Amazon.com Widgets

Netflix

Its not your stream box, its your rubbish remote

If you care about streaming video and other media you’re probably familiar with the plethora of "stream boxes" available for media consumption. None are awesome; most of the ones you’ve heard of are decent. I've been using Rokus since 2008, or about the time Netflix lifted their cap on streaming. It has always been a solid option ("no one ever got fired for buying a [Roku]"), and now we have several other options, such as Apple TVAmazon Fire TV, or Google Chromecast - to name any other stand-alone stream box you should consider purchasing. Of course there are also the consoles, PlayStation 4Xbox One and Nintendo’s horribly underpowered, still-no-HD-Zelda-box, to name the latest. With the vast majority of these stream boxes you will be able to watch the non-negotiables: Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, YouTube, or Amazon Prime. As you might expect, there are a few annoyances in content procurement, like iTunes and Apple TV exclusivity. Streaming content on any of the devices mentioned above is a fair experience, but not devoid of stutter, lag and freezing during rewind, fast forward and playback - even with the abundance of processing power in the meekest of said devices.

Ultimately however, the biggest problem by far is not that you can't get content, but...

Cola and Net Neutrality

Cola and Net Neutrality

Nilay Patel recently wrote an article for theverge.com about Net Neutrality. Its a great rant, even if the title may alienate some. I will not repeat points about the impending and systematic killing of the Internet as we know it, for profit. It is enough that you understand that Comcast, Verizon and the like are Cola X and that Netflix and everything you love is Cola Y in the video above.