Apple updated its privacy policy yesterday with a new paragraph about location information. If you agree to the changes (which you must do in order to download anything via the iTunes store) you agree to let Apple collect, store and share "precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device":

Read more details with this article at consumerist.com.

How does this affect you?  You know those pop-up questions that say “iMobster wants to use your geographic information, do you agree to share it?”  Since you could be saying “no,” these apps usually have to be able to work and provide value to you without your geo information.  I almost always say “no,” except when it is an app where I specifically want to share my location (e.g. Foursquare).

Now, your choice is going away.  Random apps can collect information about where you go and use your iPhone, iPad or even your Mac.

Anybody remember the ads back in 1984 when Apple launch th Mac, where they positioned the competition as BIG BROTHER and positioned the Mac as the giving you back your privacy and control?  A bit of irony now …

What does this mean for you Netflix subscribers?  Well, it partially explains my observation in my previous article – Netflix Popular New Releases – Not So Much!  Let’s get more specific than that though.

I hadn’t heard about the above deal, so I put The Twilight Saga: New Moon in my Netflix queue on the week it released (March 20, 2010).  Take a look at my queue for how this and other recent requests are listed:

Hmm, it doesn’t say that they don’t actually have it yet, does it?  I suppose many people don’t realize the big decrease in value that has come to Netflix and just think they are one of the unlucky few who aren’t getting it first. 

I think it is misleading, to say the least.  Frankly, why else do we pay the monthly fee if not to view recently released DVDs? 

So, what can you do if you want to view one of these *newly released* DVDs ?  You have lots of options, all of which happen to make the studios more money:

• It is available “on demand” from Comcast for just $5.99
• Buy it online for about $20 (Wal-mart has it for $17 + tax + $2 shipping, for example)
• Buy it now! on ebay.com for about $10.

I was a pretty early customer of Netflix and I love some of the innovations they have made.  I love their “watch instantly” option and I’ve watched several TV series completely online via Xbox Live.  However, I see little reason to keep paying for “3 at a time” DVDs when I can’t get the latest and greatest.   If I wait 28 days, I can buy the video on ebay.com for around $5 – so I could buy 3 per month instead of having a Netflix subscription.

I am certainly going to downsize my account.  I’ll probably change to the $8.99 option for now, so I can keep the online TV shows on demand, but I’m definitely going to start looking at other streaming options, because, from my point-of-view, the online streaming videos is all I’m using Netflix for at this point.

I searched around and found confirmation from Major Nelson here. (image also from Major Nelson)

You will be able to configure 2 devices for up to 32Gb of USB memory storage.  Since you can pick up new 16Gb USB sticks for under $30, this great, and real alternative for anyone that either doesn’t have a hard drive or wants to supplement the storage with a more mobile alternative.

Later, when I wanted to change the password, I couldn’t figure out how! If you go to the Tweetdeck web site and login and then view your profile, it just shows a lot of summary information about your twitter account.  With a little persistence, you can get to the support.tweetdeck.com site, login and view your profile, but this only lets you change your display name, phone number, time zone and add a photo.

After lots of research on the tweetdeck support site, I’ve concluded that, for some strange reason, they didn’t build in any change password capability.  If you go to the account setting UI, type in a new password and “save” settings, it doesn’t change your password.  You might think it does, but you can verify by going to the web site and trying to login – only the old password will work.

Of course, there are always ways and I’ve identified one that is pretty easy to implement.  Thought I should document it for those who may follow in my path.  No doubt they’ll fix this at some point and this post will be outdated, but until then…

Tweetdeck Account Password Change Method:  Reset the Password

1. Open setting by selecting the little wrench on the top right corner of Tweetdeck.

2. Select the ‘Sync’ tab and click on ‘Forgotten your password?’.  You will see a message that says ‘Sent password reminder email. Please check your email inbox.’

3.  Check your email for a message with a subject line of: “Forgotten Tweetdeck password.”  similar to this:

4.  The mail message should have an embedded link, which you can click, which will take you to a web page and you can enter a new password (twice).  Done.

That should be it.  Now you should be able to use your new password.

Yesterday, I received an E-Mail message purporting to be from “Facebook Security [profile@facebook.com]” that is actually a social attack attempting to deliver the W32/Bredolab trojan downloader.

Here is what the E-mail looks like:

—–Original Message—–
From: Facebook Security [mailto:profile@facebook.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 6:27 PM
To: xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Facebook Password Reset Confirmation! Important Message

Dear user of facebook,

Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed.

You can find your new password in attached document.

Thanks,

Your Facebook.

There was an attachment which purported to be named: Facebook_password_845.zip, which contained an executable file that delivered the malicious payload.

We’ve been Netflix subscribers for a few years now and I’ve generally been happy with it, but over time, I’ve noticed something that has become a pet peeve.  Popular New Releases,  a page you can browse for potential DVDs to add to your queue, are anything but. 

I first noticed this back around the release of The Dark Knight, because I was anticipating the DVD release and looking forward to watching it again.  On netflix.com, I browsed to New Releases and to my surprise, The Dark Knight was not listed under Popular New Releases.  Since then, I’ve monitored it and found that true popular new releases almost never show up under the Netflix section of the same name.

Let’s do a little experiment right now and see what we find.  First, I’m going to bing search for “top new dvd rentals”.  I quickly find ROTTEN TOMATOES: Top Rentals and

Now, let’s go over to the Netflix New Releases and look at the popular new releases row.  Hmmm, there doesn’t seem to be any of the actual popular rentals on the list.  Maybe if we look at “See all”…

Now, we have the full first page of Popular New Releases and again, none of the actual popular ones that you might want to be prompted to rent are on there.

Clearly, Netflix’ definition of Popular New Release must be different than the reasonable definition that most people would think of – something like “DVDs that aren’t actually popular, but as we want you to rent them instead of actual popular DVDs.”

I have my own theory on why Netflix does it this way.  They don’t need to promote actual popular ones, because (a) people will seek them out anyway, and (b) they don’t have enough copies of the popular ones to meet the demand.  So, instead, when you use the tools that you think would help you browse good options for you and your family, they throw up other stuff that they want you to rent instead.  Bleh!

Netflix does list the videos, if you know about them and search them out.  Take a look at the top two in my queue for example, which have been there since the movies first released weeks ago.  Note that the expected availability is “Long wait”:

The is a Bad Business decision, in my opinion – and one of the reasons I am so open to new services being offered, like Red Box, when it is introduced into our local grocery store.  And even though I love streaming DVD TV series from Netflix to my XBox, I think it is time to investigate reducing my plan to the minimum and looking around for alternative options.  Netflix may still give the best value, but they’ve given me enough reason to at least look around.