netflix

Netflix enjoys fine Kevin Spacey ad at White House dinner

"You scratch my back and I won't lacerate yours."

Saturday night, politicians and the media gathered for the White House Correspondents' Dinner and made a lot of jokes about the truth, in order to make themselves feel temporarily better about their tortured selves.

Netflix, meanwhile, smiled in a manner not unlike Kevin Spacey at his most snake-like.

For in the midst of all the fun, somehow a fine ad for the company's "House Of Cards" played to a very receptive world.

It was called "House Of Nerds." This dinner is, after all, … Read more

Free Software Foundation attacks DRM in HTML video

The Free Software Foundation, never a friend to digital rights management, has taken issue with its arrival in the Web standards world.

In a letter from the FSF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, and other allied groups yesterday, the group called on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to keep DRM out of the standards it defines.

"We write to implore the World Wide Web Consortium and its member organizations to reject the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) proposal," the groups said. "DRM restricts the public's freedom, even beyond what overzealous copyright law requires, to the perceived … Read more

Get a Vizio 32-inch LCD smart TV for $258

Sure, you can buy a 32-inch TV for around $200, but it won't have Wi-FI, it won't have apps, and it might just be refurbished. (Much as I love refurb gear, TVs are an exception. I almost always recommend buying new.)

For a limited time, and while supplies last, Dell has the Vizio E322AR 32-inch smart TV for $258 shipped (plus sales tax in some states). It's new, not refurbished, and definitely packing some bells and whistles.

First up: Wi-Fi. Which is good for second up: apps. Vizio offers a wealth of them, everything from Amazon Instant … Read more

Netflix doubling down on exclusive content

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wasn't specific in terms of numbers about the financial impact of the simultaneous, exclusive release of 13 "House of Cards" episodes last quarter, but he is doubling down on original content.

"We are focused on moving toward more and more exclusive content," Hastings said Monday during Netflix's first-quarter earnings call. "If the content is not exclusive and it's on cable and on other services, it might be pleasant to watch on Netflix, but it's not really reinforcing customers to stay with Netflix."

Competitors, including Amazon and … Read more

Netflix plans to change up its family streaming service

Netflix is taking a closer look at how to cater its video-streaming service to families.

In a letter to shareholders (PDF) on Monday, the company said it plans to introduce a family streaming plan in the U.S. that would let up to four people stream at the same time. However, this also means that Netflix may be looking for a way to minimize several people sharing one account.

The plan would cost $11.99 per month and let subscribers stream as many as four devices simultaneously. Netflix's current plan, which costs $8 a month, allows two streams at … Read more

Netflix shares explode as revenue tops $1 billion

Bulls and bears will continue to argue about the fair price of its stock, but Netflix's surprisingly good first-quarter earnings report should put paid to the contention that this company's fundamentals are built on a house of cards.

Netflix on Monday posted adjusted earnings per share of 31 cents. Revenue was $1.02 billion. Wall Street expected slightly more than $1 billion in revenue and earnings of 18 cents to 19 cents a share. A year ago during the same quarter, the company lost $5 million, or 8 cents a share, on revenue of $870 million.

The company … Read more

Netflix kicks off latest original series 'Hemlock Grove'

Netflix has launched its third original series with Friday's debut of "Hemlock Grove."

Following its usual strategy, the video rental service has made all 13 episodes of "Hemlock Grove" available in one shot, so people can watch them at their own pace.

Based on a 2012 novel written by Brian McGreevy, "Hemlock Grove" is a supernatural thriller that takes place in a small Pennsylvania town where a teenage girl is murdered, and the town casts an eye at many of its more eccentric residents as potential suspects.… Read more

Get a Samsung Blu-ray player with Wi-Fi, apps for $45

Still renting, buying, and/or owning movies on shiny silver discs? Believe it or not, I suspect most people are doing at least one of those.

And shiny silver discs require a shiny-silver-disc player, hence today's deal. Until the clock strikes midnight (ET), and while supplies last, Daily Steals has the refurbished Samsung BD-E5400 Blu-ray player for $45 shipped. It sells new for $99.99.

Update: Looks like it's sold out.

Like any good Blu-ray player, this one features built-in Wi-Fi, and can stream from a handful of services: CinemaNow (is that still a thing?), Netflix, Pandora, and … Read more

Netflix plans to dump Silverlight for HTML5 streaming

Due to eroding support for browser plug-ins, Netflix is making plans to move its streaming service from Silverlight over to the emerging HTML5 video format.

The movie-streaming service has used the Microsoft plug-in to deliver streaming content to Windows and Mac OS X computers since 2008. But after Microsoft announced last month that it would end support of the browser versions of the plug-in by 2021, it became clear Netflix needs to start focusing on a replacement.

While the solution may present into through Google's efforts to make Netflix available on the ARM-based Samsung Chromebook, the movie service has … Read more