watches

Netflix profit jumps 45 percent

Netflix reported Monday that its fourth-quarter profit rose 45 percent on the strength of lower marketing costs and the growth of its Internet streaming service.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings credited the company's "Watch Instantly" streaming feature with fueling subscriber growth.

"It's very clear that streaming is energizing our growth," Hastings told analysts during a conference call.

For the quarter ended December 31, the company reported that it earned $22.7 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with $15.7 million, or 23 cents a share a year ago. Revenue at the Los Gatos, … Read more

LG's line of phones you can't get

We didn't see too many new U.S. devices from LG this year at CES 2009, but we did get a good look at some of the company's handsets that are only available in Europe or Asia. Of course, the LG Watch Phone stole the show earlier in the week, and that's slated for a Europe-only release date. We also got a hands-on with the LG Renoir, the 8-megapixel wonder with camera features we only wish we could have in our standalone point-and-shoots. And finally, we take a brief look at the LG Prada II and its … Read more

A closer look at the LG Watch Phone

Quite possibly one of the biggest buzzes at CES so far has been about the LG Watch Phone, which we reported on yesterday morning. It's no wonder; it fulfills every geek's fantasy while still satisfying the cool quotient with its sleek styling and touch-screen interface.

We had a sit-down with LG earlier today at its booth in the Central Hall, and got up close and personal with the phone. LG wouldn't let us touch it, but we did get a good look at how the transitions work between each tap of the finger. It looks quite intuitive, … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 886: That's our title!

We're coming to you from CES 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada and it's all about Netbooks today. I'm sure we'll get more buzz about 3D TVs and more later this week. Also, Ellie doesn't like it when we call out the title of the show, but that makes it easier for Jason to find them for his special edition! (And please excuse a bit of distortion in today's episode. Sorry! -Jason) Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 886

Yawn— MacWorld (woohoo iTunes DRM free!!) http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10133230-37.html http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090106-apple-mwsf-announcements-new-macbook-pro.html… Read more

LG reveals GD910 Watch Phone to be released this year

We first saw the LG Watch Phone last year at CES 2008, but it was behind glass and no one was allowed to really see how it all worked. This year, however, LG plans to break it out of the display case. At the LG press conference a few minutes ago, they demonstrated a real working prototype of the watch phone and it looks to be a real must-have for the spy wannabe in your life. It has a touch-screen user interface (!), three side-mounted buttons, Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and even a full-blown music player. It's water resistant, and it'… Read more

Fully Equipped: Stupid human tricks--no HD on an HDTV

The Leichtman Research Group recently conducted a phone survey that showed 18 percent of HDTV owners think they're watching high-definition shows, when, in fact, they're viewing standard-definition programming.

I'm not sure exactly what questions LRG asked and how it arrived at that 18 percent figure, but I can tell you that I spent part of my New Year's Eve this year confronting and rectifying a non-HD situation just in time to see the ball drop in Times Square in HD.

This is not the first HDTV I've rescued from the standard-def dungeon. It's happened … Read more

Stupid human tricks: No HD on an HDTV

The Leichtman Research Group (LRG) recently conducted a phone survey that showed 18 percent of HDTV owners think they're watching high-definition shows, when in fact they're viewing standard-definition programming. I'm not sure exactly what questions LRG asked and how it arrived at that 18 percent figure, but I can tell you that I spent part of my New Year's Eve this year confronting and rectifying a non-HD situation just in time to see the ball drop in Times Square in HD.

This is not the first HDTV I've rescued from the standard-def dungeon. It's … Read more

Zannel brings media-rich microblogging to iPhone

Zannel, a media-rich microblogging service that launched in late 2007, has a new and free iPhone application that puts many of its features on to the popular portable device.

Called CityWatch, the app takes a similar approach to Loopt and Whrrl in allowing you to see and interact with what's going on in your general proximity. It does this by taking each item that's been posted to Zannel and overlaying it onto a map using its geo tag. This also includes items from other networks, like Twitter, Flickr, and eventually any other service that has an open API.… Read more

TiVo launches Netflix streaming for its Series3 DVRs

Netflix streaming is now available on TiVo Series3 DVRs. The feature was announced a several weeks ago, but the idea of a TiVo/Netflix partnership dates back to September 2004.

The service is effectively identical to the Netflix feature available on the LG BD300, Samsung BD-P2500, BD-P2550, Roku Player, and the Xbox 360. That means that existing Netflix subscribers can stream more than 12,000 movies and TV shows directly to their TV over a broadband Internet connection on an unlimited basis, with no additional charges beyond the existing Netflix and TiVo service fees. The available catalog is currently dominated … Read more