J. Sperling Reich from Showbiz Sandbox joins us to explain why the TV and movies online are restricted the way they are.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

(Credit: Outsanity Photos/Flickr)

Jeff is taking the week off to get a head start on Thanksgiving, so Wilson and I invite Mark to help us out on today's episode of The 404 Podcast. After spending a couple days out of the office last week, it feels great to get back in front of the mic. It's no fun being home with the flu, but it did give me an opportunity to check out Twilight. No, not The Twilight Saga: New Moon, I meant the first one, which I never bothered to watch in theaters. I'm glad I didn't spend $12 to watch it, too! Get all the details plus a sneak peek at the new movie in theaters now. Wilson also checked out Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey's new movie, "Precious." The movie also features Mariah Carey and Mo'Nique, who's up for an Academy Award nomination for her performance as Precious' abusive mother.

(Credit: Hulu)

The first story of the day is about the much-publicized-but-never-materialized Hulu iPhone App. The self-proclaimed "bada**" portable player was first announced in April '09, successfully drumming up hype for a product that never actually came out. Wilson and Mark speculate that it could be because Hulu is preparing to launch a paid version of the streaming video site, which could potentially be holding up development of the iPhone version, which leads us to pose the question: How much would YOU be willing to pay for a monthly Hulu subscription on your iPhone? Do you frequently watch video on your smartphone, and if so, how much does it eat up your battery life? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Mark and Wilson know a thing or two about Black Friday after heading out to Best Buy every year to video tape the anxious shoppers waiting in line, but this year is a different story. While those two are fast asleep in their beds, others will be pushing, fighting, and kicking to get the best deals at their local big box retailers. But as Chris Matyszczyk tells us, some of the deals might not be awesome as they seem. Watch out for deceptively low product quantities that give zero hope for anyone NOT third in line, as well as "derivatives," aka products that are advertised as brand name but are actually "inferior models." If you're planning on waiting in line, be sure to listen to this segment for helpful tips on how and where to shop for the best deals this Black Friday.

We're only recording three shows this week, but be sure to tune in LIVE tomorrow and Wednesday for a few surprise guests and more turkey talk!

Got an HP Mini 311? Download the Flash 10.1 prerelease update ASAP.

The HP Mini 311 is one of our favorite current Netbooks, thanks to its hi-def screen, reasonable price, and Nvidia Ion graphics. Our main knock has been that the accelerated video, while great for basic gaming and HD video file playback, didn't work with the kind of streaming flash video used by Hulu and other sites. In our recent review, we said:

Video playback was excellent, and our test HD WMV file ran flawlessly--something no other Netbook has been able to do. Web-based video is a bit of a different story, but an updated version of Flash (reportedly available in November) will let streaming Web video take advantage of the GPU. For right now, Hulu on-demand content ran decently as-is, but not radically better than other Netbooks.

So, we're pleased to see the Flash player 10.1 update is available (as a prerelease version) for download. It's not even in official beta form yet, but we downloaded and installed it on an HP Mini 311 Netbook to test it out.

Even in this early form, full-screen HD video via Hulu was much improved. Playback was mostly smooth, with a tiny bit of occasional stuttering. Prior to the Flash update, low-res Hulu programming played reasonably well (and even then, not in full-screen mode), and HD video was very hard to watch.

If you're interested in installing the pre-beta version of Flash 10.1 on your Nvidia Ion Netbook or Nettop, you can find it here.

Droid Armies invade Cupertino, launch coup d'iPhone

(Credit: Flickr/cnraether)

If you weren't in The 404 live chat room this morning, you missed an insanely '80s dance party! It turned out to be a blast, so we're going to start doing it every Friday. Don't worry if you missed out this time, just be sure to check us out next Friday for more Starship, Outfield, Buggles, etc...

Last week we reported on a story about Pepsi's "Amp Up B4 You Score" iPhone app that offered "helpful" pickup lines targeted at a very specific type of girl. For example, if you choose the "political girl," the app offers several jokes about stimulus plans, global warming, etc...you can use your imagination to figure out the rest. Unfortunately, if you didn't download the app you're out of luck, because Pepsi removed the app from the iPhone store.

All this talk about iPhones brings us to the first big topic of the day: DROID. The TV commercials for the new Verizon phone running the Google Android OS mock the iPhone and its fans, making claims that Android's open architecture and physical keyboard will draw unsatisfied Apple fanboys to its camp, but we're hesitant to jump onboard after the G1 flopped.

If you're currently in the market for a new smartphone but can't decide between an Android phone, the iPhone, a BlackBerry, or Palm Pre, this is the perfect episode for you! For more Droid info, check out this episode of Dialed In, another awesome CNET podcast with Bonnie Cha, Kent German, Nicole Lee, and Jason Howell!

(Credit: Konami)

In sadder news, Hulu may finally start charging a fee to view its broadcast content online. After that cryptic extraterrestrial commercial that Hulu aired during the Super Bowl last year, we figured that a monthly fee would eventually come, but the site definitely needs to offer more incentives before we bite the bullet. If we decide to support the paid version, Hulu needs to offer the entire back catalog of every show in HD and improve the movie selection...if not, then users might be tempted to simply visit another not-so-legal site. Get it, Hulu? Now get to work.

Today's Beck's Beer Audio Draft is my (Justin's) choice and Jeff is pretty surprised because the band plays a fully orchestrated, instrumental-only version of popular video game music! The band is Konami Kukeiha Club, and it features the composers who worked on original Konami games like Gradius III and Contra.

In addition to releasing several original soundtracks (i.e. Silent Hill), the group also makes original music, and it's great for anything active: gym workouts, bike rides, long distance runs, anything that requires you to get pumped up! The two tracks of the day are "Beginning" and "Bloody Tears" off the album "Konami Battle the Best."

Have a supreme weekend everyone!

HP Touchsmart 600

(Credit: HP.com)

HP just announced the third upgrade to of its line of TouchSmart PCs, and the first model we've laid hands on, the TouchSmart 600 (full review here), was good enough to earn an Editor's Choice award. The new TouchSmart 300 and TouchSmart 600 feature 20-inch and 23-inch screens, respectively, and both offer the same multitouch screen with either a 16:9 1080P HD or HD-ready display.

To coincide with this announcement, HP is also rolling out exclusive applications for the TouchSmart PCs that take advantage of its multitouch enabled screen and Windows 7, including, but not limited to:

• Hulu Desktop: browse and watch your favorite TV shows
• Netflix: Instantly watch movies or browse and add films to your online queue
• Pandora Internet Radio: Discover new music based on your personalized taste
• TouchSmart Live TV: Watch and record your favorite television shows
• TouchSmart Canvas: organize your photos on a virtual canvas and use your fingers to make edits
• TouchSmart RecipeBox: Enjoy a hands-free cooking experience with recipes that respond to voice commands

Of those apps, the Recipe Box is the most impressive. Smart software lets you scrap and catalog recipes from a variety of popular recipe Web sites (Epicurious, Food Network, and Martha Stewart among them), and via voice recognition and text-to-speech you can navigate the recipes hands-free. It's the best kitchen-oriented PC solution we've seen.

The new 300 and 600 models also include a new swivel stand, a built-in wall mount support, in addition to a new tiltable web cam for group conferences and video chats. Both models are available in a variety of retail configurations with customizable configurations available at HP.com.

More photos after the jump.

As longtime Netbook fans, we've been well aware of the platform's limitations, from choppy video playback to a total lack of gaming ability. These sticking points have kept many people from making the Netbook jump, or forced them to also keep a full-size laptop for these tasks.

With Nivida's Ion GPU coming to several Netbooks, but seen first in the HP Mini 311, we're one step closer to a low-power, low-cost system that really can be a laptop replacement for many. In our recent review, we said:

We've seen hi-def Netbooks from Sony and others, usually with prices closer to $599, so we're excited to see HP's new Mini 311 packing in an 11.6-inch, 1,366x768 screen, as well as Nvidia's Ion graphics chip, all starting at $399.

The real payoff is in the Nvidia Ion, which, while not a true discrete GPU, offers enough power to play HD video files smoothly (a sticking point for Netbooks), as well as do some basic gaming.

We got Unreal Tournament running fairly smoothly at 800x600, and Call of Duty 4 was also playable at the same resolution (and not terrible at higher resolutions, either) -- although we did run into some stuttering on that game during more frenetic sequences (see the video above), no matter how far down we dialed down the settings .

While a new, and possibly more expensive, version of the Ion GPU is reportedly on the way, one likely workaround to squeeze more performance out of the HP Mini 311 is to add a second GB of RAM -- something that won't be possible until the Windows 7 version ships sometime after Win 7's October 22 launch. We pointed out the folly of being an early adopter in this case when we said:

As much as the Mini 311 may be our new go-to Netbook, we'd be hard-pressed to suggest buying one of these right now, when Windows 7 comes out at the end of October. With Netbooks exempt from Microsoft's free upgrade offer, it makes more sense to wait a few weeks and get the new OS out of the box (which should also make it possible to get past the artificial 1GB of RAM limit on XP-powered Netbooks).

Also, note that taking advantage of the Ion for flash-based Web video, such as Hulu, will require you to wait for the next Flash platform update, which Nvidia tells us is due by the end of November.

Read the full review of the HP Mini 311.

Gallery: HP's Mini 311 with Nvidia Ion graphics

(Credit: Roku)

In its bid to put together a roster of compelling content, Roku has just acquired an ace.

Starting Tuesday, the set-top box--known to many as "the Netflix box"--will begin streaming Major League Baseball games. As with the current Netflix arrangement, you have to be a subscriber to the service, in this case MLB.com Premium, to access the content that normally would be available only on a PC or iPhone.

And while this is a boon to baseball fans, it's an even more important development for Roku. MLB.tv Premium is the first live content available on Roku's device, and by bringing that from the PC to the TV, the 50-person Saratoga, Calif., company is beginning to differentiate itself from similar consumer electronics products.

Roku currently has access to the Netflix Watch Instantly queue, as well as Amazon Video on Demand, which allows for rental and purchase of movies. More recently, Roku added content from Blip.TV and MediaFly, two content aggregators, for videos and podcasts.

MLB.tv will work the same way. It will be accessed via a new pane that can be reached via the small remote. Once a customer's account is synced, any live, out-of-market (as in, not your home team) game across the league can be seen, with the choice of both the home and away team's local broadcast feed. Games up to one week old are available in the archive, and previews appear of each team's scheduled games up to a week in advance. ... Read More

Does Playboy have it right?

(Credit: Zatz Not Funny)

When we last heard from Roku, the company was pledging to add 10 more channels to its Roku Digital Video Player before the end of the year. With 2009 almost half over, however, there's still only two: Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand. But according to Playboy Magazine, one of those new channels could well be Hulu. So notes blogger Dave Zatz, who photographed the incriminating sidebar article from the June 2009 issue of the magazine. "Roku promises Hulu support is coming" says the throwaway parenthetical sentence.

But is it true? Responding to the Playboy excerpt highlighted by Zatz, a Roku spokesman contacted by CNET replied, "We're not sure where that came from. We have not made any public statements regarding Hulu."

If you're keeping score at home, that's really neither a confirmation nor a denial that Hulu's on the way to Roku--just an indication that Roku didn't make any on-the-record comments to Playboy on the subject.

So, will we be seeing Hulu on the Roku--or any other non-PC device this year? Your guess is as good as mine. Like the bulk of the early commenters on Zatz's post, I'm skeptical: Hulu's jousting with Boxee and its recent well-received desktop application show that the streaming service is taking pains to remain PC-bound. But I hope I'm wrong.

What do you think? Share your thoughts below.

After yesterday's much-lauded episode with Jill Schlesinger, Jeff, Justin, and Wilson are back to classic 404 goodness today. We're glad that for once in the world we can offer some helpful financial advice. And yes, we're still offering 404k options, so please send your checks to the show.

(Credit: Joseph Fedele)

On today's show, we've got a First Look at the new Hulu Desktop app. It kind of destroys Joost and Boxee's previous efforts. For those of you who don't know, it's an actual application like Front Row or Windows Media Center that plugs into Hulu content and can be controlled with a remote. Pretty cool.

Also, we're pretty excited about Sonic the Hedgehog coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. Jeff and Justin don't like that the game will be controlled via tilt, but Wilson thinks that--considering you spend most of the game just hitting forward and jump--it's not really that big of a deal.

Finally, we spend the second half of the show picking up the pieces after Justin offends millions and millions of Dave Matthews Band fans, who call in to unleash their hatred. Hopefully, Justin learns never to mess with DMB fans again. They are rabid. After that, we spend the rest of the show going over the hundreds of 404 logo submissions. They are fantastic! Please continue to send them in. We're extending the contest until the beginning of next week. Have a great weekend everyone!

Another round of 404 logo submissions - 40 today!