I have been seeing comments on Hulu Discussion board. I wanted to talk about this because of no one knows this better than me, why Hulu would lost major Revenue and people if they did become an Pay per Month site.

Now let’s talk about what people are saying about Hulu site. Some sites are talking about seeing the signs of Hulu becoming a Pay site. Pcworld, Writes an article on 5 ways I’d pay for hulu, although I am not to happy how they talk about it. It is however a very interesting concept. Some are talking about this being done as soon as 2010. I don’t know how well you agree or disagree but here is what I see would happen if this did become a pay site:

• Pirated shows come out of wood work — Yes this will most likely become popular all over again. You would not need to pay hulu to go watch it somewhere else for FREE. If Hulu did start making people pay they would have loose people left and right.
• Amazon Video on Demand would become Popular — I love Hulu for being free but if they start becoming a Pay site either they will have to make all seasons watchable or Amazon will be my video site. Amazon unlike Hulu won’t show only the last 5 episodes of a season. I can watch the ones I want and not be held back by a time or date to view the episode. Plus like Psych and Monk episode I wouldn’t have to wait 8 days after the show is been broadcasted and only have 3 episodes available. I can get the new Episode the next day and have the entire season at my fingertips.
• Crackle will my new best friend — Crackle if you didn’t know is Sony version of Hulu. Although owned by SONY, they have redoubled the effort of advertising based media and have being in competition with Hulu would become even more popular for having their free movies to watch when you want it.

Now along those lines we would see Sidereel and other sites alike start becoming more and more popular. I really hope Hulu doesn’t do this but if they do I will show my support with Amazon because I would rather be able to watch the shows I want and not be held back by episodes being removed. Unless Hulu has every Episode I would ever want to watch it would not keep me from going somewhere else like Amazon. It is cheaper and I have the video’s when I want them and not be held back by only having so many ones to watch.

Update *later that same day*

I just got contacted by Rebecca Harper from Hulu and they have responded with alarming efficiency:

“Don’t worry, Hulu’s mission has always been to help people find and enjoy the world’s premium, professionally produced content. We continue to believe that the ad-supported, free service is the one that resonates most with the largest group of users and any possible new business models would serve to complement our existing offering.”

Basically, if Hulu does indeed move forward with a subscription offering, we would come up with something that doesn’t alienate our free service.

As you can see they do believe in the Free service. I guess only time will tell but I am glad they responded so quickly even on the Weekend. Keep up the great work guys and if I find out more, you will be the one to hear about it!!

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

CBS throws the gauntlet and says in a statement :

CBS Interactive continues its integration process, which now calls for the further combination of several portions of the division into unified groups oriented around similar content. This important move allows us to better align our premium content for our audiences and our advertisers, and also results in reduction in certain areas that are now duplicated in the new organization structure. We believe these moves are necessary to continue building CBS Interactive into the most creative, most efficient, most profitable and fastest growing Internet company in the media business.”

Now I can Only guess as to what they will re-organized but if it is anything like Jeff Gerstmann and how we heard people might resign over that little fiasco. I’d give the likely hood of several people from Gamespot and Probably even more people from C-NET. I don’t know who they will lay off but I do know they are going to re-organization. You will probably have to pay for content from them in one way or the other. This is somewhat not un-expected due to the Economic Stress we are currently in and Probably will be for some time.

If I hear what happens I’ll will update my post and all.  If you want to check out the other lay offs in the technology industry please feel free and click here.   I am sure to have more in the coming months.   Time is the only constant and will always be moving forward.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

I read a report from Cnet about USB devices spreading Virus and I will quote:

The bad guys are intentionally developing new flavors of malware designed to propagate through USB devices,” said Gunter Ollmann, chief security strategist for IBM’s ISS security division. “They are today’s floppy drives.”

An infected computer can spread a virus to a clean USB thumb drive that is inserted. That USB drive will then be spreading the virus onto other computers if the operating system on those machines has an AutoRun-type feature enabled. The AutoRun function in Windows launches installers and other programs automatically when a flash drive or CD is inserted. The Mac has an equivalent function, according to Ollmann.

[Via Cnet]

In order to disable “autorun“, which in Vista is called Autoplay. In order to disable Autoplay from starting when you insert media into your computer here is how you do it:

You will need to be Logged in as Administrator before this can be done:

Next click start and type “Autoplay” without quotes. It will bring up a screen but all you have to worry about is this:

You will need to make sure there  is no check mark for “Use AutoPlay for all media and Devices”.   Click save and close.

• Wikipedia – AutoRun
• How to Disable Autorun

These are just a few and are really nice to articles but there are others out there that might be more to your liking.  I suggest searching Google for them.   I hope this helps you out!!!

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

Now I know Vista isn’t what people expected and that it had high expectations when they first released it.  I think that is due to the fact Microsoft tried so hard to make Vista seem more than it actually was.  Now According to Ina Fried from CNET her post was about Windows 7: A better Vista?. In her post she talked about the features of Windows 7, and how Windows 7 is almost like Vista. I tend to agree because of the look from screenshots I’ve seen to make me think it will be Version 2 of Vista. I don’t think it is anything that will change from Vista to Windows 7. It will however be more ready to boot up and shutdown that is according to what Microsoft said to Ina.

What is Windows 7 going to have?  Some reports are saying:

• Windows will have only one “Ready Sticker”!
• Better Battery Life and Boot Faster
• Lean, Faster, and even Embedded
• Dialed Down on the UAC
• Will be released in Mid to late 2009

I did some research and everything so far is either confirmed to be in this next release of Window 7 or is speculation.  I don’t know if these are true.  I do know however everything they talked about is looking to me to be like Vista Version 2.  Nothing they’ve said so far couldn’t of been an update like a service to pack to fix all these things people are wanting right now.  Vista to be faster, have better battery life, be lean, be embedded, better Uac, and boot faster.

Now I could be wrong but that is everything Vista could of done and still is possible to do!!  If only Microsoft would do what is needed people wouldn’t be wanting Windows 7.  Although I suspect people will have there hopes broken, or complain about it when it comes out.  I suspect the ones who want Windows 7 will be saying Vista is great!!  I will just have to watch what happens in the future!!

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

According to Cnet News:
The test, which began being applied in the Reno, Nev., area on Saturday, limits customers of AT&T’s slowest DSL service to 20 gigabytes of monthly data transfers, while users of the fastest service will be limited to 150 gigabytes. Customers will have access to an online tool to track their usage and will receive notification when they reach 80 percent. Those who exceed their limits will be charged $1 per gigabyte.

[Via Cnet News]

So you just received the information that AT&T is doing this. How do you want to keep track of your online usage. I’ve got some good tools to help you. Although they will only help to a certain point you must remember a few tips and these tips are:

• Limiting use of your Bandwidth!!
• Understanding your Wireless Router
• 10 Ways to keep your wireless router secure!

With these steps you would greatly increase stoping unnecessary use of your bandwidth.  Most people don’t understand that any program you use on your network will be counted on the total bill.  If you know of any good ways to help stop bandwidth by all means tell people and if you find any good programs that might help, please leave a comment.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

Today in Chicago, and on TV screens across the USA, Oprah Winfrey is going to recommend her new “favorite gadget,” which is Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader. A brief video has appeared on Amazon’s website to plug the show — as spotted by Chris Nuttall at the Financial Times — which will also feature a guest appearance by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. (Not his first, by the way.)

[via Guardian.co.uk]

I this recent turn of events I thought I recommend some great Kindle Reviews and let you decide if it is worth your money.  So Here are some fantastic Sources to help you decide for yourself:

• Amazon Kindle Real-Live Review Gizmodo
• MacInTouch Kindle Review
• Cnet Reviews of the Kindle
• ZDnet Reviews of the Kindle

These are just a few that I could find to better help you make choices on if you would like to buy a Kindle.  I hope this better helps you decide if it is worth.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

Television company CBS has agreed to buy technology news and entertainment website CNET for about $1.75bn (£900m).

CBS said that the purchase of CNET, which owns sites such as ZDNet and Gamespot, would help to boost its online presence.

CBS has offered $11.50 a share in cash, which is 45% more than CNET’s closing price on Wednesday.

The companies said the combined group would have “significant additional exposure” to online advertising.

The deal will make CBS “one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States”, with 54 million US users and 200 million worldwide, CBS said in a statement.

The deal is subject to approval by regulators and CNET shareholders.

Other CNET sites include News.com, TV.com, Mp3.com and MySimon.

CBS will combine them with its own websites such as CBSSports.com and CBSNews.com.

[Via Techinfo's]

Well that is a surprise! Is anyone a little happy a big name bought CNET? I am wondering if they will start putting Cnet on the TV or are they going to do something different. I hope it comes out to be a much needed improvement.

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As You can see Cnet is also getting hit hard by the Gerstmann firing. You can tell how much they have dropped after the firing. What do you think they will do? One angry BOL listener said this?

Hey buzzers,

OK, so I was mighty tempted to pull the plug on all my CNET subscriptions in the wake of the Gerstmann-gate hoopla, but have accepted your position that CNET.com and Gamespot.com are two seperate entities, and agree with Molly that not everyone should be tarred with the same big brush. However, I think there are still some issues here that have not been satisfactorily addressed. On Friday’s podcast, you promised to deal with the Gamespot issue on Monday’s show–you did but, I have to be honest, it didn’t feel particularly whole-hearted. As the self-described reporters on Buzz, it seems to me that you missed all sorts of buzz–the intertubes are packed with stories on this, all of which makes for very interesting reading, even if the medium is, in fact, the real message.

But, here’s my real issue with this. I’ll take, at face value, your assertion that the folks at CNET.com aren’t pressured by editors or advertisers with regard to content. But I can’t shake the deep suspicion that the opposite is true at Gamespot.com. I’ll also accept the assertion that those two sites are independent (more or less). The only conclusion to be drawn is that CNET.com and Gamespot.com are being held to different editorial standards. This certainly goes toward the (very skeptical) buzz about ‘gaming journalism’ that has been zooming around the tubes. At the end of the day, this is a huge sticking point for me, and I still think that ‘CNET Networks’ has some ‘splaining to do.

So does this mean they are having people being mad at them or is it that they are just getting the overflow of people from Gamestop? They I know are not the same entity but are both in the same Company? Mind telling me why they haven’t gone into more discussion of this? It’s like Cnet has been told to be quite also? IS that true or are they just holding there breathe to find out the outcome? I suspect it is Management that is doing the keep quite command. What do you think?

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

While Vista was originally touted by Microsoft as the operating system savior we’ve all been waiting for, it has turned out to be one of the biggest blunders in technology. With a host of issues that are inexcusable and features that are taken from the Mac OS X and Linux playbook, Microsoft has once again lost sight of what we really want.

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13506_1-9785337-17.html

I think Cnet has the right idea, go read the full article at Cnet, and then decide for yourself!!

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