Netflix Expands Internet Viewing Option

Girding for a potential threat from Apple Inc., online DVD rental service Netflix Inc. is lifting its limits on how long most subscribers can watch movies and television shows over high-speed Internet connections.

The Associated Press has learned the change will become effective Monday, on the eve of Apple's widely anticipated move into the movie rental industry. Although Apple hasn't confirmed anything yet, Chief Executive Steve Jobs is expected to make it official during a presentation Tuesday in San Francisco.

Netflix is gearing up for the increased competition by expanding a year-old feature that streams movies over the Internet instead of making customers wait for their online rental requests to be delivered through the mail.

Until now, Netflix restricted how long its more than 7 million subscribers could use the streaming service each month, based on how much they pay to rent DVDs.

For instance, under a popular plan that charges $16.99 per month to rent up to three DVDs at a time, Netflix customers could watch as many as 17 hours of entertainment each month on the streaming service, dubbed "Watch Instantly."

With Monday's change, virtually all Netflix subscribers will be able to stream as many movies and TV shows as they want from a library containing more than 6,000 titles. There will be no additional charge for the unlimited access.

Only the small portion of Netflix customers who pay $4.99 to rent up to two DVDs per month won't be provided unlimited access to the streaming service.

The unlimited streaming option figures to become more enticing later this year when LG Electronics Inc. will begin selling a set-top box that will deliver the content to TVs.

Removing the time constraints on its streamed entertainment could give Netflix an advantage over Apple's movie rental service. Apple will charge $3.99 for movies that can be downloaded and played for up to 24 hours, according to media reports citing people familiar with the company's rental plans.

Letting subscribers stream as much as they want could erode Netflix's profits because the Los Gatos-based company isn't raising its monthly rates even though its expenses may rise if increased usage drives up the licensing fees owed to studios.

Providing unlimited streaming access "fits within the parameters of our overall financial goals," Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey said. The impact of the change will likely be addressed when Netflix discusses its fourth-quarter earnings in a call scheduled for Jan. 23. The company had earned $51 million on revenue of $903 million through the first nine months of 2007.

With more than 90,000 titles available in its DVD library, delivering movies through the mail is expected to remain Netflix's primary moneymaker for years to come.

Nevertheless, Netflix has spent about $40 million on the development of its streaming service during the past year.

The service still doesn't appeal to many Netflix subscribers because it requires watching the entertainment on a personal computer with a high-speed Internet connection.

Subscribers must also use a computer running the Windows operating system to watch streaming Netflix content, which leaves out most Mac users.

Netflix hasn't specified how much content has been streamed since last summer, when management disclosed that more than 10 million movies and TV episodes had been watched through the service. The company says its streaming service has gained the most traction among younger subscribers more accustomed to watching movies on laptops.

Apple's rental service is expected to offer its customers more flexibility, allowing movies to be viewed on the Cupertino-based company's ubiquitous iPod and iPhone, as well as on computers.

Still, most people seem to prefer watching movies on their big-screen TVs - an issue both Apple and Netflix are trying to address.

Apple last year began selling a $299 device designed to transport video from computers to TVs. LG Electronics hasn't disclosed the price of its Netflix box, which is expected to debut in late summer or early fall.

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Porn companies challenged by Internet sites

After years of booming sales supported by videotapes, DVDs and the Internet, the adult film industry is being challenged by easy video-sharing Web sites offering explicit content for free.

"We're dealing with rampant piracy, tons of free content," said Steven Hirsch, co-founder of privately held Vivid, the best-known studio making sex films.

Vivid once earned 80 percent of its roughly $100 million a year from DVD sales, but last year that fell to 30 percent, Hirsch said in an interview.

The Internet challenge, a topic of discussion at the biggest adult film expo of the year in Las Vegas this week, has already presented itself to the music industry and other mainstream entertainment.

Much of the Internet competition for the U.S. porn world, largely based in southern California, comes from Web sites like Toronto, Canada-based XTube.com, whose format is modeled after Google's YouTube.

Some of the videos on the XTube site come from commercial studios while others are posted by amateurs.

"We're not pirates. We are providing a service that people think they can use to pirate," said Lance Cassidy, one of XTube's founders.

The Web site has 200,000 free videos, typically 30 seconds to two minutes long, and about 1 percent of visitors buy DVDs or video streams, resulting in millions of dollars of annual revenue, sales director Curtis Potec said. About two thirds of XTube's viewers are gay, Potec said.

"We've had tons and tons of people tell us this is the future of the adult industry," Potec said. "Most of the money is ads, on any site, mainstream or adult."

Scott Coffman, president of Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network (AEBN) in North Carolina, says his company started a YouTube-type site a year-and-a-half ago to generate revenue through advertising and drive traffic to pay-per-minute sites.

AEBN limits free clips to three minutes. Users make about a quarter of them.

"They don't convert that well when you give away so much. There is a fine line between giving away something small, a teaser ... and giving away the whole thing," Coffman said.

He said his company has revenue of about $100 million a year and is facing a lawsuit from Vivid accusing AEBN of piracy.

Vivid's Hirsch says he will sue other video-sharing sites.

"This industry is going to have to get together and look at these guys that are putting out the stuff for free ... so they are going to have to get in line and start paying for it," Hirsch said.

"If that doesn't happen and we see all of this free content out there, people are not going to be able to afford to produce movies anymore."

AIDED BY THE PORN STUDIOS

Videotape, fewer prosecutions, DVDs and Internet advertising created an unprecedented boom the U.S. sex film business since the 1980s.

Many studios post short clips on Internet video-sharing sites as advertising to sell more movies.

"This is something we constantly discuss in our office. Is it too much," said Garion Hall, chief executive of Abbywinters.com, an Australian company featuring lesbians.

Hall said only one out of 500 viewers clicks over to his site from free clips and of those only one in 50 subscribes.

Some adult industry executives say a solution may lie in future distribution deals with big companies such as AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications Inc, Comcast Corp and Apple Inc.

An Apple spokeswoman said the company would not comment if it had held past talks or was interested in distributing adult product. A spokeswoman for Comcast, the largest U.S. cable provider, said the firm offered adult content in its video-on-demand service but said she knew of no talks for mobile adult distribution.

Sales of sex films to mobile devices occur in Europe but have yet to take off in the United States.

"We won't make money through adult content," said Verizon Wireless spokesman Ken Muche.

AT&T did not comment.

Jay Grdina, president of ClubJenna Inc, a division of Playboy, says sharing previews is a mistake. "We're getting bitten by our own sword," he said.

Grdina, former husband and on-scene partner of Jenna Jameson, one of the industry's most famous porn stars, said he has met companies such as Microsoft and Apple to seek wireless and other distribution deals that could allow easy downloads to devices such as iPods.

A spokesman for Microsoft said they were not in talks to distribute adult content.

"The revenues are massive," Grdina said. But "the biggest fear is share price: what are the shareholders going to say?"

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Al-Qaida videos now on cell phones

Al-Qaida video messages of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri can now be downloaded to cell phones, the terror network announced as part of its attempts to extend its influence.

The announcement was posted late Friday by al-Qaida's media wing, al-Sahab, on Web sites commonly used by Islamic militants. As of Saturday, eight previously recorded videos were made available including a recent tribute to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former al-Qaida in Iraq leader killed by U.S. forces in Iraq in June 2006.

In a written message introducing the new cell phone videos, al-Zawahri, al-Qaida's No. 2 figure, asked followers to spread the terror group's messages.

"I asked God for the men of jihadi media to spread the message of Islam and monotheism to the world and spread real awareness to the people of the nations," al-Zawahri said.

Videos playable on cell phones are increasingly popular in the Middle East. The files are transferred from phone to phone using Bluetooth or infrared wireless technology.

Clips showing former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's execution in December 2006 showed up on cell phones soon after his death. In Egypt, images showing police brutality have been passed around via cell phones including one video that showed an arrested bus driver being sodomized with a stick by police in the fall 2006.

Video and audio tapes from various Islamist groups including al-Qaida are available on militant Web sites but require a computer and a fast Internet connection — often rare in the region — to download.

But the eight videos currently available to download to cell phones by al-Sahab range in size from 17 megabytes to 120 megabytes, requiring phones to have large amounts of free data capacity. Al-Sahab has promised to release more of its previous video messages in cell-phone quality formats.

The terror network has been growing more sophisticated in targeting international audiences. Videos are always subtitled in English, and messages this year from bin Laden and al-Zawahri focusing on Pakistan and Afghanistan have been dubbed in the local languages, Urdu and Pashtu.

In December, al-Qaida invited journalists to send questions to al-Zawahri. The invitation was the first time the media-savvy al-Qaida offered outsiders to "interview" one of its leaders since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

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Learn how to burn you favorite movie in 4.7 blank DVD

Here is a video tutorial, which will teach you step by step how to burn your favorite movie in 4.7 GB blank dvd. By using "Anydvd" and "CloneDVD" you can burn most of the movies in your blank dvd. So, what are you waiting for. Chk it out the video:

Microsoft DirectX 10.1 Version – Final Update for DirectX 10

Microsoft DirectX version 10.1 is projected to be the last and final update to the DirectX 10 application programming interface (API), the head of developer relations of ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, recently said.

While Microsoft DirectX 9 had several shader models, including versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0b and 3.0, the DirectX 10 will exist in two versions, 10.0 and 10.1, said Richard Huddy, worldwide developer relations manager of AMD’s graphics product group at a conference recently.

The DirectX 10.1 is a relatively minor superset of DirectX 10, but it will last for quite a time, unlike the 2.0a or 2.0b versions of shader model 2.0 that were promoted back in 2003 and 2004 by Nvidia and ATI, which did not become popular due to availability of shader model 3.0.

If Microsoft does not have plans to develop its DirectX 10 further and will concentrate on the DirectX 11 instead, developers of graphics processing units (GPUs) will not need to add any new functionality to their products and will therefore have to focus on performance, rather than on innovation of functionality. But that is hardly a bad news: presently performance-demanding DX10 games, such as Call of Juarez or Crysis, cannot show adequate framerate on current-generation ATI Radeon HD or Nvidia GeForce 8 hardware.

Unfortunately, actual availability timeframe for Microsoft DirectX 10.1, which is supported by ATI Radeon HD 3000-series GPUs, remains unclear. It is expected that the version 10.1 will be featured in Microsoft Windows Vista service pack 1, which is due sometime in 2008.

It is unclear whether ATI, graphics product group of AMD, and Nvidia Corp. plan to change their DirectX 10/10.1 architectures going forward, or will rely on making large chips using thinner process technologies with higher amount of execution units as well as improving multi-GPU technologies.

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Download DivX v6.8.0.11

DivX is a digital media format that puts the tools of digital expression directly into the hands of the people. Since 1999, a global following has embraced DivX as a way to free digital video from the constraints of physical media. Today, DivX technology lets millions of people share in a vivid flow of events and ideas, projected through images that come alive to inspire, amuse, inform, educate and entertain.

Since its inception, DivX has been among the world's most popular video technologies and has been downloaded over 220 million times. DivX is helping to redefine the media experience by enabling anyone to create, share and play highly-compressed, high-quality video content. DivX technology now powers an entire ecosystem of interoperable products and services, from a secure digital video distribution solution to tens of millions of consumer electronics devices and popular video software applications. But DivX isn't just a technology. It's a global community informed by creativity and passion for all that is possible with digital media, and that community is growing in strength and number every day.

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New Nvidia GeForce 8800GTS

Nvidia has postponed its upcoming GeForce 8800GTS GPU from the original launch date of November 19 to December 11, according to sources at graphics card makers.

The new GeForce 8800GTS 512MB cards will replace the previous generation GeForce 8800GTS 640MB cards with a 65nm process GPU supporting PCI Express 2.0, HDMI and PureVideo Gen2. The GPU will have 128 streaming processors, 970MHz GDDR3 memory frequency, 650MHz core frequency and a maximum TDP of 140W, according to the sources.

Since the G92 graphics chip on which the GeForce 8800GTS is based has shown good performance after overclocking in the recently launch 8800GT series cards, several graphics card makers are planning to launch overclocked versions of the 8800GTS to boost demand.

GeForce 8800GTS 512MB cards are expected to be priced around US$299-349.

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ffmpegmenu -One click Video Conversion

KDE users, here’s a neat application that creates a ’service’ in your file manager that allows you to easily convert videos to other formats using ffmpeg.

ffmpegmenu is what you need. After copying the simple script into the right directory, an action will appear in the sidebar of either Konqueror or Dolphin (your choice), which easily allows you to convert selected video to DVD, MPEG or into iPod format with a couple of clicks.

The script itself is very simple, such that it’s definitely possible to edit it to customise the commands it runs to make your own ffmpeg conversion options. It does require you have ffmpeg and the necessary codecs to convert to DVD, MPEG and iPod already installed, as it is just a loader which calls ffmpeg. But enough of that, how do you actually install the script?

Well, first of all, download it from KDE-Apps, direct download link here.

When that file opens, save it as ffmpegmenu.desktop and put it on your desktop. All we now need to do is to copy the file into place.

You’ll probably need to be root to do this, so run su - first (or Ubuntu users, prefix the cp command below with sudo).

# cd /home/yourusername/Desktop
# cp ffmpegmenu.desktop /usr/share/apps/konqueror/servicemenus
# cp ffmpegmenu.desktop /usr/share/apps/d3lphin/servicemenus

Feel free to omit either the Konqueror or Dolphin command depending on whether you want this installed in one, the other, or both. Once installed, highlighting a .avi file should show the following in the sidebar (this screenshot from Dolphin):

And it’s done!

If you want to uninstall, simply remove the ffmpegmenu.desktop files as root, like so:

# rm /usr/share/apps/konqueror/servicemenus
# rm /usr/share/apps/d3lphin/servicemenus

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Installing Windows Media Player Plugin for Firefox

So you just bought a training video and popped it into your computer. You click on the menu in the autoplay dialog and it opens up Firefox, your default browser. Now you are staring at a blank screen.
What now?

The problem is most likely because you don't have the Windows Media

Player plugin installed for Firefox, so all we need to do is install it.

Note that you'll usually have the same problem anytime you try and view video files in FIrefox using Windows Media format, such as .wmv files.

Installation

Just download and run the plugin installer linked below. You'll probably want to close Firefox during the installation.

Verifying Plugin Installation

After running through the very quick installation wizard, you might be curious if the installation actually worked. While the easiest method is to just open a Windows Media video, you can also type the following into the address bar to see the list of loaded plugins:

about:plugins

And you should see the Windows Media Player plugin in the list. You can also see which file types Firefox will use the plugin on.

And now I can view this Windows Media format video file in Firefox…

Technical Notes

In case you have any issues with this installer, you might want to take a look at this list to help with your troubleshooting:

• The WMP plugin uses the IE Proxy settings, not the ones in Firefox.
  This is because the plugin itself is only a thin wrapper around Windows
  Media Player, which always uses IE internally to fetch data.
• The plugin files are installed to the "C:\Program Files\Mozilla
  Firefox\plugins" directory by default, and the file name is
  np-mswmp.dll. If the uninstaller fails to remove this file for whatever
  reason you can manually delete it.
• You could also theoretically copy the same .dll file into the
  plugins directory on any Firefox installation and it should work
  without running the installer.

Download Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin from port25.technet.com

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Miro 1.0 Delivers the Video Web to Your Desktop

In an ideal world, every video, movie and TV show you ever wanted to
watch would be available for download direct from the source and you
could watch it where ever you pleased. But as long as that world
remains a fantasy, Miro 1.0 may well be your best alternative.

Miro is essentially an online video browser, aggregator and player.
Find content you like, turn it into a channel in Miro and the software
will monitor RSS feeds, alerting you whenever new videos are posted.
Once they download via the built in BitTorrent client, watch the videos
right inside the Miro player. Pretty much like you imagine internet TV
should be. The software is free, cross-platform and open-source.

On Tuesday morning, Miro released version 1.0 of its client. The
release comes after a long period of beta testing during which the app
has gained a cult following. If you’ve been using the recent preview
releases, you'll know what to expect, but if you haven’t checked out
Miro since it changed its name from Democracy Player, there’s a bunch
of new stuff to discover.

As part of the release, Miro has put a nice list of features, inspired by and somewhat similar to the one Apple released for Leopard.

For a full review of Miro, check out our earlier write up, but here’s run down of some new and often overlooked features:

• Video Format Support — Miro claims it can play
  just about anything, MPEG, Quicktime, AVI, H.264, Divx, Windows Media,
  Flash Video, and more. I've yet to encounter a file that didn't play in
  Miro.

• Video Playlists and Watched Folders — We raved about this feature
  last time and nothing has changed. Even if you aren’t grabbing all your
  video content through Miro, just tell the app where you’re storing it
  and it’ll show up in your playlists regardless of where you got it.

• BitTorrent and RSS support — Miro can download
  individual BitTorrent files and torrents that are in feeds and you can
  subscribe to any video RSS feed you like. There’s even a setting to
  auto-download new videos whenever they show up in a subscribed feed.

• Saved Search Channels — like smart folders
  essentially. If you search for a something specific across sites and
  you like the results, you can add it as a channel and new videos will
  appear that meet the saved search criteria.

• Social site integration — Got a video you like
  and want to tell the world? Every video in Miro has quick links to post
  to Digg, Reddit, del.icio.us, and Video Bomb.

Miro 1.0 also takes a bold stand against main competitor Joost. The
revamped front door of the site has a huge banner reading "Better Than
Joost."

In terms of interface and functionality, Miro has Joost beat (unless you're really big on chatting while you watch videos). However, Joost has a slight edge when it comes to exclusive content.

Of course the value of Joost's exclusive content is open to debate
as it depends entirely on individual taste. Perhaps as a step toward
the aforementioned utopia, someone will figure out a way to get Joost's
content into Miro's interface, but as far as I can tell that’s not
possible at the moment.

Still, when it comes to searching, finding and actually watching video, Miro is head and shoulders above Joost.

Download Miro 1.0

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Flip Video Ultra: World's Simplest Video Camera

I've been a big fan of the Flip Video, a low cost pocket-sized camcorder from Pure Digital, since the first day I held it. A new improved version, the Flip Video Ultra, is ready, and there's a lot to love about it, including the price tag.
Slimmed down and styled up, the Flip Video Ultra comes in colors, isnmore streamlined, and has software built into the camera that lets you upload immediately to AOL, YouTube, or other video sharing sites.

The camera is shirt pocket-sized and runs on AA batteries. The Flip Video I've been using is one of the only gadgets I own where I can say nice things about its battery life.

But what sets Flip Video apart is that all the software you need to perform simple video-editing chores and then publish to your favorite video-sharing site are built right into the camera. No extra software required.

There are only a few buttons on the camera for playing, stopping ,and zooming in and out so its easy to get up to speed. Once you're ready to transfer your work, a retractable USB connects you to your PC. Plug the USB into a PC and you also have tools to edit, archive, and share your work, all built in to the camera. You can quickly send a video greeting card or
email, add music, transitional effects, or voice to the video. It's by no means a full-fledged video editing package, but it's sufficient for most people most of the time.

The new Ultra has an improved 1.5-inch display and microphone. The first generation camera held either 512MB or 1GB of video. The new version is available in 1GB ($150) or 2GB ($180). The video is captured at VGA resolution but still
looks good enough to output to a TV. The new camera has a video output and a slot for a tripod.

I find the Flip Video camera useful for all sorts of things. I've used it to document trips, narrating what I'm seeing so that I can remember the names of all of those pretty mountains, churches, and museums. It's great for documenting schoolwork, analyzing your golf swing, creating a walk-through of your home for sale, and more. I've given the camera to kids as young as 5 years old and adults as old as 80 to try. They instinctively figure out what to do. A story in USA Today said that Flip Video is currently the No. 1 best-selling video camera at Amazon and Target.

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