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BlockBuster Video has come to an end


Rich_Guy

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I recall in the 80's, a man stating there was a new technology coming called the world wide web. He talked about how people would be able to share pictures and other rich media. One day people would be able to watch videos and even movies through this linkup. The internet had been around a while, but for the most part it was being used by government and educational institutions. For the rest of us it was BBS's, Compuserve, AOL, and Prodigy. I myself had a 5 line dial up/ISDN BBS called The Expert in the mid 80's.

When I heard this guy talk about the world wide web, I told my wife that it could never happen. I understood how much bandwidth that would need, and knew our infrastructure at the time was but a tiny fraction of of what would be necessary. This was before I knew about fiber optics, and I wasn't accounting for new technology. I knew how big the construction of our land line telephone system was. It took decades to put up all of the poles and to accomplish this build out. I couldn't imagine something a million times what existed coming to reality. It seemed so big that even a government couldn't pull it off, let alone private industry.

Now look at where we are. DVD and even BluRay sales have fallen off a cliff. With the exception of people who live too far from broadband, most people simply demand a movie and stream it right to their TV or BluRay player. Just like the guy said. I still can't believe what I am seeing. It seems like it was a while ago that somebody, perhaps Steve Jobs, said there would be no more PC's or gaming systems. TV's will be smart. Programs will be run on servers, and the screens will be sent to your TV. All you need is an interface. No longer is the mouse/keyboard the state of the art. Hell, I can control stuff with my iPhone.

Who knows where technology will lead. It has built more giants than it has toppled. Frankly, I see that one day the USPS will become obsolete if it hasn't already. Mailers and advertisements are being replaced by popups and direct marketing emails. Letters are now emails, texts and tweets. Packages are best handled by UPS or FedEx. What will the future hold? One thing I can say for sure, I am not qualified to say. Hell, even though I was a geek squared, I thought the web was impossible.

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I hate to hear it, they've been my main source of Blu-ray discs for several years.

Try Redbox, they have been my main source for Blu-ray. Redbox has very convenient locations and you can register with them online so that you can browse for your movie online and then reserve it so you know it will be at the Redbox kiosk machine when you go to pick it up, this works great.

Redbox is very low priced $1.50 for Blu-ray rentals, plus they have lots of discount codes for free or nearly free rentals that they will email you or you can easily search and find online.

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I recall in the 80's, a man stating there was a new technology coming called the world wide web. He talked about how people would be able to share pictures and other rich media. One day people would be able to watch videos and even movies through this linkup. The internet had been around a while, but for the most part it was being used by government and educational institutions. For the rest of us it was BBS's, Compuserve, AOL, and Prodigy. I myself had a 5 line dial up/ISDN BBS called The Expert in the mid 80's.

When I heard this guy talk about the world wide web, I told my wife that it could never happen. I understood how much bandwidth that would need, and knew our infrastructure at the time was but a tiny fraction of of what would be necessary. This was before I knew about fiber optics, and I wasn't accounting for new technology. I knew how big the construction of our land line telephone system was. It took decades to put up all of the poles and to accomplish this build out. I couldn't imagine something a million times what existed coming to reality. It seemed so big that even a government couldn't pull it off, let alone private industry.

Craig,

My wife and I are moving in closer to Chattanooga soon. We will be able to get fiber to our house - 1Gigabit connection for $69/month. No one has routers for the home that can utilize that speed yet, but it means the only bottleneck will be my own gear and not my ISP.

Bruce

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