So many ways to spend....

[cameraman]

I finally got around to hooking up my blue-ray player to the internet. I'm flabbergasted, there are soooo many different ways to spend your money with that thing. It's just amazing, it is like hooking up a siphon to my checking account:saywhat:

[Napoleon]

Racing videos on YouTube are free. That is all I have played from the internet since setting my blue-ray on Saturday.

[cameraman]

I have not spent a dime yet, I am just surprised that there were so many options. I just do not understand this economy anyway. Facebook is worth billions yet I use Facebook all the time and it costs me nothing. So how does it make money? The ads on the side that I never look at? I can't imagine how those could be worth so much, they are totally ineffective to me.

[Insomniac]

I have not spent a dime yet, I am just surprised that there were so many options. I just do not understand this economy anyway. Facebook is worth billions yet I use Facebook all the time and it costs me nothing. So how does it make money? The ads on the side that I never look at? I can't imagine how those could be worth so much, they are totally ineffective to me.

Pretty much all advertising. Think about all the information that Facebook could potentially obtain from your profile. It's possible you just don't have enough information for targeted ads, but imagine you're an advertiser and you want to target ads. The possibilities are crazy. Location, age, sex, interests (television shows, music, movies, books, etc.). All the like buttons everywhere. They can advertise way better than Google.

[dando]

I have not spent a dime yet, I am just surprised that there were so many options. I just do not understand this economy anyway. Facebook is worth billions yet I use Facebook all the time and it costs me nothing. So how does it make money? The ads on the side that I never look at? I can't imagine how those could be worth so much, they are totally ineffective to me.

Yup. Just like the ads in GMail, Android apps, etc. to which I am completely oblivious. Plus, I use Ad Block Plus to block ads using Firefox. But someone out there is buying the ad placements and Google, etc. are making $$$.

-Kevin

[racer2c]

Santa brought me an iPad (my first Apple product ever). I'm '99 centsing' myself to the poor house. :D

[TKGAngel]

Pretty much all advertising. Think about all the information that Facebook could potentially obtain from your profile. It's possible you just don't have enough information for targeted ads, but imagine you're an advertiser and you want to target ads. The possibilities are crazy. Location, age, sex, interests (television shows, music, movies, books, etc.). All the like buttons everywhere. They can advertise way better than Google.

What he said. FB ads perform incredibly well because of their targetability.

Not to mention that FB has replaced Google as the most visited website on the internet. That adds up to an awesome audience for advertisers.

[Methanolandbrats]

Yup, facebook is the most insidious spyware ever written and people volunteer for it. When you become "friends" with a company by clicking the face, the company instantly knows your demographics, your hobbies, what you buy, what you "like" and they harvest all the same information about all your friends.

[cameraman]

I don't see it. I fire up facebook and it shows me one sponsored ad for "Pretty Little Liars" which seems to be a TV show on ABC Family. Never heard of it or the channel for that matter. Sorry but their much vaunted targeted advertising is about as off base as they can be.

[G.]

So, what's worth buying?

I just recently set mine up as well. Don't really watch enough to dive into Netflix or Amazon just yet. Pandora is awesome though.



(note: you want a money siphon, xbox360 live. Yeah. Drop $60.00 on a game, then download new map$ for fun and profit!)

[dando]

I don't see it. I fire up facebook and it shows me one sponsored ad for "Pretty Little Liars" which seems to be a TV show on ABC Family. Never heard of it or the channel for that matter. Sorry but their much vaunted targeted advertising is about as off base as they can be.

Perhaps they have a Utard filter for y'all. :gomer: :p

-Kevin

[WickerBill]

Netflix is the killer app at the moment. Having YouTube and Hulu is nice. Vudu is good for streaming new movies, but a bit expensive.

[dando]

Netflix is the killer app at the moment. Having YouTube and Hulu is nice. Vudu is good for streaming new movies, but a bit expensive.

Netflix and Pandora are neck and neck in our house via the Tivos. I also streamed Pandora all the way back from Hilton Head during our recent all night drive :saywhat:, and it worked flawlessly all the way through, and the data usage on my Android phone was far less than I expected. :thumbup:

-Kevin

[nrc]

I don't get why people love Netflix so much. Almost every time I think of something that I want to watch it's not availble on Netflix. Fortunately TiVo Search shows me that without having to be subscribed.

[dando]

I don't get why people love Netflix so much. Almost every time I think of something that I want to watch it's not availble on Netflix. Fortunately TiVo Search shows me that without having to be subscribed.

Member since 12/99, 6-8 DVDs/per month on average since then, no charge for on demand through Tivo or PC/Mac. Cost through theater or brick & mortar viewing/rentals...10x $$$ than that. I agree that the on demand catalog is lacking (as I have posted previously), but one can only hope that this gets better since they sold their soul to the devil when they agreed to delay new releases by 28 days with some studios to add titles for on demand. :saywhat: However, on demand is the wave of the future, and they are way ahead of the curve.

-Kevin

[racer2c]

I don't get why people love Netflix so much. Almost every time I think of something that I want to watch it's not availble on Netflix. Fortunately TiVo Search shows me that without having to be subscribed.

I haven't used Netflix since they delayed new releases. My daughter likes it but at 20 she and her friends only watch things like Saw VIII and d list zombie movies. Ack. :)

[JoeBob]

Yup, facebook is the most insidious spyware ever written and people volunteer for it. When you become "friends" with a company by clicking the face, the company instantly knows your demographics, your hobbies, what you buy, what you "like" and they harvest all the same information about all your friends.

Sorry, but Google has Facebook beaten by a longshot, since most of the time you don't even realize that a website you're visiting is sharing the information with Google. At least Facebook puts their stuff where you can see it.

[racer2c]

It's my understanding 'they' (google, facebook etc) don't care if you see an ad,click an ad or what have you, it's the potential 'eyes' that they sell. Not unlike tv sales... "Sorry no one is buying your crappy Internet telephone service but 5billion people saw your ad on the side of Danikles racer car". :gomer:

[Insomniac]

I don't see it. I fire up facebook and it shows me one sponsored ad for "Pretty Little Liars" which seems to be a TV show on ABC Family. Never heard of it or the channel for that matter. Sorry but their much vaunted targeted advertising is about as off base as they can be.

Facebook has both mass advertising and targeted advertising. Targeted gets a much bigger premium and is very specific. They have an insane infrastructure to support and are making money off of advertising.

[Insomniac]

It's my understanding 'they' (google, facebook etc) don't care if you see an ad,click an ad or what have you, it's the potential 'eyes' that they sell. Not unlike tv sales... "Sorry no one is buying your crappy Internet telephone service but 5billion people saw your ad on the side of Danikles racer car". :gomer:

From my experience, advertisers pay for "impressions" and "clicks" at two different rates. Clicks are worth way more.

[Methanolandbrats]

Sorry, but Google has Facebook beaten by a longshot, since most of the time you don't even realize that a website you're visiting is sharing the information with Google. At least Facebook puts their stuff where you can see it.

Google records surfing habits, not personal demographics AND friends demographics. Google ties the hits to ISP address. If you use your real name, birthdate and use default settings in a Facebook account, about the only private information you have not provided is your soc sec #. That makes Facebook much, much more invasive.

[dando]

Sorry, but Google has Facebook beaten by a longshot

It's shotgun vs. sniper.

-Kevin

[racer2c]

Apple has been hit by a lawsuit that alleges the company and its partners are surreptitiously collecting personal information from the users of iPhones and iPads. *snip*

*snip* Makers of such apps as Pandora Radio, Paper Toss, The Weather Channel, and Dictionary.com are also named in the suit, which aspires to class-action status.

Apple has stated that it doesn't allow apps to transmit user data without a user's permission. According to a Bloomberg report, however, the lawsuit suggests that advertising networks use this data to learn which apps users download as well as how long they're used.

Additionally, it goes on to say that some applications transmit such data as a user's location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and political views.

The lawsuit was filed after a recent Wall Street Journal article claimed that out of 101 popular smartphone apps tested by the publication, 56 transmitted the phone's UDID without the consent of the phone's owner.

Apple rarely comments on legal issues such as these. The case is Lalo v. Apple, 10-5878, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).

Link (http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/215041/apple_hit_with_privacy_class_action_lawsuit.html)

I love my iPad. I'd hate to have to smash it over principles. :)

[KLang]

Additionally, it goes on to say that some applications transmit such data as a user's location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and political views.

I know for sure that no app on my iPhone knows any of those things but location since I have provided none of that information to any app.

[racer2c]

I know for sure that no app on my iPhone knows any of those things but location since I have provided none of that information to any app.

Yeah...the only think I can think of is when I created my iTunes account (couldn't turn the iPad on without creating an iTunes account), it captured that info. So if Apple is allowing the app devs access to that...hmmm.

[TKGAngel]

From my experience, advertisers pay for "impressions" and "clicks" at two different rates. Clicks are worth way more.

Facebook yes, Google no. Google you pay for the click and just the click. Google advertising has actually increased during the recession as it is an economical way for companies to spend limited ad dollars and get people at their entry into the purchase funnel.


Additionally, it goes on to say that some applications transmit such data as a user's location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and political views.

Aside from income, I'm sure I've hit on all of those just from using Twitter on my iPod.

[Insomniac]

Facebook yes, Google no. Google you pay for the click and just the click. Google advertising has actually increased during the recession as it is an economical way for companies to spend limited ad dollars and get people at their entry into the purchase funnel.

That's interesting. Google's AdSense program pays for impressions. (unrelated, but Apple's iAd program also pays for impressions.)

I saw a deck of slides last year showing eyeballs vs. ad spending for various mediums and the Internet is grossly undersold given the number of eyeballs/time spent online.

[Napoleon]

Speaking of Facebook in this thread financial details have been leaked which show them as more profitable then was thought. (http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-details-leaked-company-is-much-more-profitable-than-everyone-thought-2011-1)

[Elmo T]

Back on Blu-Rays, sort of...

Our player is a few years old - no wifi or computer connection. The new Toy Story 3 disc plays only the previews not the movie.

I exchanged the first copy but still no luck. Called Disney ("Have a magical Day".... Really) and they bumped me over to tech support. Asked when I last upgraded the firmware. "Um....never?" :gomer:

Walked me through the Sony download process. Upgrading firmware instructions were worse than the new video camera: Do turn off, do not touch play, do not pass go.... all under the threat of permanent damage to the player.

As with all Disney things - everyone lived happily ever after. I had no clue that those firmware upgrades were so important. The up side is that discs load wayyyy quicker now. :thumbup:

[WickerBill]

That's pretty awesome that you got that kind of support from the studio, not the manufacturer of the BR player. I can't imagine calling Warner Music and saying "this CD I bought doesn't play in my car stereo" and getting any help.

[Elmo T]

I don't think you can beat Disney customer service. I briefly pondered calling Sony first, but figured Disney would be more receptive. I called the 800 number of the back of the DVD case!

Took less than 2 minutes to get a human being. Explained the problem - said it was likely a firmware problem. Transferred to tech support - they asked make and model of unit - walked me through the steps to download the upgrades to a CD and how to load it into the player.

I could give more stories about Disney customer service from my park visits: Emmo lost his jacket on an early AM visit to the park. We didn't realize until later in the day. We called lost and found the next day - our "go home" day. Gave them all the details when, where, description. After a short hold - they have it in their central warehouse lost and found (I envision that place in Raiders of the Lost Ark). No public access, but they will happily mail it to my home at no charge. It arrived at my house one day later. :thumbup:

Missing track parts for the kids' toy monorail set? - They shipped a complete set of track out after providing nothing more than a model number from the set and my address.

Perhaps I've had too much of the Disney Kool-Aid, but there is a reason there are a slew of books about Disney customer service. :thumbup:

[dando]

I called the 800 number of the back of the DVD case!


Which just kills me considering that Joe 6-pack has to call a non-800 number to book a trip or an ADR. :saywhat: But I agree that the Di$ney Way is the best in customer service. :thumbup:

-Kevin

[Elmo T]

Which just kills me considering that Joe 6-pack has to call a non-800 number to book a trip or an ADR.

Yea - I call the DVC line and get transferred through. I never could figure out why they make folks use the 407 line. :confused::rolleyes:

[Methanolandbrats]

I don't think you can beat Disney customer service. I briefly pondered calling Sony first, but figured Disney would be more receptive. I called the 800 number of the back of the DVD case!

Took less than 2 minutes to get a human being. Explained the problem - said it was likely a firmware problem. Transferred to tech support - they asked make and model of unit - walked me through the steps to download the upgrades to a CD and how to load it into the player.

I could give more stories about Disney customer service from my park visits: Emmo lost his jacket on an early AM visit to the park. We didn't realize until later in the day. We called lost and found the next day - our "go home" day. Gave them all the details when, where, description. After a short hold - they have it in their central warehouse lost and found (I envision that place in Raiders of the Lost Ark). No public access, but they will happily mail it to my home at no charge. It arrived at my house one day later. :thumbup:

Missing track parts for the kids' toy monorail set? - They shipped a complete set of track out after providing nothing more than a model number from the set and my address.

Perhaps I've had too much of the Disney Kool-Aid, but there is a reason there are a slew of books about Disney customer service. :thumbup:

Everytime I go there it costs me 3k, they should be nice. :gomer: When the kids were little one of them had a headache. We were in the Magic Kingdom. The wife goes into a shop and asks where we can get water and ibuprofin. Within seconds someone shows up with water and an ibu. It was like they were beamed down from the Enterprise, strange as hell.

[Elmo T]

Within seconds someone shows up with water and an ibu. It was like they were beamed down from the Enterprise, strange as hell.

:laugh:

We have friends - and let's just say that he isn't a fan of the mouse. During their last visit, he was having some trouble coping with the crowds and he was generally NOT having a good time. He was apparently expressing his displeasure to his wife in an animated fashion.

Two Disney castmembers (never called employees) swooped in. He said he had no idea where they came from - just that he looked up and they were there. They stepped in between him and his wife - just trying to "make sure everyone was having a magical day..." :laugh: Worst yet - the same thing happened to him twice on that trip - just in different parks.

Mickey, just like Santa - he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!

[dando]

:laugh:

We have friends - and let's just say that he isn't a fan of the mouse. During their last visit, he was having some trouble coping with the crowds and he was generally NOT having a good time. He was apparently expressing his displeasure to his wife in an animated fashion.

Two Disney castmembers (never called employees) swooped in. He said he had no idea where they came from - just that he looked up and they were there. They stepped in between him and his wife - just trying to "make sure everyone was having a magical day..." :laugh: Worst yet - the same thing happened to him twice on that trip - just in different parks.

Mickey, just like Santa - he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!

I've read a number of reports about Mickey's secret police appearing out of nowhere and guests causing havoc disappearing instantly. The last one was about an unattended back pack, where the guests who reported it were 'entertained' by a plain-clothes security guy (turned out to be the chief of MK security), and w/in minutes they brought out a character for on impromptu meet & greet to distract attention from the scene. I would seriously like to be a fly on the wall in the WDW parks offices. :eek: Next trip I am taking the behind the scenes tour.

-Kevin

[Methanolandbrats]

They have cameras and microphones everywhere. Kinda creepy like the original Prisoner Show. I never feel all that magical when I'm there except when I'm eating a nice dinner and getting loaded in Epcot.

http://images1.cliqueclack.com/tv/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/prisoner-balloon-425x324.png

[racer2c]

West World.

[Methanolandbrats]

I am seriously freaked out :saywhat: Just got two e-mails from Disney Destinations offering specials and magic. I have not gotten one from them for many months, somehow they know :eek::saywhat:

[dando]

I am seriously freaked out :saywhat: Just got two e-mails from Disney Destinations offering specials and magic. I have not gotten one from them for many months, somehow they know :eek::saywhat:

Elmo reported you to the appropriate authorities. Relax, you will be assimilated sooner or later. Now just bend over and grab your ankles.... ;)

-Kevin