Well, we are officially waiting for snow. Andy and I stayed in Arlington this weekend because we're supposed to get serious snow. It's always a though call because if I were going to be stranded somewhere I'd sure rather that it were snuggled up in our river house than stuck in Arlington, but oh well. I have enough gadget stuff to keep me occupied. Actually, we both do.
I am such a guy - my Valentine's wishes (I know, Valentine's Day is for cards, candy and swelling-music diamond moments) were for stuff to go with my new Palm Treo phone. Andy got me a wi-fi card and a memory card and he gave them to me early because he knew I'd want to play with them. When we were at the river a couple weeks ago Andy saw an add for video transfer to DVD. He is obsessed with the 80's, 80's music, and 80's concerts. He has lots of obscure things on tape that (let's all hope) will never be released on DVD. So anyway, I got him a DVD Recorder/VHS combo so he's spending all weekend recording old Ah-ha concerts.
I watched a little of the Olympics opening ceremony last night. I may watch some of it while it's on. Last night was the finale of "Arrested Development". They ran 4 episodes in a row. The show may be over, but we hope not because we're completely obsessed with the show. Hopefully Showtime will pick it up. Never heard of it? Why am I not surprised? No one ever watched this show except us. It was unbelievably funny though.
We're planning to go to dinner Monday for Valentine's Day. (In our old married life it makes sense to have Valentine's Day a day early and not have to go out to dinner with the rest of the free world.) If we really do get a big snow then we might just go another day.
I still totally love it when it snows. What I can't stand is when things refuse to close despite heinous weather. I just want to say, "Trust me, the world can survive without you for a day." Andy just came in and showed me that it's just started to change over to snow. That "essential" thinking is totally crazy in DC. Of course the government can always have "liberal leave" but the rest of us get guilted into going into work.
A month from now we'll be in NYC. We're going up to see "the Odd Couple" with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. It should be a fun weekend. I would like to spend the whole time eating and shopping (and hopefully we'll get to see Uncle Charlie). Unfortunately, Andy has the Lee Ewing-endless-book-store-shopping gene. Andy could spend 4 days straight in the dingiest bookstore on the planet. I always feel like I have so many books I haven't finished that I better not find anything else new. So, that's what's new with us.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Waiting for SNOW!
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Here it is 8:00 in the morning. Matt's been outside shoveling since 6:30. I think we got about a foot or so of snow. Not too bad.
Joe smiles when he looks out the window at his dad moving that white stuff all around. We're good to go with food & diapers. I think we'll watch Mass for Shutins at 8:30. This morning I've been on the computer and ran across an interesting article about Netflix. As a stay-at-home mom (and I mean that quite literally- I barely ever leave the house) I really look forward to receiving my movies! Frankly, I'm a little irked:
MSNBC.com
Frequent Netflix renters sent to back of the line
The more you use, the slower the service, some customers realize
The Associated Press
Updated: 3:37 p.m. ET Feb. 10, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO - Manuel Villanueva realizes he has been getting a pretty good deal since he signed up for Netflix Inc.'s online DVD rental service 2 1/2 years ago, but he still feels shortchanged.
That's because the $17.99 monthly fee that he pays to rent up to three DVDs at a time would amount to an even bigger bargain if the company didn't penalize him for returning his movies so quickly.
Netflix typically sends about 13 movies per month to Villanueva's home in Warren, Mich. — down from the 18 to 22 DVDs he once received before the company's automated system identified him as a heavy renter and began delaying his shipments to protect its profits.
The same Netflix formula also shoves Villanueva to the back of the line for the most-wanted DVDs, so the service can send those popular flicks to new subscribers and infrequent renters.
The little-known practice, called "throttling" by critics, means Netflix customers who pay the same price for the same service are often treated differently, depending on their rental patterns.
"I wouldn't have a problem with it if they didn't advertise `unlimited rentals,'" Villanueva said. "The fact is that they go out of their way to make sure you don't go over whatever secret limit they have set up for your account."
Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix didn't publicly acknowledge it differentiates among customers until revising its "terms of use" in January 2005 — four months after a San Francisco subscriber filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company had deceptively promised one-day delivery of most DVDs.
"In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service," Netflix's revised policy now reads. The statement specifically warns that heavy renters are more likely to encounter shipping delays and less likely to immediately be sent their top choices.
Few customers have complained about this "fairness algorithm," according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.
"We have unbelievably high customer satisfaction ratings," Hastings said during a recent interview. "Most of our customers feel like Netflix is an incredible value."
The service's rapid growth supports his thesis. Netflix added nearly 1.6 million customers last year, giving it 4.2 million subscribers through December. During the final three months of 2005, just 4 percent of its customers canceled the service, the lowest rate in the company's six-year history.
After collecting consumer opinions about the Web's 40 largest retailers last year, Ann Arbor, Mich., research firm ForeSeeResults rated Netflix as "the cream of the crop in customer satisfaction."
Once considered a passing fancy, Netflix has changed the way many households rent movies and spawned several copycats, including a mail service from Blockbuster Inc.
Netflix's most popular rental plan lets subscribers check out up to three DVDs at a time for $17.99 per month. After watching a movie, customers return the DVD in a postage-paid envelope. Netflix then sends out the next available DVD on the customer's online wish list.
Because everyone pays a flat fee, Netflix makes more money from customers who only watch four or five DVDs per month. Customers who quickly return their movies in order to get more erode the company's profit margin because each DVD sent out and returned costs 78 cents in postage alone.
Although Netflix consistently promoted its service as the DVD equivalent of an all-you-can eat smorgasbord, some heavy renters began to suspect they were being treated differently two or three years ago.
To prove the point, one customer even set up a Web site — dvd-rent-test.dreamhost.com — to show that the service listed different wait times for DVDs requested by subscribers living in the same household.
Netflix's throttling techniques have also prompted incensed customers to share their outrage in online forums such as hackingnetflix.com.
"Netflix isn't well within its rights to throttle users," complained a customer identified as "annoyed" in a posting on the site. "They say unlimited rentals. They are liars."
Hastings said the company has no specified limit on rentals, but "`unlimited' doesn't mean you should expect to get 10,000 a month."
In its terms of use, Netflix says most subscribers check out two to 11 DVDs per month.
Management has previously acknowledged to analysts that it risks losing money on a relatively small percentage of frequent renters. The risk has increased since Netflix reduced the price of its most popular subscription plan by $4 per month in 2004 and the U.S. Postal Service recently raised first-class mailing costs by 2 cents.
Netflix's approach has paid off so far. The company has been profitable in each of the past three years, a trend its management expects to continue in 2006 with projected earnings of at least $29 million on revenue of $960 million. Netflix's stock price has more than tripled since its 2002 initial public offering.
A September 2004 lawsuit cast a spotlight on the throttling issue. The complaint, filed by Frank Chavez on behalf of all Netflix subscribers before Jan. 15, 2005, said the company had developed a sophisticated formula to slow down DVD deliveries to frequent renters and ensure quicker shipments of the most popular movies to its infrequent _ and most profitable _ renters to keep them happy.
Netflix denied the allegations, but eventually revised its terms of use to acknowledge its different treatment of frequent renters.
Without acknowledging wrongdoing, the company agreed to provide a one-month rental upgrade and pay Chavez's attorneys $2.5 million, but the settlement sparked protests that prompted the two sides to reconsider. A hearing on a revised settlement proposal is scheduled for Feb. 22 in San Francisco Superior Court.
Netflix subscribers such as Nathaniel Irons didn't believe the company was purposely delaying some DVD shipments until he read the revised terms of use.
Irons, 28, of Seattle, has no plans to cancel his service because he figures he is still getting a good value from the eight movies he typically receives each month.
"My own personal experience has not been bad," he said, "but (the throttling) is certainly annoying when it happens."
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
© 2006 MSNBC.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11262292/
Wow! That is annoying! I love Netflix but we've cancelled it twice because we couldn't get in the habit of watching stuff. During the week it's tough to decide to block 2 hours (even if the alternative is frittering away 2 hours in front of tv anyway). I think they need to change their rate schedule anyway.
Actually, what I REALLY think is that the ownership of data rights and copyrights totally needs to change, but that's a whole other blog entry!
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