Movie people are getting on board the Netflix original content bandwagon and I think this is the beginning of a major shift in how content is produced or even packaged for consumers.

Netflix announced today that it will be bringing 10 episode season one of the series Sense8 to Netflix in late 2014.  This marks the first time the Wachowskis, the people behind The Matrix triology, V for Vendetta, and other movies, will work in television.  Or does it?

Is Netflix really television?  The lines between television, movie, internet, and even mobile are starting to get blurred to the point that it really doesn't matter anymore.  You can watch a movie on your cell phone and then switch to your TV when you get home.  So is that television or mobile or does it matter?  If you are Nielson, it matters.  If you are Comcast, it matters.  But if you are the consumer, it doesn't matter.

With House of Cards and Sense8 going directly to Netflix, it confuses the definition.  I've never watch the television series Louis "live" on FX but I've watched it via Netflix on my AppleTV on my television.  And when I watched it, i've watched a few episodes in a row.  But what is an episode?  30 minutes or really 22 minutes due to time for commercials?  60 minutes or whatever it is with commercials?  

If you consider that a television season is 12 episodes at 22 minutes each, you are really talking about a little more than 4 and a half hours of content.  But what if you started to take away the conventions of the standard television show and time constraints and gave the creator control over time?  Maybe some seasons will be 20 episodes while others are 10 but with longer segments.  Would ABC's Lost series been scripted differently?  Would we get better story telling and character development?  Could you do different character arcs or even although the view to pursue their own development?

Netflix knows something we don't which is what everybody is watching and what everybody wants.  They are potentially the Google of visual media.  Remember when Google filed their IPO and it seemed very risky?  I think television and movies will be changing a lot over the next 5 years and we'll remember how television is today the same way we remember television before there were DVRs.

There's been a lot of people upset that Google Reader is being shut down.  You can read a summary of the anger over at TechCrunch.  Many people are asking Google to bring it back and even posting online petitions to plead Google to keep Google Reader alive.

I feel that it's time for us to move forward.  Accept it.  Google is a grown up company and can do what it wants.  Google is doing something that few companies rarely do which is getting rid of products that, while popular, don't fit in with their strategy or direction of business anymore.  7 years of use from a product in this day and age is actually a long time.  

There has been an incredible shift over the last 7 years in both consumer products and software.  7 years ago, we didn't have Twitter.  7 years ago, we didn't have an iPhone.  Amazon's Kindle didn't exist.  Evernote didn't exist.  You couldn't buy a Mac with an Intel chip inside.  The first gen iPod Shuffle had just come out.

Technology changes, adapts, and disappears.  It's uncomfortable.  Remember the promise of the Palm Pre?  You have the choice to complain but Google has the choice to change.  But look at it from another perspective: it's an incredible opportunity for others to take advantage of this shift.  And there are plenty of options out there if you just Google the words Google Reader Alternatives

Analytics is being applied to every part of our life from fitness (Fitbit, Nike Plus) to home automation (SmartThings) or even finance (Mint).  While some cars have had the ability to display some statistics about how you are driving, it's always been an expense option to add as part of a package.

This will change when Automatic goes live.

Automatic connects your car to your smartphone  to give you high-end car features such as driving feedback, trip timelines, and check engine light codes to diagnose what is wrong with your car.  It can also tell you where you parked and in beta is a Crash Alert to call 911 if you get in an accident.

And all it costs is a one-time purchase of a car plug for $69.95.  There is no subscription to buy.

I can already tell that this would save me money because anytime the check engine light goes on, my local garage charges me $99 to read the code and "diagnose" what the potential problem may be with my car.  Other cost savings would come from the driving feedback and the trip timeline.  And that's just for the individual user.  Parents would love this device to keep track of their kids and their driving habits.  

You can imagine a small business using this to both track and manage their drivers and to compensate them for their miles and to make sure their fleet of cars are being driven according to company guidelines.  And if a driver ever gets into an accident, you would have some information regarding hard breaking or speeding which might even help should you have to go to court.

The idea of this has been around for a while but it's nice to see that somebody has taken this "to the masses" and to show the big automakers that technology like this is possible and doesn't cost $500 with a monthly subscription.

iPhone users can pre-order now for May shipping, Android ships this fall.  

Pre-order the Automatic here:  
https://www.automatic.com/order

There are a lot of different websites or apps that get released into private beta or "invite only" and the process for these new sites or apps is pretty basic:  Sign up and then wait to get an email. 

The new Mailbox app from Orchestra, Inc. is showing a different way to run a beta of it's product and it's actually a lot of fun with complete transparency!

When you download the app, it reserves you place in line. I'm guessing most sites that are in beta do the same thing but to me what is different about this is that they actually display your place in line with the number of people in front of you and the number of people behind you.

Opening the app will count down from the last number you saw to your current place in line.  I've seen it move only a few hundred spots to moving over 10,000.  The incredible thing is that I check the app every few days just to see where I am in line.

I am guessing there are other apps or sites that have done similar things however this is my first experience with this sort of process in an app and it's nice.

I'll write up a summary of Mailbox after I get it installed but I already have had a positive experience with what I should expect from the app based on the user experience so far.

To me, this is the future.  It's a little scary but it's incredible.  

Google Now has changed how I view my email and search.  I'm actually wanting to give it more information so that Google provides me with more of everything.

Let me step back for a minute and explain Google Now.

From Google's site:
Google Now gets you just the right information at just the right time.

It tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform, or your favorite team's score while they’re playing. And the best part? All of this happens automatically. Cards appear throughout the day at the moment you need them.

I bought a Nexus 4 just so I could have this functionality.  It tells me when UPS has delivered a package to my home, it tells me when I should leave for an appointment and factors in traffic.  It's the future we were promised when Palm launched the PRE.

This is a huge differentiator between Apple and Google.  Siri can't compete with this because this displays relevant information without me asking it.  Consider Google Now "pre-search".  

Google has done an excellent job with Google Now.  This is the future, now.

I've never been a big fan of Android phones because I always felt a disconnect between the various phones from the various mobile providers.