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Remember When Netflix Wanted To Rent DVDs On A Different Website? Yeah, That Was A Fun Week

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 05:27 AM PDT

justkidding

Ahh, July. We miss you so. The world was newer then, the air fresher, the people a little nicer, and there used to be something called Qwikster. Built as a solution to the heady problem of renting videos to people who still use optical media, Qwikster was supposed to be the part of Netflix that still slipped disks into little sleeves. Netflix proper, on the other hand, would simply stream videos over the Internet and never the twain would meet.

Writes Netflix:

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster.

That’s right: Qwikster is dead. Netflix’s CEO Reed Hastings says the plan was misguided and that this will be the last time they futz with the pricing in a long while. Considering no one could actually spell Qwikster (Quixter? Quickstor? Qkstr?) let alone cared enough to create two accounts, one for streaming and one for the occasional DVD, it was a fairly sly move on Netflix’s part. I just wonder what pushed them over the edge? Low uptake? Feeling silly when they said the name? I have a line in at Netflix right now asking them but until then, revel in a world with one fewer standalone DVD rental service.

The TiVo Premiere Elite: 4 Tuners, 2 TB, Available Today For $499

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 05:25 AM PDT

tivo premiere elite

The TiVo Premiere Elite is the TV watcher’s Bugatti Veyron. It’s their Lance Armstrong, their Empire Strikes Back. It’s the Budweiser of set-top box DVRs. The TiVo Premiere Elite is simply the best recording and playback device ever made and yes, I just called Budweiser the best beer of all time.

The quad turner device quietly leaked over the summer, followed by an official TiVo announcement in September. At that time the company failed to announce the price and availability but the product page later reveled the $499 price. TiVo just took to the wires to announce the Premiere Elite is available starting today. Your king has arrived, TV nerds.

Nothing has changed since the Premiere Elite’s announcement. The DVR still features four tuners and a 2TB hard drive for up to 300 hours of content storage. Digital cable is required and unlike every previous TiVo, it lacks an ATSC tuner for over-the-air signals. The device can output signals up to 1080p and is THX Certified for audio and video. The backside houses two USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA interface for the TiVo wireless adapters and external storage, respectively.

The Premiere Elite is powered by the Series4 platform that offers a fluid interface along with rich internet media support. TiVo built support directly into the OS for Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, YouTube and Pandora. It’s simply the most complete internet media streaming platform available outside of a computer.

The TiVo Premiere Elite hits Best Buy Magnolia stores and select custom AV installers today. At $499 the DVR is rather competitive against the $299 1TB, two tuner Premiere XL, but it’s crazy expensive when priced against your cable company’s nearly free offering. TiVos still require either a $19.99 monthly or $499 lifetime subscription cost. But unlike a random Comcast box, the TiVo Premiere Elite does have some distinct advantages like the ability to record four programs at once and stream from the top Internet media sources. Quality doesn’t come cheap.


Crunchbase

Company: TiVo
Website: tivo.com
Launch Date: October 10, 1997
IPO: TIVO

Tivo is a brand of digital video recorders (DVRs). Tivo devices provides users with the ability to save television programs for later viewing (“time shifting”), an electronic television programming schedule, and recording options based on that schedule.

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Acer Announces The Core i5 Aspire S3 Ultrabook, Available This Week For The Ultra-Bargain Of $899

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 04:55 AM PDT

acer-aspire-s3

Watch out, ultrabook makers. The Acer Aspire S3 is here and it’s set to light up the ultrabook scene. This little monster packs a second generation Core CPU, a 13.3-inch HD screen, both a SSD and HDD, and a 0.51-inch thick chassis made out of aluminum and magnesium that weighs just 2.98 pounds. But the best part by far is the price: $899. Yep, those specs combine to make the S3 the least expensive and one of the best equipped ultrabooks yet.

The 13.3-inch 16:9 screens rocks a 1366 x 768 resolution and is feed Windows 7 Home Premium by an Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU, Core i5-2467M CPU and 4GB of RAM. Acer states the proprietary Hybrid Standby Technology allows for 50 days of standby power and 6 hours of continuous use — of course we’ll test out the latter claim once we get our review unit. A 20GB SSD handles the system files for quick boot times but a 320GB HDD gives the owner plenty of storage room.

This dual-mode hard drive set up gives the S3 near instantaneous system restores. Resuming from sleep mode takes 2 seconds while waking from Deep Sleep, which activates after a pre-set time, takes just 8 seconds. For better or worse, the S3 is the only ultrabook currently on the market with this SSD/HDD affair.

The Aspire S3-951 hits retailers later this week and is just the start of Acer’s ultrabook assault. There are multiple upcoming models scheduled but sacrifices will be made for good reasons. The planned Core i7 CPU will likely decrease the battery life but increase the computing might while a Core i3 will likely do the inverse (and potentially drop the price a bit). Larger solid state drives are also on tap.

Acer took a very minimalist approach with the S3′s design. Only an SD card reader, headphone port and power and battery status lights are located on the outside edges. The backside houses two full size USB ports, HDMI-out and the power connector. Open the lid and there’s a roomy recessed chiclet keyboard. At its thickest part, the S3 is just .5mm thicker than the MacBook Air. But, forgive me, Steve, the S3 looks better, costs less, and, at least for me, restores hope that companies other than Apple can actually build a good-looking and performing portable machine.


Crunchbase

Company: Acer
Website: acer-group.com
Launch Date: October 10, 1976

The Acer Group is a family of four brands – Acer, Gateway, Packard Bell and eMachines. It ranks as the world’s third-largest company for total PC shipments, is No. 2 for notebooks, and has a global workforce of more than 6,000 employees. Revenues in 2008 reached US$16.65 billion. The successful mergers of Gateway, Inc. (October 2007) and Packard Bell, Inc. (March 2008) by parent company, Acer, Inc., completes the group’s global footprint by further strengthening its presence in the U.S....

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3DS In Red: Japan Gets SD Gundam G Generation 3DS Premium Box

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 04:21 AM PDT

3ds

Following Capcom’s "Monster Hunter 3G Special Pack", Japan is soon to get a second 3DS bundle. Namco Bandai is planning to bundle  “SD Gundam G Generation 3D” with a 3DS in special design. (For some reason, the company teased the bundle last month but still offers no official information on its Japanese website.)

The so-called “Char Nintendo 3DS Premium Box” comes with a copy of the game, the usual accessories (AC adapter, 2GB memory card, etc.) and a red 3DS. Namco Bandai is also throwing in a limited-edition AR card (see below).


The box will hit Japanese stores on December 22 (price: US$288).

Via Andriasang

Gadgets Week in Review: Spheres

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 01:00 AM PDT