Watching streaming Netflix movies directly into a TV.

As if any additional proof were needed, the recent news that movies rental Hollywood Video was shutting down is a further evidence of the ever increasing popularity of Netflix, the Online movie rental company. The business model of Netflix has struck a chord with consumers for the convenience and ease of use. And now the model is getting even more convenient with the possibility to watch movies from Netflix vast catalog, directly streamed to your TV screen bypassing a computer. That is possible with a small portion of Netflix catalog and with help of set-top boxes or other
TV-connected hardware that allow these movies to be played directly on a TV, according to the Wall Street Journal. The most popular of those are the Xbox 360, TiVo digital video recorders, Play Station 3 game consoles and the simplest and least expensive, the Roku.


For more, see Netflix.com

Simplea files backup and sharing solutions.

If you live or work with someone and you both use a different laptop or PC accessing and creating different files but use the same external hard drive to back up your data without any synchronization, there are some simple and affordable solutions availble to help.
They come in the form of networked hard drives that can back up two machines wirelesly and allow them to share data. Among them is a new device from westerndigital.com called My Book World Edition which works with both Windows PCs and Macs and is a breeze to set up and use.
It comes in two different versions selling respectively for $230 for one terabyte or 1,000 gigabytes and $450 for two terabytes. Either one of the two, does performs the same tasks like stream music to Apple's iTunes program installed on either machine, or stream music , photos and videos to a TV with an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. Also any content backed in the My Book World Edition can be viewed from any other computer connected to the Internet.
Another way to synchronize files is to use a Web-based service and that kind of services is available from several companies like Sharpcast.com.
Sharpcast offers a service called SugarSync which can automatically synchronize the files in folders that you have selected among multiple computers. Those files are baked and accessible at an online account accessible via a password.
The start up price for the service is $5 a month or $50 a year for 30 gigabytes storage files and it goes from there depending on the amount of space needed. To allow people to try out the service, Sharpcast.com offers a free two-gigabyte thirty days trial.

For more, see WSJ.com

Microsoft's Xbox 360 to broaden its appeal to non gamers.

Microsoft announced on Monday its plan to position its Xbox 360 game console beyond die hard video game players, to serve as a pass way to social networking sites, television shows or movies for the average consumer.
According to the New York Times, Microsoft is forging new relationships with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as satellite television provider Sky of Britain.
"Facebook users would be able to access their profiles and share photos on their television through the Xbox Live network and that Twitter devotees would also be able to post and read messages through the service" said the Times. With the Sky deal, Xbox Live users in Britain will be able to watch live television, including professional soccer, over an Internet version of the Sky service still according to the New York Times.

For more, see NYTimes.com