In a move that wasn't overly unexpected Sony has announced that they will be bringing Netflix to the Vita when it launches in the US later this year.  I'm guessing that watching movies on the gorgeous OLED Vita screen will be all kinds of awesome (assuming you're connected via Wifi and not over a 3G connection).   I'm still not 100% sold on the device yet but you have to give Sony credit for going all out with the unit.

As CES comes around, it was 30 years ago at that show that one of the most incredible machines was introduced. It was a computer that I spent hundreds of hours on in my childhood. It was a machine that was THE machine to get if you wanted to play games. That, my friend, was the Commodore 64.

This 8-bit wonder with 64k of memory was a compact computer with loads of software and fans. Released in August of 1982, I remember my brother bringing it home, not knowing why he was so excited to have bought one. Little did I know how much this little purchase would influence my life.


I remember my brother bringing home various computer magazines and in the back were programs that you could enter in, line by line, and have working applications. The two I remember most are a dancing mouse and a word processor. Can you believe that? The source code was printed in the magazine and all you had to do was pull up an editor, type in the code, and you'd have a working word processor all for the cost of a magazine. The dancing mouse was just damn cute back when I was a kid. It was the beginnings of what would eventually lead to my career of being a software developer.

Some of my fondest memories was sitting inside during the harsh winters of Cleveland and playing games like Bard's Tale, Ultima 3, Mail Order Monster, and M.U.L.E. I would just sit there with my various boxes of 5 1/4 disks and tapes and get lost for hours on end. The amount of games available for the C64 was huge, but the pirate scene for that system was huge as well. I remember hearing about swap meets where folks would just bring their computers and disks and swap/copy games for each other.


It wasn't long before I was lost in another one of Commodore's greatest machines: the Amiga 1000. That's for another story, but one small fact that some people might not know about that machine is that pilot's visual effects were rendered by a bank of Amigas.

You can pick up a modern computer that looks like a Commodore 64 today and throw on an emulator for some nostalgic fun. Also, check out Lemon64, a great site on all the games and music that were available for the system. You can even download some of the games to be played on emulators as well.

So, happy anniversary Commodore 64. You helped make me what I am today. I still listen to your MIDI music and I still enjoy some of the the games on my tablet to this day.  

10 PRINT "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY C64"
20 GOTO 10
RUN

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After several months of increasingly bad news, Netflix finally had some small, but positive info to share yesterday.  The company announced that it had extended its current deal with ABC/Disney which will keep all current shows on the service, but will also add some that were previously unavailable.  Expected to continue are:

• Prior season episodes of ABC current hit series "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives," and "Private Practice"
• All episodes of recent ABC favorites "Lost," "Brothers & Sisters," and "Ugly Betty"
• Prior season episodes of critically-acclaimed "Army Wives" from ABC Studios
• Popular series from ABC Family including "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," "Melissa & Joey," and "Make It or Break It"
• A wide range of content from Disney Channel including series "Phineas and Ferb," " Good Luck Charlie," "The Suite Life on Deck," and "Hannah Montana"

Added to the service are:

• ABC Family's smash hit series "Switched at Birth"
• Prior season episodes of Disney Channel's animated series "Kick Buttowski"
• All episodes of the ABC thriller "Alias"

So kudos to Netflix for not losing the ABC/Disney content they currently have and adding a couple of series.  Hopefully we will begin to see more announcements in the near future, and not just for a handful of TV series.

As Netflix’s self-inflicted bad news has been rolling in the last couple of months, one sliver of light was mentioned for gamers during the ill-fated Qwikster announcement. Netflix would be starting to rent games through the mail. Unfortunately, during Monday’s update with investors, Reed Hastings made this comment that doesn’t bode well for the implementation of games by mail:

"We have yet to decide whether or not to offer video game discs," CEO Reed Hastings said. "The decision will have little financial impact either way."

That last comment “little financial impact” once again shows that Hastings and Netflix do not listen to their customers. The whole reason the Qwikster deal was scuttled is because consumers did not want two bills or websites to deal with. I would think (I know I would) that if the opportunity arises to rent my DVDs, games and streaming content from a single subscription off a single site, people would jump at it. Unfortunately, it sounds like Hastings simply doesn’t care about the customer and their needs or wants and is only bottom-line driven. To put it another way, with Qwikster DOA, it appears that Hastings is hell-bent on getting the Netflix brand away from the disc-by-mail business model even if it means going back on yet another announced product.

Euro-based Subsonic and their North-American marketing partner, FAME, LLC have recently debuted a new line of wireless controllers that come in fluorescent shades of blue, green, pink, and yellow.  Called the Fluo, these controllers feature built-in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and a unique shape for greater comfort.  They're available for the PS3 and PC.  MSRP is $39.99 for the controllers and $14.95 for the Charge & Play Cable.  Subsonic products can be found at Wal-Mart, J&R Music World, Radio Shack, Meijer, and anywhere else you can find gaming products.  For more info, follow the jump, visit SUBSONICUSA.com and visit them on Facebook. [READ MORE]

Yesterday, there was a site added to the Zune Support website stating that all Zune Hardware was officially being discontinued effective immediately and that Microsoft would be focusing solely on Windows Mobile 7.5 and phones. It appears that Microsoft had a major brain fart, someone jumped the gun or it was placed their in “error”. Apparently, the official verdict is door number three, as the @ZuneSupport twitter account posted that the site was added in error. I personally thing someone jumped the gun, and they decided to pull it after realizing that Apple was announcing their latest iPhone and iPod touch devices on that day and the press would have a field day with the Zune getting the axe on the same day.

Personally, having spent the last three years in retail with the Zune as one of the products, it is time for the Zune to go. I have heard all the arguments from my limited number of friends that have one, but it simply doesn’t have the legs to keep up with the Apple and Droid products that made it irrelevant. So Microsoft, you were probably better off letting it die on October 4th while Apple was getting flogged for a tepid product announcement instead of prolonging the death to a date when it can have the headlines all to itself.

I was surprised to find a lengthy e-mail in my in-box this morning from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.  In the e-mail, Hastings falls on his sword (a bit) with an apology for how the price increase was made and conveyed to the subscribers.  Hastings also made it very clear that streaming is the way Netflix will go and they do not want to become another Borders or AOL Dialup that did not move fast enough into new technology.  In order to accomplish this, Netflix will separate itself into two distinct entities, Netflix for streaming, and Qwikster for DVD to door services.  In addition to the Qwikster brand being announced, Hastings also announced that they would soon be renting video games in addition to DVDs by mail via the Qwikster brand.  Unfortunately, you will have two separate log ins, two separate monthly credit card charges and two separate companies if you want both streaming and disk to door services.

I am not sure what the motivation is in splitting the services into two distinct companies that are not integrated, but I would suspect it has something to do with the ability to quickly sell-off or shutter Qwikster if things go south.  Also, to be brutally honest, the name Qwikster (in addition to ripping off a SpongeBob character) is just plain stupid and appears to be another misstep by Netflix in an ever growing list.  While Hastings stated there will not be any more price changes (for now), he does not give a price point for how much adding video games to your Qwikster service will cost.

Here is the full apology/blog post:

“SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011
An Explanation and Some Reflections

I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming, and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. I’ll try to explain how this happened.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us) because they are afraid to hurt their initial business. Eventually these companies realize their error of not focusing enough on the new thing, and then the company fights desperately and hopelessly to recover. Companies rarely die from moving too fast, and they frequently die from moving too slowly.

When Netflix is evolving rapidly, however, I need to be extra-communicative. This is the key thing I got wrong.
In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success. We have done very well for a long time by steadily improving our service, without doing much CEO communication. Inside Netflix I say, “Actions speak louder than words,” and we should just keep improving our service.

But now I see that given the huge changes we have been recently making, I should have personally given a full justification to our members of why we are separating DVD and streaming, and charging for both. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why:

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD, plus lots of TV series. We want to advertise the breadth of our incredible DVD offering so that as many people as possible know it still exists, and it is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection on DVD. DVD by mail may not last forever, but we want it to last as long as possible.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We feel we need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolve, without having to maintain compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are becoming two quite different businesses, with very different cost structures, different benefits that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently. It’s hard for me to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary and best: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”.

We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, and now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. Another advantage of separate websites is simplicity for our members. Each website will be focused on just one thing (DVDs or streaming) and will be even easier to use. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated. So if you subscribe to both services, and if you need to change your credit card or email address, you would need to do it in two places. Similarly, if you rate or review a movie on Qwikster, it doesn’t show up on Netflix, and vice-versa.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). Members who subscribe to both services will have two entries on their credit card statements, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as the current charges.

Andy Rendich, who has been working on our DVD service for 12 years, and leading it for the last 4 years, will be the CEO of Qwikster. Andy and I made a short welcome video. (You’ll probably say we should avoid going into movie making after watching it.) We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready. It is merely a renamed version of the Netflix DVD website, but with the addition of video games. You won’t have to do anything special if you subscribe to our DVD by mail service.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that distinctive red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be the same for many of you. We’ll also return to marketing our DVD by mail service, with its amazing selection, now with the Qwikster brand.

Some members will likely feel that we shouldn’t split the businesses, and that we shouldn’t rename our DVD by mail service. Our view is with this split of the businesses, we will be better at streaming, and we will be better at DVD by mail. It is possible we are moving too fast – it is hard to say. But going forward, Qwikster will continue to run the best DVD by mail service ever, throughout the United States. Netflix will offer the best streaming service for TV shows and movies, hopefully on a global basis. The additional streaming content we have coming in the next few months is substantial, and we are always working to improve our service further.

I want to acknowledge and thank our many members that stuck with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,
-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix“

The CEA, organizers of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas are usually ahead of the curve when it comes to allocating floor space to emerging technologies. A few years back, they created a small zone called the iLounge Pavilion for anything iOS related. Today, that area has grown into a whopping 50,000+ square feet at the 2012 CES.

So it should come as no surprise that the 2012 CES will feature a new tech zone specific to Casual Gaming with the proliferation of mobile entertainment the last few years.  Promising to feature gaming applications and programs, from puzzlers, to trivia to strategy games. I imagine this will be centered near the existing 12;000 square foot Gaming Showcase TechZone. A few of us are looking to head out to the show in January and I am sure we will spend some time checking out the latest and greatest time wasters for your laptop and mobile devices.

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So, there was this big hoopla over Netflix limiting folks to one stream in the household for those with just the streaming account. Technically, that's what most people signed up for as it is in the terms of agreement. With the price hike for those wanting a DVD and other decisions, it seemed like pretty bad timing to put this out there.

Well, turns out it's not true. There seems to be a glitch, as Engadget reports, that was preventing this. For families like mine with one child wanting to stream Thomas The Train or The Wiggles all day long, I was at the mercy of when my son would be done with Netflix. At least this was just a small glitch, but let's hope Netflix doesn't go and hammer folks to just one simultaneous stream.

So for now,  we're safe to streaming to two devices at once. For now.