Category Archives: web 2.0

Giving Hulu Plus Another Show But Still Not Impressed

As you may have read, I was sucked into the world of Inuyasha recently. Well I finished all 167 episodes that where on Netflix and realized that the story was far from over. Apparently a second series called Inuyasha: The Final Act was made and it’s available for viewing on Hulu. Used to watching this series from the comfort of my couch facing the TV, I decided to give Hulu Plus another shot. Luckily for me, this particular show was available for TV browsing (you can see where this is going), because I soon found out that not much has changed since the last time I tried the 7-day trial of Hulu 1 or 2 years ago.

One of the things that still annoys me about Hulu Plus is that I still have to sit through commercials. It’s one thing to see Hulu for free on my browser and deal with commercials but to still go through this after paying for a subscription service is irksome. For that same price I get commercial-free service with Netflix. Also, as I mentioned in the last paragraph if somewhat indirectly, not everything that’s available to view online is available for TV or mobile viewing. I had to sit in front of my computer to watch the newest episode of 30 Rock because I couldn’t do it from my TV.

Speaking of commercials, there used to be just one commercial per break. They then made it to 2 when you don’t count the commercial telling you what’s available in their catalogue for instant-browsing (so really it’s 3 now). Currently they keep advertising the CW lineup. My curiosity was piqued and I decided to check out one of their shows, Hart of Dixie. One of the biggest selling points for Hulu Plus is that you get all the episodes of the current season of all their shows. Well that isn’t the case for any of the CW shows. All that advertising and not only do I not get the current season of Hart of Dixie but the episodes that are available for viewing aren’t even in order, so obviously, I’ll just wait for this show to be available on Netflix a year or so from now (if I still remember or care to bother by that time).

I’m glad that I got to wrap up the tale of Inuyasha from the comfort of my couch; however, in hindsight, I should of just saved my $7.99 and watched those episodes on my browser. Most of the shows in my Hulu queue have to be watched like that anyway. What’s one more?

My Current Favorite Games On My iPhone

I consider myself a casual gamer and as such I easily get tired of games after a while. Which is why I rarely buy them because then I feel like it was money that would’ve been better spent. Somehow Zynga found a way to make games that have me come back over and over again. I think the crucial element in their games are the fact that they are interactive and you can play them at your leisure. The current Zynga games that I can’t get enough of are:

Words With Friends

This game is a version of Scrabble.

Hanging With Friends

This game is a version of Hangman with a twist. You’re represented by an avatar that’s suspended over a volcano with balloons. Every time you lose a round you loser a balloon. The loser loses all their balloons and plummets into the lava.

Scramble

This game is a version of Boggle. For some reason I never got into this game in my youth but I can’t get enough of this now.

These games are easy to play, have fun animation and you look forward to your next turn. I can’t get enough of them anyway, What are your current favorite games?

In Other Web Browser News…

Google just punished itself for going against its own guidelines when they paid a blog post for flattery and linking to its Google Chrome page. Now if you search “browser” on google you get just about every other browser but Chrome at the very top. Last I checked Firefox was at the top. So there’s some good news and karma going Mozilla’s way and my guilt is somewhat alleviated.  Click the link to get the video news from Mashable to hear more.