Gadgets Blog » Netflix

Just when you thought it was safe to watch Harry Potter on your cell phone, industry experts are saying it’s going to starting hitting you where it counts…in the pocketbook.

Do you remember the days before 3G coverage when we were forced to use tiny screens and actually push buttons and all we could really surf was out e-mail and a few sites designed for mobile Internet browsing. You remember those days? That’s when we actually used the phone to call people.

When 3G hit and phones were able to actually surf the web in its entirety, the game changed and we grew to not only love our new freedoms but also to covet and expect them. Soon, you could watch videos and television shows on the phone all while waiting in line for your groceries.

The major networks spent billions and billions of dollars to upgrade their infrastructure all the while offering unlimited data plans at a relatively cheap price. They made their networks better so we could watch Netflix from our phones and then seemingly paid the bill. Uh, yeah. Not so much.

I have talked before of my affinity for both Netflix and Hulu, but the online rental and streaming monolith that is Netflix is trying to eclipse America’s television alternative.

For those of you unfamiliar with both, Netflix started as a company that sent DVDs via mail, but quickly cornered the market on streaming movies and seasons of television shows online. They have old movies, B-movies, independent movies and even newer movies that make it to streaming relatively quickly.

Hulu is best known for running episodes of television shows online soon after air, and retaining at least three to five of a series’ past episodes for people that missed a few shows. They have movies, as well, but many are older.

In the past, these services were kept pretty much apart, since they each had their own niche. This is no longer the case. Netflix reportedly is willing to pay $100,000 per episode for television shows for next-day streaming rights, and I doubt that television execs are going to turn down the offer.

I admit that I was a holdout on Netflix for a long time. I liked the immediate satisfaction of going to the video store and getting my comedy or action and adventure movies and not waiting a day or two for them to come in the mail.

When Netflix started streaming movies on the Internet, I decided to try out the system, but was relatively unimpressed. They had a decent amount of streaming movies, but all the new releases still had to come through the mail.

Now, not only are relatively new releases available by streaming, but a vast variety of little known and classic older movies are available as well. I don’t mind waiting a day or so for new releases, because there is always something new to watch on the streaming movies.

Apparently, that’s the problem. Netflix streaming accounts for about 20 percent of the total bandwidth use during peak hours of operation. That’s a lot of bandwidth, and people are beginning to notice. Recently, a company called Level 3 worked a deal with Netflix to deliver movies to the cable giant Comcast’s customers.

Television as we once knew it may be approaching its final days. Thanks largely in part to Internet sources for TV series and movies, the slowly emerging market of streaming-based TV content has become a prominent force in the electronics world.

Once just a distributor of by-mail DVD rentals, Netflix has solidified its place in the 21st century, providing the best quick-streaming services out there. Competitors like Hulu for TV and movies and VEVO for music have followed suit with a similar business model, leading to a whole new market of internet-TV streaming devices.

Apple and Google have both jumped on board this bandwagon, with Apple TV and Google TV bringing a wide variety of content to users thanks to TV set integration as well as standalone units. With titans such as these in the ring, is there even room for smaller companies? Boxee, a gadgets maker that has been utterly unknown save for a beta version of today’s product, may very well say yes.

Check out some of the top news stories in technology and gadgets:

Verizon Sets Pricing for Galaxy Tablet. We’d previously taken a look at the anticipated Galaxy tablet, being released by mobile provider Verizon in time for the holiday season. This week Verizon announced their price point as well, a solid $599 with an additional $20 a month for 3G data. The tablet is likely to be the first major competitor to Apple’s iPad, with the Android 2.2 operating system shipping with it and a solid host of apps thanks to Verizon’s V-Cast store. Consumers will have a tough call to make, though. Apple’s iPad comes to Verizon stores this winter as well.

Growing Veggies Gets Easier. A Japanese company has demoed a gadget unlike any other. Boasting a large hydrated and heated container, the “Chef’s Farm” was premierd by Dentsu Facility Management for sale as a small vegetable plant. With a series of racks that can be moved from right to left, the contraption allows for the growth of a patch of lettuce in as little time as possible. In fact, Dentsu claims the plant is capable of producing 60 heads of fresh lettuce on a daily basis, making up for the hefty investment of about $90,000 in just a little over five years.

In Apple’s staggering line-up of products, gadget after gadget has seemingly entered the public consciousness. Since the introduction of the iPod, Apple has built a 21st century empire based around a strong brand image. Their products are innovative and simple to use, appealing to users across all demographics. The iPhone, iPad, and their new line of laptop computers have made them a relevant company after languishing in Microsoft’s shadow throughout the 1990s. Earlier this week, in addition to updates to their flagship products, Apple unveiled a new vision for a product that has been less than stellar: Apple TV.

Its not that this is a particularly new concept, or one that Apple hasn’t made an attempt at before. Apple TV originally was a little-known product offered up by the company, a small box plugged directly into your television. The device could access a video store and the internet through a simple connection, enabling you to stream videos to your big screen. While the idea sounds great on paper, slow connection speeds and poor availability doomed the project in the early days. It enjoyed a small following, but nothing compared to other mainstays of their company.

The new Apple TV looks to fix a number of these flaws. In what seems an attempt to recreate the success of the iTunes Music Store with videos, the new device features a wide array of videos available for streaming. There is a bit of a catch, however. First of all, the user is only able to “rent” the videos, meaning that instead of downloading them to a permanent library, you’re forced to stream them off the internet instead. For users wanting a handy collection, the new Apple TV doesn’t seem to be the right choice. Surely there’s a better way to implement this television and video-watching from the Internet idea.

Where I live there were once at least a dozen video stores nearby ranging from mom and pop to the big chains like Blockbuster and Family Video. Growing up, I remember my father and I heading out to the video store to rent the latest releases in both video games and movies.

Many of these stores are gone now and walls once covered floor to ceiling with movies are now bare. Only a few posters remain from movies long past their prime. Their sales tax and income streams gone from small towns already hit hard by unemployment and a sluggish economy. What killed these stores? Was it the economic downturn? Poor business management? It was the inevitable march of progress that is the Internet.

When Hulu first came about and I was able to watch The Simpsons and Family Guy without the little ones hearing, I thought that was cool, and there were even some movies that I never heard of that I could watch. When Netflix first started mailing DVDs that you could reserve online, I thought it was a fad and no one would want to wait 24 hours when the video store was down the block. When Redbox put stations outside of local supermarkets offering $1 new movies, I thought interesting concept, but not for me.

In the last few weeks, the online media business has become a focal point of the public eye. Last week, Hulu announced the launch of their subscription based service, Hulu Plus. Days later, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement shut down a number of (illegal) free TV websites such as TVShack.net, PlanetMoviez.com, and Ninjavideo.net. According to The Los Angeles Times, more than 7 million people visited these websites per month.

Over the last five years with the increasing accessibility of broadband Internet, we’ve seen distinct shifts in the way that people watch TV. The days of channel surfing seem to be coming to an end for many consumers. Now, it’s all about pointing, clicking, and streaming.

Although laws, products, and business models are evolving with technology, it sometimes seems as though innovation isn’t happening quickly enough to meet consumer demands, as indicated by the 7 million people who visited illegal sites for streaming content.

Yesterday we featured three excellent releases from Google that had incredible potential to lengthen the company’s lead in the world of cloud computing. Earlier this week we featured YouTube, the revolutionary video site owned by Google, as they celebrated their landmark fifth birthday. As if all of this Google-related news wasn’t enough to begin with, today (May 20), Google announced something capable of topping all prior announcements. Partnering with Sony, Logitech and Dish Network, Google is attempting to bring us a solid product where so many before have failed: our televisions.

Google TV, which was announced with one of the company’s trademark stylish videos, looks to synchronize all sorts of video media into one source for viewing on the television. The technology, at least in the video, looks fairly straightforward. With an Internet-connected television (or adapter box, for those of us without the brand new TV models), the user can search for media in a Google Chrome-esque bar. The video in question turns up from a variety of sources, including NetFlix, YouTube, and other online options. Sony and Logitech have plans to incorporate the system into televisions, while Dish Network will provide a small adapter box serving the same purpose.

While it’s an amiable goal on the part of Google, their success here could very much be a game-changer. For one, virtually every other company who have attempted such a thing have failed. AOL had AOL TV, which fell through. Microsoft’s Windows Media Player showed a lot of promise, but was brought down by difficulties in video formatting and relative difficulty of use. Even Apple has failed at this endeavor, with an Apple TV option that was closely related to your iTunes video library. While Apple’s incarnation was perhaps the best, it still suffered from limited video selection, primarily because videos had to be purchased from their official store.

If Google can manage to succeed in this endeavor, then they will be treading upon, not just other Internet companies, but also posing a threat to the entirety of television. While Internet-based TV may very well be the way of the future, there are some serious doubts for the time being. For one, high quality broadcasting would require a large amount of bandwidth, and YouTube videos could look grainy and poor on a high-resolution TV screen. Nonetheless, I suppose Google knows what they’re doing. Keep your eyes open for Google TV in the near future!

Now that Apple’s brand new tablet has had some time to gestate on the market, the forces of the free market are slowly beginning to show off the best in third party developments for the device. While Apple has been criticized for excising strict control over what is allowed to be installed onto the iPad, there are still a host of applications that are must-haves for those lucky enough to have their hands on the latest gadget. Today we’ll be taking a look at some of the best applications that can redefine the capabilities of your tablet.

ABC Player $FREE!

One of the premier iPad gripes is that it lacks Flash support, placing the future of online movies somewhat in question. However, developers like ABC managed to sidestep this possible issue with the introduction of their own video-playing application. For no charge, the ABC Player gives you commercial free access to some of the hottest shows on TV, including Grey’s Anatomy and Lost. If you’re looking to catch up on your favorite shows on-the-go, this is a great option. It’s certainly hard to beat the price!

Amazon Kindle $FREE!

While the iPad comes with Apple’s direct challenger to the Kindle, iBooks, Amazon struck back by ingeniously offering their own iPad app, completely free of charge. The books look fantastic on the vivid iPad screen, and the addition of touchscreen technology means you actually get to turn the pages, a nifty feature for those aching for paper-and-ink. It’s easy to purchase a new title, with one-click buying, and your old Kindle library makes the transition for no charge, a great source of singularity between gadgets!

InstaPaper Pro $4.99

Not everyone is lucky enough to have 3G support on their iPad, which makes an application like InstaPaper Pro invaluable. While surfing the web from the comfort of a WiFi hotspot, InstaPaper allows you to save web pages to your iPad, allowing you to easily read them later. Additionally, InstaPaper reformats pages to look nicer, so they read easily on your tablet. A must-have if you are stuck without 3G support on your iPad.

NetFlix $Free! plus subscription fees.

NetFlix is quickly becoming the mecca of online video, and with good reason. With an ever-growing supply of TV shows and movies, NetFlix offers a wide selection of content that can be streamed through an Internet connection. So long as you’ve got WiFi nearby, you can select from a wide variety, and on the large iPad screen, it’s great to share with a friend and curl up for an episode of Arrested Development.