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The Oatmeal has a great cartoon on why Netflix is splitting into two entities. If you've not seen it, then please, go look now! :)

While the cartoon certainly puts a fine point on what most of us are thinking, I do think there are 2 clear reasons why Netflix would want to decouple the disc-rental business from online streaming. Those are:

1) Shipping Rates Are Killing By-Mail Disc Rentals.

This one is pretty obvious. Netflix relies heavily on the postal service, which is itself seeing dire times. I don't imagine that their margins are all that great on the by-mail disc rentals as it is, and all this uncertainty around postage rates and the future of the postal service has to be registering as a major risk on the quarterly reports. Ultimately, I'd be shocked if Netflix Qwixster didn't move to purchase or create one of those rental-box companies and then move strongly away from mail-based delivery of movies. Imagine a passcard with a PIN that let you check out N movies at a time, return them, and rent more, for an unlimited amount. For more rare movies, you then pay a premium for mail-based service. Or something like that.

2) Netflix Has a Multi-Login Problem.

The other great annoyance with this change is that there will now be 2 separate logins and web sites, rather than the single one we see today. Now, personally, I disagree with the complete decoupling of the online interface as single sign-on has existed for a while. But, while that's annoying, I do think I understand their motivation. As of today, multiple people can simultaneously login to Netflix using a shared account, and they can all stream shows at the same time. This has to be problematic for Netflix, not only because they're not seeing as much revenue as they should be, but I'd also wager that the movie studios are holding back a bunch of content because /they/ also don't see the revenue in the same way. In order to solve this problem, Netflix needed to find a way to allow multiple logins to manage the DVD queue while only allowing N logins (based on account level) to stream video. By completely splitting the site, they've probably "solved" this problem (though, albeit, in an incredibly inelegant fashion). I fully expect to see new account tiers from Netflix once the sites are split that forcibly limit users to 1 active login at a time. On the flip side, I also expect that they will increase and improve their online content (and it had better be a dramatic improvement).

Anyway... just my quick thoughts on this Netflix/Qwixster business... I can't say that I find it the most elegant solution, but if it helps them achieve their goals, then so be it. *shrug*

If you travel at all, or are concerned about doing local backups, or maybe don't even have any backups today (talking primarily here about home and SOHO environments), then you've probably thought a bit about the various online "backup" (or "archive") providers. I've looked at a bunch of them and had mixed results. One thing to beware: many of these services style themselves "archive" solutions, rather than "backup" solutions, all to dodge reliability commitments. As such, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts/results...

As noted in my last post, I've made the jump to Lion. Overall, it's pretty good. I've already noticed that it's a bit zippier than it's predecessor (Snow Leopard). That said, there are a few quirks that require customizing back to what I consider a bit more sane. I'll try to update this list as I find other options since I've still not discovered how to fix a few things (noted later).

I've had my fair share of stability issues with my 15" MacBook Pro (MBP) since I bought it in late 2009. I've had to replace the RAM, the hard drive, and dealt with all sorts of issues. I recently went on vacation and opted to leave the ol' MBP at home so that it, too, could have a vacation. I even shut it down all the way (how considerate of me!). When I returned home it fired right up, wanted to install a couple patches, and all that good stuff. And then it all started going bad...

After being home a couple days, my laptop started crashing with kernel panics (I call this the "grey screen of death" - OS X says you've crashed and need to hold down the power button to reboot). After a couple days of this nonsense, with it getting progressively worse, I decided to call Apple Support, which, btw, ROCKS. They had me shutdown, do an SMC Reset, then boot into Safe Boot mode (hold down shift before the boot-up chime) to remap drive and directory info. Viola! Problem solved! (or not)

This is just a quick update to let you know that the upgrade portion of my "Upgrade+Migration" project has completed successfully (yay!). I'm going to let things simmer here for a couple days to make sure everything is good before I move on to the next phase. In the meantime, you can find me in Austin, TX, Fri-Sat (3/11-12) where I'll be helping run - and speaking at - Security B-Sides Austin 2011! Yeehaw! :)

Just a heads-up, if this blog suddenly disappears from your feed in the next couple weeks, please check back to make sure your RSS link is correct. Those following on SBN or Feedburner should be unaffected, and I expect those directly linked to my feed will be unaffected as well. Nonetheless, I thought I'd let y'all know... just in case!

I loved this quote from today's EFFector 22.32 by the EFF.

* DVR Is TV's New BFF
Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), once considered a mortal threat by the
entertainment industry, have now become its new best friend. It's just
the latest example of how the industry's constant warnings of the
dangers of "piracy" frequently turn out to be baseless hysteria.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/11/dvr-tvs-new-bff

Unless you've been offline for a while or are a Windows user, you've probably heard that Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard
is out as of today. How exciting!!! I'm going to go order my copy right now. If you're running OS X, you should probably do the same. Woohoo!!! :)

Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard

Well, I guess it's about time I catch up with this social networking revolution. :) As of this morning (EDT) you can follow me on Twitter - @falconsview. Join me in mourning the loss of privacy and free time. ;)

Hello. I wanted to provide a couple updates on feeds. First, before I do that, I wanted to mention that, yes, I'm planning to move back to full post delivery in 2009, just as soon as we can get MT upgraded. Anyway, that being said...

Feedburner has been gobbled by Google. As such, if you're subscribed directly to this blog, then please update to my new Google feed:
http://feedproxy.google.com/secureconsulting/ujTc

Second, if you're a subscriber to the Security Blogger Network feed, then you've likely already read that their feeds were also impacted by the Feedburner acquisition. As such, please make sure that you've updated your subscription to reflect the new address:
http://www.securitybloggers.net/feed/

Lastly, I know nobody will read this far, but just the same, if you feel so inclined, please participate in the first ever Social Security Awards. This is an award hosted by SBN for security bloggers. If you were going to vote for me *ahem* I think I'd best fit under either "Best Non-Technical Security Blog" or "Most Entertaining Security Blog". :) Or not, whatever. :) Vote here:
http://www.socialsecurityawards.com/