Renting DVDs is fast becoming an antiquated concept, soon to join music stores and MySpace as nostalgic reminders of days gone by. With the prevalence of digital downloads and high quality streaming, brick and mortar rental stores are fast becoming an endangered species.

Redbox has been able to carve out a niche for themselves in the failing industry by bringing the maximum amount of affordability and convince with 1 dollar rental units in stores nationwide. Not just content with staying alive for a few more years Redbox has recently partnered with Verizon to bring a new streaming service to compete with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and all the rest.

Verizon and Coinstar, Inc. today announced the formation of a joint venture that will create a new choice for quality- and value-conscious  consumers seeking a simple and affordable way to access the video entertainment they crave. The venture’s services will offer all of the convenience, simplicity and value of Redbox® new release DVD and Blu-ray Disc® rentals combined with a new content-rich video on-demand streaming and download service from  Verizon.

The service is expected to roll out in the second half of 2012, and with the infrastructure of Redbox already in place this new service stands a real chance at biting into Netflix’s failing grip on the market place it basically invented.

This report probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone who uses a Verizon iPhone and also has friends using the AT&T version, but for the sake of confirming what we already know, here’s some interesting info about Verizon versus AT&T. Market research firm ChangeWave today released findings of a recent study analyzing iPhone 4 owner experiences and satisfaction.

The study compared consumer experiences with Verizon Wireless’ iPhone 4 against the same model from AT&T. Following years of complaints of poor service and dropped calls with AT&T, the question to ask with the iPhone’s launch on Verizon Wireless was whether or not service quality would improve. According to ChangeWave’s findings, the answer is yes.

In a survey of 4,068 customers, ChangeWave found that over the past 90 days, Verizon Wireless iPhone 4 users have dropped approximately 1.8% of calls while AT&T iPhone 4 owners dropped 4.8%. In addition, ChangeWave found that Verizon iPhone 4 owners are slightly more satisfied than AT&T iPhone 4 owners, with 82% saying they were very satisfied compared to 80% for AT&T.

With the Verizon iPhone only being out for a short time this report is not exactly definitive proof of anything. There’s just not been enough time and user experiences to make that claim. However, it does go a long way to reinforce what many iPhone 4 users on Verizon wireless have experienced (at least the ones we know) when compared to their friends using AT&T: Verizon’s network is better for calls.

If you’re a Verizon iPhone 4 user have you experienced the same thing when compared to your AT&T using friends? Or, is this study bogus? Let us know your thought is the comments.

In a recent support article, Apple detailed the differences between the GSM and CDMA iPhone when it comes to voice calling and other associated features. Among other things revealed that may be disturbing to Verizon iPhone users, the document confirms the Verizon iPhone is not capable of handling a conference call with more than two people.

In addition, the CDMA iPhone is unable to put calls on hold due to the way the network works. In the less negative category, the Verizon iPhone can use a manual method to toggle call forwarding, call waiting and caller ID instead of using the settings found in iOS itself.

If you’ve ever used a CDMA device,  you’re probably already familiar with these features and/or limitations. For potential AT&T switchers, these differences may or may not be any kind of deal breaker. Still, more info is always good when making decisions and it’s nice that Apple took the time to do this.

Did you feel bad for not ordering your Verizon iPhone last week when you had the chance? Or, maybe you’re not a Verizon customer and had no choice but to wait? Well, don’t worry because either way your problems are now over — at least where a new iPhone is concerned.

That’s right, as of this morning anyone can go to Verizon or Apple’s websites and pre-order a brand new iPhone. When you do you can elect to go to a store tomorrow and pick up your device in person or, if you don’t mind waiting just a bit longer, have it delivered to your home or office via Fedex.

As someone who’s had the Verizon iPhone for a few days now I can safely say that it’s a great device. If you’ve been on the fence or waiting for this day to come now is your opportunity to get the smartphone you’ve always wanted. What are you waiting for?

I know, reading that headline you may be skeptical because you haven’t received your iPhone 4 notification of shipment yet from Big Red. However, as I got mine last Friday night, I can assure you that Verizon is indeed sending out the iPhone 4 a little earlier than they originally let on. Actually, several days early.

In fact, the news for those of us who stayed awake until midnight West Coast time to order is even better than that. According to an update at Fedex, my particular iPhone 4 is actually on a truck and out for delivery today. See, miracles do happen.

Of course I realize that the iPhone from Verizon is exactly like the iPhone from AT&T and isn’t exactly revolutionary, more like evolutionary. Also, I realize it will actually have some subtle, but potentially problematic, differences from the AT&T version. However, that doesn’t stop me from being pretty excited about the prospect of the best smartphone on the best wireless network.

So, once it arrives in my hands expect a full report and maybe even one or two unboxing photos. In the meantime, if you’ve ordered yours via the Verizon pre-order, don’t lose hope. Your shiny new goodness is probably on the way very soon too.

Given that many people are unhappy with AT&T, but love the iPhone, it’s not surprising that once the iPhone came to Verizon Wireless, it would be a success. With pre-orders for existing Verizon customers taking place yesterday and stopping after only about 24 hours due to being sold out, it’s not surprise that Verizon today has announced record sales figures for the device.

According to the company, sales of the iPhone were bigger than any first-day phone launch for them ever. In addition, the company announced these unprecedented sales happened during the first two hours the iPhone was available, which was between the hours of 3 and 5 AM.

Impressive but also pretty understandable. There’s been pent up demand for the iPhone with millions of customers already on Verizon looking to have the device. We can probably expect those numbers to climb even higher once the iPhone is available to all (including AT&T switchers) on February 10th.

Check out the full press release from Verizon after the jump. Did you get your iPhone yesterday?

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If you use a Mac and have wished to take advantage of the new hotness from Verizon Wireless (aka the LTE/4G USB Modem) you were out of luck. That is, until now.

This week Verizon Wireless updated its “VZAccess Manager” software to add Mac support for the Pantech UML290 LTE modem. The new update, known by its short and not very sexy name VZAccess Manager version 7.2.4 (2534b), adds support for Apple computers running OS X 10.4 and later.

In case you’re not familiar, Pantech’s UML290 is a USB dongle that allows laptops to connect to Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Until now, the broadband modem could only be connected to Windows-based computers, which doesn’t really seem fair now does it?

The new software is available immediately from Verizon’s website as a free download. Go get it and let us know how it works for you.

One of the most important things when you own and use a smartphone is the data plan. Sure, having the phone to make calls is great (that is when you can make calls. I’m looking at you AT&T) but the real purpose of all that cool phone goodness is to do other things like check email, post on Facebook and Twitter and surf the web while in line at Trader Joe’s.

When the iPhone first hit AT&T, the company offered an unlimited data plan for it. That plan has changed over the years and now features tiered pricing with the word “unlimited” left for the level of frustration many users feel when trying to make a call or, in some cases, send a simple text message.

Fortunately it seems Verizon understands the data needs of smartphone users and will offer a $30 unlimited data plan for the iPhone 4. This was confirmed to The Wall Street Journal by the company’s CEO Lowell McAdam who also said that offering the iPhone with a capped data plan would create an unnecessary barrier for customers looking to switch from AT&T.

“I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot,” he said. Smart man. Verizon will launch the iPhone on February 10th. Will you be getting one?

It’s no secret people have been waiting patiently (well, somewhat patiently) for Verizon to finally get the iPhone on its network. That time has now arrived and the phone is set to launch early next month.

With new product launches as important as this comes new ways to promote said launches. With that in mind, Verizon has releases its first commercial touting the big event.

We, of course, have that new commercial for you right here. It’s pretty good, actually, and helps feed the excitement that probably doesn’t really need to be fed. Everyone’s already about ready to explode. Or maybe that’s just us around here?

Anyway, check out the new commercial after the break. The Verizon iPhone hits stores on February 10th.

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After some time off for various reasons the team is back together for an all new episode of The Flickcast. On this week’s show, Chris and Matt talk about a whole slew of new and recurring topics.

Some of those topics include their “Best Of” from 2010, some of their favorite things from the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Verizon iPhone and what the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas really smells like. They also made some new picks this week including Matt’s pick of the indie comedy Barry Munday and Chris’ pick of the new NBC series The Cape.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook or via email.

With all the hype over the recent announcement that the iPhone is coming to Verizon, it’s nice to see at least one show offering a sober and reasoned commentary on the event. That show is, of course, The Daily Show with John Stewart. In a seven-minute spot that gets funnier by the minute, Stewart begins with iPhone users’ (including himself) troubles with AT&T.

”For the past three or four years, those of us in the iPhone community have sacrificed one thing for the ability to carry around every photograph we’ve ever taken, or song we’ve ever listened to, or home video, or compass,” Stewart said during the segment. “We have sacrificed the ability to make phone calls.”

It was supposedly so bad for Stewart that he had to send text messages by typing them out on his iPhone 4 and then having an assistant bring the phone to the message’s recipient so they could read it. John Oliver then joins in, reporting live via video chat from yesterday’s Verizon event using his AT&T iPhone. As you might expect, the quality is bad and the video call drops several times.

There’s a lot more in the video that you will enjoy, even if you’re not really caught up in the whole Verizon iPhone thing as many of us are. Funny is still funny.

Check out the video after the jump.

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Would have gotten this sooner but was at a Starbucks where, curiously, the AT&T provided WiFi was not working. Conspiracy? Mmmmm.

Anyway, on to the important part. During a media event in New York City today, Verizon Wireless announced what many have reported and what has been rumored for months that it will be carrying Apple’s iPhone and that said Verizon iPhone will be available starting February 10th, with pre-orders beginning on the 3rd.

Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless’ president and CEO, saying “if the press writes about something for long enough and hard enough, eventually it comes true.”

The iPhone 4 will be pretty much the same as it is with AT&T, with the addition of a “CDMA optimized” antenna and mobile hotspot capabilities. The device will be available at the same price as we had for AT&T as well: $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB

It’s a great day for those of us waiting for the iPhone to hit our favorite wireless network. I’ll be getting one as soon as possible. How about you?

Check out the full press release is after the jump.

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