Do you Netflix? Price increase Sept 1st

Today may be good time to login into your Netflix account and change it to ‘streaming only’ for $7.99/mo.  Starting September 1^st, the streaming + 1 DVD plan will increase to $7.99 + $7.99 = $15.98/mo.  Changing the plan to ‘streaming only’ will leave your price at $7.99/mo.  Using your internet connection is the most convenient way to use Netflix.

New Roku 2 now available!

Roku launches a second generation of internet set-top box.  It is a smaller and faster box.  All boxes now do high definition video and have built in wireless “n” networking.  More information can be found at www.roku.com .  Here is an un-boxing video of the Roku 2 XD:

A new way to back-up your data…

Let’s just admit it.  Most of us don’t think about losing digital pictures, documents, home movies, etc. until after something happens.  A computer virus, fire, power surge, or a toddler with a juice box in one hand and a screw driver in the other are all examples of things that can cause you to lose computer data.

     Unfortunately, losing the data isn’t something that can be treated after the fact.  Once it is gone, it is gone.  Yes, a hard drive can be recovered if it fails.  But expect to pay $200 for such a service and it may not work if some of that juice box made its way inside the hard drive.  So was Ben Franklin referring to data backup when he said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” ?

     Do you remember your first data backup?  I do it was amazing!  I was 8 years old in the computer lab when the teacher handed me a 5.25” floppy disk.  I saved a picture of a truck to disk.  As I hit ‘save’, the drive clicked and gowned as it saved the file.   Later, a similar sound came from my dot matrix printer as I backed up a document onto paper I created in middle school.  All of this evolved into other similar forms such as the cd, dvd, usb thumb drive, etc.   Many of us use a secondary hard drive or raid array to backup data locally.  Some of these solutions can be complicated to the average user so isn’t there an easy way?

     Yes.  Upload your files to the “cloud”.  There are a variety of services designed for data backup but also file sharing with other devices and/or people.  By uploading your files to a safe place on the internet, you can share and restore files easily.  There are a number of popular solutions such as Amazon cloud drive, Mozy, and Carbonite.  But also some services you’ve probably never heard of such as idrive, drop box, back blaze, and jungle disk.  Each service comes in a variety of flavors.  Some even offer service up to a certain amount of gigabytes for free.  

     An important aspect of online backup is a healthy and robust internet connection.  Because these services rely on your connection to keep your files backed up.  Specifically, your upload speed is crucial as the files are sent up from your computer to the cloud.  Most of us spend time using the Internet the other way around.  But not so with online backup.  Check out which service is right for you.  Never lose data again!

Traditional TV providers losing Customers to Internet TV

Subscription TV providers are reporting losses in Q2 2011.  Comcast lost 238,000.  Charter lost 79,000.  Dish Network lost 135,000.  Up until now, reported loses were blamed on increased competition and a weak economy.  Internet TV is rarely if ever mentioned as a reason by these companies.  Is Internet TV the reason?

Yes and No.  Yes, Internet TV is a substitution service for pay TV.  But consumer behavior studies suggest that the vast majority of TV viewers are using pay TV with Internet TV.  It is a substitution service for many, including yours truly, but not most.  Most disconnects from pay TV aren’t due to Internet TV but because of the value proposition of pay TV.   

Think about it.  Ten years ago cable or dish TV started at $30 or so per month and provided most every channel the typical consumer needed.  According to Centris, in 2011 the average digital cable bill is $75/mo and that is to increase to $95 in five years.  I believe consumers are at a breaking point and some broke years ago and cancelled service finding Internet TV somewhere along the way.  Yet, pay TV providers continue to drive up average billing and refuse to acknowledge replacement forms of entertainment such as Internet TV.  As a result, this presents a larger gap between consumers and providers.  This gap represents a larger audience for Internet TV as a REPLACEMENT entertainment service. 

Roku as a media player!

I like the Roku as it does so many things well.  However, one thing it does not do well is play music, pictures, and videos off a network drive or local storage.  This is where the xbox360 or WD Live TV Plus flex their muscles.   But wait, Roku has a “USB Media Player Channel” that now allows playback of personal videos, music, and photos.  So how does it work?

Easy, an updated Roku player has the channel added with the latest software.  On mine, it was located near the end of the channel lineup all the way to the right.  If you have a USB hard drive or thumb drive simply load it with:

Video (MKV, MP4, MOV, WMV, ASF, or WMV9)

Music (AAC or MP3)

Photo (JPG or PNG)

Then, plug the usb drive into the side port.  It will sort the files into one of the three file types.  Simply choose the file and it will play as long as it streams at 12mbps or less.  It doesn’t play the variety of files that a Western Digital box will play nor does it have network streaming capabilities.  But, it does have basic media center capabilities which will satisfy many users.  No need for iTunes.  Nice job Roku.