Amazon Instant Movie Streaming - FREE for Prime Members

I was pleasantly surprised to hear this news today, that Amazon is offering all of their Prime Members a "FREE" instant movie and TV streaming services!

In case you didn't know, Amazon has their Prime Membership available for purchase which has great benefits.  You can purchase their "prime" membership here.  The cost is $79 for 1 year, and one of the main benefits of Amazon's Prime Membership which I absolutely LOVE is their free 2 day shipping.   So for around $7 per month, you get to enjoy all the benefits of the Amazon Prime Membership PLUS, instant access to all of their library of movies and TV shows... FREE.

Why should I care?
I'm also a Netflix member.  I have their 1 DVD per month deal for $10 per month.  The streaming quality is good, but their selection "could" be much better.  Until today, the only other alternative at that price range was Hulu Plus, which I avoided.  Hulu plus seems to be geared towards people who are more interested in TV shows... which I am not.  And they have commercials???  But now that there's Amazon in the mix...  oh... yeah ==> Competition = "good for customers".

How's the Amazon's Selection?
So far, it looks like Netflix is significantly better.  I'm hoping this will change soon.  However,  Amazon's offers instant streaming PLUS all of their Amazon Prime benefits for $7/month.  Netflix offers the instant streaming and only 1 DVD (at a time) checkout at $10/month.

Netflix or Amazon Prime?
Your mileage will vary, but I'm leaning towards Amazon Prime as a better value at this point, especially if you do not have Netflix or any other instant streaming service.  They are almost two very different types of service now.  But I'm hoping Amazon's instant streaming library will beef up soon.  I have both, so I'll see how the Amazon service is and let you all know in the future.

One thing is clear... no matter who you are, this is great news.  Happy Streaming everyone!

-John

Verizon iPhone 4 Review

The Verizon iPhone arrived today!





Pros:  It's smooth, slick, has a very fast response... it's an iPHONE!
Cons: It does not do your laundry, and wasn't free.


Background:
I'm one of those people who prefers the Verizon network for one reason or another, and ever since the rumors of a Verizon iPhone 4 started to solidify during the summer of last year, I was SET on getting a Verizon iPhone!  But when it was officially announced, there were so many people on the internet screeming against getting it, I was not so sure anymore.  Hopefully this will help people to decide one way or another.


The way it feels in your hands...
It fits perfectly in my hands.  I'm sure everyone has held someone's iPhone 4 in their hands by now, and WOW does it feel solid!  it looks and feels like it's worth the $199 that I paid for. 


The way it functions...
It's just flows.  I played with it for several hours now, and it didn't skip a beat.  It's fast and silky and it blows away my Motorola Droid.  I've played with the Galaxy and the Droid X, and other Android phones, and although I love my Android phones, NONE of them have that smoothness, which this iPhone seems to have.


Should you wait for the iPhone 5?
The answer was obviously a "NO" for me, and here's why.  This iPhone 4 is a matured product, and it's slightly modified to function on the Verizon network.  So most of the bugs have been worked out, and it functions well... very well.   Of course there are a lot of rumors going around saying how wonderful the iPhone 5 will be. But as far as know, those are just... rumors.  None of them have been confirmed, and no one can say for certain that the iPhone 5 will be available for the Verizon network.  Even if a new and improved iPhone 5 will be released to the Verizon customers this summer, I would not regret being "stuck" with this iPhone for two years. 


If ya thinking of waiting...
..then wait.  Especially if you have a smart phone already.  I should mention that this iPhone was purchased for my wife.  She had one of those "dumb" phones until this purchase, and she didn't see a reason or a need to upgrade until now.  I have been a happy Droid user since it was first released.  I had the chance to upgrade for free, but since I had my Droid, I could hold out a little longer.  But if I didn't have my Droid, I would have ordered two iPhones last week.  If Apple releases a Verzion iPhone 5 this summer, you can be sure that I'll be the first in line to get it.  And I'll tell ya all about it here.


Conclusion:
So, this iPhone 4 is significantly better than any other smart phones that I've had the previlege of using and trying out.  I mean...all you have to do is ask any current AT&T iPhone 4 user, and they'll be very happy with the phone... just not the AT&T's service.  So Verizon & iPhone 4?  Now that's a great combo!  I highly recommend it!


See more photos of the Verizon iPhone below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3choco/sets/72157626001495792/

XIM3 Ordered!

If you are looking to utilize a keyboard & mouse, or a gaming pad, or even a PlayStation Move controller, or anything else other than your standard controller in your FPS games on the XBox 360 gaming console.... then you're probab interested in getting the XIM3.

If you are looking to purchase the XIM3, and was following the official forum, then you know what happened after the "sneak peak" sales announcement at 1:06PM EST.  The store.xim3.com went down due to a very large amount of people attempting to logon and purchase the XIM3.  There were so many hits on the store website that it crashed.  After only few hours being opened only to the followers of the forum, the moderators had to take the store down.  

The online store is still down as of this post, and they are not taking any more orders until things sort out. But many people managed to get through during those few hours when the online store was open, and they were able to get their orders through.... I was one of those fortunate people.  It should arrive soon (may be next week).  When it does arrive, I'll tell ya all about it!

Read all about the XIM3 on their official forum
http://www.xim3.com/community/index.php

Just Ordered my Verizon iPhone 4!

It's around 3:15AM EST now, and I've just placed a pre-order of the long awaited Verizon iPhone..  I'll tell ya all about it when it arrives.

Until then... I'm going back to sleep now... 

Zzzzzzzzzz

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to 3choco Blog!  Just started a new blog, so expect lots of new and exciting posts soon!

See Ya'll soon

-John

Oh, and btw... Punxsutawney Phil Sees No Shadow.. Woo Hoo!