Unbox At Amazon Goes Live

....and it works. Even me, a decidedly non-techie, made it work in about five minutes with a couple of mouse clicks.

First of all, I should point out that this won't be a service we make use of frequently. It's a little limiting and with NetFlix and a DVR, there's not a huge benefit to Unbox. You can download to your PC (no Mac OS supported) or to your TiVo box, provided your TiVo box is associated with a home network (which ours already is for reasons that I can't quite remember). But as BoingBoing points out, signing up for the service and downloading to your PC provides Amazon with a lot of control over your PC and provides you with very little recourse or consumer rights. I'm not downloading to my PC because I'm a Mac user, and the TiVo option is far less restrictive.

So, I tried it because Amazon is giving a $15.00 gift certificate for anyone who signs up between now and April 30. That's one free movie from a place that already gets most of my paycheck (I buy a lot of stuff at Amazon) and that I trust, so why not?

I also tried it because a) I'm geeky enough to be intrigued by an on-line store that can download a movie to my TiVo box immediately and b) there's not a lot of other stuff to do in Maine on a Wednesday night before American Idol starts, so why not play with the new technology? I also wanted to see if I could make it all work. It seems so fantastic, so Star Trek, so Star Wars.....

Unbox options include movies like Marie Antoinette, An Inconvenient Truth, Babel and Stranger than Fiction and TV shows like 24 , Prison Break and Bones. We chose Borat. (You're not surprised, are you?)

The purchase went like this: Amazon says it's a simple one-time registration. As with most other customer service interactions at Amazon, they're right. Easy Peasy as my niece would say. Amazon used my email address and password from TiVo to find my TiVo box serial number and set up the pipeline to drop the movie into my TiVo box. I purchased Borat (after thoughtful browsing and consideration--not so much), and it appeared on my media bookshelf at Amazon in the download queue.

I went off to the YHI and met the ladies for dinner and when I got home, bam--Borat is now playing on TiVo list. I have no idea what happens when the Tivo hard drive blows up or we decide to move to a HiDef box, but seeing as we didn't pay for it, c'est la vie, I guess. It's so cool.

A Little Sunshine

In these days of gloom and doom, global warming (no link necessary), and sudden unexpected loss, I look to the little things to make me smile a bit.
Today was the trifecta of joy:

• First, a dear friend left a birthday present in the mailbox. It's the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin. It's the story of a man who, after an unsuccessful attempt to summit K2, has devoted his life to building schools in the Hindu Kush. It's an adventure tale, but it's also an inspiring story of how one person with a vision and a will can change the world....really.

• Then, I just found out that EA is releasing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for the Wii. Wee. One more reason to never leave the house.

• Right after that I get an email from our help desk. Not only can they replace my skitchy, on again off again Blackberry before I leave town on Saturday, but they've gotten a sleek and stylish Pearl to replace my manly, clunky Blackberry. It will look fab with my storm chasers and BMW Coat.

Finally, my wonderful brother gifted me the new Arcade Fire album Neon Bible thru iTunes. It's terrific-- very different than their first album Funeral. Neon Bible is more angry, full of energy and maybe even a little paranoid. Just my kind of music.

Pretty shallow? Most days, I try not to be, but when my hopes of building merged outcome Heifer/Habitat communities throughout Kenya were dashed when we didn't win Mega Millions, I needed a little pick me up.

Wii, Wii, Wii All the Way to My Home

Am I the only middle-aged woman in America who covets a Wii--not for her children but for herself? Most likely.

I don't covet it enough to stand in line for 16 hours, or to pay $789.00 for it on eBay or Amazon....but I do covet it enough to make a daily internets drive by on Amazon and eBay to see if there's a deal.

And now might have a chance to pay the suggested retail price of $249.00 for one on Amazon. Actually, I have a 28 to 1 chance to buy a Wii through the Customer's Vote: Special Edition Page
How do these odds stack up?

• I have a better chance of getting my letter to the New York Times published (20 to 1)--provided that I ever write one. Right now, my chances are zero.
• I have a better chance of getting hemorrhoids (25 to 1).
• But my odds are better on the Wii than having my novel be a NYTimes bestseller (220 to 1).
• I also have a better chance of getting the Wii than getting botulism (2,300 to 1). Comforting.

Sock Monkey Slippers--You Have To Know Someone Who Would Just Love Them

I intentionally missed the Black Friday sport shopping and then unintentionally missed CyberMonday. We have lots of people to buy "little" gifts for and time is fleeting, so today it's Cyberpower Shopping Tuesday....

Best (little) finds so far:
Sock Monkey Slippers
Legendary German Christmas Pickle
Stonewall Kitchen Lavendar Mint Liquid Handsoap
Stonewall Kitchen Lavendar Laundry Sachet
Ohio State Buckeye Coffee

You've Got to Have a Lot of Disposable Income Finds:
$99.00 to warm a coffee mug
Shure Earphones for your iPod. Shure cost a lot. Shure sounds good. (and yes, I shure do want a pair in my stocking) and you get this T-Shirt with them.
Heart-Shaped Doggie Bed