Planning to watch a classic movie via Netflix? You might not find the title that’s in your mind, because it’s expiration time again. Starting today, Netflix will lose hundreds of classic titles including James Bond classics like Dr. No and Goldfinger, Woody Allen’s “Stardust Memories”, and “10 to Midnight” starring Charles Bronson.

According to InstantWatcher, 1,794 different titles will disappear from the service this month. And it’s not because the titles are going to the Warner Instant Archive as assumed earlier by many. Netflix has many licensing deals for movies, and sometimes when deals expire they simply do not renew less viewed titles. Netflix has confirmed that many titles being removed this month were from a deal with Epix.

And this is not the first time that a drop of titles has happened. Last year, their contract with Starz expired and famous titles such as “Scarface”, “Toy Story 3″, and “Gangs of New York” were removed.

But Netflix is promising the addition of more than 500 new titles including Mission Impossible 2. And also, as you might know, they are planning more and more exclusive original content.

This is what Netflix has to say on the matter:

“The vast majority of the titles that expire on Wednesday are older features that were aggregated by Epix. We recently added many great, more recent titles such as ParaNorman (Universal), Hunger Games (Epix), Safe (Epix) and Bachelorette (Weinstein). Tomorrow [May 1] we will also add MI: 2, among many other titles.

Netflix is a dynamic service, we constantly update the TV shows and movies that are available to our members. We will add more than 500 titles May 1, but we also have titles expiring, this ebb and flow happens all the time“.

Check out InstantWatcher’s full list of the movies being dropped and let us know if one of your favorites is in there.

[Source]

The post Netflix Losing Many Classic Titles Starting Today appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Redbox, the movie rental kiosk company has been planning a partnership with Verizon to attempt to break into the video streaming market for some time, but it looks like it is all coming together now.  Associated Press reported Redbox Instant by Verizon is set to be launched late December as invite-only for the time being.

I’m sure what you are all asking is what is going to set this apart from what Netflix is already doing?  That is not for sure at this point. To start with, let me tell you the meat and potatoes of what we do know.  For $8/month you will get unlimited streaming and 4 nights of DVD rentals.  For $9 you get 4 nights of Blu-Ray rentals.  Webpage AllthingsD stated that Redbox would also have an unlimited, no disk, streaming for $6/month, 2 bucks cheaper than Netflix and Hulu Plus.

All this sounds good, however the downside to the Redbox streaming is that at time of launch they won’t offer any TV shows, which is a big piece of Netflix business and the majority of Hulu’s.  The Chief Executive of the project, Shawn Strickland told the AP the service is “targeted squarely at movie lovers.”  While they will have a more mainstream catalog than their competitors, is this going to be enough to take their slice of the pie?

Redbox’s official press release shows plans starting at $8 level with 4 night DVD rental, so it is unsure if the streaming only option will even be available.  This release also advises some streaming options of apps for iOS and Androids, LG and Samsung’s smart TVs and Blu-Ray players, as well as Google TVs, with more stream options available as things develop.

At this time there is no set date for the service to be switched from invite to main stream release.

Do you think their blockbuster movies and possible lower price will be enough to make customers defect from their current subscription service?  What streaming service do you currently use and would you make the switch?

[ source ]

The post Redbox to Launch Streaming Service appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Last Friday I had the pleasure of heading to the theater and checking out the new Total Recall. As a fan of the 1990 Arnold-staring version, I hoped that this new remake would be just as much as a thrill ride as the first time around. How was it? I will keep this article as spoiler free as possible. For those who liked the original, seeing Total Recall transformed into a modern film is a huge treat. Those who know little about the 1990 film? Again, this is still a great ride if you like action movies that also have heavy technology use incorporated into the story line.

I will warn you that the movie does start out a little slowly, but don’t get frustrated and walk away. After a little bit, the movie starts packing in intense action and starts to get exciting pretty quickly. The story is engaging, and even if you’ve seen the original film, a few changes exist that doesn’t allow the plot to feel stale at all. As for the acting? The characters were believable in their roles, and I feel like they did a great job in choosing actors that truly fit the characters they are playing.

If I had to rate it from a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give this film a solid 8. It’s not perfect, but it keeps you entertained throughout the whole experience (except for the very beginning where it is just a bit too slow). Is it movie of the year material? No, but it is still a fun ride.

Almost more interesting to me than the movie itself though is the concept technology found in these two films. The 1990 version has already seen things come true in the 20+ years since its release, such as flat TVs on the wall (LCD TVs anyone?)- what about the newest chapter?

Memory Implanting Technology

The idea of implanting memories is probably the most ambitious technology in the two versions of the film. This seems so Sci-Fi that there is no way we will have such technology in just two decades, right? I wouldn’t be so sure so.

In today’s science labs, we might not be close to creating new memories, but we are working hard to create ‘recall’ tactics that can bring back long forgotten or repressed memories. A new method led by M.I.T.’s department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences have created a way to inject special medicine into mice allowing restoration of memory in mice after significant numbers of neurons where already lost in the brain.

This may not be as sophisticated as anything seen in the movie Total Recall, but it still could have a major impact when helping with Alzheimer’s disease or even helping those that had accidents that caused the damage of neurons in the brain.

Magnetically Levitating Cars

The cars in Total Recall weren’t of the totally roadless variety, instead they used elevated tracks that used magnetic force. Could this happen? Actually yes- sort of. The Tel Aviv University has already created a small scale puck that uses “quantum levitation” and a track that it can float around on. While no where near as sophisticated as you’ll see in the movie, it’s clear that the technology is possible- even if we aren’t quite there yet.

What’s worth noting is that the original 1990 version of Total Recall had its own ‘revolutionary’ car system, a vehicle that could drive itself. For those who don’t know, Google is doing that right now with its self-driving automobile.

Are We There Yet?

Alright, so we aren’t quite able to do the things found in the movie just yet, but give us 20+ years and it’s hard to say where we will be. Other unique technologies found in the movie include a telephone that is embedded in the palm of the hand. This phone is nothing short of awesome. Slamming it up against glass turns it into a Skype-like video conferencing device or a full fledged touch-based computer when pressed against the glass.

When it comes to the phone, we are nowhere near such a tech level, though we are now starting to move into the territory of wearable devices. Emerging technologies like flexible glass are all part of the process that will lead the way to such innovations.

We may not be able to do have the stuff found in Total Recall just yet, but something tells me we won’t have to wait to the very end of the 21^st century to get half the technologies that made appearances in the movie. Other things in the movie, like the fridge that is totally a touch surface for writing notes and such, essentially already exists. Many refrigerators on the market today already have small touch panels built into them for watching TV and leaving notes, such as the Samsung WIFI refrigerator.

Have you seen Total Recall yet? What did you think? How close do you think we are to some of the technology found in the movie?

The post Total Recall: How Close are we to such technologies? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.