I received an Xbox360 from work and thought, "Sweet! I now have an approved Netflix device." If you don't know, you can connect your Netflix account to a few approved devices: an Xbox360, a Raku video player, an HD Tivo, or any other Series 3 Tivo.
To make a long story short, within 5 minutes, I had my Xbox Live account and a Netflix account and connected them. Now the test was to see how nice the picture looks and how quickly it was to play. For those who don't know, I made a living creating streaming media networks and the media that played on the infrastructure. So, I know about pushing video around the Internet.
"Wow" is all I can say. Netflix, your streaming media is absolutely gorgeous. Now, I can watch a part of the Netflix library on my Xbox360. It is incredible. (Oh yea, and the picture is great, too!)
Today, I slipped in the game Bioshock and was utterly amazed at how nice the picture looks. I've played the every gaming system from the Odyssey to the Wii. When I watched the opening portion and then started to play the game, my mouth dropped open. This system is going to be nice to see how it develops. And, the next gaming platforms from the big gaming companies should be mind blowing.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
I love Internet connected devices
I purchased a Nabaztag 2+ years ago. For those who don't know, it is an Internet connected device that is a stylized little rabbit. The current bunny is named, "BunnyPrime."
Since I purchased him, it has been getting the weather for me in the morning, retrieving some basic RSS feeds and stuff like that. Some would consider this boring content. But, it was a great conversation piece and it was worth the $100 I invested into it.
Fast forward to a few days ago... I received a letter from Violet, the French company that makes these bunnies asking me why my other bunny, a replacement rabbit, is not connected. It then went and announced a new website and a few other things. I decided to go to the website and see what else the bunny can do.
While not new, I decided to hook up the Gmail interface. This widget allows the rabbit to read me the subjects of all my new mail. Today, it paid off.
I was sitting in my livingroom playing Oregon Trails. Yes, the old game that I played in elementary school on the venerable Apple II. It was awesome! All of the suddent, my Nabaztag called out that a new message arrived and gave me the subject of the message. Because I was on my PC laptop at the time, I opened a new Firefox window and went to Gmail.
Brilliant. 2+ years and Internet connected devices did something that I found utterly cool and helpful. Congrats Violet! I will now be purchasing more bunnies from you.
Since I purchased him, it has been getting the weather for me in the morning, retrieving some basic RSS feeds and stuff like that. Some would consider this boring content. But, it was a great conversation piece and it was worth the $100 I invested into it.
Fast forward to a few days ago... I received a letter from Violet, the French company that makes these bunnies asking me why my other bunny, a replacement rabbit, is not connected. It then went and announced a new website and a few other things. I decided to go to the website and see what else the bunny can do.
While not new, I decided to hook up the Gmail interface. This widget allows the rabbit to read me the subjects of all my new mail. Today, it paid off.
I was sitting in my livingroom playing Oregon Trails. Yes, the old game that I played in elementary school on the venerable Apple II. It was awesome! All of the suddent, my Nabaztag called out that a new message arrived and gave me the subject of the message. Because I was on my PC laptop at the time, I opened a new Firefox window and went to Gmail.
Brilliant. 2+ years and Internet connected devices did something that I found utterly cool and helpful. Congrats Violet! I will now be purchasing more bunnies from you.
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