Next-flix? Amazon Buys Lovefilm

The proliferation of mobile devices has paved the way for streaming video to see huge growth over the past year. As of right now, the two giants of streaming video content are Hulu and Netflix.

Obviously there are other services out there, but those two are the ones who are dominating the market share. However, we could see a strong contender emerge with today's announcement that Amazon has bought Lovefilm, a movie streaming and rental service.

Amazon already has a similar service, but it hasn't achieved the success of some of its other service like its music downloading and e-book sales. This move should lead to a greater focus on Amazon's movie streaming, as it comes at an interesting time.

I say that given the somewhat-unclear status of Hulu after the approved merger of Comcast and NBC (which is a huge deal, by the way). And although it appears Hulu is safe from any sweeping changes, until the merger actually happens no one can know for sure. But regardless of what does happen, the speculation alone could cause Hulu to suffer a little bit, opening the door for Amazon to gain a foothold.

What I would like to see is some integration with one of Amazon's most-popular properties, IMDB. I'm envisioning some sort of "Add to Queue" button next to the movie titles on IMDB.

Either way, this is probably good news for existing Amazon customers who haven't dived in to the movie streaming waters quite yet.

CES 2011 musings

Tablets, tablets and more tablets, and a few hundred cell phones as well. That pretty much sums up the Consumer Electronics Show this year, except for the cars and off-road vehicles at the show. Yes, I said cars, which now carry more technology than the Space Shuttle. The new all-electric Polaris RANGER EV  utility vehicle (left) can go up to 50 miles on a charge on regular household current. (Full disclosure...they are an Axiom project client).


But I'm a little concerned that potential car buyers are now more interested with how the voice recognition or GPS systems work in their new cars and trucks than the technology that goes into the engine or suspension. That's because I'm old enough to remember when you could crawl under the hood to actually adjust a carburetor, replace the water pump or change the spark plugs. Now, automakers cover the entire engine with plastic shrouds in an attempt to dissuade you from ever touching anything in there, save refilling your windshield washer fluid.


To counter this trend, at least for the Ferrara household, I recently purchased a VW Jetta Sportwagen equipped with a Clean Diesel TDI engine. Most Americans are unfamiliar with how good diesels have gotten lately...no smoke, good power thanks to a turbocharger, no diesel clatter and superb gas mileage (up to 40 and then some on the highway). But what I like about the diesel most of all, is that although it's quiet, it still sounds like an engine and lets you know something's going on under the hood. And of course you have to be careful not to put regular gas in it, but that's just the point...at least you're forced to be connected to the vehicle.


I'm afraid cars are so good at what they do that people will start to think they can drive themselves. We haven't quite gotten to that point yet. Drivers, especially young ones, need to discipline themselves and concentrate on driving and not selecting what type of voice they prefer on their GPS. That's something that should be reserved for sitting in the driveway. 

New iPhone on Verizon's Horizon: But Should You Go For It?

There were a lot of happy Verizon customers when they learned they would have access to the iPhone. And they have a right to be, considering the biggest drawback to the iPhone has always been the service issues that have come up with AT&T. Add in the fact that the Verizon iPhone will have Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities, and you'd think it would be an easy sell.

Consumer Reports, however, isn't so sure. They posted a story on their blog last week that brought up some interesting counterpoints that could rain on many Verizon customers' iPhone parade. The arguments against getting the Verizon iPhone boil down to two main points:

1. Gray-Haired Gadget: Despite all of the reports and stories about the upcoming iPhone 5, the Verizon iPhone will still be the older iPhone 4. While still serviceable, keep in mind it's pretty well-aged in technology years.
2. Bait and No-Switch: The obvious rebuttal to that first argument is to simply upgrade a little early from the iPhone 4 to iPhone 5. Sorry, but Verizon made a few sneaky changes to their upgrading policy. The new policy scraps the "New Every Two" plan and requires you to wait 20 months as opposed to the usual 12 months before upgrading phone to phone. Here's a brief timeline to put it all in perspective if you do go with the Verizon iPhone right away:

• You get the iPhone 4 comes to Verizon next month. With the new Verizon upgrade policy, this is your last credited "New Every Two" upgrade.
• The iPhone 5 comes out sometime this summer. However, you have to stick with Verizon for 20 months before upgrading to the iPhone 5.
• Apple typically comes out with a new phone every year, but because you have to wait 20 months you'll still be stuck with the iPhone 4 when the iPhone 5 will be old news. Ouch.

Consumer Reports suggests waiting until this summer to consider to consider going with the Verizon iPhone, and based on these arguments they may have a point.

MySpace's Days Seem to be Numbered (For Good This Time)

Let's face it. It's been a bad week for MySpace, and I mean a really bad week.

The troubles (well, troubles other than their steady decline over the years) started last Wednesday when MySpace announced they were cutting half of their staff.

Obviously that move signaled that the MySpace ship was sinking, and the very next day News Corp, who owns the site, hinted at what everyone had already assumed: They are looking to sell off MySpace.

So although the first social networking giant tried to upgrade itself back in October, it doesn't seem like their efforts paid off. The site has been hemorrhaging money and News Corp apparently can't justify keeping it anymore.

Now, this doesn't technically mean MySpace will go away, because whoever buys it could decide to try to revive it. But if MySpace's ROI (or lack thereof) is any indication, we could very well be seeing the last days of Facebook's forefather.

Facebook Friday: No, Facebook is Not Shutting Down

Some things in life just make you shake your head and question the Internet's collective user base. For instance, when a report from the Weekly World News claims that Facebook is shutting down in March...and people actually believe it!

Okay, for those of you who saw the story and frantically began to take down your Facebook photos to avoid losing them forever, let me enlighten you for a moment. If you take a gander at the page where the story started, you'll notice their other headlines. Gems like "Florida Secedes!" and "Walt Disney's Frozen Head Stolen!" are scattered around the web page.

So no, Facebook is not shutting down. Facebook is not even struggling. In fact, recent numbers show that the world's largest social network has passed the 600 million user mark.

And although I'm sure there will still be a few people panicking over the future of their Cityville and Mafia Wars games, it's safe to say that Facebook isn't going away anytime soon.