Netflix opens Watch Now for Mac

Netflix has officially announced “Watch it Now” for the Mac is here! Thanks to the MS Silverlight-based streaming movie player for Apple, you can now stream movies on your Mac from any internet connection.

So far eight movies from Netflix’s “top 100,” and a lot of old stuff is available. Netflix cautions that “not all movies are available to watch with Silverlight” and that “you may notice errors or lower than normal quality when watching certain titles.

If your looking to hook your computer to your TV keep in mind that fullscreen mode doesn’t work on a second display, and silverlight only works with Intel Macs. The video quality can range from decent to poor. Its surly not as good as the PC version yet.

I canceled my Netflix in the summer when there seemed to be nothing I was interested in on DVD. I have recently signed up again to give the streaming a try. My opinion is that its great when you just want to watch a movie on your computer and don’t expect an amazing picture. If your looking for On-Demand quality, this setup is not for you, and needs improvement. Its a great start and worth $9 a month if you use it.

Barack Obama and tech

Barack Obama, in this photo by Peter Yang, grabs your attention in a few ways, but my eyes went straight to the packman eating Apple MacBook. We can only hope he can trade out his Blackberry for an iPhone but maybe that’s pushing it. Perhaps the most tech savvy president to date has a weekly podcast where he addresses the public on plans for America. Catch Barack Obama’s Podcast Here. 

Obama has some great plans for advancing science, technology, and innovation for the future, protecting the openness of the Internet, deploying a modern communications infrastructure, and improving America’s competitiveness in technology. Read more at barackobama.com.

Totally iPhone

At POTU (President of the Universe) we love our iPhones, and have tried our best to make the site Compliant on the little browser. Today marks our launch into total iPhone compatibility. Our site now formats itself when you visit on your iPhone Safari Browser. We still have a little fine tuning to do but I think you will like the way we bring Mac news to your fingertips. Bellow are a few screenshots and descriptions of features.

A crisp navigation from the menu tab is a touch away, making zooming in to see the menu a thing of the past. Our Wallpaper and Videos sections will be revamped in the next few weeks to bring cleaner support. We have some new exciting sections in the works as well, but mums the word till we get closer to release.

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A Sep. Apple Event?

Rumors of an apple event next month are fueling speculations of possible product upgrades and announcements. Apple Insider is expecting to see a new iPod Lineup with possible redesigns, more capacity and generally the same price tags, with the exception of the iPod Touch possibly meeting the iPhone at $199. This seems reasonable and fits Apples trends. iPods seem to change with the seasons so to see some new ones would be expected.

The big news comes with the recent rumors of Apple being heavily involved in researching touch technology and holds many patents which include both technology and gestures for touch pads and screens. The new MacBooks are only starting to see this. The MacBook Intel introduced two finger touch for right click and two fingered swipe for scrolling. The latest MackBooks feature the ability to zoom in and out with two fingers as you would on an iPhone. While it’s rumored that Apples next event may reveal some new laptops, I believe its likely to see only mild upgrades to the way we use them. I would hope for some updates in style for the MacBook which has looked the same for the past two years, and the MacBook Pro which has been solid grey for five years. Even though it looks pretty slick in grey. I gota say I would love to see a touch screen MacBook but I just think it’s a little unlikely this soon. I believe apple will continue to explore touch technology and we may see some touch screens within the next two to three years.

Mozy, Free Backups

Mozy said, “one in every ten hard drives fail each year.” I don’t really know if that even means anything!? Do you mean Hard Drives that are a year old? Or just ten random Hard Drives that failed within a year? Or maybe we shouldn’t think about it because hard drives do go out and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

If your not out to spend a Hundred bucks on MobileMe this year, but you still want to back up your Mac. You may want to give mozy a try. Mozy is a simple and safe way to back up all the important stuff on your computer. A copy of your data is stored in a secure, remote location for safekeeping, so that in the event of disaster your data is still retrievable.

When I replaced my work computer I used Mozy to restore all my contacts, email, key-chains, miscellaneous settings and some important data to its fresh installation. It worked great and was easy to set up. The best part is that Mozy gives you 2Gigs FREE!!! However, if you need more space You’ll be paying close to MobileMe prices anyway.