Is Netflix Rationing Online Movie Viewing?
Some of us remember that just a few years ago many Netflix customers were totally pissed off when they learned that Netflix’s policy of “unlimited DVDs” per month was a scam. In theory, if you were signed up for two movies at a time, as soon as you returned one movies, they were supposed to ship the next one on your list right away.
They didn’t.
In fact, consumers learned that Netflix shipped DVDs faster to customers who rented fewer movies than to their “best” customers who signed up for the most.
Hell hath no fury like a movie junkie scorned.
That’s what Netflix discovered when their most devoted “heavy users” found that the movie rental service had an undisclosed policy of shipping films faster to those customers who rent the least.
In a class-action lawsuit filed against the nation’s largest online DVD rental company in September 2004, the company was accused of false advertising for its claims of “unlimited rentals” and “one-day deliveries.”
When it agreed to a settlement due to be finalized this month, Netflix denied any wrongdoing, but conceded it has a policy that allocates movies more quickly during shortages to those who rent less frequently.
That was a report from Cantonrep.com from back in 2004.
Four years later Netflix appears to be scamming consumers again, this time with their “Watch Instantly” product, which is supposed to allow customers unlimited video streaming. The service was launched earlier this year, in part as a preemptive strike against iTunes, which offers online video rentals.
According to the New York Times, these are supposed to be two different markets — the online rental market of current releases (iTunes), and the free online streaming of less current movies (Netflix). With all due respect to the Gray Lady, there is some market overlap among consumers in that often the decision to watch a movie online is based on convenience — “I want entertaintainment for a few hours, and I want it now!” — and it doesn’t matter if the meal is four star or something close, as long as it is filling. (Anyone who has barged in the Golden Arches at 11 pm for a Big Mac understands the analogy.)
The benefit sought for both products is immediate gratification, not a gourmet dinner. But that is precisely where Netflix is no longer living up to its end of the deal.
A neighbor of mine has complained about incredibly long wait times for Netflix video streaming to begin. Basically, Netflix is telling my neighbor, who has one of the fastest PCs on the planet as well as the fastest cable service available, that his connections are “too slow to show the movie.” Sometimes the messages are so ridiculous — “your movie will start in 10 hours” — that is it clear this is not a local problem but another Netflix attempt to control customer behavior.
My neighbor and I contacted the local cable provider just in case. Everything was fine on their end. We reset the modem. We bypassed the router. We did some trace routes and found nothing on this end to delay the movies.
One of two things was obviously happening –
1) As it did four years ago by delaying delivery of physical DVDs to its high usage customers, Netflix is again rationing its services to customers who use the “Watch Instantly” service too frequently.
2) Netflix is unprepared to deliver the services it promises, either with overloaded servers or other internal resources that can’t keep up with demand.
In either case, consumers are paying for services they aren’t getting. One approach we tried and found successful at times was the old “don’t take no for an answer” strategy. As soon as Netflix told us we had to wait three hours or four hours or whatever, we tried reconnecting to the movie. Sometimes it took us up to 10 attempts before we were connected and the movie started streaming. But at least something was working.
If you plan to sign up with Netflix primarily for the instant streaming, beware. You might not get all that Netflix promises you. Even if your main interest is getting movies through the mail and you plan to infrequently use the online streaming, it may be even less frequent than you think.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
If you haven’t checked out this exciting new video game, here’s some info to whet your appetite.
The Star Wars saga continues in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a videogame developed by LucasArts, which casts players as Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice” and promises to unveil new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy. The expansive story, created under direction from George Lucas, is set during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. In it, players will assist the iconic villain in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi – and face decisions that could change the course of their destiny.
As its name implies, The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force by taking full advantage of newly developed technologies that will be seen and experienced for the first time: Digital Molecular Matter (DMM), by Pixelux Entertainment, and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd. Paired with the powerful Havok Physics™ system, these new technologies create gameplay only possible on the new generation of consoles. DMM incorporates the physical properties of anything in the environment so that everything reacts exactly like it should – wood breaks like wood, glass shatters like glass, plants on the planet Felucia bend like plants on the planet Felucia would, and more. Meanwhile, as a revolutionary behavioral-simulation engine, euphoria enables interactive characters to move, act and even think like actual human beings, adapting their behavior on the fly and resulting in a different payoff every single time.
Game Features:
– During the period between Episodes III and IV, players hunt Jedi in the role of Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice.
– Unleash and upgrade the Secret Apprentice’s four core Force powers – Force push, grip, repulse and lightning – throughout the course of the game, and combine them for ultra-destructive, never-before-seen combos.
– Examples of unleashing the Force in ways never thought possible:
The Secret Apprentice won’t just Force push enemies into walls – he’ll Force push enemies through walls.
The Secret Apprentice won’t just Force grip foes to throw them aside – he’ll Force grip them in midair, zap them with lightning, then drop them to the ground to explode like a bomb.
– In addition to new adversaries created just for the game, such as fugitive Jedi and Force-sensitive Felucians, players will also confront and associate with familiar faces from the Star Wars films, including Darth Vader.
– Visit locations such as Episode III’s Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk and the floral Felucia, the junk planet Raxus Prime, plus an Imperial TIE fighter construction facility.
– The Force Unleashed is LucasArts’ first internally developed title for next-generation consoles, and it represents the first in-game collaboration of talents and technology between LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic, two companies now finally under one roof at the new Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco’s Presidio district.
– The Force Unleashed debuts Digital Molecular Matter from Pixelux and euphoria behavioral simulation from NaturalMotion Ltd.
– LucasArts is preparing an unprecedented promotional effort around the launch of The Force Unleashed, encompassing a full line of toys and game-based action figures from Hasbro, as well as a full publishing program from Dark Horse, Del Rey and Palace Press.
Watch the movie trailer!
Buy the video game now for $59.99 from Amazon.com. In STOCK!
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Online Sexual Fantasies and “Long Distance Cheating.”
A few days ago I had a long online chat with a woman I have known only via the Internet for about two years. During that time we only communicated by messages and by making sometimes flirtatious comments on our web pages. We wrote a lot about our families, what was going on in our lives. We got to know each other pretty well — the good and the bad. We became real friends — to whatever degree the term “real” can apply to an online relationship.
During the past few months, however, the communications have become more sexual in nature. She started sending me pictures of herself in various seductive poses; I would talk about some of my recent and not-so-recent sexual encounters — names changed to protect the guilty, of course!
For weeks she had been trying to get me to call her, which I was reluctant to do. Eventually, though, we ended up in a long online chat, a first for us. It quickly turned into a sexual ritual, that special erotic dance men and women do before they get down to the serious stuff. As the flirtatious dance got more serious, she hit me with a question I wasn’t expecting and which I answered with all the sensitivity of a 10-year-old.
She asked me if I ever had sexual fantasies about her. I told her, “No,” I hadn’t.
OK. Big mistake, I should have been a gentleman and lied and said “sometimes” or even an evasive, “Well, who wouldn’t, you sexy thing!” Instead, I just blurted out the truth. “No.”
In addition to just being stupid, there were two other reasons for my klutzy response. First, she is a married woman with several kids, into her second marriage now and I am single, and second we live well over a thousand miles apart. However things might evolve, the likelihood of our relationship becoming more than just an Internet sex fantasy seemed remote.
For myself, my marital status — single — means that I can still have guilt-free, real relationships with available single women. Not that I do that often, but that’s the theory anyway. Even online sexual flirtations with other single women have a different dimension. No one is cheating on anyone else. Done right, no one should come out of an online affair hurting anyone else.
In her case, her fantasy of me is not real, she is not available, and it has the potential of damaging her marriage. I can hear the Greek Chorus out there saying, “What business is it of yours, Sky? If the woman wants to have long distance fantasies, that’s her choice. Just go with the flow and have some fun!”
From what she has told me, her husband — who travels a lot — has no idea that she is online looking for sexual encounters with strangers like me. I guess the question, to put it in its crudest form, is whether there’s something wrong if she gets her sexual release with strange men like me and her husband doesn’t know about it? Unless she decides to tell her husband, I am part of a deception that could possible destroy her marriage. I know enough about her to understand that the foundation of her relationship with Hubby is not all that strong to begin with — otherwise, why flirt with me? Getting caught in an online affair could possibly have dire consequences for her and her children. Do I want to be responsible for that?
I think the topic raises two important issues: the issue of honesty with your partner, and the openness with which partners can discuss their sexual fantasies.
Should you tell your partner that you have these kinds of fantasies and online relationships?
My reaction is, “No.” Most people simply are not secure enough in themselves and in their relationships to hear about their partner participating some kind of cyber-fuck with other people. If you say you are having sexual fantasies about another man, most men are going to get very pissed about it. We don’t like having competition we can’t punch out in a face-to-face confrontation.
If the roles were reversed and a guy tells his partner that he’s got this hot, online chick that can really turn him on, most women are not likely to welcome the news. Most will be jealous as hell and insist on knowing all the sordid details. Consider yourself lucky if she doesn’t rip out your Internet cable connection and smash your lovely LCD computer screen.
All these new ways of “getting it on” do not change human nature.
Consider, also, the likelihood that your online fantasy lover will find his or her way into the family bed. So there you are trying to make love to your lifetime partner and in the back of your mind is some delicious-looking lady you have been chatting with online. What then? Do you tell your partner?
A Web MD article recently looked at the pros and cons of admitting these fantasies:
One good reason to remain mum, says Barbara Bartlik, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, is that the majority of people in long-term, fulfilling sexual relationships do not necessarily think about their partner when they’re at the height of sexual passion. But even though both partners might routinely think of something other than each other, revealing this may result in hurt feelings.
That’s putting it lightly. An additional problem with online fantasies is that they are not just fantasies — often they involve each partner masturbating while the phone call or chat proceeds to more erotic subjects. The basic rule of ethical behavior is that you can think what you want, but once your thoughts are turned into action, then an important ethical and moral line has been crossed. Assuming one of us is already in a relationship, do I actually have to be in your bed, making love to you, before our act can be considered “cheating”?
The other side of this argument might be — and perhaps in the case of my friend — that by having these online sexual trysts she is in fact saving her marriage. She is less likely to have a “real” affair with some Bozo in the house or condo next door. On the “cheating scale,” I guess that is true: long-distance, online affairs are neater, easier to hide, usually easier to end, and — like so much of our imaginary cyber-lives – it doesn’t seem completely real.
So, when Hubby or the Mrs. wants to know if we’ve been true, we can answer with a straight face, “Honey, the only one really in my life is you!”
