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The past couple days the weather here has been much warmer and we’re finally out of the freeze. Today though, it’s a dreary and rainy day. So I head on over to Weather.com, as I do every day, to find out what the forecast is for the rest of the day.

What do I find? They’ve unveiled a new interactive weather map feature using Microsoft Virtual Earth.

The link above will take you to the map for my area to give you a quick look at it. I must say I do like it much better than the standard map, but I wish that the default mode would be set to Satellite.

You can control the transparency of the radar and also whether you see just the radar, just clouds, or both radar and clouds. There are some great controls and I’m liking the new interactive weather map.

What do you think?

Here’s an interesting new website.

HallwayTesting.com is a forum where you can submit your website or Mac application and get usability feedback from other members. The idea is nice, hopefully it will take off.

I have the same type of feeling as over on Digital Web where I’m not quite sure what the reader incentive is.

There are review areas on other widely used forums such as SitePoint and Digital Point.

The idea of focusing on usability is grand. I’m just left with the idea that on the forums I mentioned, users could simply state that they would like the review to be focused on usability.

Today Netflix announced a new feature that will allow subscribers the option of instantly watching movies on their PC’s. Yes I say PC because a Windows OS and High-Speed connection will be required.

What a great new feature though by one of my favorite sites online! I’ve been a Netflix subscriber now for well over a year and can’t imagine moving over to Blockbuster or anywhere else. Another great thing that goes along with this feature will be the ability to watch moves and television series. Netflix says they will be phasing the feature in over the next six months so I’m not sure when I’ll have access to it.

The new immediate viewing feature differs from current services in that it does not require the often lengthy downloading of a large video file. The Netflix feature uses real-time playback technology that allows video to be viewed at virtually the same time it is being delivered to a user’s computer. Following a one-time, under-60-second installation of a simple browser applet, most subscribers’ movie selections will begin playing in their Web browser in as little as 10 to 15 seconds. Movies can be paused and a position bar gives viewers the ability to immediately jump to any point in the movie. In all, the instant watching feature requires only Internet connectivity with a minimum of one megabit per second of bandwidth. The more bandwidth a consumer has, the higher quality the video displayed, ranging from the quality of current Netflix previews to DVD quality with a three-megabit-per-second connection.

The amount of online viewing time that you get is based on your subscription level. For the most popular plan (3 DVD’s out at a time - $17.99/month) will have 18 hours of online movie watching per month.

Can’t wait to try this out!