Mind over money

[Wonk]

I just finished watching the nova special "Mind over money" and it was really well done.  They debate EMH, discuss bubbles and look into the psychology of economics.  It's not really about money per se, more about the decision making process when people evaluate economic choices.  I thought they did a great job and it's worth 50 minutes to watch.  If you're interested, you can stream from netflix.

[MediumTex]

Netflix streaming is one of the coolest things to come along for me in a long time.

I absolutely love it. 

I watched the Nova episode you are referring to a while back and enjoyed it.

[Pkg Man]

Netflix streaming is one of the coolest things to come along for me in a long time.

I absolutely love it. 

I watched the Nova episode you are referring to a while back and enjoyed it.

What device are you using to stream netflix?  Blu-ray dvd, apple tv, other?  I'm looking to buy one or the other soon.

[MediumTex]

Netflix streaming is one of the coolest things to come along for me in a long time.

I absolutely love it.  

I watched the Nova episode you are referring to a while back and enjoyed it.

What device are you using to stream netflix?  Blu-ray dvd, apple tv, other?  I'm looking to buy one or the other soon.

LG blu-ray on one tv and Nintendo wii on another.  Ipad also streams nicely.

LG player works great, though I think the Netflix interface is basically the same on all of the players.

[Wonk]

Netflix streaming is one of the coolest things to come along for me in a long time.

I absolutely love it.  

I watched the Nova episode you are referring to a while back and enjoyed it.

What device are you using to stream netflix?  Blu-ray dvd, apple tv, other?  I'm looking to buy one or the other soon.

LG blu-ray on one tv and Nintendo wii on another.  Ipad also streams nicely.

LG player works great, though I think the Netflix interface is basically the same on all of the players.

The funny thing is in about 5 years we're all going to say, "remember when we used to play DVD's?"  I'm totally excited about the ability to stream video over multiple devices.  Mobile streaming is another technology quickly gaining steam.  I can't wait to watch Red Sox games on my phone in Costa Rica.

[MediumTex]

Here is why I like Netflix streaming:

1. No commercials
2. Awesome selection of old and/or obscure movies, documentaries and kids' shows (though new releases are thin right now)
3. Cheap
4. On-demand (cancel the TV Guide subscription)
5. Convenient (no discs to buy, store and take care of)

For $8 or $9 a month, the value is amazing.

I also love satellite radio (for all the reasons above except 4.)

[Jan Van]

Love Netflix streaming too. But, every now and then, it stutters (like the other night when I was watching Ip Man). Then for a second I'm afraid everybody else in my neighborhood caught on to this and subscribed too... Most of the time it works great though :-)

And this documentary is in my queue. Just got to find the time...

[MediumTex]

...the other night when I was watching Ip Man.

I watched that a couple of weeks ago.  What a great movie.  He was sort of like a Chinese "Billy Jack."

Seriously, though, Ip Man was like a walking un-opened can of whup-ass.

[Jan Van]

Seriously, though, Ip Man was like a walking un-opened can of whup-ass.

Yes. Impressive. In case people wonder why Bruce Lee was an amazing martial artists, watch Ip Man. Now i'm waiting for Ip Man 2...

If you like martial arts movies, also try Ong-Bak. I didn't like the movie as such that much, but the martial arts are quite interesting to see. Talking about whup-ass...

[Lone Wolf]

I'm surprised that everyone is so unanimously thumbs-up on Netflix streaming.  Our experience has been very mixed.  The selection seemed really spotty.  It's rare for us to find anything we both really, really want to watch.

While it's the best streaming implementation I've ever seen, it is still a streaming tech, with all of the limitations that come with that (many of which I expect to be resolved in the coming years.)  The visual and audio experience is "not bad" but I'm very spoiled by Blu-Ray right now.  At this point, streaming is not playing in the same ball park as Blu-Ray.

I really love being able to stream Netflix to iPhone.  That was a cool surprise.

The price on the streaming-only service is good, but it currently seems to be subsidized by the customers that rent discs.  Netflix has been jacking those prices up more and more, which is very annoying.  (Or perhaps the asset bubble that The Ben Bernank is trying to blow has wound up taking root in my disc rental prices.)

I'd call it the king of streaming, but I still feel like streaming itself has some growing up to do.  It is the future, though.

[Jan Van]

I'm surprised that everyone is so unanimously thumbs-up on Netflix streaming.  Our experience has been very mixed.  The selection seemed really spotty.  It's rare for us to find anything we both really, really want to watch.

I'm on the streaming + 1disc plan. So for movies that aren't streamed yet, I put them in the dvd queue. I'm impressed with the speed of the disc mailing. Usually it takes three days roundtrip. So today I put Ratatouille in my mailbox, tomorrow I should get the return confirmation and later in the day the mailing confirmation. Then I should have the next disc, Shooter, by Saturday...
Streaming choices are spotty, yes. Somehow it's easier to find things to watch for me than it is for my wife :-) I loaded my queue up with a bunch of Nova and Frontline documentaries, just don't have the time to watch them. They don't interest my wife as much...
Last week or the week before I streamed "The Love Guru". But for some reason now it's not available for streaming anymore. Wonder why...

[Lone Wolf]

You're right on the disc mailing.  The speed is wonderful.  (I've been a Netflix customer for just under ten years now.)  We used to be a 3-disc family but eventually scaled it back to 1 disc as the price climbed.  (We do Blu-Ray discs and they have an extra fee for that vs DVD, so it got high.)

Yeah, the movies disappearing off of streaming is really weird.  I was in the middle of Conan the Barbarian when they "disappeared" it!  This kind of thing has happened several times and tempered my (initially very high) enthusiasm for the service.  At least they let me get through the Conan "what is best in life" speech!

I'm sure in time this kind of service will get much better.  Color me impressed but not all that satisfied (yet).

I've added "Mind Over Money" to my Netflix queue.  Not-so-bold prediction: my wife asks me why I add all these "boring documentaries" to the queue. 

[MediumTex]

The thing I like most about the streaming is the documentaries (for me) and the kids' shows (for the kids).

The documentary selection is not only huge, but it also contains MANY selections that you would simply never see on normal television--the topics are too out of the way, too peculiar.  I love watching them, though.

Has anyone seen "Man on Wire"?  Wow.  What an amazing story.  High wire artist strings a wire between the World Trade Center towers one day in the early 1970s and walks it.

[Jan Van]

What's quite nice too is that you can use the streaming on up to six distinct devices. That's quite liberal! So I'll set up my son's laptop for this too so he can stream movies when he's back in college next week. Maybe he won't buy too many more DVDs then...