Figure 1. Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD Multimedia Drive (left) and ScreenPlay Plus HD Media Player (right).

Figure 2. Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex TV HD Media Player (right) and FreeAgent Theater+ HD Media Player (left).

Figure 3. Western Digital’s WD Elements Play (left) and WD TV Live Plus (right).

Figure 4. Emtec Full HD (1080p) HDD Multimedia player and recorder S800H.

Laptops Plus has been a leading name in laptop and desktop repair in San DIego since 1996. Specializing in express laptop repair, Laptops Plus is your first choice for computer repair. We are proud to provide a fast, affordable, friendly computer service.

Laptops Plus has been a leading name in laptop and desktop repair in San Diego since 1996. Specializing in express laptop repair, Laptops Plus is your first choice for computer repair. We are proud to provide a fast, affordable, friendly computer service.
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Figure 1. Operating system market share, June 2010.

Figure 2. Pinning programs to the taskbar.

Figure 3. Older versions of business software have compatibility issues with Windows 7.

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Andrea Dunning is a digital cartographer, AutoCAD drafter, World of Warcraft player extraordinaire and blogger with a Master’s in Education. She also serves as tech support for her less computer-savvy family members.

Send mail to ceeditor@computoredge.com with questions about editorial content.
Send mail to cewebmaster@computoredge.com with questions or comments about this Web site.
Copyright © 1997-2010 The Byte Buyer, Inc.

Wally Wang’s Apple Farm
“The Growth of Apple”
by Wally Wang

A long time ago, Apple had about 2 percent market share. Then it jumped up to 4 percent. Slowly it climbed to 6 percent and now, according to Gartner (www.drivershq.com/News/Device-Manufacturers/Mac-sales-hit-new-company-heights-in-market-share/105/727.aspx), the Macintosh’s market share has reached 9.8 percent.

Sales of Macintosh computers continue to grow (tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/03/15/u-s-mac-sales-up-39-in-jan-and-feb/), which means that within the next year, the Macintosh should capture at least 10 percent of the operating system market. Since sales of the Macintosh show no signs of reversing any time soon, the Macintosh’s market share will likely continue rising at the expense of market share for Windows.

Of course, Windows XP still maintains a commanding 74 percent lead as the primary operating system in corporations (www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=25558). Most businesses likely skipped Vista and may move on to Windows 7, but the overall trend in the corporate world is to stick with Windows XP. Microsoft will even let users downgrade from Windows 7 (news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20010285-56.html) to Windows XP until the year 2014, which ensures that Windows XP will still maintain a large share of corporate computers.

The problem with corporations sticking with Windows XP for so long is that they have even less incentive to switch to either the Macintosh or Windows 7. After all, if something works, why bother changing it?

Eventually corporations will have to abandon their Windows XP machines, and that’s the time when they’ll need to consider upgrading to Windows 7 (or Windows 8 if they wait long enough) or the Macintosh. By that time, switching from Windows XP to another operating system will be such a drastic change that Windows 7 will lose part of its advantage of being a familiar and compatible upgrade path.

While Windows 7 may provide a seemingly comfortable upgrade path from Windows XP, more corporations are now using iPhones and iPads (www.electronista.com/articles/10/07/16/ipad.mac.getting.deep.footprint.at.work), which will lead many of these corporations to consider switching to the Macintosh as well. Toss in the growing number of college graduates using the Macintosh, iPhone, or iPad, and there’s a good chance that at least some corporations will switch from Windows XP to the Macintosh.

Now add in the ability to turn every Windows XP PC into a virtual machine and run it within a Macintosh using Parallels or Fusion, and the barriers to the Macintosh don’t seem so imposing after all.

The increasing market share of the Macintosh shows no signs of stopping or reversing, and the iPad’s growth even threatens sales of Windows laptops and netbooks (news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20010046-64.html). As more people use Macintosh computers, iPhones and iPads, there will be new opportunities for consultants, programmers and trainers while similar consultants, programmers and trainers in the Windows world will have to battle for customers in a steadily shrinking Windows market. If you make money from computers, where would you rather be? In the growing market of Apple products (Macintosh, iPhone and iPad) or the stagnating world of Windows? For right now, you should actually be in both.

Just as knowing only English limits your job opportunities compared to someone who’s bilingual, knowing about Apple products in addition to Windows can open more opportunities as well. Even if you’re an exclusive Macintosh user, take some time to learn about Windows. After all, your next job may involve helping a company switch from Windows to the Macintosh, and given the trends, those types of jobs may become more numerous in the future.

The Problem with the iPhone 4′s Antenna

The iPhone is notorious for dropping phone calls. When I got the iPhone 3, it dropped calls regularly. When I upgraded to the iPhone 3GS, the number of dropped calls plummeted to the point where I can’t recall dropping a single call. With the iPhone 4, I still haven’t dropped a single call, although dropped calls still affect many iPhone users.

The problem is that if you hold the iPhone 4 in such a way that your hand covers up the bottom left side of the iPhone, it can weaken the signal and risk dropping a call. Try as I might, I still can’t get my iPhone 4 to drop a call while holding it in this so-called “Death Grip” position to kill a phone call. However, enough people complained of this problem that Apple initially claimed that the problem had to do with the signal strength displayed on the screen.

According to Apple, the signal strength indicator gave out false readings, so covering up the bottom portion of its antenna with your hand would falsely indicate that signal strength had dropped. Of course, some people really did experience dropped calls, so that explanation didn’t fully dismiss the problem.

Finally as this problem continued to grow, Microsoft’s Kevin Turner claimed that the iPhone 4 was “like Apple’s Vista” (www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=1000046MBXL8&full_skip=1). Essentially this is like Microsoft saying, “The iPhone 4 problem is so bad that it’s something Microsoft would have done.”

Consumer Reports discovered that if you placed a piece of duct tape over this antenna weak spot, it would eliminate this problem. Despite this trivial fix, Consumer Reports rated the iPhone 4 highly, but still refused to recommend it. Finally Apple held a press conference to announce that the iPhone did lose signal strength when held a certain way, but that all mobile phones experienced this same problem (although no other mobile phone seems to have gotten much scrutiny over this issue before the iPhone 4).

Apple also said that this problem of dropped calls is limited to a small percentage of users and that if they’re not happy, they can return the iPhone 4 for a complete refund (although they’ll still be stuck with their AT&T two-year contract).

To appease current iPhone 4 users, Apple will also offer free bumper cases that will cover up the area that causes signal strength to drop. With a case covering this weak spot, iPhone 4 users should experience no loss of signal strength no matter how they hold their phone.

By offering full refunds and free bumper cases, Apple hopes to minimize the public relations damage caused by this antenna problem. If you’re one of the unlucky few who have problems with dropped calls, try a different iPhone 4, get the free bumper case, or just return the whole thing for your money back.

Despite this antenna problem, millions of people continue buying the iPhone 4 without returning them en masse, so apparently a large majority of users are happy with the phone. On July 30, Apple plans to start selling the iPhone internationally, so we’ll see if Apple has redesigned the iPhone 4 or if international users experience the same problems with dropped calls that can’t be attributed directly to AT&T.

Getting Better iPhone Reception

The biggest complaint against the iPhone is AT&T’s spotty coverage. Unfortunately, this problem isn’t easy for Apple to fix since it depends entirely on the carrier. In San Francisco, AT&T can’t build new cell towers without a three-year approval process (compared to a three-week approval process in Texas).

One way AT&T is trying to plug the gaps in its coverage is through a device called the MicroCell (www.wireless.att.com/learn/why/3gmicrocell). Essentially this MicroCell plugs into your high-speed Internet connection (such as a cable or DSL line) and acts like a miniature cell tower for your exclusive use in your home or office.

Using the MicroCell still burns off minutes from your iPhone’s calling plan, but otherwise there’s no extra charge to use it. If you make a call inside your house, your iPhone connects to the MicroCell. If you step out of the house and out of range of the MicroCell, your iPhone will reconnect to AT&T’s network automatically.

Unfortunately, if you make a call outside and then walk into your home or office, your iPhone won’t switch to the MicroCell. Instead, you’ll have to hang up and re-dial to connect through the MicroCell.

For a limited time, AT&T is even giving away MicroCells for free by invitation only. Before the MicroCell, I could never use my iPhone inside the house. Now with the MicroCell, I can finally make and receive calls on my iPhone anywhere in the house.

If AT&T didn’t send you an invitation for a free MicroCell, you can still buy one for $149.99. For anyone who needs perfect cell phone coverage inside a building, then the MicroCell may be the answer to better coverage (at least until you walk out of its range).

Denying Reality

When Windows enthusiasts compare PCs with Intel or AMD processors, they can objectively evaluate each one with little antagonism toward either company’s products. However, when you ask many Windows enthusiasts to compare an Apple product to a similar Microsoft competitor, suddenly all objectivity goes out the window.

For some people, switching to an Apple product (Macintosh, iPhone, or iPad) makes the most sense. For others, sticking to a Microsoft product (Windows 7) might make more sense, but you’ll never know unless you honestly evaluate the capabilities of each.

Denying and avoiding the facts is a favorite tactic of anti-Apple critics, and one of the more vocal anti-Apple critics is Rob Enderle (online.wsj.com/article/SB121738346889295815.html) of TechNewsWorld, who pretends to be an objective technology journalist, but who was once hired by Dell as a consultant for Dell’s MP3 player.

Obviously someone who has been paid by Dell will likely say good things about Dell’s products while disparaging competing products such as those from Apple. Now Rob Enderle has written a curious article that suggests that the failure of other companies to compete against Apple may be due to sabotage (www.technewsworld.com/story/Apple-Didnt-Beat-Microsoft-Robbie-Bach-Did-Apples-Secret-5th-Column-70092.html?wlc=1279323483).

Rob does admit that his accusations of sabotage are more likely to be fiction than fact, but he still offers it as one unlikely possibility to explain why Apple is succeeding where others consistently fail. According to Rob’s theory, Dell’s MP3 player and Palm’s Pre failed not because they were poorly designed products that nobody wanted, but because Apple has saboteurs within these companies who made sure the products failed.

Apple’s so-called saboteurs even get the blame for Microsoft’s failed Zune MP3 player and the Microsoft Kin phone, which Microsoft yanked just 48 days after launching with a million-dollar advertising campaign. Rob’s theory is that no company could fail so consistently and spectacularly against Apple unless they had active resistance from within, denying the more likely fact that other companies simply aren’t making products that people want, as Apple does.

This saboteur theory may appeal to anti-Apple critics who prefer the comfort of fantasy rather than the cold shock of reality that simply evaluating and trying an Apple product might do to their belief system.

Of course, Windows enthusiasts have nothing to lose (except their belief system against Apple) by trying and objectively evaluating an Apple product. Unfortunately, as religious-inspired terrorists have proved, belief systems can be far stronger than reality no matter how twisted and convoluted your thinking must be to deny facts that contradict your ideas about how the world should really work.

As Apple products continue grabbing market share, expect to hear more bizarre theories for why Apple keeps succeeding. The more outlandish the theories, the more desperate you’ll know people are getting to avoid thinking for themselves.

In the future, we can all look back and laugh at those reality-deniers, such as this 2006 story about Palm Computing’s CEO, Ed Colligan (www.palminfocenter.com/news/9110/colligan-laughs-off-iphone-competition).

“Responding to questions from New York Times correspondent John Markoff at a Churchill Club breakfast gathering Thursday morning, Colligan laughed off the idea that any company—including the wildly popular Apple Computer—could easily win customers in the finicky smartphone sector.

‘We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone,’ he said. ‘PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.’”

The iPad App for Mass

One obvious use for the iPad is to read books. However, there’s more to replacing paper with an e-book. The Rev. Paolo Padrini, a priest in Italy, has created an iPad app that lets priests celebrate Mass with an iPad on the altar instead of the regular Roman missal (www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/ipriest-the-future-of-catholicism/C8967B5B-E86A-49F1-A834-1FFC2E71C827).

“Paper books will never disappear,” Padrini claims, but he also added that “we shouldn’t be scandalized that on altars there are these instruments in support of prayer.”

The iPad app contains the complete missal—everything said and sung during Mass throughout the liturgical year. Upgrades will include audio as well as commentaries and suggestions for homilies in addition to musical accompaniment

If a priest can develop a unique app for the iPad, certainly it’s possible for people in other fields to develop their own unique apps customized for their line of work. Think of simple apps that only someone in your field might need. Giving away such an app can be free publicity for you or your company, or selling it can capture a unique niche market with few competitors.

The iPad offers a unique opportunity for anyone, not just dedicated programmers, to create specialized apps that can benefit others. Just as Paolo Padrini discovered, if you create an app to solve your own needs, you’ll likely find that it can help others as well.

The most common way to switch between open programs on the Macintosh is to click that program’s icon on the Dock. Another way is to press Command+Tab to display a list of open programs. Then just click on the icon you want.

Unlike the Dock, which shows both open and closed programs, the Command+Tab method only displays icons of open programs, so the list is much shorter and easier to navigate.

Identity Theft Countermeasures
“Basic security precautions to protect your identity.”
by Michael J. Ross

After years of hearing horror stories and warnings about identity theft, a growing number of people are realizing the dangers and risks of becoming a victim, and they are fighting back. Yet at the same time, a huge number of their compatriots are still falling prey to the types of scams within this broad category—both online and off. For instance, the number of identity theft incidents in 2008, versus 2007, increased a substantial 22 percent, to 9.9 million, according to a study published by Javelin Strategy & Research on February 9, 2009.

Many cases of identity theft are unavoidable by the individual, such as when a company or government entity loses sensitive information. But far too many of the cases could have been avoided had the victim taken some basic security precautions. Before getting into the details of how to fight back, first consider the most common methods by which identity thieves gain the information that they need in order to take the place of their victims—at least, just long enough to grab some money and run.

Vectors of Attack

Similar to how central bank notes replaced gold and silver coins as money, cash was later supplanted by bank checks for larger purchases, which made it far less common for people to be walking around with sizable sums of cash on their persons. In turn, credit cards and debit cards nowadays continue to push paper checks into the dustbin of history. Thus it should come as no surprise that financial fraud at the consumer level generally targets credit and debit cards. Whereas in the past, a thief would have to physically confront and threaten his intended victim, these days such pilfering can be done over a phone line or an Internet connection. The age of digital money has certainly given us terrific convenience, but at the same time we are far removed from our actual wealth, which now is simply represented as digits stored on computers, possibly on the other side of the country.

Modern-day highwaymen have no need to wear masks or bandannas, nor do they need to brandish firearms as they did when bringing terror to the innocent home or stagecoach. Instead, you may see only a pretty and smiling waitress, as she merely brandishes a check for lunch at your favorite restaurant, and brings to your table a chocolate mint to soften the sticker shock. But when she walks away with your credit or debit card, and moves behind the counter, it takes only a moment for her to run your card through a hidden device that reads its information, and transmits it wirelessly to an accomplice nearby, who within minutes will have e-mailed the information to others waiting to charge big-ticket items on your account, before you even leave the restaurant. In fact, some people become so adept and bold at “card skimming,” that your card can remain in sight almost the entire time. In a common ruse, a larcenous waitress pretends to drop your card, and as she retrieves it from the floor, she swipes it through a skimmer hidden under a long skirt or under a serving tray.

Perhaps our modern thief is not able to obtain a job interfacing with the public—and their credit cards. That doesn’t mean that your card information is impossible to obtain. Dumpster diving is not limited to homeless people looking for discarded food and clothing: Anyone can rummage through commercial trash receptacles in search of sensitive financial information, which they can use themselves for making fraudulent purchases, or sell to criminal syndicates just about anywhere on the planet with telephone and Internet service. Retailers and their customers are generally becoming more cognizant of the dangers of tossing out credit card slips, computer printouts of financial account information, etc. But the data divers keep at it, always hoping to make a quick buck from a slow learner.

Not everyone relishes the idea of leaping into dumpsters in the dark of night. A less athletic criminal may prefer “pretexting” his way into your financial life, by posing as a trustworthy person working for a legitimate company or government organization, and attempting to get you to divulge your confidential information, such as a password to a bank account, or credit card details. Let’s say he is pretending to work in the online security department at a large bank with millions of customers. If the prospective mark who picks up the phone turns out to not even have an account at that bank, the criminal can simply apologize for calling the wrong phone number, and then try another number. Other possible guises include an investigator at a major credit card company, or a representative from one of the big credit bureaus. The miscreant can try to pass himself off as a member of law enforcement, but that entails much greater risk should he get caught.

If you limit your retail purchases to cash, and you never fall prey to any pretexting attack, does that mean that you are immune to identity theft? Sadly, it doesn’t, as long as you have some financial accounts online. For instance, you might receive an unexpected and official-looking e-mail message that appears to be from your online bank, Big Bux Savings. The message explains that, for whatever reason, you need to log into your account, and the nice people have helpfully included a link in the message for you to click on. You do so, and it takes you to a Web site that looks exactly like the one that you normally see when you log into your account. The only difference is that the address at the top of your Web browser is not the usual “https://www.bigbuxsavings.com/” but instead something like “http://bigbuxsavings.ix.com/” or, more brazenly, something like “http://98.76.54.32/.” Your first attempt at logging in will fail—at least, from your perspective. To the criminals who created the fake Web site, your login attempt succeeded beautifully, because now they have your username and password, and will use it to drain your account as fast as they can. The favored name for this is “phishing,” a term that is most likely a variation of “fishing,” since the original e-mail message was acting as bait to lure the unsuspecting prey.

These are not the only ways that a tech-savvy bad guy can attempt to get your money, but they cover the majority of cases, and give you an idea of how easy it is for our reliance upon digital money to turn sour.

Vanquish Those Villainous Vectors

Even though there are innumerable identity thieves out there, continually devising new methods of attack, you can successfully defend yourself against most of them. Let’s address the four major attacks listed above, in that order.

To completely reduce the risk of becoming a victim of card skimming, you could use only cash for paying for any retail goods and services. After all, credit and debit card transactions in the outside world are much riskier than those performed online. But that would be rather inconvenient in today’s digital world, and would also entail the risk of carrying around a lot more cash. A better approach is to insist upon keeping your card in view throughout the entire transaction, even if that means walking over to the cashier and requesting that the check be brought over, so you can pay it right there.

The best way to combat the dumpster divers is to be vigilant about shredding any papers that you are disposing of (preferably in a recycle bin, and not the trash). Your humble paper shredder could turn out to be worth its weight in gold (or at least silver). It is admittedly more difficult to get others to follow the same best practice. In those instances where you are on the spot—such as when providing personal and financial information at a medical or dental office—be sure to ask them what happens to any printouts. If someone processes your credit card using a manual imprinter, ask for all copies that the merchant is not required to keep, so you can shred them at home. The biggest challenge is the companies that store your personal data on their computers—and even worse, share them with other companies. Any time you open an account, insist that they flag your account to not allow distribution of your data to any other company, including subsidiaries and partners. Then call back a few days later to verify that they made the change. Be prepared to be disappointed at how many companies ignore or flub the first request.

Pretexting is most efficiently defeated by simply asking for the caller’s name, company and toll-free telephone number. You can tell them that you are busy at the moment, but will call back shortly. Verify the telephone number with your records, before calling. By calling the company’s number yourself, and asking for the representative by name, it confirms that she at least works for the company she claimed. If the request is legitimate, then the caller shouldn’t have a problem with your request, and may be impressed with your wisdom in employing this simple but effective method. But if it is a pretexting attempt, then she may hang up immediately, or give you bogus information; either way, you have nipped that attack in the bud.

Phishing is, of course, best countered by not taking the bait—in other words, never click on a link within any e-mail message if it supposedly will take you to a site where you are expected to log in. It is much safer to open a new browser window and type in the Web address of the bank or other destination, or use your bookmarks, since you probably have that address saved already in your browser. Also, if you do ever notice an address that looks suspicious, do not proceed any further, but instead follow the aforesaid procedure. In the earlier example of “http://www.bigbuxsavings.com/” versus “http://bigbuxsavings.ix.com/,” the only part that matters is what is just to the left of the “.com.” The “ix.com” is a red flag, while the “”bigbuxsavings” in “bigbuxsavings.ix” does not make it legitimate. Keep in mind that financial firms and other organizations that store sensitive information in accounts that you can log into should never ask you to click on a link in a message, but instead will simply instruct you to go to their site, or call their toll-free number. Lastly, your odds of inadvertently chomping on a baited hook are greatly reduced if you minimize the hooks in the water: Use an e-mail service with top-notch spam filtering, such as Gmail.

Other Strategies for Defense

Although not guaranteed to prevent you from becoming a victim, the methods outlined above can make a huge difference, especially when supplemented with additional countermeasures. When asked to give out your Social Security number by anyone other than the Social Security Administration or your employer, ask if a substitute number can be used. As noted earlier, shred all of your personal papers before tossing them in the recycle bin—particularly those from banks, credit card companies, and insurance companies. Switch to paperless account statements.

When typing in your PIN at an ATM machine, retail store, or gasoline pump, shield the keypad from prying eyes. Bear in mind that those eyes do not necessarily have to be close and looking over your shoulder; they can be in a nearby van, using binoculars. Never use an ATM machine that looks very new or in an unusual location, because fake ones have been deployed and have snared many banking customers. When going out, carry only the cards and personal information that you would need for that particular trip.

Protect your postal mailbox and its contents. Collect the mail promptly, and drop off any important outgoing mail at a post office, and not an unprotected mailbox. Stop mail delivery if you will be away for a while.

Keep an eye on your wallet or purse, even in the office. In the home, protect your confidential information from anyone outside the family, including service personnel making house calls. Avoid storing financial and other sensitive information on laptops and USB flash drives, or at least strongly encrypt it.

On your computer, be sure to use a firewall (to monitor both incoming and outgoing traffic), and periodically run up-to-date antivirus and anti-spyware programs if you ever download files or attachments from unverified sources. In fact, open attachments only from people you know and trust, and only after scanning for viruses. For surfing the Internet, use any browser instead of Internet Explorer. Never type in confidential information on any Web site if it is not a secure page; look for the image of a padlock in your browser and an address beginning with https://. If you are sharing your computer with anyone else, log out of all secure sites when you are done using them, clear the cache, and close your browser.

Never give out confidential information over the telephone, and never send confidential information via unencrypted e-mail messages—including splitting credit card numbers into multiple messages, because that affords little protection.

Before disposing of any hard drive or computer containing one, delete all of your personal files, empty the Recycle Bin, and then utilize a “wipe” utility to sterilize all of the free space, using multiple passes, even if that requires running the process overnight. Otherwise, thieves and pranksters can recover your “deleted” data because it still resides on the hard drive, even though the files are no longer seen by the operating system.

If you fear that your identity has in fact been stolen, contact the proper authorities. If it involves any financial data, immediately contact those institutions. Note that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has information on identity theft (consumer.gov/ncpw/everyone/identity-theft-and-privacy/), as does the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse page Identity Theft & Data Breaches (www.privacyrights.org/identity-theft-data-breaches).

Most if not all of these security measures can take extra time and effort, but they are nothing compared to the financial loss and sense of violation if and when you fall victim to identity theft. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

EdgeWord: To Netflix or Not to Netflix
“Home Entertainment in Flux”
by Jack Dunning

Nothing is settled in the home entertainment market. If anything, deciding how you want to bring the latest movie and television content into your house is getting more confusing. In the coming years, there will be massive changes that will affect cable providers (including the premium channels such as HBO and Showtime), broadcasters, and DVD producers. In fact, the changes are already well underway, showing immediate effects such as the closing down of many video rental stores. Nothing is sacred and nothing is safe. Although more confusing, the changes are ultimately good for the consumer.

Netflix may be the most prescient company in the industry. It has embarked on a business strategy that will most likely severely cut into its core business, DVD rentals by mail. Where many companies will hesitate to cannibalize their primary business, Netflix realizes the change is necessary to ensure any type of survival. In fact, its approach to delivering entertainment is a threat not only to video rental stores, but the old movie channel giants such as HBO. The on-demand business of the cable television providers will either need to adapt with lower prices, or it will also fall into oblivion. In the meantime, things are not getting any better for the movie theaters.

Although not the only company doing it, Netflix now streams movies and television directly to your computer or television set via the Internet for a low monthly rate. This service is included with the one-disc-at-a-time DVD mail rental plan. In most areas of the country the Netflix unlimited streaming price is less than adding HBO to your cable package. That means you can get almost everything on HBO without having HBO. While the Netflix streaming does not include everything that you can get from its DVD rentals, it is massive enough to give you plenty of entertainment as the DVDs are moving in the mail.

Netflix is considered the current leader in Internet streaming entertainment, but there are plenty of others jumping into the market. Most have a fee structure similar to video rental stores, charging for each movie viewed. Sears/K-Mart has plans to enter the market by the end of the year, and Redbox, the successful $1 movie rental kiosk company, is planning to start streaming new video release at the same $1.

Blockbuster, the largest surviving brick-and-mortar video rental chain, has added both rental by mail and video streaming to its menu. They are using everything at their disposal to battle the lead accumulated by Netflix, but it may be too little too late. Blockbuster has signed deals with some of the major movie production companies for exclusive rental rights to newly released DVDs for the first 28 days.

If it wasn’t for the production of original HBO shows and movies, HBO would probably be doomed by the current changes in the entertainment marketplace. The current movies it offers are usually old and redundant. It is almost as bad as waiting for a movie to show on network television. HBO has fortunately made a name for many of its quality programs. Of course, you can also get these shows from Netflix once they are released on DVD.

Google is not going to be left out of the fray, although its approach is a little different. Google may actually be a bigger threat to the cable companies than Netflix. Google wants to do to television what it did to the Internet. With Google TV (www.google.com/tv/) you will be able to search for and bring programming to your television from anywhere in the world. It could replace the programming from your satellite or cable company, including the DVR. If you pay for anything, it will only be for what you select from the vast menu. It’s getting just a little more complicated.

I don’t yet have Netflix, but I was given a free subscription for Father’s Day. I’ve been looking into what it will take to get it streaming to my ancient television—no, I don’t have HDTV. Streaming to a computer is no problem, but I don’t want to watch a computer for my entertainment. Next week, I’ll talk about what is needed to stream movies from the Internet to your television.

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06/25/2010