This is the exact opposite of Netflix discs, which are actually quite clean, comparatively speaking.

You see, those red sleeves and the delectable range of DVDs they contain are relatively free of any funky viruses or deadly bacteria, this according to an interesting slow news day report out of KLTV 7 East Texas.

As part of the report, six Netflix discs and sleeves were sent to an infectious disease expert at the University of Texas for a good swabbing. After some time in the incubator, the petri dishes were removed, and the samples—thankfully for this Netflix user—were no more covered with bacteria than a sample would have been had the good doctor touched them with his bare hand:

"They were fairly clean," said [Dr. Richard] Wallace [in an interview with KLTV]. "If I took my fingers and laid them on the top of the plates, this is what you'd grow." As for the disks themselves, Wallace said he found nothing that could potentially cause disease.

So keep on using that copy of Benjamin Button as a coaster. You'll be relatively safe in doing so—just don't eat off of it. [KLTV East Texas via Hacking Netflix]

Hulu's corporate masters have reared their dragon heads from time to time in the past, like when it nuked Boxee and PS3 access, so you couldn't watch Hulu on your actual TV, and made it even harder to watch Hulu outside of the US.

Now, Hulu's blocking startup video discovery sites like Rippol, Yidio and Clicker from embedding its videos. Likely, again, because Hulu's content providers aren't too happy about somebody throwing all of that content into a single place that's not Hulu, even though theoretically, embedding is harmless—the video goods aren't being stolen, and Hulu still makes money off of the ads in the stream. I mean, we're talking about embedding here. This is about control.

And, given that Rupert Murdoch is publicly entertaining the idea of de-listing all of News Corp.'s content from Google (with Microsoft offering its own cash incentive to do so), a Hulu you have to pay for, or at least, is even more tightly controlled is more feasible than we'd like to think. (Hulu is a joint venture between Murdoch's News Corp. (which owns Fox), NBC Universal, and Disney (which owns ABC).

Ads, those I can deal with. Alec Baldwin's genius isn't free. Arbitrary restrictions that make it harder to watch what I want to—that, not so much. I'd rather watch nothing at all. I'm pretty lazy, after all. I can't even muster the energy to figure out when a TV show actually airs. (When does 30 Rock or Dexter run? I don't know.)

The way Hulu's going, it looks like I'm going to have a lot more time to play Modern Warfare 2. You know, TV dudes, the biggest entertainment event in history. The kind of thing that's pulling people away from their TVs, ripping their eyeballs away from the ads you sell to survive.

The sooner we quit Hulu, the less painful it'll be in the long run. [GigaOm]

The Roku Channel Store is an open platform for delivering content to Roku boxes beyond the already-integrated Netflix, MLB.tv and Amazon channels. We all had high hopes for full-length streaming video, and rumors pointed to Hulu, but alas, it is not to be. The first ten "channels" were released today, and Hulu is not among them. The list:

Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox and MobileTribe.

The Channel Store itself seems pretty open-ended, with a freely available SDK so developers can add to the Store's selection—and we hope they do, because these offerings are pretty meager at the moment. The Roku Channel Store is a free and automatic upgrade starting today, and works on all Roku devices, but there aren't any killer apps here (and neither Pandora nor Flickr is really a barn-burner at this point—at this point, every gadget I own, including my alarm clock, does that stuff). Here's hoping for some serious development efforts. Press release is below. [Roku]

Roku Launches Open Platform for Delivery of Content to the TV; Announces First 10 New Channels

Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox and MobileTribe all now available on the Roku player

Silicon Valley, Calif. – November 23, 2009 – Roku, Inc., maker of the popular and award-winning family of Roku players, announced today the Roku Channel Store and the first 10 free channels for Roku customers to enjoy on their TVs. From internet radio to video podcasts, professional web content to photo sharing and personal videos, the Roku Channel Store provides an open platform for delivering quality content to the TV. New channels now available for customers to add today to their Roku experience via the Roku Channel Store include: Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox and MobileTribe. For the complete list of channels and specific channel descriptions and features, please go to http://www.roku.com/roku-channel-store.

These first 10 channels are just the beginning for Roku. Many other developers are working on Roku Channels now, and Roku expects additional developers to adopt the Roku platform over time. New channels will appear in the Roku Channel Store automatically as they become available.

The Roku Channel Store represents an opportunity for content owners and publishers to reach an already large and growing audience of Roku customers. By creating an open platform for delivery to the television over the Internet, Roku has leveled the playing field for content owners.

"The Roku Channel Store turns the Roku player into the world's first open platform designed specifically for the TV," Anthony Wood, founder and CEO of Roku, Inc said. "Now content producers and distributors – from single person shops to billion dollar corporations – can deliver their content directly to consumers without having to go exclusively through cable operators, satellite networks or TV affiliates."

To create a channel for the Roku Channel Store, a developer creates an application using Roku's free software developer kit. This SDK is available free upon request by emailing partners@roku.com.

All Roku players, including the Roku SD, Roku HD and Roku HD-XR models, are compatible with the Roku Channel Store. The new channels are in addition to the existing Roku channels already available: Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Video On Demand and MLB.TV.

Pricing and availability

The Roku Channel Store will be delivered as an automatic and free upgrade to all existing Roku customers over the course of the next two weeks. New customers will automatically be upgraded when they first install their Roku player. To browse and use the Roku Channel Store, customers will be prompted to create a Roku account. Existing customers who do not want to wait for their Roku player to update automatically can manually update their Roku player immediately. Detailed instructions can be found under the Roku Channel Store tab at http://www.roku.com/support/faqs.

First introduced in May 2008, and updated regularly with free software updates, the Roku player family provides the easiest, most affordable and reliable way for hundreds of thousands of Roku customers to watch their favorite movies, TV shows and sporting events instantly on their TV. All three Roku players are available immediately at http://www.roku.com starting at $79.99 and include free shipping for a limited time.

About Roku, Inc.

Roku is a market leader in innovative applications for digital media, opening up a new world of entertainment to the TV. Through its work in both software and hardware, the company develops and sells consumer products that give customers the ability to take charge over their entertainment choices, combining high-value content and immediate access to that content at a low price. Its products include: The family of Roku players and the SoundBridge Internet radio line. Roku is privately held and based in Saratoga, Calif. For more information on the company and its products, visit: http://www.roku.com.

So say you're at the airport. You want to rent, I dunno, some movie that wasn't good enough to see in the theater. You just format a spare SD card filled with vacation photos you'd forgotten to back up (it doesn't appear they give you a card, but I could be mistaken), pop it in the machine, select a movie, pay $4 or so, and then have the film loaded on your card, a la ticking time bomb, with DRM.

And what can't you do with an SD card? I mean, it plays in my iPhone...wait...I mean my Blackberry...wait...

Mini SD and Micro SD—those are the cards that most of our mobile devices will take (if they take any at all)! In case no one told you, Blockbuster, we can't play this shit back on our digital cameras.

(Granted, netbook owners and some laptop owners will be able to utilize the standard.)

Ah Blockbuster, you've arrived just in time to ignore the growing popularity of iTunes/Zune Marketplace syncing, 3G streaming and in-flight Wi-Fi all while offering your service on a medium less convenient than DVD. But don't worry, I'm not angry. You're just hurting yourself. [Fast Company]

The interface is technically new in that it's visually catered to the PS3, but it should look familiar to anyone who's used Netflix on a Blu-ray player or connected TV in the past. This means it's pretty basic: so far as I can tell there are just "Instant Queue" and "Recently Watched" tabs, with none of the additional—though admittedly kind of useless—category views Xbox users are used to, and video navigation is unchanged, with the same visual timeline taking care of FF and RW funtions. One thing Xbox users aren't used to, though, is not having to pay for the privilege: Netflix-subscribed PS3 owners can just order a free disc and be done with it; Xbox owner need to have a paid Live subscription as well. (Ballmer's gotta eat!)

In any case, the experience is smooth from start to finish, with a fast-loading interface and the same near-instant streaming you get on any other platform. It's just a shame you need a disc—until this is part of the PS3 firmware, it'll feel more like a hack than a new feature. [Engadget]

Of course, those pictures can't shared in order to protect they're source, and what's more, they're hearing that "Nintendo originally planned to bring the Netflix service to the Wii before the end of this year" but they're "also considering holding off on the Netflix service until they release their next generation Wii HD unit in early 2010." So, uh, just keeping your breath on that one. [Streaming Media via Engadget]

Before we get into the HD-XR, there's the other new model to introduce. The low-end Roku SD is pretty much a stripped-down version of the current Roku HD model, appropriately enough. It has Wi-Fi b/g and Ethernet, but only offers composite output—no HDMI, component, S-video or optical audio out, all of which the Roku HD has. The SD offers just standard-def streaming to go along with its standard-def output, and retails for $80 (the HD, in comparison, sells for $100). Both the SD and HD-XR are crammed into the same small, fanless case as the HD, so they're all the same size.

The HD-XR is Roku's new high-end model, selling for $130: In addition to everything the Roku HD has, the HD-XR is packing 802.11n Wi-Fi and, intriguingly, a USB port. But therein lies the problem with the HD-XR, and the reason we're bringing you a hands-on and not a review today: The USB port doesn't do anything. Yet.

Roku tells me that they've got some substantial additions coming to their service via automatic firmware upgrade in "the coming weeks." First is the Roku Channel Store, which "will offer a number of new content channels for the Roku player, many of which are free." This comes in addition to the currently offered Netflix (duh), Amazon and MLB. What could the new channels be? We'd say Hulu is a fair bet, given past rumors. Other dedicated streaming sites like ABC or MSNBC wouldn't be out of the question either, and since everybody's doing it, I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook and Twitter come to invade your tidy little Roku box.

Second is that currently-useless USB port—it may not do anything yet, but I assume it'll allow video playback from UMS devices like hard drives and flash drives when it's enabled through firmware. A helpful tip, Roku: Extensive codec support is mandatory, not optional, in a device that has as few features as this one. It only does a couple things, so it had better do them damn well. DivX, MKV, and H.264 would be a start.

So how does the HD-XR perform? Just about as well as I could hope. It's a bit slow to start streaming a video (two minutes at most, but that's a long time to stare at a progress bar on your TV), but once it started it never stutters, and video quality is nearly as good as when streaming on a computer. I do wish you could browse through Netflix's catalog, rather than only being able to stream what's in your Instant Watch queue, but it's super simple and works well. The remote is small but feels solid, and has few enough buttons that pretty much anyone can figure it out. Setup is easy and the antenna picks up my Wi-Fi signal just as well as my laptop. Overall I was really pleased with it, and so were my non-tech-savvy roommates—no mean feat, since they're not usually into all the nerd stuff that I deal with every day.

So what's new right now? Um, well, 802.11n. That's it. It's pretty disappointing to see new hardware released without the accompanying software that takes it to the next generation, especially given Netflix's invasion onto Blu-ray players (only $100!), HTPCs, PS3s and god knows what else. I'm not so sure the HD-XR is worth $130, given the growing ubiquity of Netflix streaming, so Roku had better bring it with this firmware upgrade—the days of a one trick pony in the living room are nearly up. [Roku]

Apparently, the free disc activates the Netflix mojo via BD-Live, in what must be the best use of BD-Live ever. At least until the next major system update, you'll have to load up the disc every time you want to use Netflix. But you'll be able to pick out movies or throw stuff into your queue using an onscreen interface, so there's no going back to the old-school days where you had to add stuff to your queue on your computer before strolling over to your Xbox and TV.

Pop on over to Netflix to reserve the disc now—I have a feeling there's gonna be a huge demand crush for them. [Netflix, Sony, Thanks Kyle B!]

Normally I wouldn't ask, but you and I have a connection. No, not in a weird way. We're alumni of the same college. Sure, I know that Microsoft has come out and said that Netflix streaming is an Xbox exclusive, but c'mon. Don't you think the ties of alumni relations are stronger than some piece of paper full of legalese? I do.

iPhone or Android apps would be cool too, but I would much much rather have it on something hooked up to my television. So, yeah, if you could release a PS3 app, that'd be great. Thanks! [NewTeeVee via Electronista]

Insignia, Best Buy's house brand, offers the NS-BRDVD3 at $180, with the NS-WBRDVD adding Wi-Fi to the mix for $20 more (seems worth the upgrade to us). All it takes is a firmware upgrade and you can start streaming Netflix. It's great to see Netflix invading our homes, one gadget at a time. Here's hoping smartphones are next! [Netflix via Engadget]

Unfortunately, extender support and HD streaming are still not part of the Netflix package—a major disappointment. Engadget also claims that Internet TV picture quality is lacking. Still, all things considered, it should be a welcome update for fans of online TV. For most Windows 7 users, the updates should show up automatically—otherwise they can be downloaded via Tasks. Hit the link for a full gallery. [Engadget]

After all, Roku players only stream media from a handful of sources while an HTPC opens up the entire internet for playback on a TV. Plus, nettops and other small PCs are becoming extremely affordable. Unless the XR costs next to nothing, it makes more sense to save up for an HTPC. In the end, you might recoup the added expense by ditching your cable service. [Engadget]

Myles Weathers, a (former) postal sorting facility employee from Springfield, Massachusetts, was busted removing DVDs from Netflix envelopes and placing them in his backpack. That's a little dumb. What's really dumb is that Weathers was caught on camera following a Netflix investigation as to why all these people in the area were calling in their DVDs as MIA.

Weathers pleaded guilty to the theft of 3012 DVDs (now recovered) valued at $36,471, and he may get up to five years in prison when he's sentenced this December. Then again, it could be worse. [The Smoking Gun via CrunchGear and image]

When questioned by Reuters if Netflix was working on an iPhone-related partnership with Apple, Hastings responded:

it's something that's likely to come over time. But nothing in the short term. (With) movie watching, we are not focused on mobile yet, but (instead) on the TV, on Blu-ray and on the video game consoles. We will get to mobile eventually, including the iPhone.

At first, I looked at Hasting's statement as a false if casual bravado regarding the simplicity of arranging a deal with Apple. But given that both Sling and Sirius XM have worked their way onto the platform, it's reasonable to think that Netflix can make it, too. [Reuters via Digital Daily]

[Image via Digital Home Thoughts]

Yes, read that screenshot from my queue above and weep. In a month, there will be no more 30 Rock episodes (no more Heroes either), and the only Office eps will be early ones. Why the upheaval? You already guessed our most likely guess: Hulu.

As soon as the new seasons kick in, Hulu will be the place NBC will want people to go to catch up—remember, it's ad supported so traffic matters. And what better way to drive people there than to make the best content exclusive? It's just a case of the Sheinhardt Wig Company looking out for the Sheinhardt Wig Company.

Another network, CBS, appears to be yanking some CSI content even sooner, but NCIS looks stable. (I could do this all day, so give me a hand: Go ahead and check your own queues for verification, and report the status of your favorite Netflix VOD series down in comments.)

Sucks for you, Netflix, and for those of us who somehow had the impression that any content on Netflix VOD would be there forever. Now, Hulu, about those VOD widgets for TVs, Blu-ray players and game consoles...

We've seen comparisons like this before and as we move into terabytes of digital storage they're less and less useful (and interesting). But the move to the cloud is pretty intriguing: Facebook photos, Hulu videos, YouTube, all that stuff is pretty much unlimited and will continue to grow. And as a Netflix devotee, I'm glad to see a chart of exactly how thoroughly it's kicking Blockbuster's ass. [Mozy]

PlayOn's been around on the Xbox and PS3 since last year, as well as on all kinds of DLNA-compliant TVs—it's essentially a super-compatible web interface for video services that don't work on certain platforms—and we knew it was headed Wii-ward from the start. This is a step, and a sign that the service will actually materialize sometime soon, but it probably won't include a specific, formal release date. [PlayOn]

-PlayOn support for Nintendo's Wii in Beta.
-This is the first time PlayOn is able to control the user interface (and we spent significant time designing it)
-It is available for a free 14-day full-featured trial at www.playon.tv; after that it is a one-time $39.99 fee to purchase a license
-It is the same software that supports the PS3 and XBOX360, so if you already have a license or active trial, it will work on your Wii as well
-PlayOn uses the "Internet Channel" on the Wii
-How it works: You can find the PlayOn Media Server(s) by opening the "Internet Channel" web browser on the Wii, pressing the "WWW" button, and entering the web address playon.tv — We recommend you add this page to your Wii Browser "Favorites" to make it easy to return to. To upgrade your Nintendo Wii with the "Internet Channel" web browser, visit http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/channelsInternet.jsp#downloadOpera
-We are very proud to offer Wii support as it has been one of the most requested features from our users and shows our commitment to expanding consumer access to PlayOn
-PlayOn offers the broadest selection of premium content available from Internet – to – TV providers (Hulu, Netflix, CBS, ESPN, CNN, Amazon VOD, You Tube) and our selection of niche content is growing daily via our open plugin architecture:

o Academic Earth
o Adultswim
o Cartoon Network
o Channel9
o Crackle
o Food Network
o GameTrailers.com
o HGTV
o Local Files
o NBA
o NFL
o Southpark Studios
o Spike TV
o Podcasts (OPML Player) — with dozens of available feeds!
o International channels: Danish DR and Spanish TVE
- PlayOn works on a broad range of devices, including the Playstation3, XBOX360, Nintendo Wii, Digeo's Moxi HD DVR, Verismo's VuNow Device and many DLNA-compliant devices
- You can see video demos of playon for the PS3 and XBOX360 at http://www.themediamall.com/playon/lp200907 (sorry - the Wii one isn't ready yet since we are still in Beta and hope to get feedback on the UI before it is set in stone!)