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Notebook or Netbook, They're Getting Cheaper
Tweet Share on Facebook October 31, 2008 Comment (2)One of the hottest tech products could get even hotter next year with reports that Asus is predicting a netbook that will sell for only $200 next year. That would get the company, which started the fad last year with its Eee PC, back to its original promise of a $200 notebook PC.
The first Eee PC hit the market at $300. The higher price disappointed many techies, but didn't stymie sales. The ultra-light and small notebooks helped propel laptops ahead of desktops for the first time in U.S. sales.
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Netflix Streaming Coming to TiVo
Tweet Share on Facebook October 30, 2008 Comment (1)Netflix streaming will get cheaper, and I hope even easier, for those of us who own a TiVo. Netflix has agreed to send its free streaming service to TVs through the TiVo box.
That adds more than 12,000 Netflix titles—including first-run movies from Starz—that can be watched on-demand through TiVo. Besides shows recorded from broadcast or cable, the box already can tap movies from Amazon Video on Demand. But those movies cost money. The Netflix movies stream for free, at least for Netflix subscribers.
The viewing charge has discouraged me from using the Amazon service. Generally, pay-per-view TV hasn't lived up to expectations, either across the Internet or even on cable systems. We just aren't willing to pay to stream a movie or TV show.
But the Amazon flicks on TiVo also have been too awkward to use. When I've tried it, it's difficult to find a movie using just the TiVo remote, and the menus were s-l-o-w. I had to burrow through several to even get to the service.
Netflix, with partners like Roku, which makes a box to bring the service to TVs, has done a great job of simplifying the streaming process. Netflix keeps it simple by offloading much of the work to its website. It's there that users search for movies and set up their "instant-watching" queue.
I expect the Netflix service will prove popular once it gets integrated into TVs themselves, or other boxes such as DVD players and DVRs like TiVo. I just hope TiVo doesn't slow the "instant viewing" process. Put Netflix high on its menus and make it easy to reach.
Most of us won't know until next month, when TiVo hopes to make the service widely available. The company promises "quick and easy" access to Netflix. I hope it delivers.
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Google Book Deal May Encourage On-Demand Printing
Tweet Share on Facebook October 28, 2008 Comment (2)It's exciting to think we'll have online access to millions of books after Google settled a lawsuit with authors and publishers. But for now, we'll be stuck reading them on a PC or other Web-connected device. Maybe one day we'll also see copies of out-of-print books on a reading device like Amazon's Kindle or even physical versions from print-on-demand services like Lulu.
At the heart of the agreement is a new Book Rights Registry that Google will help fund. The registry looks like it will be some sort of clearinghouse for establishing rights to old books, whose ownership is often muddled amid publisher mergers and failures. The registry also enables publishers and authors to participate in fees and ad revenue from books getting read online.
Much of that revenue apparently would come from Google, whose Google Book Search now serves up snippets of texts covered by the lawsuit. Full reads would presumably come with fees. Or they'd at least generate more ad clicks, with more income for publishers and authors—and for Google, of course.
Google would presumably receive nothing from physical and Kindle copies. But if the registry is to be run by authors and publishers, then presumably nothing stands in the way of Kindle downloads—and even good old analog reprints.
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Apple Macs Get Netflix Streaming
Tweet Share on Facebook October 27, 2008 Comment (1)Netflix promised to move fast once it found a way around Apple's "iTunes only" mentality. And the movie rental company has delivered, announcing new software—from Microsoft—that will enable Mac users to finally stream Netflix movies.
Netflix moved just weeks after Microsoft launched a new version of its Silverlight software. Among other things, Silverlight enables studios to protect the Netflix streams from being captured and copied. The new version is the first to support Macs, at least those with Intel chips.
Netflix had complained earlier that Apple wouldn't license its own copy protection software (called DRM, or digital rights management). This from the Netflix site:
Apple does not license their DRM solution to third parties, which has made this more difficult, but we are working with the studios and content owners to gain approval for other solutions. As soon as a studio-approved DRM for the Mac is available to us, whether from Apple or another source, we will move quickly to provide a movie viewer that enables you to watch movies from Netflix instantly on your Mac."
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Audio: Getting slotMusic on a Memory Chip
Tweet Share on Facebook October 27, 2008 Comment (1)On WTOP this weekend, I described why I think there is a market for Sandisk's slotMusic, the new memory cards that come preloaded with music. You can listen here, or subscribe to the weekly podcast through
iTunes and 
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Big-Ticket Tech Propping Up Sales
Tweet Share on Facebook October 24, 2008 CommentThe slowing economy is hitting electronics, but not as badly as some had feared, say market analysts at NPD Group. Sales in September were down 2 percent over a year ago, but big-ticket items kept them from dropping even further.
Large, flat-panel TVs and high-end digital SLR cameras saw dollar sales jump about 10 percent.
Decent news in a bleak economy. But I have to wonder how long it can last. Don't the most expensive buys get delayed when budgets get tight? How about yours?
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Quicken Online Service Goes Gratis
Tweet Share on Facebook October 24, 2008 Comment (1)Early this year, I wrote about Quicken launching an online site for personal finance. But unlike competitors, Quicken charged a $3 monthly fee. Not anymore, as the site is now free—like its many competitors, including Mint.com, Wesabe.com, and Geezeo.com.
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Netflix Streaming Now Available in Samsung Blu-ray Players
Tweet Share on Facebook October 23, 2008 CommentNetflix will be streaming movies onto more TVs with the help of Samsung, whose Blu-ray players can now channel the service's instant-viewing offerings. Two drives already sold by Samsung can add the feature through their Internet connection.
Like a Blu-ray player announced earlier by LG, the Samsung drives are fairly pricey at $400. But a standalone Neflix player from Roku costs $100, so the feature essentially cuts the price of the Blu-ray players to $300.
That's still too expensive for the mainstream. It will be more exciting when the Netflix capability gets added to lower-end Blu-ray, or even standard DVD players. It seems just a matter of time.
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Aetna Joins With Microsoft HealthVault
Tweet Share on Facebook October 23, 2008 Comment (2)Here I come, Microsoft HealthVault!
My health insurer, Aetna, has agreed to work with the health-records site assembled by Microsoft. The wealth of data generated by insurers suggests that, if I want to use an online personal health record, it'll be Microsoft's for me.
Aetna is the first health-benefits company to join HealthVault.
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Google Phone Gets Plug on Search Home Page
Tweet Share on Facebook October 22, 2008 Comment (7)You might wonder if the Google phone has enough to succeed. But consider the marketing power of the world's most popular search engine.
Google users today are greeted with a plug for the T-Mobile G1 placed strategically below the search box:
New! The G1 is on sale now. Learn about the phone.
Could any other phone maker afford that prime spot? We'll never know, 'cause Google ain't sellin'.
