I recently purchased Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 and Tron Legacy on Blu-Ray, which are both really cool! Some of the coolest things about these Blu-ray discs are the special features.

Harry Potter’s awesome special feature is the Maximum Movie feature, which allows you to watch the movie while the cast and crew talk and show clips about the making of the movie, the history of Harry Potter and other really cool stuff, all narrated by Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy). It’s like watch the director’s commentary on steroids and it’s really cool! I love Warner Bros new feature and I really hope that they incorporate it into more of their movies. I didn’t find any cons about this new feature, everything was cool and it gave you a lot of time to look over the videos and etc.

Tron Legacy was watched last night used Disney’s Second Sight feature. This one is a little tricky. First, you have to download the iPad app on the Apple app store, then you have to remember your Digital Copy disc code to enter it to sync the movies, then you have to sync the discs. While the stuff shown on the iPad was really cool, there were a lot of cons. So here it goes:

1. Syncing was a bit of a pain
2. Make sure to shut off all push notifications on your iPad, because it will mess up your sync and you will have to resync
3. There isn’t enough time to check out all the features during the time alloted while watching the movie, you have to resync a lot and then you miss stuff.
4. It’s mostly storyboard drawings.
5. Don’t watch the movie this way if you have never seen it before, because you will spend the entire movie watching the iPad.

So as you can see, Maximum Movie is way cooler. I think that Disney has the right idea, but the timing is horrible. I think if they put less storyboarding photos, then we would have time to look at the massive amount of content they put into the Second Sight.

Greetings programs!

Yesterday was a momentous occasion for all TRON fans! That’s right, TRON Legacy released on Blu-Ray and DVD! I pre-ordered my TRON Legacy Ultimate Edition on Amazon. I was so excited and for good reason! The  bonus features on TRON Legacy and TRON are cool enough on their own for any TRON fan. Hours of awesome bonus features that really capture not only how they made the films, but the essence of the films as well.

There are a whopping 5 discs in the Ultimate Edition, 3d TRON Legacy, Blu-Ray Tron Legacy, Blu-Ray TRON, DVD Copy of TRON Legacy and a digital copy as well. Now I know you are thinking, do I really need that many copies? Yep! I can tell you that we watch the Blu-Ray discs in the family room, but the kids can watch the DVD copy in their rooms and at night this user can watch it on my Apple TV or iPad in the comfort of my own warm bed! So yes, if you are a true TRON fan, you need this many copies.

All 5 discs fit into the Indentity Disc!

TRON Legacy/TRON Ultimate Experience Packaging

As you can see the Identity Disc lights up, which is pretty awesome and all 5 discs fit into the disc. The marketer who came up with this packaging is pure genius!

Some of the cool special features include Disney’s Second Screen. This Apple app allows you to watch the movie on your tv and get more special features and cool stuff that are in line with what you are watching on screen on your iPad or Apple. This app takes special features to a whole new level! This technology is pretty awesome and I had fun playing around with it today. I am really excited to see what other big name studios are going to get onboard with this tech!

So make sure that you pick up your copy of TRON Legacy (if you can, our local WalMart was sold out this morning!) and enjoy!

End of Line.

Yep, that’s right you now stream videos and TV shows through Amazon.com! Most of the TV episodes are around $2.99. However, if you have paid for an Amazon Prime Membership, a lot of the videos and TV episodes are now free!!!

So, if like me, you don’t have cable, satellite or etc and you watch TV through your computer (or even if you do have those things), make sure to check out Amazon.com’s video streaming!

Now, I will say that while I plan to use Amazon streaming, I will not be shutting off Netflix. I still enjoy Netflix and they have a lot of good kid shows and movies that my kids like to watch, plus I like getting the DVDs in the mail as well. So I would suggest Amazon Video as a supplement to Netflix, but not a replacement.

Today is the unveiling of the iPad 2. So here’s a great video from PCMag to explain all about the new iPad!

My weekly recap came down to just one article this week. In putting together my weekly recaps, I make sure to pick articles that are not spammy or lame. However, I do come across some gems here and there and this article is one of them! Jennifer Saska of the NCH Software, submitted this great article about how playing with LEGOS is similar to building software. This is an interesting article and while I am not a programmer myself, I found it interesting how building things layer at a time, much like building things with LEGOS was comparable.

Now when I watch my children play with their LEGOS, I wonder if 1. they make this kind of correlation and 2. are they going to be the software designers of the future?

I really liked not only this article, but the blog as well! NCH Software has done a great job of presenting the information to a large audience, whether you are a programmer or not, this blog has great information!

V, the remake of the old 1980′s sci-fi show, is finally getting good! The first season and a half was a ton of build up, which can be important, but not a whole season and a half of it. I was starting to wonder whether Kevin Costner was involved. (You know, 90 minutes of build up and 15 minutes of action and then 15 minutes of credits)

But with Erica now as the head of the Fifth Column and Lisa meeting her grandmother, Diana (played by the original Diana from the 80′s version), things are starting to finally get a bit better to the point that I am actually looking forward to each week’s episode, i couldn’t say that before. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I would suggest you do!

At 9am this morning, the Blog Whisperer Radio listeners got a chance to get to know me and what I am passionate about a little bit better! I was pretty excited for my first radio interview and it was a lot of fun!

Jerry Kennedy, creator and author of The Blog Whisperer, is an amazing blog coach, friend and cheerleader of us bloggers. Jerry works on helping bloggers to get set up and really enjoy their blog and blogging efforts. If you are new to blogging or really want to get your blog rolling, Jerry is the person to follow, listen to and etc.

This morning we talked about not being afraid to ask companies for podcast interviews or freebies for giveaways. We also talked about how big business should really start looking to bloggers and value them as more then just a hobby. I also got a chance to share how I promote my blog and my SimplyFun business by utilizing internet tools like Facebook fan pages and how powerful a tool they can be.

So listen and enjoy!

The makers of the Magic Bullet have released a new product, the Baby Bullet! This product rocks and I wish that I had it when I was making Sarah’s baby food! I had the old crank handle baby food maker!

I think this is a great baby gift for a organic style momma or anyone who wants to save money in the long run on baby food!

While I was ready to  peruse the stacks at Barnes and Noble, my kids had a different idea. Sophia, my oldest made a beeline for the HUGE display of the Nook Ereader from Barnes and Noble. Now, this is a 6 year old who has mastered the art of using an iPad, so I wasn’t too surprised when she sat down (in the kids area of the display) picked a book and started reading. What I didn’t realize it that some of the children’s books give you the option to either read them by themselves or have them read to you. Sophia had a heyday!

Now, I admit, I was not really into the whole e-reader movement. I admit I can be a bit of a snob about books, I like the smell of books and the feel of the actual book in my hands, but therein lies the problem as well. See, I have fibromyalgia and most days it doesn’t bother me too much, but I will admit it is getting harder and harder to hold up a book (especially hardbacks of 500+ pages) and they get heavy.

That being said, I picked up the Nook and played with it a little bit myself. While I admit, it’s no iPad, it’s perfect for me. I can check my email in a WiFi area, surf the Web a bit and read my books. It also has Pandora and a few other cool apps. The other cool thing that I like is the social aspect. You can share quotes and your progress and even recommend a book on your Facebook profile or Twitter straight from your Nook Color. It also has a LendIt feature for some of your books so that you can lend it to a friend on Nook if you want. I thought this was really an awesome way to share books! With more and more of the public library system featuring electronic format books, this is a great way to enjoy them and not worry about late fees (ask my library, I am horrible about them!)!

Now for the warning: While books are half the price as they would be on the shelf, it is so easy to rack up and huge bill for purchasing your books, especially if you are an avid reader like me! So I would highly suggest in buying a Barnes and Noble gift card once or maybe every two months, loading it up and purchasing off of that. There are some great deals in the Steals ‘n’ Deals part of the Nook store. I was able to purchase the entire series of the following: Anne of Green Gables, Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austin, and Wizard of Oz all for $0.99 each. so make sure to bargain hunt!

If you have an ereader, tell me what you think about it!

People are always asking me “what do you mean you don’t watch tv the traditional way? How do you do it then?” Well, I’m going to tell you. This is the way that you can tell Directv, Dish Network, or Cable to stuff it!

We bought a Mac Mini, and hooked it up to our tv. I will tell you to buy a newer one, because they support HDMI straight from the tv to the Mac mini and this will save a lot of hassle in dealing with audio and video (trust me!!! I know!). Now, we also have 2, 2tb hard drives, one for movies and one for tv. These are both hooked up to the mini at all times, so you don’t overload your hard drive on the mini itself.

As for the local channels, we have an elgato eye tv hooked up to the Mac so we can watch local channels, this also works as a DVR and will import them onto your hard drives, so you won’t miss your favorite big network shows. Since we don’t have anyone in the area who deals with the old tv antenna, we bought one and hooked it all up ourselves. We receive 5 of the 7 local channels, so we’re pretty happy about that.

Now, I will tell you the upfront cost is steep. With the Mac mini price about $750 after tax, the the Elgato about $200 and the Antenna about $50, it comes to a total of $1000. Now, that seems like a lot, but we were paying Directv about $100 a month. We have had this set up for over a year and have now saved money

Mac mini $750                                      Directv monthly bill $100

Elgato $200                                            times 12 months

Antenna $50

Total: $1000                                          Total: $1080

That is just the total for the first year of not having Directv. We will never have to pay the $100 a month ever! So by using this system, we have an extra $1080 in our happy little pockets!

If you want more information about the setup or etc, leave a comment with your email and I will be glad to help you out!