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Amazon Prime Instant Video is adding CBS TV shows, including all of Star Trek
Looking for a Netflix alternative once the price for streaming and discs combined jumps in September? Amazon Prime Instant Video is becoming an increasingly appealing option, especially now that it announced TV shows from CBS are coming to the all-you-can-eat video streaming service this summer. The deal appears to be similar to one CBS reached with Netflix earlier this year, also including the complete Star Trek series among 18 "popular TV shows" with complete seasons available. Including the new selections from CBS Prime Instant Video is claiming over 6,000 movies and TV shows available, a number which is still dwarfed by Netflix's Watch Instantly library but does include those shipping benefits on purchases. Since we love free shipping and Frasier, it's a win / win for us.
Screen Grabs: Palm Pre stumps the experts on Numb3rs
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com. The Palm Pre showed up on a recent episode of Numb3rs, and we can only assume that confused look on Charlie's face is the simplistic calculator that ships stock with webOS. Or could it be something much more sinister? [Thanks, Marshall]
Chain Factor: Addictive Puzzle Game, Numb3rs ARG
Casual gamers with some time to kill (actually, casual gamers are, by definition, people with time to kill) would be wise to check out the latest distraction taking the nation by storm - Chain Factor. This simple, Connect Four lookalike is enough to captivate numerophiles and puzzle enthusiasts for hours on end. But behind the pastel discs and perky staccato chimes, there's free advertising for CBS a pseudo-alternate reality game just waiting to be discovered.
Massive games by the Numb3rs: MMOGs on prime-time TV
Discussion of a prime-time television show is probably not something you'll see in this space often. But today, it's highly appropriate. Last night's episode of the CBS series Numb3rs featured a plot that any reader of this site can relate to. The show stars Rob Morrow as an FBI agent and David Krumholtz as his math professor sibling. Krumholtz's character is regularly involved with federal cases, where he makes use of mathematics to solve real-life problems. It sounds like a gimmick and, to be honest, in some episodes it is. Generally the skilled acting and competent writing keeps the show interesting. This week's episode centered around a Massively Multiplayer Online Game and the Alternate Reality spinoff that accompanied it. The killer-of-the-week was competing with other groups for a $1 million cash prize, and used lethal methods to dissuade others from playing. The show heavily featured MMOG jargon, the realities of online play, and the kinds of people who play these games. It actually did a fairly respectful job of it too, and I thought it might be worthwhile to offer a mini-review of the episode. If you're curious about the episode, "Primacy", ARGNet has a few words on the show from the perspective of an Alternate Reality gamer. For more on the math used in the episode, including combinatorics and evolutionary algorithms, a site dedicated to running the numbers on Numb3rs has you covered. And, of course, if you'd like to actually watch the episode you can do so for free on CBS's Innertube service.Read on for my thoughts on this intriguing episode of Numb3rs.
HDTV Listings for March 9, 2007
What we're watching: College basketball tournaments continue on, where Georgetown and Notre Dame tangle in a Big East semifinal tonight on ESPN-HD. Still, new episodes of Close to Home and Numb3rs should keep us over on CBS.Our traditional high definition listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for September 29, 2006
What we're watching: The latter half of Numb3rs' two-part season opener airs tonight on CBS, along with new episodes of Ghost Whisperer and Close to Home. As the baseball regular season comes to a close the Phillies face the Marlins on ESPN-HD.Our traditional high definition listings continue below.
Survivor, other CBS shows in iTunes (US)
As you may remember, CBS's president of digital media Larry Kramer announced back in February his network's intention to sell downloadable episodes of Survivor - without iTunes. For $1.99US, you got a single episode that expired in 24 hours. He stated that CBS would be moving gradually into this new media frontier.Today, they've taken what I think is a nice step forward. Survivor, Numb3rs and all three CSI's are now in the US iTunes Music Store [iTunes link]. Welcome to the party, CBS!
HDTV Listings for May 19, 2006
What we're watching: Plenty of season finales tonight, and two championship teams trying to avoid just that. The NBA championship contenders of last year, Spurs & Pistons, are both trying to stave off elimination and force a deciding Game 7 against the Mavericks and Cavaliers. The seasons that we know are ending tonight belong to Close to Home, Numb3rs and a two-hour block of Conviction series finale.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
