Movielink.com and CinemaNow.com both revealed today that they will now offer movies for download (to own or rent) simultaneously with their DVD release to stores. Reuters story here. The price point is a head-scratcher, though: $20-$30 for the ‘own the file’ of current DVD releases. With DVDs themselves selling for less than that, and the fact that with DRM in place users will not be able to burn these downloads to removable media, the value here is seriously undercut, IMHO. Unless you happen to have a spiffy Windows MCE or Viiv setup where you can watch these on your TV screen, $30 for a movie I can only watch on my 20" LCD in the home office (or perhaps on my Powerbook Tablet PC (no Mac support, sigh) is not a great value. I’d much rather get the disc from Netflix or pick it up at BestBuy and watch it with the wife in 50 inches of glorious color. And given the price point of full-length television shows currently selling on the iTunes store ($1.99), I would like to think that given Apple’s history with negotiating their music deals for the ITMS will allow them to cut a better deal on behalf of the consumer – and that their product strategy includes a simpler way of providing hardware that let’s us see these downloadable movies in HD-quality on our living room sets. A guy can hope, right?
Back from Vacation
The entire family is now safely back in pollen-filled Atlanta, GA after a week in sometimes-sunny, but mostly-chilly Florida. I had a conference in St. Pete Beach with Solbright last Wednesday through Friday, then we headed down to Sarasota for quality time with Sam’s grandparents. Sam had a great time at his first business conference, networking like a pro. For a couple of days, we mostly hung out and relaxed at home, which is exactly what I needed. We explored the beautiful Marie Selby Botanical Gardens while Sam was taking a nap one day (hoorah for macro lenses), and as you can see above, took Sam to the beach for the very first time. He absolutely LOVED it. I continue to be amazed by our little guy – he’s babling and talking more than ever before, and surprised the heck out of dear old dad when we were flying home. I was trying to coax him to take a nap and we were putting his blanket over our heads. All on his own, he started playing peek-a-boo with me, pulling the blanket over his head and then back down, cackling like a little crazy boy when he’d show his face. Cute, cute, cute!
technorati tags: vacation, gallery, photography, sam
Sam Update
It’s been too long since we bragged blogged about our little boy. He is now 11 months old, and continues to be cute as a button. He has been eating voraciously (loves his Dad’s garlic spinach, bananas and obscure aged English cheddars) and wowing everyone he meets. Here’s a collection of photos of our little guy from the past few weeks for those of you needing your Sam fix.
Saturday at the Playground
I returned late Friday night after a week of business travel, so family time was the order of the day. We headed over to the Grant Park playground, and ran into two other couples from Sam’s Kangaroos Playgroup. Photo gallery is here. We hung out at the park before Sam, Ayden and Shonshanna (along with their parents) all gathered for an impromptu dinner at the new Redfish on Memorial Drive. Created by the same folks as Agave (which we love as a great old standby), the place was good and our waitron was most tolerant of our trio of babies. My shrimp/crab etoufee was very good, with a hearty and smoky brown roux dominating the flavors. Amy’s wild salmon with a souffle of some sort on top was a bit salty, but apparently the wait staff sprinkles extra salt on just before serving. Just say no, next time!
technorati tags: playgroup, baby, redfish, agave, playground