LG has tied up with NetFlix to provide the first range of braodband HDTVs with built-in support for NetFlix. Along with their new line of Blu-Ray players named the LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player, the first Blu-ray disc player to stream movies instantly from Netflix, these products will allow the existing Netflix users to watch media from the huge library of movies and TV episodes on Netflix. People having anyone of the above mentioned devices can watch unlimited content for as little as $8.99 per month. There have been no mentions as to the exact way the TVs will function or whether they will support wireless or not. Although, the good part here is that you can view synopses and even give rating to the movies after watching from your remote itself. When you have chosen the movie you want to see, it will start playing within 30 seconds. You can also rewind and forward the videos while watching.

In a surprising move, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs released an online letter yesterday stating that all is well with him. Sometime back, the net was flooded with rumors about his failing health and how his not giving the keynote speech at MacWorld this year was an indication of that. Following these reports, even the stock market responded negatively and the stock dipped quite a bit. But, as they say, "Where there's smoke, there's fire". The reports, though exaggerated (some even claimed he was on his deathbed, while CNN's Dennis Kneale was inexplainable by suggesting that Steve Jobs had PMS!) were somewhat true. Apparently, Steve Jobs has some sort of hormonal imbalance which is making him lose weight incessantly. He has started treatment for the same and will continue to reign as the CEO even during the period of the treatment. So, all the rumors put to rest. Good job Steve! Get well soon!

AT&T is going to displease a lot of people with this move. Recently, Open For Business has discovered that AT&T is slowly reducing the signal strengths previously seen with the provider. Even the areas with exceptionally strong signal strengths are now left with users trying to find spots where even a few bars can be managed. Most of these customers are well past the 30 day limit and are now stuck with devices that can only be termed obsolete because the service provider does not care for them anymore. Earlier, the 2G phones for AT&T used to rely on the 850MHz for their signals. But now it seems that AT&T has moved these to the weaker 1900MHz band which is troublesome for even the newest phones in the market. The major people affected are the ones who have bought expensive phones like the original iPhone and BlackBerry with the expensive monthly contracts that tag along. The only options for these people is to either upgrade their handset or go in for additional payment every month. With the news of Verizon's 700Mhz band coming soon, many users are contemplating a shift or in cases where users have an iPhone, unlocking their sets ...

Some time back all Wiki users started seeing a progress bar on the top of their pages which showed the required amount by Wikipedia to be able to provide service to the hundreds of thousands of users who open the site to gain some more information on anything and everything, right from the episode list of the favorite sitcom to the intricate working of a petrol engine. After the initial spurt of donations, the charitable mood of the people seemed to diminish a bit and the needle was stuck for quite some time between the $3-4 million mark. However, after a personal request by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, the site completed its target in record time. The request went on like this -“I invite you to join us: Your donation will help keep Wikipedia free for the whole world.” And so it seems that Wikipedia will be free. Wikipedia has an employed staff of about 23 and thus the site required money for the staff as well as the servers running it. Here is the thank you note by Jimmy Wales on successfully meeting the financial requirements

Nokia has announced that it will be opening 10 more stores in Beijing next year. However this is not going to be a Nokia flagship store like the ones in Shanghai and Hong Kong. These stores will be managed by the local mobile phone company D.Phone. Let's hope they are able to match the standards already set by the Finnish giant in the 2 flagship stores. The flagship stores come directly under Nokia and thus have the highest standards when it comes to interiors and customer experience. The first of these specialty stores in Beijing will be making an appearance in the Zhongguancun commercial area, where already many mobile stores are present. Apparently, work is on the rest of the stores but no official dates have been given by either Nokia or by D.Phone. This move by Nokia shows that it could no longer choose to ignore the potential of a city like Beijing. But, was this the right way to go? Only time will tell.

31st Dec 2008 will be remembered in the history as (one of my friends says ) "The day the Zune stood still". On Dec 31st, all Zune 30GB versions mysteriously stopped working. All Zunes got stuck at the loading page and stopped responding altogether. With widespread reports ranging from viruses to faulty software everyone, including the MS Zune development team were left their heads scratching at the sudden bricking of their beloved Zunes. Finally someone figured it out. Apparently the Zune team had not heard of the Y2K problem and not programmed the Zune to incorporate a leap year. So, as soon as the clocks stuck 12, the Zune which was not programmed to recognize the 366th day stopped. The Zune team told everyone to drain out their Zunes completely and revive it back in 2009. So, now all's well that ends well. But Zune users are not going to forget this scary incident soon :)

Reports were flying all over the internet that Steve Jobs's failing health was the reason that Apple was not going to make an appearance at MacWorld from now on. Not surprisingly, following these reports there was a fall of about 2% in the shares of Apple. This has happened earlier also with rumors floating around on Steve Jobs's health some time before. There was a fall from $87.92 a share to $86.15 in response to the reports. But a point to be noted here is that this "rumor" was first published by Gizmodo who cited sources well placed within Apple, yet termed the report as "rumor". Apple when contacted declined to comment on the issue, but a spokesman left things hanging in the air with the comment, "if ever Steve or the board of directors decided that he was no longer capable of doing his job as CEO of Apple, I'm sure they will let you know." Nothing to do except wait for the story to unfold.