Yesterday Amazon launched their on-line video download service. Here is the marketing speak straight from the horses mouth (or press release as it were):

Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) today announced the launch of Amazon UnboxTM, a new digital video download service offering customers thousands of television shows, movies and other video content from more than 30 studio and network partners from Hollywood and around the world. Unbox is the only video download service to offer DVD-quality picture. In addition, Unbox RemoteLoadTM technology allows customers to buy from one PC (such as an office computer) and download to another (such as a home computer). Customers can visit www.amazon.com/unbox to try the Unbox service with a free TV show.

Unbox offers triple the video quality of the leading commercial Internet video services, delivering content encoded at 2,500 kilobits per second using the ultra-efficient VC-1 Advanced Profile codec. At no additional charge, Unbox also automatically includes a second file optimized for playback on any Windows Media-compatible portable device. In addition, Unbox uses progressive download, eliminating the need to wait for the entire video to download before watching. This means the typical cable broadband customer can start watching any Unbox TV show or movie within five minutes of ordering.

Buying (or renting) movies/TV shows is incredibly easy, especially if you already have an Amazon account set up with 1-Click. Even if you don't have an account setup is easy and will guide you through creating an account as part of the checkout process. I would have liked to have seen a shopping cart option (like on iTunes), but 1-Click purchasing is all that is available. I do however like that the on-line store works in most browsers on most OSes, so you can shop while at work and have your purchases waiting for you at home. Otherwise purchasing content is exactly the same as buying anything on Amazon via 1-Click. Despite the multi-platform purchasing system, viewing content purchased through Unbox is a Windows only affair. The Unbox App is straight forward and easy to use. In fact, I have no complaints about it. It is small and using it is very intuitive. Playing back your purchased movies/shows is extremely simple, as is transferring the file to a PlaysForSure compatible player. The quallity of the downloaded video is full DVD quallity as advertised and looks excelent on all the displays I veiwed it on.

About a month ago I picked up a Sans e250 mp3 player to try out with some of the "Plays for Sure" all you can eat subscription services. I am a big fan of the iTunes Music store and my iPods, but I found myself not exploring any new music. $9.99 for a CD was still a little to much for me to explore, one of the "Plays for Sure" services seemed like the answer (since most are priced around $15 a month for their all you can download plans). All I needed was a compatible player. I settled on the 2 GB Sans e250 mostly because it seemed poised to directly compete with the iPod Nano, and I wanted to see how the competition stacked up. Featuring a 1.8 inch TFT screen, mp3 and wma support, FM tuner, voice recording, photo viewing, video playback, and a micro-SD slot for expanding the players storage, the Sans seemed like it may be a Nano killer.

Recently I was given the opportunity to test ShieldZone's invisibleShield screen/device protectors. According to ShieldZone's site, their screen protectors are so tough and durable that you will only need one for the life of what ever device you choose to cover. They feel so sure that you will be impressed that they back their protectors with both a 30 day 100% satisfaction guarantee and a lifetime replacement guarantee. They even offer to replace your protector if you have to take it off if you need to send your device in for service. With the company standing so firmly behind their product, I was very excited to take ShieldZone's invisibleShield Screen Protectors for a spin.

I have been giving the latest flock beta a try for the last few days to see how it stands up to my personal favorite browser, Firefox. One important thing to consider is that Firefox is a more or less finished product and Flock is... well still a beta. Keeping that in mind I installed Flock on both my Linux based work desktop and my Windows install at home. I was very excited to give Flock a spin. Its built in news reader and native support for social bookmarks intrigued me, and I was excited to see how it ran.