Opinion - SlashGear

‘opinion’ Stories

Columns

Is this the chance Netflix rivals have been waiting for?

Don Reisinger, Jul 13th 2011 Discuss [36]

Netflix might have committed a major blunder earlier this week by announcing that customers who had previously paid $9.99 per month for unlimited DVD rentals (with one DVD out at a time) and unlimited streaming will now need to pay $15.98 for the same service.

In essence, Netflix is saying that those who want DVDs and streaming won’t get anything new or better, but they will need to pay more for that right. And as expected, a large group of the company’s customers have come out in criticism of that.

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Columns

ICANN Destroys Main Street Dot Com

Philip Berne, Jul 13th 2011 Discuss [6]

Can you guess what the most common street name is in the U.S.A.? It’s not main street. It’s Second street. When you think about it, that makes sense. Some towns have a main street, and then the next street over is Second. Some towns have a First street. Some towns have Division street. Park street is the second most popular street name, but Second Street is the most popular. But it is only the most popular because every town also has a main thoroughfare, and the other streets branch off from there. Even though the most popular street in America is Second, that would not be true if there was not some central location toward which all of the other streets pointed.

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Columns

How Will I Teach My Son That Han Shot First?

Philip Berne, Jul 11th 2011 Discuss [22]

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility” – William Wordsworth

Recently, the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” digitally altered a rerun to feature an advertisement for an upcoming movie. I would not call the reaction online outrage so much as trepidation. There is a huge concern that this will become the norm in television. A revisionist history where the reruns, which act as a stored memory of the shows we once watched, or never got the chance to see, are subject to the whims of commercialism. What if all of the boxes of cereal in Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment are changed to modern brands? What if the beers poured in Cheers are all adapted to modern brews? What if K.I.T.T. is suddenly a Camaro, since the Pontiac brand has disappeared?

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Columns

Relationship Me vs. Independent Me On Google+

Philip Berne, Jul 10th 2011 Discuss [20]

I am a libra. Like most people I know, I put no faith in the zodiac; I have no magical belief that everyone born within a 30-day block can share the same daily experience, or bear the same personality traits. But as pure amusement, if a horoscope passes in front of me, I may read it, just for fun. I always thought libra meant balance. It is the sign of the scales, after all, and so I believed it meant temperance, and equivocation. That’s not really me. I’d like to be more balanced, but I’m probably closer to manic. Then, while I was teaching at a high school in Brooklyn, a colleague asked for my zodiac sign. When I told her, she nodded: “That makes sense.”

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Columns

Sony Must Announce the PlayStation 4 ASAP

Don Reisinger, Jul 9th 2011 Discuss [182]

Earlier this week, reports surfaced suggesting Sony would be launching the PlayStation 4 next year. Almost immediately, Sony fans jumped for joy at the news, while Microsoft fans scoffed at the idea. And along the way, Sony hasn’t said for sure what might happen.

Even so, I’m here to tell you (and Sony) that the PlayStation 4 should launch as early as possible next year.

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Columns

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review

Philip Berne, Jul 8th 2011 Discuss [20]

I will admit that I am a hater. An overwhelming majority of my movie reviews on SlashGear have been negative. When they were positive, they were usually reviews for pretentious Oscar-fodder like Black Swan. I’m more likely to hate movies that other people liked, and I pride myself more on hating those movies in new and interesting ways, rather than bucking the trend. This is why my review of “Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon” may come as a surprise. If you liked anything about the previous Transformers movies, you will like “Transformers 3.” I recommend it. Go see it and have a good time.

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Columns

How Often Should You Replace Your TV?

Don Reisinger, Jul 7th 2011 Discuss [19]

Over the July 4 weekend, I was with some friends discussing televisions. We were talking about the different technologies and what sort of features we look for in new sets. After a lengthy discussion, our talk on TVs quickly turned to how often we all replace our current sets. As we went around the room discussing when we last replaced our televisions, and how long we had sets before that, I was shocked at the discrepancy in times.

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Columns

Google+ and the Privacy Pit

Chris Davies, Jul 7th 2011 Discuss [8]

Google may not have said it publicly, but its Google+ social network was deemed a Facebook rival from the very start. Now, as more elements of the Google+ experience reveal themselves, it’s beginning to look like Google’s push for social isn’t just about taking on Facebook and Twitter, but changing its own positioning and strategy on public sharing. With the Picasa and Blogger brands under threat, private profiles facing the chop and +1 buttons spreading across the web, is the “Google+ vs. Facebook” showdown hype masking a potentially more significant rebalancing of public vs. private?

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Columns

Should Kinect Play A Role In the Xbox 720?

Don Reisinger, Jul 3rd 2011 Discuss [48]

When the Nintendo Wii launched, the future of motion gaming was in doubt. Some speculated that the console would die as soon as it launched, since they suspected gamers wouldn’t want to jump around to play titles. Others said that motion gaming was the future.

Now, several years later, it’s clear motion gaming did work, and looking ahead, it will seemingly play a key role in all Nintendo products.

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Columns

Cars 2 Review

Philip Berne, Jul 1st 2011 Discuss [48]

“Cars 2” is not just a bad movie, it is dangerously bad. It is, by far, the worst movie Pixar has ever made, though “A Bug’s Life” may give it competition in that race. It is the most poorly written, the most poorly designed, voiced, and executed movie in Pixar’s otherwise stellar line-up. Heck, even the opening short was horrible, and those are usually the sweet cherry on the Pixar sundae.

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Columns

RIM’s Damage Control was Blandly Inevitable

Chris Davies, Jun 30th 2011 Discuss [3]

What can you learn from how a company takes criticism? Headlines-a-plenty today, as an anonymous “senior RIM executive” takes the time to pen an eight part breakdown of where the Canadian company falls short and what steps it needs to take if it’s to reverse its dwindling market share. RIM arguably did itself few favors with its response, either, a terse and defensive blast that questions the letter’s authenticity – admittedly something we have to take on trust – and then dismisses the concerns with a wave of the hand.

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Columns

Why I Can Live Without Blu-ray

Don Reisinger, Jun 30th 2011 Discuss [52]

There was a time in my life, not too long ago, that I thought I couldn’t live without the Blu-ray player sitting in my living room. I reasoned that since I’m such a big film and television buff, not having Blu-ray available to me would be a major issue.

But over the weekend, I had an epiphany.