June, 2008

Netf**ks - Epic Fail

One of the most awesome things about Netflix is that you are allowed to have User Profiles. In my case, that means my room mate Dean can "give" me one of the three slots he has available for renting movies. I have my own account, ratings, profile, friends, etc.

Netflix just announced they will be removing this feature. Not only are they removing it, but they're deleting my profile too. All the ratings I have taken considerable time to make will be deleted. My queue will disappear. They actually suggested printing out my queue and re-entering all the movies into the master account. Wow, really? Netflicks couldn't even be bothered with the hours-long project of creating a migration tool.

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Netflix says that this move will allow them to "improve" their service. Interesting - I didn't know that deleting all your users data and removing a much used and loved feature is an improvement. Seems like maybe they need to work on their definition of the word.
After about 70 bajillion people pointed out that this is not an improvement, Netflix came out and said that it was actually to simplify their shipping process and that the profiles feature had been causing problems. This is a perfectly reasonable explanation too, as in - in what way could shipping DVDs to the same address really be that difficult? If this is true, Netflix has some truly craptastic programmers on their hands.
On their company blog they changed their tune once again, stating that the ultimate real reason they're canceling user profiles is because it was too confusing for customers to use. That's right everyone, we're too dumb for such an advanced feature, therefore we don't get it anymore. That makes a ton of sense.
A spokesperson for Netflix has made the point that the decision is "final." They claim that it only affects just over 150,000 homes, so it's no big deal (really, they said that). Epic, epic fail.
The real reason they are getting rid of profiles, is that they hope people will start their own accounts thus bringing in more revenue for Netflix. Unfortunately people are canceling in droves (if a thread full of pissed off Digg users and this petition are to be believed, anyway).
If you're as angry about this as I am, you can leave Netflix a suggestion here. Although something tells me they're not listening:

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"Please remember that suggestion emails are not sent to Netflix Customer Service"
Average: 1.8 (4 votes)

When I'm A Billionaire

The first thing you need to do when you become a billionaire is figure out your living arrangements. Are you going to go with a private island fortress or a New York city high-rise full of servants and money?

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For the longest time, I was a private island kind of guy. I wanted to stockpile food and guns on an island somewhere and hold up until the day I die (hopefully in a battle with pirates - YAR!). The downside to this plan is the lousy Internet connection private islands have. I don't think Comcast offers service on uncharted islands, and the Satellites are going to be all shot down in the impending apocalypse.

Of course, I could run my own fiber lines across the sea, but that just seems like a big headache. Not that I couldn't afford it - I definitely could. I'm a billionaire.

Anyway, I've decided I want the best of both worlds. What I'm going to do is purchase an old decommissioned battleship - the kind with big guns all over it - and have it transported and plopped down right in the middle of Utah lake. I don't care what it takes. Take it apart piece by piece, fly it over with a fleet of helicopters, whatever, I'll pay for it. I'm a billionaire.

So now that I have my island fortress in the middle of Utah lake, I'd throw all sorts of awesome parties. They would be super exclusive and you'd have to wear a tuxedo or whatever you call super nice things that girl's wear (suit is to tuxedo as dress is to ??? - dress again?). There would be a little ferry to bring people to my party mansion boat and everything.

One of the greatest things about the ferry would be that you wouldn't tell people that it's invite only, but then you'd check for invites after people have gotten on the ferry. Then you (well not you, one of your servants) would throw them off the boat for not having an invitation! How great would that be - Tuxedo-clad throngs washing up on the shores of Utah lake!

There is probably a law against putting a battleship in the middle of Utah Lake, but it doesn't matter. A.) It's a battleship, who's going to mess with me? and B.) I'm a billionaire.


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Here is a picture of my boat being transported through the sky by tons of helicopters. This is, by definition, super awesome.


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There's my battleship sitting in the middle of Utah Lake. Majestic, isn't it?

All of the guns will be retro-fitted with giant paint balls that we will shoot at cars on I-15.

Average: 2 (4 votes)

What To Wear - The Quest Part II

The search continues to find that perfect tall kid shirt. I thought I'd give you all a little update.

First of all, I actually stepped foot into a big and tall clothing store. There is one about 1/4 mile from my house and I hadn't been to one since I was 12 or so with my dad - who fits into the "big" category. I remember the clothes there being super-ultra lame but I thought things might have changed in the last 15 years.

I was wrong. Check out these winners:

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Yea, people usually can't tell that I'm tall by simply looking at me, I feel the need to have it printed really big on my T-Shirt. A shirt that advertises what it is is about the lamest, most tacky thing I can think of. "Hey guys, I found a shirt big enough for me - and guess what? I says 'BIG' right on it to remind me!"

I also like that they have attempted to be hip by making a shirt that has rims on it, complete with the same stupid "BIG" on it and a "tag" that looks like it was done by a retarded Smurf and an etch-a-sketch.

Thank you, Big Daddy Clothing Company, for insulting my intelligence and sense of self respect with your horrible, horrible shirts. By the way, I am available for freelance design work.

My findings on all the regular brands I tested were less than excellent, as noted below:

Bella - Bella was nice enough to send me a free shirt to try, but I was ultimately disappointed by the length. While their measurements show that they are a few inches longer than American Apparel, I found that they were probably the shortest of all the shirts I tested. If you're a regular sized human, though, you will find their shirts are extraordinarily soft, comfortable and high quality. On my tall shirt rating scale I just made up, I am giving them a 4/10.

Hanes - Hanes is pretty much the worst shirt going for tall people. They don't start out tall, and they get ever shorter when you wash them. If you're tall, don't bother with Hanes. 2/10.

Fruit of the Loom - Fruit of the loom is pretty much just a Hanes clone (or is it the other way around?). They are even slightly shorter than Hanes, so I'll give them a 1/10.

Gildan - Gildan is actually not bad. They give the same length measurements as Hanes (30 inches), but seem to be a little bit taller and better fitting. I think one or two Gildan shirts have actually made it into my regular rotation of shirts. One thing about Gildan though, is that they don't seem to hold up to washing as well as other shirts - so be careful there. Still not perfect, but borderline acceptable - 6/10.

American Apparel - A quick inventory of my closet will reveal that A.) I don't ever do my laundry and all my clothes are in a pile on the floor and B.) most of those clothes are made by American Apparel. Yes, I'd say a good 90% of my shirts are made by them.

Mostly I have just their standard shirt, but recently they came out with a new "summer shirt" that is awesome for tall people. It is entirely acceptable, although it kinda has weird sleeves and isn't available in anything other than ultra-light weight. However, it is the best generic shirt I have found up to this point.

It should be noted, though, that Dov Charney is perhaps the biggest douche on the planet, resulting in a love/hate relationship with American Apparel. I do enjoy the silent judgements that come from the store employees whenever I visit, though.

As much as I love how the shirts fit, I still find myself phasing them out after a few washes, and needing to buy new shirts. 7.5/10.

J. Crew - I found out that J. Crew makes tall sizes, but they're too lazy to stock them in their stores. That's fine though, since tall people never care about trying on the clothes that they buy. I placed a huge order with them when they were having a sale and got a whole box of shirts in various styles - all sized for tall folks like myself.

My initial thought and comparison with my current American Apparel stock was that the J. Crew stuff was no longer than any other brand of shirt. Real world testing, however, showed them to be of acceptable tallness (tallitude factor) and very high quality and comfortable. Most importantly, they seem to stand up well to washing and don't shrink noticeably.

Again, although they do not appear to be taller than my American Apparel stuff, they do "feel" a bit taller if that makes sense. J. Crew also holds the honor of being the only shirt I've ever worn where someone commented on how nice it fit me. I'd recommend their tall sizes in everything but thermal long sleeve shirts, which feel too short in the body. 8/10.

Design By Humans - I happened upon these guys by accident when I won a free T-Shirt at some show I went to. Their designs are awesome and pretty much just what I'm looking for. At first, their shirts appear to be American Apparel, but as it turns out they are just an American Apparel wanna-be. I wrote the company and I believe they said they source their shirts from overseas.

The shirt I won fit pretty well, so I hoped online and ordered a few more. I quickly learned that their sizes are not at all consistent, and none of the three shirts I got fit the same. Out of all of them, I think one is still in my rotation, but two have been phased out due to sizing issues. Seriously go check them out though, they have the best designed T-shirts I've seen. Unfortunately I would not order from them again because I don't know what I'd get. 7/10.

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That's all the testing I've done so far, but I have some more things that I will try in the future. Most importantly, I found a number of companies actually do make tall sized but, like J.Crew, are too lazy to stock them in their stores. There is also a new company called Thin Lojic that looks very promising but doesn't launch for a couple of months. If I'm still alive by then, I'll let you know how they do against the current bunch.

Carson out.

Average: 1.5 (4 votes)

iPhone Plan Compared

With news of the new iPhone coming out, AT&T had updated their plans in preparation for the next big wave of iPhone subscribers. As you probably would have guessed (since we're talking about a cellphone company here), they're squeezing more money out of you this time. $10/month to be exact.

The breakdown:
Voice Plan - $40/mo for 450 voice minutes
Data Plan - $30/mo for unlimited 3G Data

So at minimum, you're paying $70/mo. This probably won't even satisfy most users who use more than 450 minutes a month. The next plan up is a $20 jump so you're now paying $90/mo.

Yes, while every other piece of technology gets cheaper every day, somehow cell phone plans just keep getting more and more expensive.

Let's compare this to Sprint's offering:

The Sprint SERO plan (which anyone can get by going to a Sprint store and retrieving an employee's phone number from their business card) is like this:
Voice Plan - $30/mo for 500 Minutes
Data Plan - included/ Unlimited
Text Messaging - included/Unlimited

So $30 on Sprint or $70 on AT&T (and keep in mind AT&T isn't even throwing in unlimited free texting).

What is AT&T thinking? They have failed to remain competitive on plans.

Average: 1 (3 votes)

New Javascript Engine in WebKit [Nerd Stuff]

The latest nightly build of Webkit features a new Javascript Interpreter called SquirrelFish. Despite the weird name, the bottom line is that it is going to make Safari faster.

I put it to the test against the current official Safari build. Here are the results:

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Current Safari Build

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Latest Webkit nightly Build

As you can see, the latest nightly is way faster than the current Safari build. Also, SquirrelFish has yet to be speed optimized, so by the time these changes hit Safari, it will be even faster. This will effect Safari on all platforms including the iPhone.

To put this in perspective I ran the same tests with various browsers, here are the results:

Firefox 3 Beta: 417ms
Opera 9: 838ms
Firefox 1.5: 1974ms
Firefox 2: 1093ms
Internet Explorer 6: 1622ms
Internet Explorer 7: 2218ms

Average: 1 (2 votes)