Qwikster is one Netflix too many
I've got to ask: Has Reed Hastings exhausted his magic? Because suddenly Netflix's CEO can't seem to do anything right. For the fourth time since mid July, investors brutally punished the stock; meanwhile customers rage about major changes to how they either rent or stream movies. Netflix shares closed down 7.34 percent today, at $143.75. The same week in July that Netflix announced a 60 percent price increase for most customers, shares traded for $298.73.
Customers are tumbling, too. On Thursday, Netflix lowered subscriber projections by 1 million for the quarter. Wall Street received the news badly. Shares closed 8.31 percent on Friday, recovering from an early-trading decline of nearly 19 percent. Customer reaction is largely negative to plans announced overnight to split up Netflix into separate streaming and DVD companies -- the latter named Qwikster. For many customers, Qwikster is one Netflix too many.
Sony, I won't sign away my right to sue
Sony sure has some gall to attempt to prevent you or me from suing them, especially for its own stupidity. Late last week, the company made some key changes to its terms of service which effectively takes away your right to sue.
After accepting the new ToS, arbitration through a Sony-selected arbitrator is your only recourse. Worse yet, you give up the right to launch or join class action suits against the company.
Take Control of Windows 8 with Metro UI Tweaker
Windows 8 may not have been released yet, but there is the developer preview version available for free download by anyone who has an interest in the upcoming version of Microsoft’s operating system. No version of Windows would be complete without a selection of tweaking tools to enable users to stamp their mark on the software, and Metro UI Tweaker for Windows 8 is one of a small but increasing number of such utilities that are starting to creep out.
This is a fairly basic and limited program, but as the name would suggest, it has been designed only with the aim of allowing for tweaks to the Metro user interface. Despite the fairly limited number of options available, Metro UI Tweaker for Windows 8 includes a number of settings that are likely to be of interest to any early adopter.
Google Wallet pay-by-phone system makes early appearance
Google Wallet, the mobile payment system that takes advantage of Android's Near Field Communications (NFC) capabilities, launched on Monday.
Google first announced the service last May, and the search company showed how users could enter their credit card information into the Google Wallet app, and then tap their phone on an NFC reader to make payments. Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint were the first financial and carrier partners to go along with the service, and approximately 15 retail partners announced their support for the "single tap" payment program as well.
Angry AT&T customers want their Samsung Galaxy S II
Like lots of people, I was ready to buy Samsung Galaxy S II from AT&T yesterday. Based on information released during the launch announcement late last month, the hot smartphone was scheduled to release on September 18. The day has passed with no sale, and AT&T customers are livid. So now, the wireless carrier has given people yet another reason to complain. Can you say screw up?
Somebody wants this phone. As I write, 2,763 people have responded to our poll: "Will you buy Galaxy S II?" Hot damn, 75.43 percent plan to do so within 3 months. Only 8.72 percent responded: "No, I'm getting iPhone". In the interests of communicating when the phone will be available and to let AT&T know just how angry people are, I'm posting this followup to yesterday's "Say, AT&T, where's Samsung Galaxy S II?". I don't have the when yet, but I expect an answer from AT&T, which I asked before starting to write.
Are cyber spies looking at you?
A good-looking spy sips a cocktail after ingeniously breaking into a high-security compound and then casually walks away with some confidential documents. That's what spies do in the movies. In the real world they are more likely to use a keyboard.
Spying is about collecting information. When information was still written on pieces of paper, a spy had to physically go and steal it. These days information is data on computers and networks, so modern spying is often carried out with the help of malware. The cyber spies use trojans and backdoors to infect their targets’ computers, giving them access to the data even from the other side of the world.
Total Commander 8 Beta: 64-bit, but not production-ready
Ghisler Software has announced the release of Total Commander 8 Beta, a new version of its shareware file manager tool, designed to improve on the rather basic options offered by Windows Explorer. Version 8 is notable for introducing the first dedicated 64-bit build of Total Commander, designed to run exclusively on 64-bit operating systems.
Total Commander 8’s other changes are more minor in scope: a handful of new minor and tweaked features coupled with a raft of bug fixes. Version 8 is not designed to be run on production machines -- users are directed to the latest stable release, Total Commander 7.56 instead.
Nokia delisted from top 50 European stock index after massive drop
Finnish mobile phone company Nokia has been deleted from the Stoxx Europe 50 index, a benchmark index owned by Deutsche Börse and the SIX Swiss Exchange Group that tallies the top 50 largest European corporations.
Late in August, Stoxx announced that Nokia would be delisted from the Stoxx 50 index, along with three banks: Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit from Italy, and GRP Societe Generale from France. Meaning the former powerhouse mobile phone maker is no longer big enough to be considered one of Europe's biggest corporations.
Need help? Try LocalHero
When it comes to social networks, there is one to suit every occasion. MySpace has the music market covered while LinkedIn caters for the business side of things. The likes of Facebook have become more of an everyday social network, but the fact that there are so many to choose from does not mean that there isn’t room for another network, particularly if it fills a niche; this is precisely what LocalHero aims to do.
Rather than being a social network that simply enables you to keep in touch with your friends, family and colleagues, LocalHero has been designed to make it easier for people that need help to get in touch with people that can offer help. Working much like other social networks, LocalHero enables you to build up a list of friends and you can share details about your skills so people that need help can see what you might be useful for.
Take control of Windows Sysinternals
Sysinternals products are some of the best Windows system utilities around, packed with features, and perfect for troubleshooting or just generally finding out more about what’s happening on your PC.
Launching them can be a problem, though, because they’re portable. So you’ll typically have to save them all in a folder somewhere, remember that location, switch to it as and when required, remember which file name corresponds to which utility, and so on. Or, alternatively, you could simply use the Sysinternals Suite Installer, which does just about everything a Sysinternals installer would do, including creating a Start menu group and shortcuts so it’s easy to locate and launch whatever tool you need.
Netflix goes from bad to worse
Netflix's woes took a strange twist on Sunday night, in an 11:59 p.m. EDT blog post by CEO Reed Hastings. "I messed up", he begins. Yeah, based on subscriber losses and punishing shareholders, Hasting puts it mildly.
The gist is this: After jacking up the price of combined DVD rentals and streaming by an astonishing 60 percent, Hastings presents an unexpected solution: Netflix is splitting its streaming and DVD rental business into two operations. The DVD biz will be called Qwikster. It's totally unimaginative nomenclature and doesn't the least bit describe the DVD business. Shouldn't Reed be fixing problems, rather than be creating more of them?
Minus: No frills online storage plus 10GB free
There are plenty of free online storage providers around, but most provide only one or two gigabytes of space in their basic accounts: not much, by modern standards.
Minus stands out, though, by offering a whole 10GB, free of charge. The service supports files up to 2GB in size; these can be private, shared individually through links, or entirely open to public view; and there are no transfer limits, very useful if you’ve large files you’d like to distribute and you’re worried about potential bandwidth costs. And these are just some of the plus points of the Minus service.
Will Windows 8 have an ARM app gap?
It really should have been obvious, but in case you were confused, ARM versions of Windows 8 will not be able to run x86 apps and vice-versa. In fact, Microsoft has said as much in the past. This is a model Microsoft has used unsuccessfully in the past, but are things different now? Will ISVs make more than one binary?
Vague talk about the universal nature of Windows Metro apps led some to assume that such apps will run on any Windows 8 installation, either ARM- or x86-based. This is not the case. Metro apps will be composed either of x86 binary code or ARM binary code, and each can only run on the appropriate CPU.
Say, AT&T, where's Samsung Galaxy S2?
Sprint launched its version, the Epic 4G, on September 16 and AT&T's Galaxy S II was supposed to be available today. Have you seen it? Where is it hiding? What is AT&T doing with it? And if iPhone 5's launch is so close, why wait even one more day?
These are the perplexing questions AT&T is unlikely to answer on a Sunday. So I called my local AT&T store, and a few others, to ask if they're selling the S2 as announced. Nope. One store rep checked AT&T's internal website, where the phone listed as "coming soon". That person expected but couldn't confirm price of "probably one-ninety-nine". Rep at a different store had been briefed on the S2 last week, but not given a selling price. The launch could come in a couple weeks, the rep said. Sprint's S2 is a sweet $199.99 with two-year contract -- and it's available now.
iPhone 5 has a big problem
Apple has been doing a good job covering it up.
As I've so often asserted: In business, perception is everything. Successful companies often create positive perceptions about their brands, products and business practices. But there also is the tactic of misdirection, of controlling perceptions by getting people to look somewhere else so that they miss flaws with the company's products or business strategies. Apple uses "magical" to describe some of its products. Magicians are all about getting people to look over there so they don't see the secret behind the trick over here. Apple's patent assault on Samsung, and even HTC, is very much misdirection, so that eyes turned away from iPhone 5 problems.
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