Apparently the CEO of Netflix is sending out emails to previous (and current?) subscribers apologizing for the abrupt change in pricing. To make up for it they are moving all DVD operations to a new web site and giving it a different name. Qwikster.

We’ll see how that works out after everyone forgets how to spell it and ends up on the wrong website.

In Related News: Twitter user Jason Castillo (@Qwikster) gained over 8,000 followers in a matter of hours, up from about 23 earlier this morning. On his feed he mentions that 3 people have offered to buy his account. However giving his age and occupation it is a low-ball figure.

The full email from Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix is after the break.

Dear Ryan,

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn’t make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.

We’ve tried out the Windows 8 Developer Preview and so far it looks pretty nice. Except the Metro Start Menu is not very good interface if your running it on a desktop or laptop PC.

We said Alt F** That and made an app that will allow you to toggle the new start menu in the easiest way possible.

Simply run RPToggle and it will automatically change the appropriate registry values and restart the necessary processes.

Download RPToggle Here.

This right here is why offsite backups are important. The owner of this computer brought it to us in the hope that the hard drives were still working. Unfortunately, they weren’t. The internal hard drive wouldn’t spin up and their external hard drive was melted.

Don’t keep your backups sitting on top of your computer.

Photos of the damage after the break: 

Software can test a lot of things when you are trying to determine a hardware problem. But there are just some things that a program just cant warn you about.

Normal computers have a fair amount of dust in them but the majority of it doesn’t stick to anything and exits through the vents.

Smokers computers are different. A layer of tar forms over the components and the dust sticks to it. Over time it will clot together which blocks the airflow. When that happens the computer warms up and becomes a very habitable place for spiders, cockroaches, and mold.

I didn’t find any insects in this once but the heatsink on the CPU was almost completely blocked off with hardend tar-dust growing mold.

The sight of it made a small child cry. Video after the break:

Every month Tom’s Hardware conducts benchmarks on the latest CPU’s and publishes a report on the Best Gaming CPUs for the Money.

This month they focus on Intel’s new Sandy Bridge CPUs. Check the source for the 6 page breakdown or hit up the PDF link for just the chart itself.

Source: Tom’s Hardware – PDF: Download