Daily News Brief: Netflix Nudges into Living Room

Netflix Nudges into Living Room

Netflix subscribers can now watch streaming rentals on their living room television thanks to a set-top player released yesterday. Built by Roku, Netflix is offering the player for a one-time $99.99 purchase price along with a 30-day money back guarantee. At just 5 x 5 x 2 inches, the compact box includes both HDMI and component video connections, making it HD-ready should Netflix decide to offer streaming HD content.

Hynix Fab Suffers Power Outage

Hynix Semiconductor's fab in Wuxi, China was hit with a power outage lasting more than 15 hours on Monday, causing some concern over the potential impact on DRAM prices. Hynix estimates it will take a couple of days before returning to full production at the plant, which accounts for half of the company's DRAM output. The power loss may force Hynix to scrap some of the wafers that were undergoing a high- temperature process at the time of the outage, according to Jim Handy of Objective Analysis. More here.

The Xbox You'll Never Own

We've seen some nifty Xbox 360 console mods, but who would have ever thought Korean President Lee Myung-bak would end up with one of the cooler looking ones available? Bill Gates gave Lee the custom console inlaid with traditional mother-of-pearl, and 100 similar Xboxes are being prepared by Kim Young-Yun, a Korean artisan, to be given away as special VIP gifts. Have a look here.

Computer Love

We're not sure whether to drool over Acer's new Aspire Predator gaming rig, or be very, very afraid. On one hand, we totally dig the three-way SLI action, Core 2 Extreme foundation, and rear-mounted CMOS hard reset. But it's the tagline that frightens us, and makes us wonder if the Predator delivers more than you bargain for: 'Faster. Deeper. Harder. Further.' 0_o

AMD to Use GDDR5

AMD's upcoming Radeon R700 graphics processors will ship with GDDR5 memory from Qimonda, the companies said yesterday. GDDR5 not only offers much higher data rates than existing GDDR3 and GDDR4, but also consumes less power. It remains unclear exactly when R700 parts will start shipping, but Qimonda said its GDDR5 chips are being produced in volume and have already started shipping to AMD.

Phishers Caught in Dragnet

Thanks to the cooperative efforts between the United States and Romanian governments, indictments were handed out to 38 individuals for phishing-related offenses in California and Connecticut federal District Courts. Federal Authorities alleged the phishers participated in a trans-Atlantic scheme that targeted numerous individuals and financial institutions. According to analysts from research firm Gartner, an estimated 3.6 million adults lost $3.2 billion to phishing scams in a one-year period ending August 2007.

Wall Climbing Robot

Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can...