Last night I finally received my newest toy, the Roku Netflix Player. After waiting almost two weeks for backordering and Fedex’s slooooow ground shipping to get here I came home after work and there it was. A tiny black box roughly the size of a paperback book (if that book is the Bible) that I could watch my Netflix movies on! No more waiting for the mail to get here! I was excited. Then I tried to set it up which turned into a major pain in the ass.
The contents of the box were simple. The player, a remote, and cables. Easy enough. I hooked up the Roku to my TV via HDMI and plugged it in fully expecting it would detect my wireless network and be on it’s way. Not so fast. It found my network alright but it refused to let me connect. After unhooking and reconnecting wires and restarting modems and routers I still had nothing. I was pissed and a little sweaty.
I logged on to the Roku support website where I was told to hook the player up through a wired connection “just to get it started”. Apparently there was a software update that needed to be installed which would greatly improve the networking capabilities of the box. Now how I was expected to know that a product that was just released two weeks ago needed a software update I’m not sure but I decided to give it a try. I dug out my 25ft ethernet cable and hooked it directly into the box. Everything finally worked. The software installed and I was viewing my queue in seconds. I wasn’t quite prepared to be tripping over ethernet cable for the next 6 months however so I gave the wireless route another go.
Of course that didn’t work. Same error as earlier. I was seriously about to smash this POS with a hammer. I took a deep breath and tried it one last time. Unhooked and power cycled everything then said a little prayer to Jeebus Cripes. And what do you know….it worked! Estimated time of install = 2 hours.
Making up for all the hassle is the interface. It is slick! The videos are near DVD quality and after adding a movie to your instant queue it appears in about 15 seconds on screen. Netflix has done it once again.
There are, of course, some areas for improvement:
Selection Only about 10,000 of Netflix’s 100,000 movies are available for instant watching. They need to work hard to increase this selection. Most TV shows seem to be there so that is a plus.
Blu-Ray All the videos are standard def. It would be nice to have a few HD choices in there as well. Like I said the majority of videos I tested were DVD or near-DVD quality but a few looked like they were on the edge of VHS quality.
DVD Menus/Controls I understand the nature of the Internet and the effect that it has on video but I would like the full DVD controls to be available on these videos. FF/Rewind/Next/Previous/Extras etc. Right now there is a rudimentary FF/Rewind functionality.
More than Netflix One of the biggest drawbacks is that this box only plays Netflix videos. I realize that’s the point but I would like to see it incorporate content from other sites. If they add Hulu, DailyShow.com, and South Park Studios I don’t think I would ever leave the house. Mp3 and XVid would be gravy.
I would like to personally thank George W. Bush for the economic stimulus which allowed me to purchase this $99 box. Thanks Bushie this almost makes up for the time you cock-blocked me back in 2004 (that’s a story for another post).
June 5th, 2008
There has been speculation for a while about the impending 3G refresh of the iPhone. Now Techcrunch is reporting that the newest release could be imminent .
As an early adopter (I was one of the saps who paid $599 for one of the first iPhones) I have noticed a few areas for improvement with this device. My complaints are minimal as this is definitely the most amazing phone/camera/web browser/mp3 player I’ve ever expected to carry around in my pocket. Here’s my wishlist for the newest iPhone:
3G This goes without saying. I mean it’s basically what all the speculation surrounding the newest iPhone has been about but I think it bears repeating. AT&T’s Edge Network is slooooow. It’s by far the biggest downfall of the iPhone. I mean if my little sister can access the Internet faster on a Nokia POS than I can what’s the benefit? Why am I paying for a full version of Safari if I have to be sitting in a Wifi hotspot for it to work properly? This has to happen.
MMS Another peeve of mine is the inability to send or receive picture texts. Everytime someone sends me one (which is more often than you’d think) I’m directed to viewmymessage.com which is another awful AT&T implementation. The website is slow, sometimes it doesn’t even work at all, and my pictures are deleted after a week. So annoying.
MS Exchange Support This is an item that has been confirmed by both Apple and Microsoft and should be implemented by the end of June. This is long past due. Now I’ll actually be able to check my work email and my Hotmail on the phone. Ah delicious. I’ve been complaining about the lack of this feature for awhile and people often ask me why I’m not using Gmail or some other email service and my response is that I’ve been a Hotmail user since about 1995 and changing would be more pain that it’s worth. Just please add this feature to the phone and quickly.
Sharing Music I would like the ability to share music in your iTunes library with any iPhone in the nearby vicinity. I realize there would be some copyright concerns but Microsoft has already figured this out with the Zune. Too bad nobody actually uses a Zune. This would be a perfect app for the iPhone. Maybe they could delete the files after a certain number of days or plays.
Videos The camera for the iPhone sucks but it is still the best camera phone I’ve ever used. However, it lacks the ability to record video. I would like to record a video and send it via text. Another reason to allow MMS.
Radio (AM/FM/Sirius) Imagine listening to your latest Britney Spears download and then flipping over to Howard Stern on Sirius or whatever local talking head you listen to. It would be a nice addition.
Some other minor additions:
- Ability to copy/paste text
- Ability to search your contact list
- Widescreen support for text messaging
- Flash support for the mini Safari browser
These are pretty standard requests. Many people have posted similar blogs over the past year. Hopefully Apple will pull out a few or all of them. If they do I’ll be selling a year old 4GB iPhone on eBay and upgrading.
May 12th, 2008
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch underwent a redesign this week and the results are very….underwhelming. Now I’m not a designer (I mean look at the design of this site) but I can tell you what works and what doesn’t. This design does not.
A large city newspaper should look at least semi-professional. I’m not sure what the Post is going for with this one. I guess they wanted to “hip it up” and make it all web 2.0-y. But the teal background (ooh look a gradient!), gigantic hover menu, outsized fonts, and confusing page organization kind of miss the point. Really what should the most important part of this site be? Hmm, maybe the ability to easily find and read the content of the paper?
They’ve somehow decided to cram every possible link they have into the navigation menu. Just look at the size of this thing. Talk about obtrusive.
So far the readership has not been kind. Just read the comments on the post announcing the redesign: Frequently asked questions about the new STLtoday. Harsh. Really harsh.
I have higher hopes for the “#1 St. Louis Website.” I can’t even send a link to my friends in LA, Chicago, or gulp even Springfield without cringing. I know I’ll have to explain yes, this is actually our website. No, I don’t think it looks good either. Yes, St. Louis sucks compared to your city.
I don’t know. What do you guys think?
May 9th, 2008
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