My wife and I had used Netflix for a longtime almost since its inception and were very happy with it. Living in Michigan, it was very nice to receive movies in the mail and have something new to watch while we stayed indoors on a snowy day.

When Blockbuster started their online service, the turn around time to our place wasn’t that great so we didn’t continue the free trial. But, later when they sweetened the deal by offering free in-store rentals while we waited for movies queued online to arrive, we jumped ship immediately.

Netflix - Watch Unlimited Movies Online

Until now. Netflix has won us over again by offering unlimited hours of online movie watching free with our 2 at-a-time subscription. If your Netflix subscription is 2 or more at-a-time level, then you can enjoy online movie watching in your computer from thousands of movies available.

The way we use it now is to catch up on TV shows we have been wanting to watch online, in our computer. My wife watches her Desperate Housewives episodes and I watch Heroes and we are both at peace.

One reason we are sticking to watching TV shows is because there are a lot of shows we had missed and that’s available on Netflix. Another is a combination of a lack of popular movies in the online library and personal preference.

Netflix Watch Now Movies on TV

I like watching movies on TV and not on my computer. I can live with watching tv shows on my laptop while I am working on my desktop computer. You might be the same way.

One thing you could do is to hook up your laptop, if you had one, to your TV via S-Video or any other hook up your tv/laptop will support to watch online movies in your TV.

Another option, is to get Roku, the only set-top device available in teh market that supports streaming Netflix’s Watch Now movies straight to your TV.

Roku Features

• Roku is priced at $99 and is definitely worth considering as the Netflix’s online offering gets bigger
• No need for lugging a computer/laptop
• Built-in wired and 802.1g wireless networking
• Firmware can be upgraded allowing new features, bug fixes, etc.
• Equipped with ethernet port and audio/video outputs: HDMI, component video, S-Video, and composite video port, digital optical audio and the standard red/white stereo analog outputs making it compatible with any kind of tv/home theater system you might have.
• Toggle switch to change aspect ratio so you can connect to old tvs as well as HDTVs.
• Gives a special key to link your online account with the box
• Setup Instant queue to see movies queued in your Netflix Player and this is separate from your DVD queue.

if you’d like a detailed review of the Roku Netflix player, CNET has a great in-depth article on video quality and technicalities.

I liked when I read that a couple of competitions to Roku are slated to release later this year which will mean better pricing for us consumers.

So, we are all set with maximizing our watching movies online part. How do we know if we are using our DVD subscription effectively?

FeedFlix

FeedFlix is a free service that analyzes your Netflix usage based on information available freely from your Netflix RSS feeds. They don’t ask for your Netflix login or password. Here are a few things FeedFlix can show you about your Netflix subscription:

• A graphical analysis of your rental activity - stats like the average number of days you keep a dvd, avg dvd returns every week, avg dvd returns by month, etc.
• Feedflix guesses your subscription and calculates the average cost of a movie for you based on your rental behavior. Could help decide if just renting from the store is cheaper for you.
• Shows the movies in queue and movies that are recommended to you.
• You get a url you can share with your friends or family to let them know what you are watching. Here is ours: http://feedflix.com/wml-1339358
• Feedflix uses this aggeragate data to show other statistics like Most Awaited Titles, Popular Movies at Home, Most Rented Titles, etc that could help you decide to arrange your queue.
• There are also other interesting stats like Most shipped days, Most popular plan, Average rental period, Avergae queue size, etc. I was surprised to see that only 1% of people actually return movies within 0-2 days of receiving it. Glad to see I am not alone.

FeedFlix is probably not something you’d use everyday but every once in a while it’ll be good to check these stats that’ll help you learn a bit more about your usage and maybe fine tune it to get the most bang for your buck.

WIth this information in hand, you can enjoy watching movies or your favorite tv shows on TV or your computer that’s best suited for your personal style and preference.

Update: 6/24

Lifehacker has posted on how to use your XBox 360 as a streaming Netflix Player

Do you use Netflix in any other way that gets you more for what you pay for? Share with us in the comments.

Hello newcomer, did I say welcome to ShanKri-la yet? Before you move on, just wanted to thank you for visiting and we hope you come back and see us again!

It’s been a while I have been on Fark. Everytime I stop by, I just laugh my ass off. Here are a few headlines that caught my eyes today:

• Dumbass: If you plan to shoplift from a store, be sure you don’t leave behind any evidence that can tie you to the crime. Like your son. Awkward [link] - oh crap!
  
• PSA: Apparently needs to be said: If two strangers in a parking lot offer you “a large sum of money” in return for your savings account information, do not give it to them [link] - this one needs to go into the dumbass category
  
• Interesting: Remember how those nifty $50 fluorescent bulbs were going to solve America’s dependency on foreign oil? Turns out they will actually kill us while we sleep [link] - not everything is as it seems to be.
  
• Amusing: Pics of what happens when an ATM malfunctions and starts giving out twice the amount of cash customers request. “It makes up for all the bank charges, I guess” [link] - I really wouldn’t want to be the guy/gal who programmed that machine. Check out the pictures of the long line at that ATM. I know i would have been there in that line.
  
• Silly: Man illegally poaches deer from his bathroom. And that’s not even the weird part [link] - wow!
  

Get NCAA Scores by RSS

March madness is on and you can keep track of NCAA scores during the day via RSS feeds from a cool service, TotallyScored.com. You could get the scores by Sport or by team too if you don’t care about rest of the sports or teams than the one you are interested in.

The WWW Blog Contest

It’s been a while since I posted about contests. The WWW Blog is hosting a cool contest with prizes worth over $350 in value! This includes some cool cash prizes from sponsors, a chance to win some advertising space, some hosting packages, etc. Chetan is a dental student but has an interest in SEO, blogs and even a bunch of web directories as well. I like his style of writing and have subscribed to his RSS feed as he talks a bit about technology, mac apps, seo etc. Pretty much the stuff I like to read about. The contest ends on march 23rd and make sure you get your entries in before that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The esteemed guest author (hint hint.. you should come back to write, Peter) and a great friend of mine, Pedro sent me these videos this week.

Disclaimer: If you are an animal lover or for that matter fish lover, it may not be pleasant viewing for you.

And this..

I am not a sushi eater. I guess for some it’s art and for some it’s cruelty. One thing I can say for sure is that it’s gotta suck to be in the lower end of the food chain.

What do you think?

It definitely would have been far from fun for the passengers in this Lufthansa flight. This A320 flight was caught in the crosswind and was almost blown over. When I saw it all I could say was wow! I really wouldn’t want to be on that plane.

They are guessing the wind speed when that gust almost tipped the plane over but I guess we have to give the pilot credit to get the plane off the ground again for another try..

I heard a piece on NPR radio where the host talked to the author of the book Beyond the Black Box: The Forensics of Airplance Crashes. You can hear it here.

On a side note, I let ShanKri-la’s first birthday pass by silently (Feb 26th was my first post last year). That’s because I actually registered the domain in Sep 06 but didn’t really start blogging until Feb’07. It’s been a great year of learning and I hope to learn even more in the coming year and share my finds with you. Thanks for staying with me.. looking forward to another great year!

I swear I am not a Star Wars fan. I did talk about a Darth Vader hot air balloon last friday and this week I have more Star War stuff.

Here is Star Wars according to a 3-year old!

I am sorry if you have already seen this video making the rounds this week but I couldn’t help but post about it here. My wife and I watched her atleast a dozen times already and no wonder the video has registered over 3.3+ million views already!

‘Darth Vader will GETCHA!’ is priceless! She IS going to be famous someday!.

Friday is a day when I try to steer off my usual tech ramblings and look at some fun things. I am going highlight a few things that caught my attention this week and hopefully of some interest to you.

Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks for AT&T Customers

AT&T is partnering with Startbucks to offer free Wi-Fi to their DSL customers at any of the zillion err.. about 7000 Starbucks locations in the US. Being a AT&T DSL subscriber, this is sweet news for me! I think it’s planned to be in effect sometime this spring. Ashley of CyberNet News reports that Starbucks ditched a 6-year partnership with T-Mobile to go with AT&T. Does iPhone wielding coffee drinkers flocking Starbucks have anything to do with it?

Get Digsby Private Beta Invite Code

Digsby is a multi-system instant messaging client for Windows and is making the rounds in the blogosphere this past week. Webware is offering a private beta download with the code CNET here. I haven’t had a chance to try this yet but I am already having fun with the SamePlace Firefox Extension.

Find out how much Uncle Sam is sending you this May (and a free e-book)

JD of Get Rich Slowly, an awesome personal finance blog, talks about and links to a calculator to find out how much of a tax rebate we can expect from Uncle Sam this May. I started making plans for that money even when the bill hadn’t been signed into law.

While we are talking finance, you can grab a free e-book, Women & Money by Suze Orman for free at Oprah’s site. The link doesn’t seem to have been pulled but you can still download it from here. My wife says this is much more interesting though.

Darth Vader Hot Air Balloon

Wow.. Start Wars fans have done it again and have one-upped their previous achievements. Check out this awesome hot air balloon and read the details of it at /Film. There is even a video of it in action. Check it out.

World Press Photo Award Winners of 2007

Photographs can capture time and emotions so vividly and WorldPress Photo Awards have announced their winners for 2007. Check out the awesome pictures taken from around the world here. The images at that site are small and are much better here at Google Blogoscoped if you just want to look at the pictures.

I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend with a couple of home projects to get done.

Have a great weekend!

Are you into watching some good movies? How about the five Oscar Nominees for Best Picture? How about all five in one day?

Yes, AMC Theaters are showing all five Oscar Nominees for Best Picture in one day at select theaters around the country (sorry US only) on Saturday Feb 23rd. Every year, AMC theaters run a special called AMC Best Picture Showcase where they show five films nominated for Best Picture in one day for $30. You get a free large popcorn and unlimited refills. Even if you aren’t a movie buff you could probably tell this is a great deal.

You have to check to see if there is a theater near you that is participating in this special.

Here is the schedule of films if you are interested:

• Michael Clayton 11:00am (ends at 1:00pm)
• There Will Be Blood 1:20pm (ends at 4:00pm)
• Atonement 4:20pm (ends at 6:23pm)
• Juno 7:00pm (ends at 8:36pm)
• No Country for Old Men 9:00pm (ends at 11:12pm)

How about 12 hours of movies? I have seen 3 movies back to back and I’m not sure if I’d do it again. But, there is a really good mix of movies here. Although, some movies are best enjoyed when you have time to replay the scenes in your head and enjoy the brilliance of the director, the screenplay or a funny moment. With this kind of schedule, I might come out at the end of the day with scenes from different movies mixed up in my head!!

In fact, my wife and I just watched Atonement just this Tuesday and we loved it. If there was one thing that stuck with me from the movie, it was the background score where the sound of typewriter grows in pace in a rhythm & flows into music. Absolutely brilliant! I haven’t seen the other four and I’m really tempted.

Would you be going to the AMC showcase?

[via /Film]