They are JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) documents and you can query into fields of the object-document without the database having to read the whole "document" in the same way you can read rows based on some set of columns in an RDBMS. Given objects like { a = { b,c } } or just d = f you could read a.b where = c or just d where = f. It's multidimensional as opposed to the flat column format of an RDBMS. Unfortunately, their are no data types, constraints, foreign keys or triggers. Data integrity has to be done in programatically

Unless you're really dead set on DIY, I recommend the Xtreamer Ultra for $399, available on Amazon. From the blurb "Xtreamer ULTRA Mini-ITX SFF HTPC (1.8 GHZ Intel Atom Dual-Core D525, nVidia ION 2, 4GB DDR3, HDMI 1.4a) Includes Remote, Mini Wireless Keyboard w/ Trackpad, PLUS XBMC and Boxee Configured and Ready to Go!", so it's a full PC and a very small, nice and quiet one at that.

The Ultra comes without a hard drive, but it has a 2.5 bay where you can add an HDD or SSD. I did the former. It boots off a custom version of Ubuntu running an offshoot of Grub2 called Berg that gives you a nice graphical menu to choose among XBMC, Boxee, Linux, or any x86 OS you choose to install. Transferring the OS to a hard drive and adding more is easy. I added Fedora and Windows 7 for the heck of it and both run great. Even 1080p video over my gigabyte LAN runs perfectly.. They are now also offering the Ultra2, a souped up version with WiFi capability built in.

1) Ease of use. Connects easily into nearly any home AV setup. 2) A functional and useable control scheme. 3) Common Platform means games work out of the box. The iPhone and iPad technically have the third advantage due to Apple's excessive control, while every other smart phone OS does not. A PC has the second advantage but not the rest. I wouldn't think either group of devices has a chance against the consoles unless they can offer all three, but even then a hidden advantage of a console is that it just sits there ready to go. I wouldn't want to un-dock my smart device only to lose it/drop it on the sidewalk and be out of business at home too. I suppose I could just buy one and leave it connected but guess what ? Then it's just a console.

Hollywood has finally realized they stand a better chance protecting their content, even if only for a short while, by getting rid of all physical media and going with electronic distribution only. Yes, nearly every DRM scheme will probably be hacked but that doesn't happen instantaneously and when it does, all they have to do is change to a new scheme. What surprises me is that Walmart is charging for this service. They are simply authorizing your account to view a movie based on whether you own the disc. They should give you the best available HD copy for free on the likely chance you will start to buy or rent other movies through them. More importantly, people would probably use the service because it's "free" and that would help the studios make the digital only transition.

I don't think anyone would disagree that the future lies in streaming, just whether or not Netflix is pulling the trigger to soon. There are a lot of big players against who they will have to compete should they choose to get more serious about the game - Amazon, Google, Apple, as well as the studios themselves to name a few. They also have unconventional competition from the ISP's who will continue to play the front as a direct competitor while trying to block the back with non-net neutral policies. As long as they paired DVD delivery with streaming, they had a stronger product they could use as leverage to keep the streaming option going. Now that they have effectively split them, it will be a lot easier for customers to drop them for the next big thing.

Thank you and all for your replies. You make some good points, particularly with the use of private trackers.

I get months on some rare files that are seeded by one or maybe two who appear to be effectively on dial up and are dropping off/coming back, the way they limit their upload speeds. No, it doesn't happen on most files, but it does happen.

My experience is that only newer stuff is available at reasonable speeds. Most seeders stop seeding soon after their share ratio gets over one and that really hurts the longevity of less popular or older data. Nothing's worse than getting >90% of a a huge file only to have the last seeder with a full file drop off. Second, there's no such thing as a safe private tracker unless you're the only one who has access, along the same lines of the only way to keep a secret is not to tell anyone. Once you start adding people, even those you know well, the risk of a compromise goes up. If unknowns are ever added, then it's definitely not safe. That's compounded by the fact you need a reasonably sized population to get enough variety and seeders to make it worthwhile.

All that aside, I think the risk with bittorrent is too great now and getting worse. 100,000 users in the United States were sued last year and while most may get off, that's a large number compared to the number of people who actually use bittorrent in the U.S. . As money is made of these cases, you can expect that count and the number of lawyers participating to go up. Combined with the shame of being caught downloading porn, and I have no doubt you'll soon see some porn studios using shills to release their warez on the Net with the express purpose of suing those who download it.

( Meant as food for thought. I am not telling anyone what they should or shouldn't do).

A fair point, but that number is probably small compared to the ones who were actually downloading.

For those that do use bittorrent for movies, why do you still do it ? The question isn't about the propriety but rather the risk. It takes a $1 to rent a movie from Redbox and about an hour to rip it on a Core i7. That's as opposed to 3 hour/day/months to download it from the Net and you could wind up getting a bad encode as well as a case of the lawyer - ISP crabs. Granted Redbox doesn't do porn, but places like SugarDVD do and you get to choose what you want.

No, Apple wants any application based link to content for sale to go through their app store from which they get 30%. Users can still be inconvenienced to close the application, go to Safari, browse to the content providers web site and buy the content without Apple getting a cut. It's a needless PITA for a lot of users and very hard for some less technically savvy. I assume Apple's hope is that application developers will choose the former route, but in reality, the bigger names are just redirecting users to the second option. I would too were I Google or Amazon but ultimately it will only hurt the end user, some more than others.

Up until a month ago, I had a Blockbuster 3 at a time with in store exchange at the same time I carried a 3 at a time by mail with Netflix. Even though I turned discs around on the same day of receipt. I ended up getting more discs per month from Netflix. I'd say the amount of unusable discs I got from Blockbuster was about 1 in 3 where Netflix was 1 in 20. That cuts down the value a lot. Add to that, Blockbuster intentionally staggers disc receipt and shipments. In store returns do not clear immediately even though they no longer show in your queue. They have to be received by mail. This is the theory at least because the actual receipt date for 3 discs returned to store always stagger over 3 days. Then, they do the same with the new shipments. It seems they want to supply no more than 3 by mail and 3 by store every seven days. With Netflix, I get two shipments a week during a non-holiday week. When you factor in the broken discs, Blockbuster by mail can't compare to Netflix at all.

Given that some of us on here are happy to live in caves, Zimbardo's book Shyness: What It Is, What To Do About It as well as the now famous Stanford Shyness Clinic might also be of interest.