Hacking NetFlix

Oscar Goodie Bag Info

The GirlHacker's Random Log (no relation) has put together an excellent list of some of the goodies that the attendees got at the Academy Awards.

Here's a partial list of what she found:

Update: Chad reports that they also received a lifetime Netflix subscription.

A Krups kitchen set including a toaster, electric kettle and a year's supply of coffee and tea ($700)

A two-night stay at The Carlyle hotel in New York ($2,300)

A red leather case full of Shu Uemura cosmetics, including mink eyelashes ($600)

A DuWop cosmetic kit filled with a selection of products and a gift certificate for a session with a Cloutier makeup artist. ($740)

A year's supply of Vonage broadband phone service ($500)

A three-night stay for two at Palmetto Bluff Resort in South Carolina ($3,600)

A two-night stay for two at Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley, CA($2,500)

A three-night stay for two at St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point, CA (includes personal "surf butler") ($5,900)

I guess in life you only get this kind of stuff when you can afford it. ;-)

New Releases for March 1st, 2005

Here's the list of new releases for this week.

Interesting movies this week include SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie (in my queue), Exorcist: The Beginning, Word Wars, The Brady Bunch: Season 1, Flight of the Phoenix, Bambi: Platinum Edition, and My Own Private Idaho.

Add the Winning Movies to Your Queue

Did you know that you can add movies to your queue long before they're out on DVD? Netflix posted this banner just after the Academy Awards last night:

Here's a partial list of the winning movies you can add to your queue so you'll know when they're released on DVD (some are already available):

Million Dollar Baby
Ray (available now)
The Aviator
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (available)
Spiderman 2 (available)
The Incredibles
Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events
Finding Neverland
The Motorcycle Diaries
Sideways
Born into Brothels
The Sea Inside
Garden State (available)
Mean Creek
Maria Full of Grace (available)
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (available)

A Netflix Odyssey: What More is There to Blog?

This was posted on A Netflix Odyssey (reprinted in full with permission):

What more is there to blog?

When I started A Netflix Odyssey, it was because I couldn't find any clearly accurate data about Netflix reliability, there were folks ranting about all kinds of conspiracy theories concerning how Netflix was abusing them, and I wanted to publish some of what I was seeing out of my tracking log.

Since then, I've discovered two major Netflix blogs, more than one heavy user has started their own blog, there's the netflix_operations_discuss Yahoo Group, a Netflix-Users Google Group, and Listology has put together a public Netflix Tracker. There are just a lot more communication resources available to Netflix users.

There has recently been quite a bit of controversy and heated debate over the question of whether Netflix intentionally slows down shipments to heavy users, but it's a debate I've dropped out of. Too many of the "conspiracy theorists" won't listen to reason and keep spreading their theories as "facts". So to avoid pointless banter, I've refrained from discussing it.

But now I find I have very little left to say. I'm not a heavy user, I've received nothing but excellent service from Netflix, and I've started three more blogging projects since the beginning of the year. I'm curious about where it will all end up... will Netflix survive Wal-Mart (nobody's talking about them lately!), Blockbuster (the real threat) and maybe Amazon.com? But I don't need my blog to keep abreast of what's happening there. And I've got the Yahoo Group if I want to talk about Netflix with folks.

It seems a shame to close out the most popular blog I've written. But everything has its season, and I think the season for A Netflix Odyssey may have passed. We'll see. I'll leave the site up for a couple months. If I find nothing to write about in that time, I'll probably just close up shop, move on to other projects, and enjoy watching my movies.

I'm sorry to see Carl move on to other things, but I can understand. Blogging takes a lot of energy, and I wish him the best with his other projects.

Spirit & Academy Award Winners

Here's the winners: IFP Indepedent Spirit Awards and Academy Awards.

Oscars & Independent Spirit Awards Weekend

Grab your popcorn (or set your TiVo) and get ready for the 77th Annual Academy Awards tomorrow night at 8pm (EST) or 5pm (PST) on ABC, hosted by Chris Rock. You can view the nominees or print a ballot to help you keep track of your choices and the winners.

If you want a look behind the scenes be sure to check out the producer's blog, written by Gil Cates.

If you're looking for a slightly different take on movie awards, be sure to check out the IFP's 20th Independent Spirit Film Awards at 10pm (EST) tonight on Bravo, hosted by Samuel L. Jackson. Netflix is a partner of the IFP and offered free limited Netflix memberships so the IFP members could screen the nominees.

Who do you want to win?

Blockbuster Announces Quarterly Cash Dividend

This is short, so I'll run the entire release:

DALLAS, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors of Blockbuster Inc. today declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.02 per share of common stock, payable March 28, 2005, to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 14, 2005.

Blockbuster Inc. is a leading global provider of in-home movie and game entertainment, with more than 9,000 stores throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Company may be accessed worldwide at Blockbuster.com.

CNN/Money: Revenge of Netflix?

CNN/Money is running a story about the potential for Netflix to break out in 2005, "Revenge of Netflix?"

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Here's an award you won't see Charlize Theron handing out on Sunday's Academy Awards: and the winner of the Biggest Cinematic Stock Flop of 2004 goes to...

Netflix!

The stock of the popular online DVD rental service, a smash hit in the market in 2003, turned into the equivalent of Wall Street's "Catwoman" last year. The stock tumbled 55 percent as investors began to worry about the impact increased competition would have on profits.

Sure, Netflix (Research) is still the market leader in the online DVD rental market, and it has a lot of loyal customers -- including this writer. But being the first entrant in a new market is no guarantee of long-term success. Just ask TiVo.

There is hope, however:

Investors probably should also not discount the fact that Netflix has a strong brand name and solid reputation for service. Subscribers may not be as zealous as say, iPod owners, but these cinephiles are pretty faithful and are prone to rave about how fast DVDs arrive in the mail.

Ernst said this was evident in the full year subscriber numbers for 2004. The price increase may have caused some customers to leave but subscribers didn't flee in droves. And it appears that many came back.

"It was a pleasant surprise that churn didn't go up more last year," said Ernst. "Netflix has great customer service and service quality means a lot."

So don't count out Netflix just yet. The stock could wind up making a Virginia Madsen-like comeback in 2005.

Be sure to check out the sidebar, "Being First Isn't Everything," which lists innovators like Betamax, the Newton (I owned one of those), Webvan and TiVo.

Thanks to Joe for sending this in.

WSJ: Paramount to Speed Up DVD Releases

Joe alerted me to a Wall Street Journal Online story about how the new management at Paramount is finally going to speed up the release of their library on DVD.

The studio is set to unleash a host of classics this year, including "Happy Days," "The Brady Bunch" and "The Beverly Hillbillies," followed later by shows such as "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place."

The old 1980s show "MacGyver" is another one Paramount has up its sleeve. Viacom is expected to whip up some $15 million in sales and $5 million of profit from DVDs of "MacGyver," an action-adventure series about a troubleshooter who could disarm nuclear missiles with a paper clip or stop an acid leak with a Hershey bar. Similarly, the DVD series of "Charmed," a more recent show about three witch sisters, is expected to generate more than $60 million in sales and some $15 million in profit.

It's not easy or cheap to get a DVD version of a tv show or movie released:

However, the expense of renegotiating the actors and producers, and clearing the music rights, can sometimes cut into profits. On the first season of "Happy Days," for instance, it cost almost $1 million just to get the music clearance.

Business 2.0: Showtime for Netflix

When I got my mail today I was surprised to see "Netflix's New Plan: Be Like Dell" on the cover of Business 2.0. I love this magazine, and I always find something useful in each issue.

Are they talking about us?

It's hard not to root for Netflix, really, even if you're not one of its devoted, even cultish, customers.

Can Netflix win by having an early lead and innovating?

Hastings admits that price wars suck, especially with firms bigger and better capitalized than your own. But he sees the looming battle as a "classic case where our competitors have size, but we have focus." The asset behind that advantage is the Netflix subscriber base, the size of which gives the company what Hastings believes is an insurmountable lead. In a word-of-mouth-driven industry like online DVD rentals, growth is an increasing-returns phenomenon: The more satisfied customers you have, the more new ones you get a shot at. And also the more cost-effective it is to invest in new features -- for example, Netflix Friends, a service that lets users share movie reviews and recommendations with each other.

On the price war with Blockbuster:

But Blockbuster faces a quandary. As it spurs a price war online, it is, in effect, turning its own in-store customers into less profitable Web-based ones. (Similarly, Blockbuster's bottom line is already suffering from the end of late fees.) Hastings argues that Netflix is better equipped to handle such dynamics. "After five years in business, our systems, software, and processes are highly tuned, so we can quickly break even on rapid growth and low prices," he says. "Our favorite analogy is Dell, which makes money on prices that no one else in the industry can profit from."

One very interesting bit of information: Walmart only has an estimated 50,000 subscribers (my estimate was much higher, but less than Blockbuster's estimated 500,000).

Thanks to Eric for sending this in.