I am not much for news, I listen to MP3s and watch Netflix, I don’t have Cable TV, anf I don’t subscribe to any newspapers. So I get all my news from random hits on the web, if it peaks my interest, I do a Google search for more info…
The image to the left caught my eye on Facebook today and on any other day it would seem like a funny little saying, which is what I took it as at first.
The question in the title is posed based on a few articles I have recent read on the web. The first was an article about a US ISP looking to charge websites if they want their content carried over the network, much like Cable TV.
An article on InfoWorld.com states that Verizon is trying to turn the web into pay-per-view. They are currently in court fighting to end the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) policy of Net neutrality. If they win, it would allow them to selectively block or slow traffic to certain sites and protocols. It would also mean that companies like Verizon could charge sites like YouTube and Netflix a premium to have their packets travel over their network unrestricted, which could in turn raise prices for sites that are already membership driven (Netflix) and sites that are currently free may have to charge the viewer to subsidize the cost (YouTube).
So my phone updated to 4.3 the other day, didn’t notice much of a change except for the fact my phone was no longer rooted. This was a bit of a pain as quite a few of my apps require root. Take for instance Hola, a program used to fool the internet into believing you come from a different IP so that you can unlock sites like Netflix, Hulu, and Space. Hola, in order to function the way it is supposed to needs root access. Now some can argue that you don’t need root and can use the VPN method of connecting, well if you had ever tried the rooted way, you would know why VPN isn’t the best way to go.
Well this has plagued me for years, trying to run Netflix on Linux. The root cause for Netflix not working on Linux is Microsoft Silverlight, the viewer Netflix uses to stream the movies (Its a plugin like Flash). Now Linux DOES have an open source equivalent called Moonlight, however it does not have DRM (Digital Rights Management) support which Netflix requires to run.
Its rare that I have sit at the Volunteer desk at work, and when I do, I like to browse the web, something I don’t get do very often, well besides the obvious Facebook and email browsing. During my frolic through the interweb I came across Engadget’s Holiday Gift Guide which lists 3 levels of gifts, the On the Cheap, which they feature Apple TV, which allows you to stream content from your apple devices directly to your TV, along with the ability to connect to Twitter, Facebook, Netflix and more. On the Mid scale they feature the updated PS3, which would be a nice addition to my own home as its a nice BluRay player and would allow me to play some nice games with my buddy in Ontario (One Province Over). Then there is the Kicker, listed under “Money’s no object”. The Ultimate screen for movie lovers…