Netflix made an update to their website on Friday, and many of the watchnow features in MyNetflix stopped working as a result. Thanks for the many emails about this problem, bringing it to my attention.
I have updated MyNetflix to resolve these issues, and you can download the new version from my Software page
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Back in February, I received this email from a Netflix email address:
“Hi Anthony,
We have heard about you and the projects that you are working on :-)
We would love to chat with you!
Call me when you get a free moment.”
The first thing I did was look this person up and make sure they weren’t from the Netflix legal department. After receiving independent confirmation that this person worked for the technical recruiting department, I called the number provided. Heck, I probably would have been happy to talk to the legal department anyways.
So, I had a couple of phone interviews, and then they flew me out to their Los Gatos office for an in-person interview. That went pretty well, and pretty soon they made me an amazing offer. So, my family and I packed everything up and moved out to San Jose, CA. I’m REALLY excited about the kinds of things I’ll be working on, and about working for one of my favorite companies.
So, what will I be working on?
The position I accepted is a research opportunity on a small team trying to build the next generation of the Netflix user experience. I’ll be working directly for Bill Scott, Director of UI Engineering. I’ll be working quickly to prototype and research user interaction models for new platforms for the Netflix service. Netflix intends to get their electronic movie delivery service to every screen hooked up to the internet. Many of those screens will require a very different site experience, and I’ll be part of this small team crafting that experience at Netflix.
Wait, what about MyNetflix?
I’ll continue to work on MyNetflix. I received permission to continue the maintenance and further development of MyNetflix on my own time.
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Yesterday, Netflix added an additional queue to your account - the Instant Queue.
This feature ties in well with what many people have been requesting for MyNetflix. So, this morning I added the code necessary in MyNetflix to use this new Instant Queue. Now in MyNetflix, you can perform the normal queue operations on your instant queue (add, remove, move to top). However, the way that I anticipate people will use this feature is to add movies to your instant queue on your PC/laptop, and then select movies for viewing from your instant queue on your Media Center PC.
The new release has been posted to my Software page
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MyNetflix has been in beta testing for over two months. Since that time, I have added features and fixed many bugs. It is now time for MyNetflix to come out of beta! The official (non-beta) version can be downloaded from my Software page. If you were using one of the beta versions, they are set to expire soon. I put a “time-bomb” in the beta versions so I could make sure people weren’t reporting issues from older versions of MyNetflix. The official version that is now on my Software page does not have any expirations built in.
As always, I appreciate any feedback you might have about this version. I will be working on the next version soon, and would like to incorporate any any feedback you might have into that version.
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I just finished working on a few new features for MyNetflix, so I wanted to get this out there in public beta. The new version can be downloaded from my Software page, and includes the following new features:
Enhancements:
Bug fixes:
Screenshots
New Search Feature (Upper-right corner)
Searching
Search Results
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Since I posted version 2.1 of MyNetflix, I have received some great feedback. I just released another minor update today which resolves some problems which were reported to me. The new release is version 2.1.0.2 beta, and can be downloaded from my Software page.
Changes since version 2.1.0.1 beta
Enhancements:
Bug fixes:
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I have completed development on the next version of MyNetflix (v2.1). This new version has been in private beta for about a week, and now it is ready for public beta. One of the features you will probably be most interested in is the ability to play WatchNow movies in full screen, and use the remote control for pause/resume commands.
Changes since version 2.0 beta
Enhancements:
Bug fixes:
Public Beta Program
The public beta version of MyNetflix 2.1 can be downloaded from my Software page. Please send any feedback you might have about this version to mynetflix@anpark.com, or use my Feedback Page.
Public Beta Update - 02/28/2008 @ 8:58P MST
I just posted a new version of MyNetflix which resolves two issues. The first issue was that the “Test” button in the configuration app was not working. This has been fixed. The second issue was that with accounts that did not have WatchNow capabilities, MyNetflix would show the watchnow features and display an error if they were used. The configuration application now correctly tests for this, and MyNetflix will not show the watchnow categories if the feature is not enabled on your account. Thanks for the great feedback so far, and keep it coming!
Public Beta Update - 03/01/2008 @ 9:43A MST
It looks like Netflix upgraded their website last night, and the Episode list in MyNetflix stopped working. Unfortunately, this is simply one of the risks that comes with parsing the watchnow data from their web pages. I have corrected this issue and posted a new version of MyNetflix on my software page. Thanks!
Screenshots
Browsing your queue
Movie Details (in queue)
Browsing genres
Browsing genres
Movie Details (not in queue)
Browsing “Watch Now” movies
Browsing “Watch Now” movies
Movie Details (Watch Now)
Select Episode (Watch Now)
About
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A friend of mine, Roger Whiting, designed a logo for the MyNetflix plug-in I have been working on. This logo will appear in the “More Programs” screen in Media Center. 
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Whew! I’ve been pretty busy responding to all of the emails and feedback for MyNetflix, and I wanted to take a moment to say “thanks” to a few people who helped indirectly with the development efforts on this project.
I mentioned in my previous post that “I’ve kept this pretty quiet” up until now, and that’s true. I have to say, though, that even though these people did not know I was working on this project, their contributions to the Media Center development community have both accelerated and encouraged my development of this project.
Ryan Hurst. Ryan wrote the original version of MyNetflix that was designed to run within Media Center 2005. His version was the inspiration for this new version, which was written using the Media Center Markup Language (MCML) for Windows Vista. Ryan has also been very helpful in getting the word out about this new version, and in providing feedback about features/issues.
Steven Harding. Steven worked on a open-source (LGPL) library for MCML developers called MCMLookalike. This library allows developers to easily get started writing add-ins which have similar pivot menus to those found in Media Center. MyNetflix uses this library for the categories at the top of the main page. Steven has also been a contributing community member on the MediaCenterSandbox forum, which is a helpful resource for MCML developers. I found several of his posts to be helpful during the development process.
Niall Ginsbourg. Niall has several of his own add-ins for Media Center, is a fellow Media Center MVP, and has been very active in the MCML development community. Niall also worked on MCMLookalike with Steven. In addition, he has provided sample code/images for a Vista MC Style GelButton, which is used in MyNetflix for the buttons on the “Movie Details” page. Niall has also been a helpful community member on the MediaCenterSandbox forum, where he has shared his knowledge about MCML development.
In appreciation of their community efforts, I have also added a “special thanks” section on the About page in MyNetflix.
It was also brought to my attention (thankfully) that MyNetflix was unintentionally violating some of the terms of the LGPL license under which MCMLookalike was published. I have addressed these issues this evening and have posted a new version of MyNetflix which is now available for download on my Software page. No bug fixes or enhancements to this version, but if you are beta testing please take the time to check out the new version and make sure I didn’t break something. 
I am still compiling all of the emails and feedback I am receiving, and will hopefully be able to address some more of the issues and feature requests in the coming days. Keep the feedback coming!
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I’ve kept this pretty quiet, but I’ve been working on a new Media Center plugin for a little while now. It is now ready for beta testing, and I’ve decided to run a public beta for this one.
MyNetflix features
Public Beta Program
The public beta version of MyNetflix can be downloaded from my Software page. Please send any feedback you might have about this version to mynetflix@anpark.com, or use my Feedback Page.
Public Beta Update - 02/10/2008 @ 8:35P MST
I got some very good initial feedback from a few people and apparently there were problems with UAC both during the running of the configuration application and the running of the plugin. I have updated the version on the Software page to resolve these issues. I’m going to try not to make this thing too much of a moving target for beta testers, so I probably won’t do another build for at least a few days unless I find something major. In the meantime, please keep the feedback coming!
Public Beta Update 2 - 02/11/2008 @ 9:22P MST
There was a problem with the previously posted version that occurred in some cases during the configuration. An error: “System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.” would occur when launching the configuration application. Since this was affecting quite a few people, I fixed the issue and did another build. I overwrote the previous version on my Software page with this new version. If you experienced the issue and did not get around it, please download the new version.
Screenshots
Browsing your queue
Movie Details (in queue)
Browsing genres
Browsing genres
Movie Details (not in queue)
Browsing “Watch Now” movies
Browsing “Watch Now” movies
Movie Details (Watch Now)
About
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