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netflix
Netflix: Rental-by-Mail Has Five Years Left (Subtext: Discs Have Five Years Left)
At Netflix Investor Day, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings revealed their timeline for the end of the rental-by-mail biz, and why they're digging so hard into digital distribution: It "will probably peak in the next five years." Taken more broadly, it's more or less predicting that the real end of physical media is in T minus five years—'cause presumably, as long there are discs, Netflix's model assumes you'll get 'em from Netflix. While the end of physical media has been predicted lotsa times, it's rare that a company puts a death sentence on its core business, so this isn't the cheap willy-nilly futurism we're used to gagging on. [Reuters via Alley Insider]
video
Hunting for Viewers, Joost Moves to Your Browser
Joost, the P2P-powered TV killer we reviewed back in the heady days of the writers' strike that we found a bit wanting (and is on the skids), will work in your browser later this summer with a plug-in, rather than needing to install a whole separate app. As Valleywag points out, this might be a bit futile, since the next version of Adobe's Flash will have built-in file-sharing. Anyone out there still using Joost? [Valleywag]
virtual reality
Virtual Fitting Room Turns You Into An Online Paper Doll
The one thing I never buy on the Internet anymore is clothing, after realizing for the umpteenth time that the dress that looked great on the 6 foot, 100lb model doesn't quite hang the same on me. But Japan-based Aveilan Company's virtual fitting room technology might make me give Internet clothes shopping another chance. More »
rumor confirmed
HD Content Confirmed For Amazon Unbox!
TiVo has officially confirmed that Amazon Unbox will get HD content in the near future, but execs at the company say a few kinks need to be ironed out first. The current version of Unbox can't process HD content, and availability is limited by bandwidth constraints—something cable companies are in the process of solving. If a previous customer survey is to be trusted, an HD movie rental will cost $4.99, the same as iTunes. [Zatz Not Funny! - Thanks Dave]
warner bros.
Watch Full Episodes of Friends, Scooby Doo and The Batman Online for Free
Warner Bros. is jumping into the online video arena next month with a pair of sites, thewb.com and kidswb.com, which will show full episodes of its biggest series, like Friends and Smallville on the former, and stuff like Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo and Batman (hopefully Paul Dini's brilliant and amazing original animated series, not The Mediocre Batman) on the latter. It'd probably have made more sense for them to join Hulu, but Warner's probably not keen on splitting the ad dollars. If there's enough content, it could become a real destination, but we're guessing you'll still have to go to YouTube for "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves." [Yahoo]
apple
Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront
A recent patent filing by Apple Inc. entitled Enhancing Online Shopping Atmosphere indicates that Steve Jobs' next BOOM could involve a hat tip to virtual worlds like Second Life. According to the filing, Apple is considering a more interactive visual representation of its online store complete with changing weather and avatars. Let the griefer brainstorming session begin. More »
rumor
Hulu Video Service Going Mobile?
Talking at the National Association of Broadcasters convention, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar implied that NBC and News Corp.'s (mostly) slick video service could be moving to mobile phones, saying that they're "ripe for the Hulu experience." But, it might not look like the Hulu we know and almost love, since he mentioned that it "may not be identical" everywhere, but he thinks "anything connected to the internet would be a good fit for Hulu." Looks like healthy mobile TV might just materialize in the US. [MocoNews, Broadcasting & Cable]
1:50 PM on Fri Apr 18 2008
By matt buchanan
2,102 views,
17 comments
Latest by conglomerate: @-AP-: PROPS more »
darwin
Darwin Manuscripts Evolve From Paper Notes to Online Archive
The manuscripts that later became On The Origin of Species are going online for the first time. The good guys at the Cambridge University library, who were the only people with access beforehand, have put Charles Darwin's notes on his book and another 20,000 archive items online, turning it into one vast educational/scientific resource. Apparently it's actually so vast that if you downloaded one image a minute, it'd take you two months to view it all. More »
new york hates me
No More Tax Free Online Purchases For New York With New "Amazon Tax" Bill
In case living in New York wasn't already expensive enough, state lawmakers passed the "Amazon Tax" bill this week, which will require online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases shipped to the state, even when they don't have physical operations there. More »
software
Adobe Media Player 1.0 Arrives, Sorta
About a year after its beta launch, Adobe Media Player is in full effect, or almost. Adobe's little Flash-only scheme for making money on the internet has lined up CBS and Viacom properties MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, plus PBS, Universal Music Group and a few others, though not all of them show up yet in the list of stuff to watch. (That tantalizing Daily Show you see in the promo pic—not available yet.) Remember, unlike other similar programs, this one lets you watch online or off. But like all the rest, it's only as good as the content it brings to the table. And its interface. And the picture quality. Any beta testers out there want to comment? We'd love to hear your impressions. [Adobe (download) via CNet]
gadgets
We absolutely love it when cyberspace and meatspace intersect, which is why we're enthused over this Online Notification Picture Frame. It's a DIY project that connects via some interface (the guy doesn't say) to a computer, which feeds online status information back to the display. If a person's online, the LED next to his photo lights up. We'd prefer it if this were a more digital solution like an actual photo frame that dynamically displayed the pictures of people who were online, but this is a good start. [Volunteer Lab Rat via Hacked Gadgets]
Picture Frame Shows Which of Your IM and Skype Friends Are Online
We absolutely love it when cyberspace and meatspace intersect, which is why we're enthused over this Online Notification Picture Frame. It's a DIY project that connects via some interface (the guy doesn't say) to a computer, which feeds online status information back to the display. If a person's online, the LED next to his photo lights up. We'd prefer it if this were a more digital solution like an actual photo frame that dynamically displayed the pictures of people who were online, but this is a good start. [Volunteer Lab Rat via Hacked Gadgets]
pizza spying
Domino's Online Pizza Tracking Accurate to 40 Seconds: Too Bad Their Pizza Sucks
Domino's new online pizza tracking system will allow hungry customers to keep tabs on their pizza from the moment they place the order up until the moment it leaves the store—and it is accurate to 40 seconds. More »
question of the day
Question of the Day: Where Do You Do Your Gadget Shopping?
Although a few of the specialty gadgets we love are one-off items that can only be purchased directly from the manufacturer, most of them are things you can pick up in one big trip to the big box store. Or online. Or wherever you do your shopping. So which is it? Where do you spend your cash?
macflix
As part of its earnings call, Netflix dropped the bit they intend to finally launch their all-you-can-eat Watch Instantly online video service for Macs later this year. The only holdup is/has been the lack of a Mac-native DRM system that Hollywood approves as sufficiently draconian. Hurray! Sorta. Mostly. [Electronista]
Netflix Watch Instantly Online Video Finally Landing on Macs
As part of its earnings call, Netflix dropped the bit they intend to finally launch their all-you-can-eat Watch Instantly online video service for Macs later this year. The only holdup is/has been the lack of a Mac-native DRM system that Hollywood approves as sufficiently draconian. Hurray! 
peripherals
SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus Backs Up Its Contents Online
The SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus is more than just an ordinary USB drive—it forces you to be responsible by backing up everything you place on it in a secure location far away from that maelstrom you call everyday life. So stick 4GB on board this $60 pocket-sized lifeboat, and as soon as it's able, it automatically sends all that data up to the mother ship, an online backup service that's free for the first six months. After that, you'll have to pay $29.99 per year. SanDisk needs to know one thing, though: Titanium is not a golden color as you see here, guys. Anyway, backing up is a great new year's resolution, so don't wait for this trinket to ship in March to get started. [SanDisk]
poll
Where Did You Shop For Evil Holiday Consumer Goods?
It's Christmas Eve, and apparently that means people are making their last, mad dashes to immortalize their kinship through iPods and GPS systems. It's clearly too late to be shopping online for your holiday merchandise, but numerous inquiring minds need to know (OK, just ours), where did you do your holiday shopping this year?
huge price increase
Isn't this a fine little Christmas present from our friends at Blockbuster? Maybe the movie rental company figured since it's this close to the holidays, no one would notice a price increase at Blockbuster Online, announced in a letter to subscribers yesterday. The most painful hit will be taken by those with a "three-out unlimited" plan, taking a huge price boost up the butt, from $24.99 to $34.99, an astonishing 40% hike. Those with the two-disc unlimited plan won't be too happy to see their $21.99 rate suddenly increasing to $29.99, a 35.3% increase. It wasn't quite that bad for other members, most of which saw plan prices raised a couple of bucks. Netflix, anyone? [Hacking Netflix]
Blockbuster Online Members Socked With Christmas Price Hike
Isn't this a fine little Christmas present from our friends at Blockbuster? Maybe the movie rental company figured since it's this close to the holidays, no one would notice a price increase at Blockbuster Online, announced in a letter to subscribers yesterday. The most painful hit will be taken by those with a "three-out unlimited" plan, taking a huge price boost up the butt, from $24.99 to $34.99, an astonishing 40% hike. Those with the two-disc unlimited plan won't be too happy to see their $21.99 rate suddenly increasing to $29.99, a 35.3% increase. It wasn't quite that bad for other members, most of which saw plan prices raised a couple of bucks. Netflix, anyone? [Hacking Netflix]