The awesome bar in Firefox 3 is certainly awesome, but for some it may be overwhelming. er’s how to trim down it’s suggestions to just a few.
See more videos like this at CNET TV. Link to this video on CNET TV.
The awesome bar in Firefox 3 is certainly awesome, but for some it may be overwhelming. er’s how to trim down it’s suggestions to just a few.
See more videos like this at CNET TV. Link to this video on CNET TV.
Netflakes
The Netflix claim of “thousands of movies” instantly is true only if you excuse or ignore thousands of examples of horrible dreck TV shows and otherwise embarrassing motion picture flops. Perhaps there are hundreds of intelligent watchable movies available instantly. The vast majority (75-80%?) of the Netflix inventory is NOT available instantly.
I’m dropping a note to all the TWiT family who are sponsored by Netflix. The recent interface UI scrud-up caused me to pause and reflect on the what, why and whence of Netflix. When I first discovered NF it was the miracle of the single source video store with all the good stuff. Video stores were dying off by the early 2000s and even the great little eccentric, serendipitous, eclectic shops in LA, SF, Chicago, Berkeley and NYC could no longer get replacement VHS tapes or DVDs for many wonderful old foreign and obscure titles.
What I mean by THE GOOD STUFF is the direct opposite and antithesis of the typical pop-100 Blockbuster and local “Video Village” store with a “classic” section consisting of five worn out video cassettes, and New Release section with 100 copies of the the latest CGI embarrassment and 50 copies each of BATMAN vs SPIDERMAN and/or Weepy Romantic Comedy Clone #356, both rated ‘I’ for Idiocracy.
Just where is Netflix going? They are showing signs they care very little about lovers of great screen writing, literary adaptations, knowledgeable movie fans, or film history buffs. They are suspiciously shifting toward a pop-kultur graphic sliders and box art no-nothing top 40 effect. Try to find a meaningful synopsis or review on the site. They can churn more income with the instant play trendy movie de jour with no USPS shipping overhead, just like any crass video shop circa 1990. Older classics and obscure titles are not being transcribed to digital download servers.
Try an experiment. Pick a movie genre from the NF drop down menu like FOREIGN, choose “show all” of a sub-category like FOREIGN DRAMA, and then invoke SORTED LISTS. Sort by year clicking on the production date column. Scroll down the pages of available videos, say from 1950 through 1990. Earlier years have as few as one-in-seven or eight available for instant play. The closer you get to the present year, may have as many as one-in-four or five DVDs available for instant play. Perhaps 2009-2010 may have one-in-three.
What exactly is Reed Hastings waiting for? Are we going to be forever dependent upon the postal service for our world wide film legacy? Is the library of Congress going to take up the slack? Not bloody likely. Will Netflix eventually liquidate its costly older less popular DVD stocks along with America’s film heritage? I write you because the NF customer service pixies are not particularly aware or responsive on this issue. Calling NF customer service is zero guarantee that the message gets heard.
Do You watch older movies, foreign movies, literature adaptations, obscure and fascinating documentaries, etc? NOT leftist propaganda but pre-age of idiocy (pre 1970s) film art and story telling. With patience and a reliable postal station nearby, you can enjoy several good movies a week, as long as the brain trust at NF doesn’t decide your tastes and preferences are a waste of their time and money.