rentals

Netflix service might expand beyond Canada

If Netflix enjoys success with its new streaming service in Canada, it could expand further internationally, company CEO Reed Hastings said in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

"For now, we're focused on Canada," Hastings said in an interview published today. "If we succeed in Canada, we will certainly look at other markets."

Canada is Netflix's first foray outside the United States. Exactly where Netflix could go in the future is up in the air, Hastings said. But he told The Hollywood Reporter that "Western Europe, Latin America, Asia, or Russia" … Read more

NBC won't let Apple TV 'devalue' its content

NBC Universal is afraid that the Apple TV service will "devalue" its content and has no plans to bring its shows to Apple's set-top box anytime soon, according to the Reuters news agency.

"We do not think 99 cents is the right price point for our content," NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker said at the Goldman Sachs investor conference yesterday. "We thought it would devalue our content."

ABC and Fox see it differently. Both of those networks will be offering their television programming to Apple TV customers for 99 cents per rental. But … Read more

Netflix migrates to Canada

Netflix has crossed the U.S. border for the first time.

Canadians can now sign up for Netflix's streaming service at $7.99 per month. The service, which was announced in July, provides content from the major film studios, including MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, and Universal Pictures. The rental firm has also partnered with Lionsgate and several Canadian film distributors.

The service will also include television shows, including "Mad Men," "Rescue Me," and "Leverage." Netflix didn't provide an exact figure, saying only that "thousands of movies … Read more

More Zune content coming to Xbox, and the world

This fall, Microsoft will roll out a number of updates to its Zune desktop client and related music and video services, allowing more content on more devices, in more countries than ever before.

First announced during June's E3 conference, Xbox Live Gold members will soon be able to stream on-demand music from the Zune catalog of 11 million tracks directly to their consoles. This service will complement the Zune Video Marketplace service, which has been on Xbox Live for more than a year, allowing HD video rental and purchases.

The Zune music service itself will also see an international expansion, as well as a transition to a 100 percent MP3-formatted download catalog. New regions capable of making song purchases include the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. Purchases can be made using Microsoft's free, PC-only Zune software, or any Windows Phone 7 device. … Read more

The end of software ownership--and why to smile

Editors' note: This is a guest column. See Larry Downes' bio below.

Consumer advocates are up in arms over a recent ruling by a federal court of appeals in Seattle. The decision, Vernor v. Autodesk (PDF), held that the terms of an end-user licensing agreement, or EULA, can change the sale of commercial software into a mere license, in this case a license that prohibits users from reselling their copy of the software.

The case involved an eBay seller named Timothy Vernor. Vernor bought several outdated copies of Autodesk's AutoCAD program from a business that had originally purchased the … Read more

Apple, Apple, Apple!

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded: Apple's music event to stream live Television show rentals from Apple Netflix on Apple TV New webOS 2.0 for HP's Palm Microsoft set to release updated Xbox 360 controller Sneak peek at the T-Mobile G2 phone

The 404 657: Where Santa Jobs and Kenley pay us a visit (podcast)

Unfortunately Jeff can't make it to the show today, but our good friend Kenley jumps into the hot seat to fill Wilson's shoes while he pulls out his beautiful hair trying to play sound engineer for the day. Meanwhile, we're making last minute predictions on what the Apple Music event will bring, so head over to CNET's live blog for more details and in-depth post show coverage.

The average e-mail user gets hundreds of message everyday, and while spam filters get rid of most of the junk, we're still blasted with e-mails from work, mailing lists, Facebook, and more low-priority comments. Gmail recently rolled out a new solution to organize your messages called Priority Inbox.

The Gmail feature automatically sorts your incoming e-mail into three sections: "important and unread," "starred," and "everything else," and the idea is to target messages that aren't outright spam but still aren't important...Google cleverly calls this "bologne," or BACN. The service also improves accuracy as you use it and will sort sort between senders you reply to and others that you just skip over, hopefully helping you sift through the piles of mail you get a day.

We've seen plenty of strange Nintendo Wiimote accessories in the past, but the new detachable controller from a company called Mojowijo is by far the most NSFW. The device attaches to the Wii's accessory port and uses Bluetooth to run wireless software that basically turns it into a partner-controlled "marital aid." Its patent-pending "Motion2Vibration" technology transforms one user's motions into vibrations signals that get sent to another selected device, even if they're in another part of the country. Get it?

Thanks again to everyone who entered our JetBlue All You Can Jet contest! We've selected two winners for the seven-day and five-day passes and will announce their names on tomorrow's show where we'll welcome hypnotist Paul Ramsay back into the studio! On his last appearance he hypnotized me into forgetting my name, so who knows what'll happen tomorrow- tune in at 11:30 a.m. ET to find out!

Episode 657 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Report: Google in talks for movie rental service

YouTube's fledgling movie rental program may soon be getting some Hollywood muscle in the crowded fight for domination of digital movie and television content distribution.

YouTube-parent Google is negotiating with major Hollywood studios to stream movies from their catalogs on a pay-per-view basis by the end of the year, according to a report in the Financial Times.

The service is expected to stream movies on demand for $5 each, according to the report, which cited sources with knowledge of Google's plans.

A YouTube representative declined to comment, saying: "We have nothing to announce at this time." … Read more

Report: Apple prepping 99-cent TV show rentals

Apple could be on the verge of giving users the option to rent television shows from its iTunes Store.

Citing "people familiar" with discussions between Apple and News Corp., Bloomberg reported Tuesday that 99-cent TV show rentals are being talked about. Users would have to watch the shows within 48 hours of purchasing the rental, according to the report.

The rental system sounds very similar to the one Apple uses for movie rentals on the iTunes Store, where users have a specified amount of time to watch the rented media before it expires.

Bloomberg also says Apple is … Read more