Monthly Archive for June, 2008

Netflix Profiles??

WTH?? Another service being discontinued? Sooo… I rated hundreds of movies, why?? I suppose they would rather have these extra profiles changed to regular accounts, so they can make more money (or do they want Blockbuster to make money?). Looks like the “netflix prize” won’t benefit me. I don’t really see why removing a useful service from their website, with no replacement, is an improvement to their website (as stated below). Nor do I understand why the removal motivation is because “it is too difficult to understand” (see below). Apparently it is too difficult to “fix” as well; however, I doubt this is the true motivation.

We wanted to let you know we will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account, effective September 1, 2008.
Each additional Profile Queue will be unavailable after September 1, 2008. Before then, we recommend you consolidate any of your Profile Queues to your main account Queue or print them out.
While it may be disappointing to see Profiles go away, this change will help us continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.
If you have any questions, please go to http://www.netflix.com/Help?p_faqid=3962 or call us anytime at 1 (888) 638-3549. We apologize for any inconvenience.
- The Netflix Team
Q. What is happening to Profiles?
A:
We will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account.
When? Profiles will be eliminated on September 1, 2008.
Why? While it may be disappointing to see this feature go away, this change will help us to continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.
Do I need to do anything? Consider moving all DVD titles in your Profiles Queues to your main account Queue. To do so, log-in and visit this page
How will this impact my account? On September 1, 2008:
  • All DVDs currently at home or in transit will be associated with the main account Queue
  • All Profiles rental history will be added into the main account rental history
  • Your additional Profile Queues will be eliminated. If you would like to keep a copy of each Profile Queue we recommend that you print them out
  • Prior to Profiles going away, we will also email you a copy of your Profile Queues
  • Profiles movie ratings and Profiles Friends connections will no longer be available
  • You will not be able to transfer your Profiles data to a separate new account
  • You will be able to set a maturity filter on the main account
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Profiles feature going away
As a Netflix product manager I’m tasked with the wonderful job of helping members find movies they’ll love. But today my job is more challenging as we’ve decided to terminate the profiles feature on September 1. Please know that the motivation is solely driven by keeping our service as simple and as easy to use as possible. Too many members found the feature difficult to understand and cumbersome, having to consistently log in and out of the website.
Continuing to maintain the profiles feature for the passionate few who use it (including myself) distracts us from the mission of presenting to all our members the easiest way to find the best titles for them from the 100k plus on DVD and the 10k plus available instantly.
We will do our best to find better ways for families to share accounts than the existing profiles feature and will continue to invest in improving the website experience in many different ways.
- Todd

Vista Defrag

The Storage Team at Microsoft – File Cabinet Blog : Don’t judge a book by its cover – why Windows Vista Defrag is cool

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Newsgroups Service Discontinuation

Why?

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I cannot access Road Runner Newsgroups or download articles?
As of June 23, 2008, Road Runner will no longer offer Newsgroups, however users can subscribe on their own to third party News providers.

Why is Road Runner discontinuing their own Newsgroups service?
Due to low subscriber usage Road Runner has decided to discontinue Newsgroups service as of June 23, 2008.

If I still want a news service, what can I do?
Subscribers can choose to use a third party service and purchase on their own through that service. There are many providers with offerings, as an example here are several providers:

When is the last day that Road Runner Newsgroups service will be available?
Newsgroups service will cease on June 23, 2008.

Solstice Moon Illusion

The solstice moon will rise tonight and appear huge. This is a hard to explain illusion, which no one has settled on an explanation. However, it does have something to do with the way we, as humans, perceive it. Optical devices do not catch the same affect as our eyes do. Interesting how we can trick our self, but fun as well.

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Graduation

Hunter has graduated Pre-School. It was so cute, all of them in their little cap & gowns.

another funny story

A friend was telling a funny story about his wife.  He said that she does data entry and works alot with “indicators”.  So they were driving around (back home in north texas), and he said “Hey, do you want a snack in Decatur?”.  And she says “What?  What’s a snackindicator?”, HA.  (still laughing)

story from trip

This is Hunter’s favorite story from our trip (mine too):

After we climbed aboard the truck to go out on one of our excursions, the guide said “ok, everyone put your seatbelts on”. So we all reached down and there wasn’t anything there,  and he said “Ah HA, welcome to Mexico!”

Cat

Hunter has a new cat. She’s a 4 month old brown tabby. He named it Abby, after one of his friends at school (how cute). I have really enjoyed having it around, cats are great. Oh, and  we got one of those mechanical litter boxes and it seems to be working really well.

up, up, and away

I just saw the neatest thing. A plastic grocery bag caught the air just right and hitched a ride on an updraft (quite hot here today). It passed 500ft then a thousand, then passed a passanger plane. It became just a dot, and eventualy just disappeared. Maybe someone thought it was a UFO. I bet it would have zipped away if it had met some high altitude wind shear.




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