Netflix Player in Beta for Mac
This is a big deal…Netflix is moving from a DVD-based service to a streaming based service, and the lack of Mac support up until now has been a stumbling block. Now, though, there’s a beta of the Netflix player for Mac!
This could be big — if Netflix can figure out how to charge (and make money at) offering a fixed-rate streaming service that would give you access to high-quality movies and TV shows, it could be a strong competitor in this space. I’m already a huge fan of iTunes downloads, but just think if you could take it a step forward and download from a massive catalog at a monthly rate…if they can pull it off, I might just have to get the Rokr box instead of the Apple TV I’ve had my eye on.
To make it work, you need to visit http://www.netflix.com/silverlightoptin and opt in to the beta program. (This also means you’ll have to use Microsoft Silverlight for watching in Windows, apparently, so if you do often watch in Windows from your Netflix account, you might want to wait a while.)
Apple Posts Huge Numbers
On Wednesday, Apple reported one of its best quarters in its history, including the incredibly revelation that they’d sold more iPhone 3Gs in one quarter than they’d sold iPhones since their introduction.
Apple posted revenue of $7.9 billion and a profit of $1.14 billion, compared to $6.22 billion and net quarterly profit of $904 million in the year ago quarter.
Sales of Mac units reached a record high, up 21 percent over a year ago (2.611 million units; which also compares favorably to the 2.45 million in previous quarter) and iPod sales were up 8 percent (that’s 11 million iPods, about the same last quarter).
Read more
AdaptiveBlue - Worth a Look
If you’re up and running with your “Web 2.0″ blog and looking for some interesting widgets and other tools to add another dimension to your blogging, AdaptiveBlue is worth a look. The widgets are fun — you can show your NetFlix queue, NYTimes best sellers, Rolling Stone movie reviews — can be added to your blog to show a little personality. SmartLinks are particularly interesting; pop culture items (books, movies, music) are automatically linked to Amazon, Last.FM, IMDB or other sites that make it easier for your reader to dig a little deeper. Fun stuff.
Great WordPress Templates
Just a quick note that this guy is doing some really fun work with WordPress templates, creating some exciting magazine and “conversation” driven templates. One of his templates, Arthemia, I intend to use for BOOM Jackson magazine; another is Platformate, which is a really interesting layout for a site that offers lots of comment and conversation (not unlike the JFP). I might need to borrow some of these ideas for the JFP; that’s a very “2.0″ design, particularly for a personal blog like this one. (In fact…hmmm. If you’re reading this and you notice I’m using that theme, then, well, I’ve changed to it.)
BuddyPress = Very Interesting
I just came across BuddyPress, which is (or will be) a collection of plug-ins for WordPress MU (multiuser), that makes turns MU from what it is — a blogging platform for multiple users — into what it could be — a full social network.
The plug-ins allow you to create relationships between the blogs — for linking friends, messaging between one another, creating groups and, of course, collecting your photos into albums that can be shared. BuddyPress isn’t out of development yet, but it’s worth watching if you’re interested in a WordPress-based social networking solution…which could be interesting if you’re using WordPress for a CMS platform or for a groups site already via bbPress forum software.
It’s fun watching WordPress grow like this. For the past six months or more I’ve explored the possibilities with social networks; a white-label social network is tough to come by; that fact that one may soon be built on such a robust platform is an exciting testament to the power of open source.
-
Technorati
