Streamers and Instant Watchers Unite!

With the interest in streaming TV Shows and Movies picking up, and Televisions, boxes and gaming systems joining the wifi train, I thought it a good idea to post the “what’s new” and “Coming soons” in Instant TV. Here at YakkityYaks, you will find the coming soon to Netflix (with the dates) and any big news in the instant streaming world, I will also let you know.

I joined the masses not all that long ago, and told my cable company to come pick up their equipment, leaving me with a Tivo and Netflix. Sure, I still have to pay the cable bill, but not nearly the amount they are used to getting out of me each month. Each “DVR” box of theirs costs close to $20 (the box, the remote, and the “dvr service”) and the movie channels between $10-$15 each. Canceling those has since saved me $67! (I had two of those DVRs and two movie channels.) I am paying for the Tivo service, and Netflix however, which adds up to about $20 per month, so add that, and I saved close to $50. Now, eventually, I am planning on doing away with cable all together and just going back to antenna, AND porting over my home phone to Google (for a one time $20 fee) but that’s a whole different story… we will save that experience for a later date.

There are so many ways now that you can get the stream to your television, you probably already own something that will do it for you. The cable companies are definitely falling behind in this arena. It seems to me that they really need to just give in to this new revolution, and provide this access themselves. Instead, they are fighting it more and more each day. This is precisely why you hear and read about cable companies trying to charge you for bandwidth use. They want to have the ability to raise your rates if you are a streamer, hoping people will drop it. With 3g, 4g and fios entering the markets soon, it is just another mistake the cable companies will make.

The news coming from the cable heads are downplaying just how many are leaving as of late, but the numbers are high. It has been reported that people that have dropped cable have not picked up elsewhere. The growth in Satellite has not kept up with the numbers cable have lost. The News and the big television providers have said it was “because of the recession.” Yes, I do believe that may be a piece in the puzzle. People just can’t afford nor justify the high rise in television costs, while most of us remember it being free. People are irritated with channels going black in negotiations when if they were attached to an antenna on the roof, it would still be on, and free. People are sick and tired of the infomercials that show ALL NIGHT. People are getting tired of the rhetoric provided on the cable “news” shows, which have become, not news at all, but all commentary shows. People are tired of the quality of programming put on by the bigger cable channels. (Think MTV Skins.) The list goes on. People are leaving the TV providers in droves, and the providers keep telling themselves it’s the recession.

Well, keep telling yourselves that guys, while I watch the newest releases on Netflix.

Stay tuned to YakkityYaks where will begin providing a calender for new Netflix Instant Watch Releases, plus any news in the Instant Watch arena.

Anything else you would like to see? Please let us know below or in the forum HERE!

Flashback Friday: Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes

I was 10 years old and in the fifth grade. We were in our classroom, waiting for the teacher to come in. She did eventually come in, crying; and that’s when a TV was brought into each classroom where we saw the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. It was January 28th, 1986 and sadly, is our topic for today’s Flashback Friday.

The actual explosion occurred 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members aboard. The shuttle virtually disintegrated into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of central Florida at approximately 11:39 a.m. EST. It was later found that an O-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff. This failure breached the joint it sealed, which allowed pressurized hot gas from the motor of the solid rocket to get to the outside and infringed on the functioning of other parts. Then there was a structural failure of that external tank which led to the explosion itself. It was later discovered that several crew members actually survived the initial breakup of the shuttle, but did not survive the impact of the crew compartment slamming into the ocean.

This disaster halted the space program for 32 months, and also prompted President Reagan to form what was called the Rogers Commission to investigate the tragedy. This commission later found that key elements of  the decision making process and organizational “culture” that led to the explosion. Apparently NASA managers knew that the solid rocket booster designs had a potentially fatal flaw in the O-rings for at least 9 years prior to the explosion but didn’t address it properly. Another shocking discovery was that crew escape wasn’t possible either, at least during a powered flight. NASA had considered launch escape systems but decided that the shuttle’s expected high reliability didn’t necessitate one.

Many people actually saw the lift-off and tragedy itself due to the inclusion of teacher Christa McAuliffe in the crew, who would’ve been the first teacher in space. The other crew members who lost their lives that day were: Commander Francis (Dick) Scobee, 46,  who was married with two children. Pilot Michael J. Smith, 40, was on what would have been his first space flight. Mission Specialist Judith A. Resnik, 35, had previously become the second American woman in orbit during the maiden Discovery flight. Mission specialist Ronald A. McNair was 35 at the time of his death, and was married with two children. He became the second Black American in space back in 1984 during a previous Challenger mission. Ellison S. Onizuka was the third mission specialist, he was 39 years old, married with two children. Payload specialist Gregory B. Jarvis was not an official federal employee, but rather employed by Aircraft Corp.’s Space and Communications Group in Los Angeles, California, who made it possible for him to be on the Challenger flight.

The final crew member on the flight was Sharon Crista McAuliffe, the first teacher to fly in space. She was selected from an applicant pool of around 11,000 education specialists. McAuliffe was 37 at the time of her death, married to her longtime boyfriend Steven. NASA’s intent of having her on board was to have a gifted teaching professional who could communicate with students from space.

Do you remember this event? Tell us about it in our forums here .