the time Steve Jobs shows up — or so bloodied from fighting each other they'll fall victim to his shiny white-plastic machine?
1,029
Comment by skooch: I agree. Exporting the ratings would be extremely useful. I have been a loyal Netflix user pretty much since it... more » | Other threads
-
online video
NBC wins Netflix's hand
NBC Universal, in its ongoing effort to throw Steve Jobs into a jealous rage, is wooing every other feller with a video service in sight. In its man-harem: Jeff Bezos, with Amazon Unbox, and Jason Kilar, CEO of its joint venture with News Corp. Hulu. Add to the list Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. NBC has wooed Hastings into a syndication deal. As Apple used to do on iTunes, Netflix will offer new episodes of Heroes the day after they air, alongside a library of prior 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, and The Office shows. Looks like someone can finally stop whining about the gaping hole left by the iTunes pullout.
366
Comment by 0x6772: @Mary Jane Irwin: Actually, I don't think it is. NetFlix's video service fails catastrophically (it appears to be solarized and... more » | Other threads
-
online video
ITunes to offer movie rentals?
Apple fanatics have uncovered some code in an iTunes software update hinting at a video rental service. Now every blogger on the planet is running around like decapitated chickens. Why the fuss? We all know iTunes video sales aren't rocking. This is an inevitable move on Apple's part as rivals move in. Rental is the business model of choice for Vudu, Microsoft's Xbox 360, and most likely Sony's PlayStation 3. For some reason, content producers feel it's more piracy-proof than direct sales. Don't cancel your Netflix memebership just yet, though. Building the code into iTunes is one thing. Striking agreements with balky Hollywood studios is quite another. -
dvr
Netflix doesn't need to fear Vudu's magic
Vudu, the set-top box rumored to single-handedly topple both Netflix and digital video recorders, has, in reality, failed to impress. Katie Boehret, the Wall Street Journal's Walt-Mossberg-in-training, reviews the movie-downloading box which aspires to win over those too lazy to traipse over to the video store. The only problem is that Vudu has its own set of not-inconsiderable inconveniences. One needs a hard-wired Ethernet connection — no built-in Wi-Fi — to make it work. The service charges above market rate for movies. And the selection, tragically, is poor. Except for its on-screen ease of use, little separates it from Microsoft's Xbox 360 downloads or Sony's planned Playstation 3 store. Until Netflix puts its own box on the TV console, stick to mail-order DVDs, we say. -
bad business models
Bring out your dead textbooks
Not every great idea should be copied. But thanks to NetFlix, which proved that DVDs could, indeed, be rented profitably by mail, people are now trying to rent anything and everything through the mail, with orders placed over the Internet. Purses, videogames, and now ... textbooks? Bookrenter.com is one such venue, claiming that it wants to "shift purchasing power back to students." It recently pitched Valleywag — always a dangerous sign, in and of itself — claiming to be the first textbook rental service on the Web. First, well, no. Secondly, any student who hasn't learned to scour eBay, Half.com, and a slew of online used-textbook sites deserves to be gouged by campus bookstores. Heck, most campus libraries have multiple copies of textbooks in their collections. More »
506
Comment by junesix: Their rental schemes seem odd. What student would want to rent a textbook in 30, 45, and 60 day terms?... more » | Other threads
-
dvr
TiVo's turf becomes the latest Sony-Microsoft battleground
Sony's recent announcement that its PlayStation 3 console will soon act as a digital video recorder in Europe is little surprise to anyone following the industry. It's long been believed that the PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 could act as DVRs. The real question is how this move will affect a soon-to-be crowded DVR marketplace. TiVo, the best-known DVR brand, has struggled financially as cable and satellite distributors released their own recorders. Although its future may be a bit brighter thanks to a recent licensing deal with Comcast and the potential of a renewed DirecTV contract, there's more competition for TiVo than ever — and from the unlikeliest of places. More »
2,543
Comment by lordargent: So now, if I want to take my console over to a friends house to play it. I have to... more » | Other threads
-
rumormonger
Netflix places Apple hardware engineers in the queue
DVD rental site Netflix is in the news for hiring human customer-service reps in a move away from automated support. But that's surely the least significant of Netflix's recruiting plans. A tipster whispers that Netflix is trying to hire away Apple engineers to work on a set-top box for movie downloads. Not surprising, after Netflix's alliance with TiVo fell apart, and the DVR maker turned to Amazon.com instead as a partner for movie downloads. And Netflix's hiring of ReplayTV founder Anthony Wood, who's thought by many to be the original creator of the digital video recorder, kept Netflix set-top box rumors alive this spring. But if Wood is now staffing up his team by poaching Apple engineers, that tells us Netflix is getting serious. Heard more? Drop us a line. -
online video
Blockbuster's face-saving deal to buy Movielink
Here's what no one's saying about Blockbuster's acquisition of Movielink, the Hollywood-backed movie-download site: It's a desperate move to shore up Blockbuster's online failures. Blockbuster, remember, has been promising video downloads for most of this decade. First came a deal with Enron's broadband division, and, well, we all know what happened there. Since then, Blockbuster has said that video downloads would be coming soon for years. But Hollywood studios, burned by past negotiations with Blockbuster for sharing video rental fees, are understandably loath to cut favorable online deals with the video-rental chain. And it's hard for Blockbuster to compete technologically with the likes of Apple, Amazon.com, and Netflix. Buying Movielink gets Blockbuster deals with studios and ready-made tech — all of which gives it merely a place at the online-video table, not the ability to eat everyone else's lunch.
552
By Owen ThomasComment by AugieMarch: The real winner here is Movielink CEO Jim Ramo. I interviewed with him in 2002 for the CTO spot, got... more » | Other threads
-
lazy valleywag
Why is Netflix's site out of commission?
Netflix, already losing customers thanks to a fierce rivalry with Blockbuster, is now offering customers another reason to ditch. Its site has been down since 9 a.m., with no promises of when it will be back online. A company spokesman blames the outage on an "unanticipated problem." Update: The site's back up, after what spokesman Steve Swasey says was "a database problem," unrelated to today's massive outage in San Francisco.
1,304
By Owen ThomasComment by Blackjack: I'm guessing their systems choked on the price drop they just fed it. more » | Other threads
-
rumormonger
Netflix shares up on Amazon takeover talk. [AP]
-
netflix
Postman not ringing twice
Kindly postal expert Bill Henderson has been downmoted from the COO slot at Netflix, taking on the likely specious title of "strategic advisor" till his options vest or something. Quoth the tipster:This ( below) was sent out on Friday to all employees. Bill Henderson has been in the job for all of one year, since he was already retired from the post office when netflix came calling last year it is a bit odd that after only one year he now is a "strategic advisor"... at least it wasn't special projects!! When you add that the BOD (SEC filings) just gave raises to Barry McCarthy, Reed Hastings and Leslie Kilgore and NOT Bill Henderson it's pretty obvious what happened here. He was only a hire to liason with the Post Office as the real operations work was done already and he had absolutely nothing to do except make sure the post office didn't try and screw netflix ...
Tiny memo after the jump. More »
415
By Chris MohneyComment by mstgeorge1: I always wonder why facts can not be written without assumptions. If we want to assume; maybe Mr Henderson did... more » | Other threads
-
rocketboom
Morning deals: Win a date with Netflix's money
- Is it that big a deal that Netflix offered a million-dollar bounty for anyone who improves its movie recommendation engine by 10%? Wait, how do you even measure the accuracy of movie recommendations? Who cares, the media's eating it up as if they get a finder's fee. (If you win this contest after reading it on Valleywag, you do owe us a finder's fee: a lifetime subscription to "Netflix: Porn Edition." [NY Times]
- Rocketboom video blog founder Andrew Baron (pictured) sells another week of ads for $80,000, says he sells $4,000 a month in t-shirts alone, then does some classic "If only we got a fraction..." math to justify a possible subscription model. A fine business model, but didn't Drew spend the last year decrying "Old Media?" Ads and pay-per-view are as old as Cable TV. [MarketWatch]
- Aw, nobody likes PayPerPost, a service so mercenary that even blog network exec Jason Calacanis called it "stupid and evil." BusinessWeek calls the company "unrepentant" when it announces that the company (which pays bloggers to write about products and services) just took a $3 million venture capital investment. The bright side: There's no way this company will earn enough to satisfy its investors, so at least it'll get as screwed as the bloggers whose reputations it ruins. [BusinessWeek]
281
By Nick DouglasComment by David Quiec: Calacanis sez "Here we go again... another idiot tries to "revolutionize" marketing by paying people off to shill for a... more » | Other threads
- 1
1-36 of 36 for "Valleywag, NetFlix"
