Consumer content

Netflix to discontinue sales of used DVDs

Netflix plans to stop selling DVDs that were rented by subscribers, another step toward expanding its subscription focus from DVDs rented by mail to include movies streamed over the Web.

In a Netflix blog posting Monday, the company announced that it would discontinue sales of previously viewed DVDs on November 30:

As you know, our core business is delivering great movie rentals to you on DVD by mail and instantly to the computer and TV, so we've decided it makes sense for us to focus exclusively on that. This means we will stop selling previously viewed DVDs through the … Read more

Brains behind Hulu leaves NBC

George Kliavkoff, the man who helped draw up the blueprint for a string of successful digital media services--from Hulu to Major League Baseball Advance Media--is leaving NBC Universal at the end of the year, CNET News has learned.

After a little more than two years as NBC's chief digital officer, Kliavkoff says he has accomplished the goals he set for himself and the company's digital unit when he joined in August 2006. He is taking time off before jumping into his next project.

Kliavkoff, 41, has chosen to exercise an option in his contract and leave NBC at … Read more

Problems at the polls? Send a tweet

Long lines, broken voting machines, and citizens who can't vote because their names don't show up on the registration rolls. A group of software developers and designers have teamed up with the blog techPresident to make it easier for voters to broadcast such issues far and wide--fast.

The Twitter Vote Report, as its name suggests, lets voters share experiences and resources via the popular microblogging service. The messages will then be aggregated and mapped so followers can "see" voting problems in real time via state-specific Google Maps, like the Colorado map at the top of this … Read more

RealNetworks appeals to public in RealDVD fight

RealNetworks and the film industry continues to blast each other in public over RealDVD, the controversial DVD-copying software.

The maker of digital media tools on Monday reminded customers who downloaded a free 30-day trial of RealDVD that the period is ending and the film industry is preventing them from buying the product. The company is offering a new deal to these customers.

"We have been forced by legal action to at least temporarily halt the sale of RealDVD by Hollywood's largest movie studios," RealNetworks said in a post on it's site. "You shouldn't be … Read more

Netflix welcomes Mac users to 'Watch Instantly'

Netflix has expanded its "Watch Instantly" movie-streaming player to include Macintosh-owning subscribers.

The company announced on its blog Friday that it is past its first phase of beta testing and invited subscribers who wanted to opt in to do so. But the company had a few warnings for prospective users:

• There may be bugs. We are logging all errors, but if you run into problems, you can help out by posting details here in the blog comments.

• Not all movies are available to watch with Silverlight. You may notice errors or lower than normal quality when … Read more

Yahoo Video gains, YouTube crosses 5.3 billion streams

Post updated 11:45 AM PST

Beet.TV has the scoop on Nielsen Online's tracking of video streams for September 2008. Yahoo Video streams surged 56 percent and unique users grew 35 percent month over month.

The month of September was also good for Google's YouTube, which had 12 percent growth in streams. Fox Interactive, MSN/Windows Live and Nickelodeon all had negative growth from August to September 2008, according to Nielsen Online.

It's unclear why Yahoo Video saw such a dramatic increase compared to other sites in September. CNET News has call into the company and … Read more

TheStreet.com names Jim Cramer chairman

TheStreet.com named co-founder and high-profile market commentator Jim Cramer as its chairman, in a move to separate the dual role of its Chief Executive Thomas Clarke.

The investor Web site noted that the separation of duties will allow Clarke to focus more on his efforts as CEO, during a period when the company is moving through a difficult economic environment.

The move by TheStreet.com to separate the positions is one that corporate America has increasingly embraced, though mainly to address corporate governance issues that have become a hot button in the era of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Netflix streaming comes to TiVo

Netflix streaming will be coming to TiVo DVRs by the end of 2008.

The ability to stream Netflix movies and TV shows will begin beta testing for select TiVo owners immediately, with an official roll-out scheduled for early December. It will be available on TiVo HD, HD XL, and Series3 DVRs (not Series2 or DirecTV models).

The service will effectively be identical to the Netflix feature available on the LG BD300, Samsung BD-P2500, and BD-P2550, Roku Player, and--as of mid-November--the Xbox 360. That means that existing Netflix subscribers can stream more than 12,000 movies and TV shows directly to … Read more

Amazon's Kindle obsession: Bury the printed book

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos loves to talk about the Kindle e-book reader. He's even got media mogul Oprah Winfrey pitching the device: "I'm telling you, it is absolutely my new favorite thing in the world," she recently said.

The Oprah endorsement is just the latest marketing scheme Bezos has applied to making the Kindle the next iPod. He has been relentless in promoting the Kindle at the expense of maximizing Amazon.com revenue on the virtual storefront.

Every time I go to Amazon I am greeted with a huge Kindle ad that takes up … Read more