adellelijah

Yesterday, there was news that the new Hulu Plus service would be available to select PlayStation Network Plus users. This is something that I've wanted on my PS3 for a while now, the ability to play Hulu content on my PS3 since they disabled it to move to the newer version of Flash. Really, this is allowing us access back to what we already had, but this time you have to pay for it. Let's break this down for a second:

The selling factor for a lot of PS3 gamers was the fact that playing online games is free. You can log into a hosted session of Call of Duty 3 and begin to start frag'n noobs with the best of them. Now they are offering their PlayStation Network Plus membership that adds a few new features; discounted prices on game purchases, early access to demos, and some "free" games that you can play as long as you're a PSN Plus member. To pick up this service you need to pay approximately $50/year to use these features. Alright, not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, Personally, I'm going to opt out of using it because I don't care to get demos early or any of the other useless options.

Now let’s look at Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus is like regular Hulu but now you have the option of watching seasons of select shows and you get to watch the same amount of commercials as the rest of us. Yes, there might be all of the 5 seasons of News Radio up there, but I'll still have to sit through commercials. I can also accomplish the same task with my subscription to Netflix, and I'm already paying for 1 disc in the mail and unlimited use of the online content. Granted the availability of some shows up there is limited to maybe 1-4 seasons, but Netflix's content database is becoming deeper as we speak. Did I mention that Hulu Plus membership is $9.99/Month? Well I just did!

Putting the two together, Hulu Plus and PSN plus, is something of a joke. I would consider a Hulu Plus subscriptions if the option to use it on my PS3 was free. Hulu's going to take $9.99/month from me already, come-on PSN be the cool kid and let me watch the content for free. Now if I really dig into it, the PS3 isn't what it was suppose to be for me, a full Home Entertainment device. Yes, I can play games, watch Blu-Ray movies, and listen to music, but it doesn't seem to go as far as to replace my laptop. If I’m going to buy into he Hulu Plus brain washing, I might as well as hook my laptop up to my LED TV via HDMI and be done with it.

PSN, give me something to excite me, like cloud based storage and DVR functionality. Think of it, I could go to a buddy’s house and ask them if they saw the last MMA fight, when they say no, I could just pull up my PSN account and start playing it from the network. I know this is a little counter-intuitive with the PSN Movies Store and some of that content, but when you any Shows or Movies from the store, you can only watch it on the PS3 you purchased it from. LAME! Also, PlayStation USA let me have that DVR attachment you've been taunting me with from your European division. That's just mean! Booo!

Double Plus Power, I'm going to have to skip it!

Playstation Blog post about Hulu Plus http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/07/14/hulu-plus-streams-its-way-to-the-ps3/

Information about PlayStaiton Plus http://us.playstation.com/psn/playstation-plus/

Upon initially receiving Tony Hsieh's new book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, I was excited that adellelijah.com had been given a chance to review a pre-release. However, it did come along with the simple pre-condition that I write a review, good or bad, but that's what we do! Even better, adellelijah.com has an extra copy to giveaway! What a way to kickoff a new week for adellelijah! Tony Hsieh blasts right off by giving you a very short and dirty introduction to his success. Reading the first paragraphs, it is simply amazing to how much he has accomplished in his relatively young life. Starting around the dot-com era, living through the tech bubble and rising triumphantly, the Zappos CEO believed and persevered. Following him every step of the way through his journey from his first endeavor as a young teenager to his latest and greatest accomplishment gives wonderful insight to the passion within his entrepreneurial spirit. With his honest, conversational writing style, Delivering Happiness transforms a stack of bound paper to a dialogue with Tony Hsieh. In my opinion, he should release an audio book. It's like reading a book, then watching a movie, then reading the book again; you associate the characters with the actors faces instead of your own. In this case, you'll be able to actually hear the passion that Tony speaks of.

As he progresses through various projects, one grows with him not only as a reader but as a friend. Sacrificing his entire material life, to have it pay off in a truly rewarding way and then finding out that it is within passion that true success comes from, makes for a beautiful story. Fairytale as it may be, happy endings do happen and it is to those that really put forth the extra 10%. Tony expands that further by saying that improving yourself by 1% on a daily basis, at the end of a year, you can be THAT person; the person you always wanted to be. Change doesn't happen overnight, but overtime through trials, tribulations, parties and rewards.

Little anecdotes sprinkled throughout the book make it a keeper sure to be with highlights splayed across its pages. Hints geared to any future CEO or Management Department on how to please it's employees, and take risks by exposing internal flaws coupled with a proven outline on how to create a better company culture make Delivering Happiness an essential guide to those willing to adapt and change for the better. Personally, I want to take the ideas from his book and introduce them to everyone in the world but even more specifically to those within my industry. Perhaps Southwest Airlines might have an amazing turnout or perhaps they already have a company wide Culture Book, but I'm willing to bet other airlines would be a little hesitant to go all out and create a Culture Book of their own. That might explain those successful versus those stuck in between a rock and a merger!

The wonderful 'End Game' Chapter gives you a cut and dry outline to determine the proper steps and ways to maintain a constant stream of happiness. Through questions and recognition, one is able to set out the final goal and realign his or herself. True, most persons lie within the garnering aspect of wealth, but those lucky enough to understand the commitment, not only in mind and body, but spirit as well, are the ones who truly rise above. You could say that Tony has reached this enlightenment or maybe he was born with it. Read it, you won't regret it!

"...pursue the highest purpose first... - @dhbook p.237"

If you want to win a copy of Tony Hsieh's new book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, leave a comment below and we will select a reader at random and announce the winner this Friday, June 11th 2010. Goodluck!

Notes:

1) adellelijah.com received free advanced copies of the book, and our opinions of the book are honest, not bought, paid for or sponsored by. It really and truly is a tremendous read.

2) If you blog, e.g. adellelijah, check out http://www.deliveringhappinessbook.com/contact/apply-for-an-advance-copy/ and apply. It's that simple.

3) If you have any other questions that we cannot address or ones that you would like to address to the Delivering Happiness Team, follow this link: http://www.deliveringhappinessbook.com/contact/

4) And of course, buy the book already and do so by kindly using this link --> Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose