Let me get started by comparing my personal experiences to Corliss's: I have used Netflix for more than six years, both in major cities (Brooklyn, San Francisco, Chicago) and small suburbs (the Pennsylvania Main Line). I've also used two of Netflix's competitors, Blockbuster and Canadian Netflix rip-off Zip.ca, not to mention scores of independent and corporate brick-and-mortar video stores. Netflix is the absolute best of the bunch, no question, and Corliss seems to be missing the forest for a bunch of trees that, on close examination, don't even exist.

Corliss complains that his shipping times are interminably long. Rent a movie on Friday, he claims, and it'll be there Tuesday at the earliest! I think he means "latest" rather than "earliest," because in my experience, even out in the 'burbs, shipping takes exactly one day each way. And I'm sorry that the USPS doesn't deliver on Sunday so Corliss could get Moulin Rouge (which, flying in the face of all other respected critics, he loved, because it may be a turd of a movie but it sure is shiny!) a day earlier, but that's really not Netflix's fault. Blockbuster was consistently a day or two longer on each end, and Zip.ca had to fight with Canadapost just to get me a DVD within a month (I exaggerate this last point, technically, but it really was slow as molasses).

His other factually questionable complaint, in which he implies that some large percentage of Netflix's films are only available after a "long" or "very long wait," doesn't square with my experiences either. Those messages are quite rare for me—in my current queue of over 50 very diverse films (old, new, studio, independent, domestic, foreign, television), exactly none are unavailable right now. Corliss also totally ignores the growing catalog of films and shows available for instant streaming, calling it "imminent" instead of, well, available, right now. "You'll be what the online corporate culture wants you to be: a passive, inert receptacle for its products," lectures Corliss, as he writes for a massive online corporate publication. How, exactly, does watching a movie you rented online make you less "passive" or "inert" than if you walked two blocks to your local poorly-stocked Blockbuster? That four-second exchange of money you share with a surly teenage clerk?

But Corliss's most sneering and difficult-to-swallow complaint is that Netflix is emblematic of a move toward a world where we become like Larry David's agent in Wall-E: Fat, lazy, and fed a stream of data on our computer screens, losing touch with our fellow humans. And why wouldn't we want to spend time with our fellow film-loving humans, like those jerks at the "alternative" movie store who look with contempt at us when we rent Caddyshack for the fourth time this year? It's a variation on the complaint we see from those so out of touch with reality they actually believe anybody uses Facebook as a replacement for friendship, or that Twitter is one of the biblical plagues: The world is going to hell, and it's technology's fault.

Really, this article smacks of the same pointless, cheap contention as Slate's insane attack on fireworks this July 4th: Let's take something everybody either likes or is indifferent to, and bash it. Netflix is, in my experience, the best film distribution service ever made. They've got the largest catalog I've ever seen, and that sure as hell includes any brick-and-mortar store; they fund and distribute amazing low-budget fare like the Comedians of Comedy series; their prices are rock-bottom low; and they're quick to adapt to or push new technologies, from Blu-Ray to streaming. They're also still independent; they invented the mail-order setup and they'll almost certainly be major players when streamed video fully takes over from physical media. To announce that Netflix, a homegrown company with fresh and innovative ideas that achieved remarkable success, "stinks" because there's no know-it-all clerk to talk to, is ridiculous.

The piece is about the earliest days of digital media, when the lucky few home computer users could view content from a handful of prominent papers on their "television screens" by dialing into their CompuServe Information Service with their rotary phones.

It's interesting to see how many people involved in the project at the Examiner and elsewhere had a resolutely realistic take on the whole thing, assuming, despite how clunky current technologies were, that digital media was the unavoidable future—a sentiment that has since lost favor in newsrooms, now that it's actually coming to pass. [TechCrunch]

Kaczynski had appealed from jail that sale of his writings constitutes a violation of his freedom of expression, and while denying the appeal, a San Francisco Circuit Court also allowed that the University of Michigan receive copies of his work, in accordance with the crazy scary man's wishes. Let's hope that the method of sale really sticks in the craw of the anti-technology crusader, whose bombs killed 3 and wounded 23 over a period of 18 years. Hell, I'm even writing about the sale of his stuff on the internet, on the internet, from a source I found on the internet. It's a meta-feast of technology up in here. [San Francisco Chronicle]

Fabrik Ultimate Backup is designed to run in the background, sensing when CPU usage is low, and using that time to upload data to their central server. Because the software isn't built into the drive, Fabrik Ultimate Backup onkly works when the computer is running. A variety of parameters, such as file types or specific folders, can be used to determine what gets backed up and Ultimate backup constantly scans for new updates. The files can be reverted to a saved state up to 30 days prior and can be accessed remotely from the web. But it should be noted that files can only be accessed from one computer.

Each Fabrik hard drive purchased comes with a lifetime allocation of 2 GB of online backup. Unlimited backup space is $4.95/month and is compatible with any hard drive, not just Fabrik models. But you do need a PC to run the software. The Pro line of hard drives range between 250GB-2TB of space and will cost between $100-$800.

Sites such as eBay are more than happy to comply with NetEnforcer's demands. The company also goes after counterfeit merchandise, gray market goods, piracy and any other evil schemes that Corporate America is afraid of but reluctant to enforce with its own personnel.

Of course, NetEnforcers are only upholding the law, so we can't hold them accountable for laws that we may not like. Also, intellectual property rights are important. For example, there are a lot of sites that paste in Gizmodo content verbatim, even with our bylines attached, and then run ads next to it. Are we flattered by that wanton theft? Of course not. Maybe we should get NetEnforcers to help us.

On the other hand, there's something creepy about a self-appointed group of vigilantes who have taken it upon themselves to enforce laws that many of us don't like. A glance at the website shows a tough-looking cop (pictured above) who looks like he might have a billy club just out of sight, ready to bust you upside the head. Is vigilante justice the way to handle copyright law and piracy online? Anybody have any experience with NetEnforcer they'd like to share? [NetEnforcers]

The Mii Parade.

And Everybody friggin' votes. And of course, Mario playing bloody soccer. If things weren't bad enough, George Harrison, Nintendo VP of Marketing, had this to say about Nintendo's online strategy for the Wii:

"I'm confident there will be third-party titles with online game play by the end of the year."

To then add "our first online multiplayer title, 'Pokemon Battle Revolution,' will be out this summer."

I rest my case. –Jesus Diaz

When Will Nintendo Games Be Online? [Reuters]

Price Protectr supports Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, Costco, Future Shop, Office Max, Target, and other shops. Kind of a fire-and-forget solution that saves you time and possibly cash if you shop online often. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Price Protectr via Lifehacker]

Does that matter to you? Not really. All you need to know is that you can take a Netflix mailer to Blockbuster and get a free movie rental. – Jason Chen

Blockbuster gives free rentals to Netflix users [Ars Technica]

The better ones are an Xbox 360 Wireless headset for $52.66 (plus another $20 off if you use Google Checkout), 19-inch monitor free after various "savings", and various deals at Wal-mart. Check'm out. It's better than doing actual work. – Jason Chen

Guide To Cyber Monday Sales [Consumerist]

This website monitors the major sites—EB Games, Wal-Mart, Circuit City, Amazon—all on one page and will change color when the console is in stock. Pretty similar to all the 360 trackers that were the rage last year. Notably absent is Best Buy, but perhaps there's a problem with BB's website. – Jason Chen

Inventory Tracker [Refresh Thing]

The overall layout of the store is straightforward, presented with tabs and a download list. The thing is, there's no way (that we could find) to consistently add stuff to the download list. There's only a "download" option and not a "queue" option, and when you're downloading, the only thing you can do is press circle for cancel. Sometimes this adds your download to the "Download List", sometimes not. And once it's on the list, you're still limited to downloading one item at a time. So we're going to say there's no queue at the moment. – Jason Chen

Previous PS3 Coverage [Gizmodo]

The PS3's online network is free, save for purchasing games and various other things, so you don't have to set up billing when you sign up. Also, take a look at the screen name we signed up with. You may recognize it. – Jason Chen

PlayStation 3 Coverage [Gizmodo]

The store looks a lot like the Sony Connect Music Store and is much prettier than Microsoft's Marketplace, all thanks to the PS3's built-in browser. You purchase and download things here, via a shopping cart, and it works by putting money into a Wallet which then gets spent on content. Individual games like Singstar have their own stores, which is just a filtered version of the main store. All in all, Sony's online offerings are shaping up to be as good as Microsoft's, but with a much more consistent and usable UI to boot. – Jason Chen

PS3 Online: How It Works [Eurogamer via Kotaku]

The first four episodes of the shows 30 Rock and Twenty Good Years, plus the first eight episodes of Kidnapped, Friday Night Lights, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Heroes will be online for streaming. Will this online content save NBC from being the last place network again this season? We'll see. – Jason Chen