Cutting cable can save you upwards of $500 a year, and Lifehacker shows you how to do it while still getting to watch all your favorite shows and movies online. [More]
movies
Walmart Closing Down Vudu's Porn Channel
By 2.24.10
To no one’s great surprise, Vudu has announced that now that it belongs to Walmart it will be shutting down the adult section. No more streaming HD porn from Vudu, everybody. Their announcement after the jump. [More]
YouTube To Rent Movies
By 1.21.10
Tomorrow, YouTube will start renting online movies at $4 for 48 hours. At launch, the selection will consist of five titles from the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, says the Associated Press, but Google hopes to get studios on board in the coming months. Studios will be able to set their own prices and rental periods, however, should they participate. [More]
Netflix CEO Explains Why They Made The 28-Day Delay Deal
By 1.19.10
Earlier this month, Netflix made a deal with Warner Bros. to delay new DVD releases for 28 days. Over at Hacking Netflix, the CEO of the company goes into some detail on why he approached Warner Bros. to begin with (it was his idea, not theirs), and why he thinks it will work out better for everyone except those customers who signed up expecting all new releases all the time. [More]
Pumpkinhead New Raisin Bran Crunch Spokesthing?
By 1.13.10
When I first watched Pumpkinhead–an Alien-style monster who’s rampaged through a few B-level horror movies–go on and on about finding inner peace and online dating, I thought of The Office. Now that I think about it, it’s probably closer in style to Aardman’s Creature Comfort animations. Either way, if you like horror movies, breakfast cereal, British accents, and very silly advertising, you’ll appreciate this clip. [More]
Netflix Streaming Finally Coming To The Wii
By 1.13.10
Those of you with the Wii will no longer be left out of the Netflix streaming party. The service is coming to the console this spring. [More]
See What Your Zipcode Likes To Rent On Netflix
By 1.11.10
The NYT has taken some data released by Netflix (the top 50 rental titles for each zipcode) and made some interactive heat maps out of it. It’s weirdly fun. [More]
Is Blockbuster Sending Out Gimped Versions Of Some Blu-rays?
By 1.11.10
William claims Blockbuster sent him a not-so-special edition of The Hangover on Blu-ray that doesn’t let him access an unrated version of the movie. [More]
Redbox Customer Rents Blank Disk
By 1.8.10
Russ says he rented a movie from Redbox and ended up with a blank disc. He also says he can’t get an answer from Redbox on what to do next.
I rented three DVDs for my kids at a San Antonio, TX location, then drove back home with them to Austin. When I took one of them out of its case, I noticed that it was a just a blank CD-R. The previous renter had taken the I.D. label from the original DVD and messily placed it on the CD-R.
Borders Crushes Employee Morale To Push Copies Of "Piano Teacher"
By 1.6.10
There is some sort of epic battle going on inside Zone #5 of dying book seller Borders to move as many units of the novel The Piano Teacher as possible. And goddamnit, people are just not pulling their weight, according to a string of emails from Zone VP Mike’s demoralized underlings posted on LiveJournal: “To the GMs of these 16 stores, thanks for nothing. Had you managed your inventory, processed your freight and/or effectively executed a simple expectation (SELL at least one Make/Key ITEM EVERY DAY), your team (Zone 5) would have won…If you can deliver we will finish one, one-hundreth of a percent ahead of Zone 3 for PTD sales of Piano Teacher. If not, we lose…again.” [More]
10 Movie Theater Secrets
By 1.5.10
Yahoo Finance put together a list of 10 secrets about movie theaters, dropping some interesting factoids, including this justification for why concession snacks are so expensive: [More]
Star Trek Blu-ray Digital Download Codes All Used Up?
By 12.30.09
Nero, the Romulan villain who was driven mad by lens flares in the latest Star Trek movie, found a way to travel forward in time and use up a bunch of authorization codes included in special edition Blu-ray sets. For now, until Paramount’s support staff get back from the holidays, all you can do with that third disc is flash light into the eyes of people around you and call yourself J. J. Abrams. [More]
Amazon Handing Out Digital Flicks As Bonuses For Disc Buys
By 12.14.09
In a push to get people buying DVDs and Blu-rays online rather than off shelves, Amazon is tossing in a nice little bonus: a digital copy of the film to rent or keep, HD Digest reports: [More]
Update: Accidental "New Moon" Taping Felony Charges Dropped
By 12.11.09
The felony piracy charges against a woman who accidentally taped a few minutes of the film “New Moon” while taking videos of her sister’s birthday party have been dropped. The incident occurred at a theater in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, and Cook County prosecutors announced today that they have dropped the case. [More]
Let This Comic Strip Show You How To Save Money At The Movies
By 12.8.09
Scott Meyer frequently makes brilliant observations in his “Basic Instructions” comic, and by brilliant I mean nutjob. In the most recent one, “How to Save Money,” the comic version of Meyer realizes how expensive movie concessions are. Considering how many people commented on this the last time I posted about it, I thought you might find his ideas useful. Now I’m off to buy a stovepipe hat! [More]
Samsung's Repair Service Can't Seem To Fix My Blu-Ray
By 12.8.09
Matthew raves about Samsung’s Twitter customer service (@samsungservice), but is incensed about the repair process itself, which he says has failed to stop his Blu-ray from freezing up like Sean Suisham. [More]
AMC Theater Chain Bans All Outside Snacks
By 12.3.09
After reporting a loss in the 2nd quarter of this year, AMC is doing what it can to increase revenue. Since the business model of movie theaters is to give all the ticket sales to the studios and scrape out a living on concessions, that means forcing more patrons to buy snacks–so it’s officially banning any outside food and drink. [More]
Blockbuster Doesn't Believe We've Returned Their Stupid Movie
By 11.27.09
Reader and admitted Geek Squad employee Mike says he and his girlfriend rented and returned The Ugly Truth at Blockbuster, but the floundering rental chain insists it can’t find the movie so his girlfriend is stuck with late fees that Blockbuster supposedly did away with years ago. [More]
