Somewhere, someone is smiling at Blockbuster headquarters.
When Netflix announced on Monday that it has decided to raise the subscription prices for those receiving Blu-ray Disc titles--10 percent of its subscribers, according to the company--the predictable occurred: people lashed out, saying Netflix is gouging customers.
In case you missed it, the new fee structure tacks on $1 per tier of the plan you're on. So if you have a one-film-at-a-time plan (two-movie allowance per month), your monthly cost has risen from $4.99 to $5.99. If you want three films at a time (unlimited movie allowance per month), your cost has risen $4, from $16.99 to $20.99. Fees are up substantially on other plans too.
Predictably, many looked at the announcement as Netflix capitalizing on consumers. Those who are upset with the release say the increase is too high. And since Netflix doesn't need to pay for packaging, and it probably gets a discount on media, given the number of copies it needs, they believe that the company is gouging customers.
I contacted Netflix for comment regarding this contention. A representative responded to me within a few minutes. He said the cost of Blu-ray discs is 30 percent higher than that of DVDs, and more of the company's customers are switching to Blu-ray, generating higher operating expenses. A $1 additional charge for Blu-ray access on all plans wasn't cutting it any longer, he said.
The representative then directed me to the company's official blog post on the matter for more information. So after all that, we still don't know how much Netflix pays.
But regardless of the motives behind this deal or the fact that some people are upset, we can't look at Netflix pricing in a vacuum. Quite the contrary, we need to compare its pricing to the competition to determine if it's still the most affordable option on the market.
Much to my surprise, Netflix might have committed an incredible blunder that it needs to address immediately: Blockbuster brick-and-mortar stores now have the more affordable option for standard Blu-ray rentals.
... Read moreI can't stand power bricks. Today, I was trying to organize wires in my home and did my best to trace wires from the outlet to the device. More often than not, I would come to a power brick that should have told me which device it belongs to. Instead, it said something like "Asian Power Devices" followed by a slew of alphanumeric symbols that mean nothing.
Am I the only person who can't stand power bricks? Why can't each and every one of them have some reference to the device they belong to?
Consider this: the power brick connecting my external hard drive to its power source has a ton of symbols and organization logos, along with wasted room. Why can't it simply tell me the name of the company it belongs to, or maybe even the name of the device in that extra space? Would it be that cost prohibitive?
With all the money we spend on products today, I would have thought that these companies would have enough sense to simply help us identify which products belong to a given brick. And wouldn't it make sense from a business standpoint? If you happen to move and disconnect the power brick from the device and throw it in with a bunch of others, there's no way for you to know which brick works with the given gadget. And if you don't know, then you can't use the product. Sure, you could swap each brick out until one of them works, but wouldn't it be nice if you knew just by looking at it?
Now, it should be mentioned that some companies have made their bricks identifiable. For example, my Xbox 360 has the biggest and heaviest brick I've seen in years--there's no mistaking which product that belongs to.
But more than anything, I'm complaining about those devices that are not so easily identifiable, and each features roughly the same brick with a slight variation in the plug that precludes you from using it. It's ridiculous.
It's time we make these bricks universal or I may just have a fit trying to find the right brick.
Sheesh.
Maybe Steve isn't in charge, after all?
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News.com)After a while with my newly dehacked iPhone, I'm left with Tap Tap Revolution withdrawal, many fewer icons and a loss of some of the features I had come to appreciate from my iPhone.
Could you say I'm bitter? Perhaps. But what may surprise you is that I've had a bit of a change of heart. (In my pre-update post), I told you that if Apple decided to brick iPhones and disrupt hacks, it will have single-handedly destroyed its ability to maintain its post as the world's most influential tech company.
But after analyzing the update that actually came out, I don't blame Apple anymore. Instead, I blame AT&T for forcing Apple to do something that it has never done before and effectively become the bad guy while AT&T laughs its way to the bank.
Shame on you, AT&T.
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