Netflix shows movies online
Online DVD rental store Netflix introduced a new feature for its subscribers: the ability to watch whole movies right on the Netflix Web site. Netflix customers will be able to stream over 1,000 movies on their PC without paying extra. Every month, users can stream one hour of film content for every dollar they spend on their Netflix subscription (i.e. six hours for the basic $5.99 package), and still get DVDs through snail mail. Users must download a special player that loads and starts playing movies in 10 to 15 seconds. The video quality corresponds to one's Internet connection but is said to be comparable to DVD. The service is currently only available to a small selection of users but will roll out to everyone over the next few months.
Wii sells more consoles at debut than PS3, Xbox 360
Nintendo sold 1.1 million Wii systems by the close of 2006, more than either Sony PlayStation 3 or Microsoft Xbox 360 sold at their debuts, announced the NPD, a group that measures video game sales. Sony sold 687,300 PS3s between its Nov. 17 launch and Dec. 31. In 2005, the Xbox 360 sold 607,000 systems between Nov. 22 and the year's end. Don't declare Wii this generation's console war victor just yet, though; all three consoles appeared in limited quantities and were difficult to find at retail.
Google explores outer space
Google Earth was cool, but the Internet mega company has an even more ambitious idea in the works. Google is working with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Project, which aims to build a three billion-pixel telescope/camera in Chile by 2013. Google will develop search engine software that can sort through data collected by the telescope in real time and create movie windows on the computer at which scientists can look. The company is also creating a parallel viewing system for ordinary PC users. Users will be able to view "exploding supernovae, potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids as small as 100 meters and distant Kuiper Belt Objects," the LSST told CNET News.com.
Woman dies trying to win a Wii
A woman from Cordova, Calif., died from water poisoning trying to win a Nintendo Wii for her three children on a radio contest, the AP reported. KDND 107.9 radio show Morning Rave's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" asked contestants to try and ignore the call of nature while consuming large amounts of water - one 8-ounce bottle every 15 minutes, and bigger bottles later in the contest. After the contest, 28-year-old Jennifer Strange told a colleague she had a "really bad" headache. She was later found dead. Twenty people participated in the contest; Strange was the runner-up. KDND later fired 10 staff members. No criminal investigation will take place as contestants drank water at their own risk.
