Tag Archives: Plus

Long Term Hulu Plus Thoughts

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hulu_plusI have been using Hulu Plus for several months, and I have a few additional comments about the service.

I tend to watch lots of science documentaries. Over time, I’ve seemed to nearly exhaust the documentaries available on Netflix and Amazon videos. One of the things I really like about the Hulu Plus is that it includes shows from the BBC, Canada and Australia. This opens up a new world of high quality documentary material that isn’t available to me otherwise.

From a technical streaming point of view, the service always seems to stream well. I have encountered no server issues streaming either via DSL or mobile data connections.

The various Hulu Plus apps themselves do have a few issues. I regularly use the iOS, Android and Roku versions of the Hulu Plus apps. The interfaces seem mostly straightforward, though there are a few quirks and differences from one app to the next.

The biggest problem I’ve encountered is the service being able to remember where I’m stopped at in an individual video as well as a series of videos. For example, let’s say I’m in the 5th episode of a season. The service may or may not remember that I’ve already watched the previous 4 episodes.

Additionally, if I pause in the middle of a video, there’s at least a 50% chance that if I come back to the series later, instead of starting me out exactly where I was in the paused video, the service will kick me to the next episode even though I haven’t finished watching the prior episode.

These synching problems seem to be consistent across all of Hulu Plus’ apps. I can use only one app, say on my iPad Air, and will likely encounter the synching issue the next time I open the app to try to get back to where I left off. Moving to a different device entirely I will still encounter the same synching problem.

These synching issues are areas where Netflix and Amazon really seem to have this nailed down and leave Hulu Plus lagging behind.

Even with the synching issues, I really like Hulu Plus and make extensive use of it. In my view it is well worth the $8 monthly charge.

Waterpik Waterflosser Cordless Plus

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Keeping teeth clean by brushing and flossing is one of those jobs that we know we should do, but it’s easy to put off or even completely ignore.

The Waterpik home dental appliance has been around since the early 1980’s. Think of it as a miniature pressure washer for your teeth and especially your gums. The original Waterpik plugged required AC house current to operate, but now there’s a cordless version called the Cordless Plus.

Even though I’ve been pretty good about brushing and flossing for many years, I still have gum and bone erosion and my dentist’s dental assistants want to do something called “deep cleaning” to my teeth and gums. After a bit of research it is apparent that this so-called “deep cleaning” has some negative side effects. Instead of allowing them to do the “deep cleaning” instead I’ve decided to do daily water flossing instead and see if that has any positive effect.

Even with regular brushing and flossing, my gums often had sore spots. Now that I’ve been using the Waterpik Waterflosser Cordless Plus once a day in addition to my regular brushing and flossing regimen the soreness in my gums has gone away. I’ve decided against the “deep cleaning” and instead will take my chances with daily water flossing instead.

The Waterpik Waterflosser Cordless Plus is easy to use. Simply fill the reservoir up with warm water and turn the unit on. It holds enough water for about 45 seconds worth of water flossing. I typically fill it a total of four times during each daily use, concentrating the power spray of water along the gum line and between teeth both inside and outside, upper and lower. This really does seem to do the trick. Just add warm water and periodically plug it in to keep the built-in battery charged.

The Waterpik Waterflosser Cordless Plus sells for as little as $39.97 on Amazon.Com, or you can buy it like I did at my local Bed Bath and Beyond.

As an ever-aging adult that easily qualifies for so-called senior citizen discounts, I can tell you that keeping your teeth and gums clean is a task you should take very seriously.

Facebook Malware Application Posing at Google+ Invite

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Google Plus

Facebook’s problems are slowly becomming Google+’s problems.

A link showed up a few days ago on Facebook for a Google+ application invite. Little did people know it wasn’t a Google+ invite, yet a malware site that tried to get your personal information. Sophos reported the scam on their blog on the 13th.

When you select the link, you will be told you have to go to a third party site to complete the invitation. That is where they phish you.

Facebook has since pulled the malware site. But this is another reason why we should use caution in whatever social network we use. Just because you are implementing familiar screens doesn’t always mean someone cannot find a new way to get the information they desire.

If you want a Google+ invite, just ask me or anyone else that is on Google+. Invites have been open for over a week now.

More important – If you are not 100% sure about something, then don’t go forward. If you do put in password information, then it’s time to change up your passwords.

Twonky Mobile Server

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It’s always fun when technology intersects, and it becomes possible to do something cool that was previously not possible and/or was never thought of.

Such is the case with my Sprint HTC Evo smartphone. Sure, it’s a pocket computer. Sure, it has WiFi. As such, sure, it’s a network device with a potential node on my home network.

Rewind. What was that last bit again? My phone is a network device with a potential node on my home network. Let’s see – what can I do with network devices – share resources, share drives and therefore share files.

Enter the free Twonky Server Mobile for Android. Twonky Server Mobile is a free piece of software available in the Android Marketplace that shares audio, video and photos from the phone to UPnP and DLNA certified receiving devices on a home network. This includes software such as Boxee and UBMC among others.

I had a copied a number of videos to my Evo’s 8 media card so I’d have them available to watch if and when I had time. Hummm – with the Evo’s WiFi turned on and connected to my home network, if I ran the Twonky Server Mobile software, would I be able to see Twonky Mobile Server as an available network share with my Western Digital TV Live Plus boxes? If so, how would it work?

I’m happy to report that the free Twonky Mobile Server for Android works flawlessly. Simply start the app and there’s nothing else to do on the phone. Twonky Mobile Server shows up as an available server on the network, and the audio, videos and photos show up and play with UPnP and DLNA certified receiving devices such as WD TV Live Plus boxes.

Twonky also offers a small array of inexpensive server software products that make it possible to easily share audio, video and photo media from your Windows or Mac computer via UPnP and DLNA to certified devices such as Playstation 3, many digital photo frames, many Blu-ray players, and other devices and softwares.

Should You Pay For Content?

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I was listening to a podcast where the hosts were chatting back and forth about the newly offered Hulu Plus, where for $10 dollars a month, you can get Hulu on a wide variety of devices including smart phones and over-the-top Internet TV boxes. Hulu is also offering a somewhat wider, but still incomplete back catalog archive of shows. One of the hosts was saying he wouldn’t pay for content, he wanted it “for free.”

Whether we realize it or not, we are all paying for content, either directly or indirectly. Even if we have only a TV antenna and watch only the local TV channels, we are still paying for content indirectly via advertising. When we buy consumer products of virtually any kind, part of what we pay goes for advertising, which pays for content creation.

If we are paying indirectly only, someone else is deciding for us as to the quality of the programming content. We can either consume that content or not, but we still pay as consumers buying products. We have very little indirect control over what gets put on the air. On the other hand, if we pay for content directly, then we have far greater control over the quality of the media we are consuming.

If Hulu can offer value for the money, then it will succeed What they have to do is figure out what people are willing to pay for. Perhaps that value revolves around putting highly-sought-after content on as many devices as possible. Perhaps it revolves around coming up with the absolute best back catalog of old TV shows. Imagine having instant streaming access to every TV show ever produced in every country in any language, and every movie ever produced anywhere in any language. Something like that would be well worth paying for. Imagine a site such as IMDB.Com that lists every movie and TV show ever made, except as a subscriber you could instantly stream it – now you’re talking. Hulu, anyone else out there – are you listening?

I personally would be willing to pay for a service such as Hulu, except for one small glitch. There are no back catalog shows on the site at the moment that really excite me. Network drama shows can sometimes be quite good, but my tastes are somewhat different.

When I had Dish Network, I was watching a few selected shows on only 3 channels – Discovery, TLC and History. I can get most of these shows if I really want them at some point via Netflix. To my way of thinking, Netflix is a much better value. Netflix has a far wider variety of content, plus they also offer the handy rental service of DVD’s and Blu-ray discs.

The verdict is currently out whether Hulu will be able to figure out what value it needs to best serve its customers. If people are paying Hulu money directly, then Hulu had better quickly figure out exactly what those customers want and do its best to deliver it to them.

Hey Hulu, here’s an idea to try. Offer first-run streaming movies, but do it the Hulu way. I would be willing to pay for a first run movie streaming for a nominal pay-per-view fee, say $5.99. Vudu is offering streaming first run movies, but you have to have a big fat Internet connection to be able to use Vudu. The Vudu service demands way more bandwidth than my Internet service can currently deliver.

Here’s yet another idea for Hulu – offer exclusive, Hulu-only content consisting of well-produced material revolving around the “Entertainment Tonight” type of concept. Do exclusive interviews of movie and TV stars. Do exclusive interviews of directors. Give people real value for their money. Make your customers want to not only see you succeed, but motivate them to help you succeed.