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Samsung's Full HD 3D series TV UN55C7000 is now available at amazon. Features of the LED high definition television include Full 1080p HD, 240 Hz motion rate, USB drive access, 4 HDMI ports (ver 1.3), Component and PC Input, BD Wise Access to applications like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Yahoo News, Amazon Video-On-Demand, Games, Sports applications, Wireless internet access to stream audio and video content from PC and Skype video conferencing.

Apple is ranked at third position in BusinessWeek's fourth annual Customer Service Champs 2010 rankings. The rankings are based on perceived quality of a company's staff and what customers think of its processes, such as return policies and reservation procedures. Catalog retailer L.L. Bean ranked top with a total score of 1055.95, followed by Insurance company USAA with 1042.76 score. Cupertino, Calif., based iPod maker took the third spot with a score of 1016.55. Apple's Genius Bar technical support and in-store checkout process are the two innovative customer support approaches that made the company a favorite among customers. Other technology companies that include in the list are Amazon.com (11) and Dell (23) with scores of 933.55 and 872.64 respectively.

With annual sales of more than $4500 per square foot, Apple retail stores combine eye catching product placement and great customer service to make every visit to their store a memorable shopping experience.

Wal-Mart's recent announcement to acquire Vudu has seen mixed reactions - ranging from how the retail giant could bring its trademark low-quality service to the online streaming distribution to how it makes perfect sense for Amazon to buy Netflix to compete with new Vudu - from analysts, industry and consumers. Wal-Mart's reputation for service quality notwithstanding, Netflix has every reason to worry about the deal. One of the key reasons why Netflix established itself as a key player in online movie streaming segment is the huge number of Consumer Electronics devices, including gaming consoles, high-definition TVs and DVD players that support Netflix's online streaming feature. But, its 'Watch Instantly' online streaming service has never been top-notch when compared to Amazon's Video-On-Demand or Vudu's online streaming service. Inspite of the streaming service being free for the Netflix customers, Netflix offers less than perfect solution for people who are looking for latest catalog of movies and TV shows to watch online in high definition.

Availability of new release DVDs: Netflix's agreement with Warner Bros. means the DVD rental company is not going to get the new release DVD and Blu-ray movies until 28 days after they are released by the studio. Add to this the Short wait, Long wait and Very long wait that Netflix customers usually experience with new DVD movies. This makes it almost 2 months for Netflix customers to rent a new release DVD movie. In contrast, Vudu customers can watch the movie online same day as DVD release. So, for someone who doesn't want to wait 2 months to watch a new release DVD movie and who doesn't mind paying few extra bucks, Vudu subscription is a compelling option.

The New York Times is reporting that Wal-Mart has agreed to buy Vudu, an online movie service company which used to offer its services through a set-top-box and recently collaborated with Electronics manufacturers LG Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba and Vizio to provide the online movie streaming service on High Definition Television sets. Wal-Mart's purchase of Vudu places the retail giant in direct competition with similar online movie service offerings from Netflix, Amazon Video-On-Demand, Blockbuster, Apple's iTunes service and EPIX.

With its position as the largest seller of DVD discs and HDTVs, Wal-Mart is expected to use Vudu online movie streaming abilities to increase the sales of internet connected TVs by incorporating the Vudu functionality in the television sets that it sells. Vudu online movie service could also complement sales of physical DVDs by Wal-Mart, which have been seeing a decline in recent past.

While services like Netflix and Amazon VOD bring online media content to HDTVs, EPIX and HBO Go have been trying to facilitate customers watch their programming on computers in addition to HDTVs. Wal-Mart's entry into online movie streaming means increased competition for both categories of online media providers, especially for Netflix and Amazon, as they compete for new content deals and inclusion of their services in internet connected TVs, gaming consoles and DVD disc players.

According to a recent IDC Forecast and Analysis report on Worldwide mobile operating system for 2009-2013, Google's Android Mobile OS is going to reach 68 million units making it the second most popular smartphone operating system behind Nokia's Symbian by 2013. The report notes that Android OS is going to see a compound annual growth rate of 150.4% between 2008 and 2013. Nokia's Symbian operating system is going to maintain its lead as the most popular mobile OS, while Apple's iPhone operating system and webOS continue to gain market share. By 2013, the worldwide shipment of smartphones is going to be more than 390 million units.

Google announced first Android based smartphone Droid in collaboration with Motorola on Nov. 6 2009. Since then, mobile device manufactures introduced a slew of Android based smartphones, including Nexus One, which Google released on Jan. 5 2010 in collaboration with hardware manufacturer HTC.

Apple's iPhone held 14.4% smartphone market share in 2009 behind Nokia and Research In Motion (RIM), according to another report from IDC.

According to Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies 2010 report, Netflix is ranked the 12th most innovative company. Technology and Internet companies top the list with Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google and Huawei occupying the top 5 spots. Other technology companies from the list include HP (10), Hulu (11), Intel (14), Spotify (15), Cisco (17), IBM (18), Alibaba (29), HTC (31), Microsoft (48) and Twitter (50). From movie and television industry, Netflix (12) is joined by Hulu (11), Disney (20) and Consumer Electronics manufacturer Samsung (36).

With its low-cost mail order DVD rentals, Netflix built a successful business model over last few years.The online DVD rental company has been collaborating with gaming console manufacturers, HDTV and Blu-ray disc manufacturers to include its 'Watch Instantly' streaming service in most of the consumer electronics and video entertainment devices. Growing popularity of online video and costs associated with shipping physical DVD discs prompted Netflix to invest in its streaming service few years back.

Currently, Netflix customers with any of their unlimited plans (starting from $8.99) can stream movies and TV shows to their internet connected TVs and computers free of cost. This is a win-win for both the customers and the online movie rental company as it reduces the cost associated with mailing physical DVDs for Netflix and gives the customers an option to watch movies and TV shows instantly without having to wait for the DVDs in mail.

Netflix's focus to provide affordable movie viewing experience at home is going to keep the company ahead of the game, at least for now, from other movie services from Apple's iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, EPIX and recently announced HBO Go online service from HBO.

Sony today announced that its new personal Internet viewer - dash - will feature a dedicated application for Netflix, allowing Netflix customers to instantly watch movies and TV episodes through streaming. The Wi-Fi-enabled tablet device from Sony runs widgets based on the Chumby’s platform as well as Sony’s Bravia Internet Video platform. Dash is already capable of streaming other Bravia Internet Video sources such as YouTube, Pandora, Epicurious, Crackle, Livestrong, and Blip.tv. Adding video streaming capabilities to Sony's Dash personal Internet viewer brings Netflix one more step closer to consumer living room.

Netflix streaming service is already available on gaming consoles, internet connected TVs and Blu-ray disc players. With the growing popularity of tablet computer devices and mobile internet gadgets,  Netflix is trying to make sure that consumers can access the content wherever and whenever they want it.

Netflix uses Silverlight technology from Microsoft to stream movies and TV shows from its Watch Instantly online catalog to computers and internet connected TVs.

With an USB port, wireless connectivity, 16:9 aspect ratio, Netflix streaming and 7-inch color touch screen, Sony's Dash is a perfect portable internet device to watch movies and TV shows at home.

Even though Dash doesn't offer as many features as the recently announced iPad tablet device from Apple, its price and ability to stream Netflix videos will attract consumers who don't want to spend $499 on an entry level iPad tablet.

Sony’s dash personal Internet viewer will be available this April for about $199.

Now it is Redbox's turn. Warner Bros. and Redbox today announced that new release DVD and Blu-ray titles from the studio are available to redbox customers after a 28-day window. The agreement also marks the end of the lawsuit that redbox filed against Warner Home Video in August 2009. The deal also requires redbox to destroy DVD discs after the rental time-span, so as to discourage the availability of cheap DVDs in the market. On January 6 2010, Warner Bros. announced similar agreement with Netflix that requires the DVD rental company to wait for 28 days before it could get access to the studio's new DVD and blu-ray disc releases.

Movie studios have been trying to find ways to increase the sales of DVDs in the wake of affordable movie rental options and online streaming offerings from Netflix, redbox and Amazon. With these agreements, Warner Bros. is expecting to sell more DVDs during the 28-day window. Similarly, redbox is expected to get access to more Blu-ray titles from the studio.

Redbox has distribution deals with Sony, Lionsgate, Paramount and Summit Entertainment studios, though none of them restricts access to the DVDs during the 28-day window.

EPIX - the premium movie service offering from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM - has announced at Mobile World Congress (MWS) 2010, which is being held in Barcelona, Spain the availability of its streaming service on mobile phones. The streaming service on mobile devices is expected to provide subscribers full-length movies and programming. The service is going to offer a feature that enables subscribers to pause a movie they are watching on TV or computer and resume watching it on a mobile device. EPIX, which was launched in October 2009 with Verizon FiOS as the only distribution provider later announced the addition of Cox communications, Charter Communications, Mediacom Communications and the National Cable and Telecommunications Cooperative to its providers list.

Adobe's Flash Player 10.1 is going to power EPIX's mobile streaming service. Studios and DVD rental service providers are expanding streaming service to take advantage of the broadband internet connectivity on Consumer Electronics. Netflix , in particular, has been expanding its streaming service by partnering with Consumer Electronics Manufacturers to bring its streaming service to gaming consoles, internet connected TVs and Blu-ray disc players.

Availability of movie streaming service on mobile devices is going to let people access the content anytime, anywhere, but it remains to be seen if cellular providers are going to allow the streaming service without charging a premium.

According to the latest annual index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Canadian city of Vancouver, which is hosting 21st winter Olympic games, is the most livable city in the world. Vancouver is at the top of the list with a rating of 98.0, while Vienna (97.9) and Melbourne (97.5) stood at second and third positions respectively. Seven of the top ten most livable cities are in Canada and Australia. Livability rating for the 140 cities worldwide is calculated based on more than 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: Stability, Healthcare, Culture and environment, Education and Infrastructure.

Apple's iTunes music store soon will be reaching 10 billion song downloads. To celebrate this achievement, Apple has announced a 10 Billion Song Countdown promotion that will award a iTunes gift card valued at $10,000 to the lucky person who downloads the 10 billionth song. Click here to enter the contest. It took iTunes close to 3 years (1033 days) to reach its first billion downloads, while the next billion songs were downloaded in less than an year (322 days). Apple's iTunes accounts for more than 69% of the digital songs and 25% of all songs (including physical discs) sold in the U.S.

Apple is reportedly preparing to introduce $0.99 TV shows just in time to coincide with the availability of its iPad tablet device next month.

Acording to a recent comScore report on US mobile subscriber market share for December 2009, Apple's US smartphone market share increased by 1.2% to 25.3%. Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) lead the category with 41.6% market share, while Apple's iPhone (25.3%) and Microsoft's Windows platform (18.0%) stood at second and third positions respectively. Compared to previous reporting period (September 2009), RIM and Microsoft each lost 1-percentage point in December 2009 period, while Palm lost 2.2-percentage points in market share. Apple and Google posted a gain in smartphone market share for the same period.

According to a recent IDC's market report, Apple shipped 25.1 million iPhones in 2009 capturing 14.4% of global smartphone market share.

CNET is reporting that Netflix has plans to introduce 1080p resolution with 5.1 Surround Sound to it's streaming service later this year. Netflix has been constantly expanding it's streaming service to internet connected TVs, Blu-ray disc players and gaming consoles. List of devices that support Netflix streaming include Roku player, Tivo player, XBox 360, Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii, Blu-ray players from LG, Samsung, Insignia, High Definition Televisions from LG, Sony, Vizio, LG/Samsung Blu-ray Home Theatre Systems, Windows and Mac computers.

Recently, the DVD rental company, along with Warner Bros., announced that DVDs and Blu-ray discs from the studio will not be available to customers of Netflix until 28 days after the release date. In exchange, Netflix is expected to get access to the studio's titles to add them to it's streaming service.

Currently, Netflix doesn't charge it's customers for streaming service as long as they are enrolled in their unlimited plans starting from $8.99.

In a recent interview, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said he expects two-thirds of the 12.3 million subscribers to be streaming at least 15 minutes per month in the next 18 months. But he did not indicate if he plans to charge customers for the streaming service.

Introduction of 1080p resolution and 5.1 Surround Sound to it's streaming service means additional bandwidth and overhead costs to Netflix. Considering that only 10% (1.23 million) of the total 12.3 million Netflix customers subscribe to Blu-ray discs, it remains to be seem if customers would be willing to pay for a full HD streaming service, if Netflix decides to charge for the service.

Even though customers broadband internet connection speed is going to determine the quality of 1080p resolution and surround sound audio for streaming content, Netflix hopes to get more customers by offering full HD content through it's streaming service.

Update: Netflix representative clarifies that even though 5.1 surround sound and closed captions are in 2010 development roadmap, 1080p is not. So, we may not be seeing full HD coming to Netflix Watch Now streaming service in near future.

As the rumors and Google CEO's tweet suggested, Google aired it's commercial during the third quarter of Super Bowl 2010 XLIV. The Ad is about an American who finds love in Paris through a series of searches in Google: study abroad paris france , cafes near the louve, translate tu es tres mignon, impress a french girl, chocolate shops paris france, what are truffles, who is truffaut, long distance relationship advice, jobs in paris, AA120, churches in paris, how to assemble a crib. The Google commercial ends with the word Search on.

Advertisements at Super Bowl have always been as entertaining to watch as the big game itself. This year's Super Bowl XLIV Ads are all about fun and value. Commercials by Vizio and Kia on economy-priced TV sets and budget cars hope to capture the attention of recession stuck consumers, while other commercials are all about fun. Companies have embraced social media like never before to create buzz around their products and Ads for Super Bowl 2010.

While Auto manufacturers Hyundai, Kia, Audi and Honda have released their Super Bowl 2010 Ads,  Dodge and Volkswagen have kept their Super Bowl 2010 commercials secret until the big game. Below is a list of companies that are going to air commercials during Super Bowl XLIV:

According to IDC's market report, Apple shipped 25.1 million iPhones in 2009 capturing 14.4% of smartphone market share. This represents a 81.9% year-over-year growth for iPhones. Apple's fourth quarter iPhone shipments stood at 8.7 million representing a market share of 16%. Nokia still holds the top spot with 67.7 million shipments, representing a 38.9% market share followed by RIM with 34.5 million shipments and 19.8% market share for 2009.

HTC and Samsung captured 4.6% and 3.3% smartphone market share respectively, while rest of the vendors represented 19% of the 174.2 million smartphones shipped in 2009.

According to ComScore's report on Top Video establishments for December 2009, Netflix stands at 19th position with more than 127 million videos streamed per month. Google sites (including YouTube) are at the top, serving 13.2 billion videos per month. Hulu, Microsoft Sites and Fox Interactive Media took second, third and fourth spots respectively. Vevo, which was launched on December 8 2009 as a joint venture between Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment and powered by Google's YouTube technology is at 11th position with close to 175 million videos serving per month.

In an effort to move away from mail-order DVD rental to online model, Netflix has been adding it's streaming service to Blu-ray players, internet connected TVs and gaming consoles.

Recently, Netflix and Warner Bros. announced that the new release DVDs and Blu-ray discs from the studio will be available for Netflix customers 28 days after they are released. In exchange, Netflix is expected to gain access to older DVD titles from Warner Bros. and make them available for streaming.

As Netflix expands it's online streaming catalog and continues to offer streaming services on more devices, it could soon surpass Facebook (164 million) and ESPN (165 million) in terms of videos served per month.

Google released a software update to it's Nexus One smartphone that allows multi-touch functionality like pinch-to-zoom in the smartphone's Browser, Gallery and Maps applications for the smartphone users in US. Also available through the software update are Goggles mobile application, new version of Google Maps (3.4) with support for night mode navigation and fixes to help improve 3G connectivity.

Google released the HTC manufactures Nexus One smartphone on January 5 with features that include 3.7" OLED display, dynamic noise suppression technology, voice-enabled keyboard, 5 megpixels camera, digital compass, Accelerometer and 4GB Micro SD card (expandable to 32GB). Even though the multi-touch feature has been available to the customers of Nexus One and Droid outside of the US, this feature has been missing in the Android based smartphones sold in US. It is reported that Google and Apple had a gentlemen's agreement to not use features like multi-touch in Google's phones. As the technology giants continue to step on each other's toes in the areas of mobile advertisement, OS and smartphones, Google's decision to enable multi-touch feature for Nexus One is yet another indication of the the rivalry ahead.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for 82nd Annual Academy Awards this morning. James Cameron's sci-fi Avatar and the Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker lead the Academy Awards with nine nominations each, including best picture and director for James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow. The awards ceremony is scheduled to take place at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on March 7 at 8 PM. Actors Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will co-host the show. Here are the nominees -

Google's Chrome browser continues to gain market share at the expense of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox and Apple's Safari browsers. According to the Browser Market Share data from Net Applications for January 2010, Google's Chrome is running on 5.20% of all computers. Microsoft's IE stood at top with 62.18% share while Firefox managed second spot with 24.41% of the browser market share. In December 2009, Chrome overtook Apple's Safari to take the third spot and continues the trend. Google's chrome has seen 0.57% increase in the browser market share compared to last month.

Netflix today announced that it has reached licensing agreements with multiple independent movie distributors to instantly stream around 300 indie movie titles. The distributors include The Criterion Collection, Gravitas Ventures, Kino Lorber, Music Box Films, Oscilloscope Laboratories and Regent Releasing. Netflix has been constantly expanding it's streaming service offerings to internet connected TVs, gaming consoles and Blu-ray disc players including Microsoft's XBox, Sony's PS3, Nintendo's Wii.

Earlier in January, Netflix and Warner Bros. announced that new DVD and blu-ray releases from the studio will be available to Netflix customers only after the 28-day window. In exchange, Netflix is expected to get access to big collection of Warner Bros. movie titles to use in it's streaming service. YouTube's recent announcement that it is venturing into online movie rental starting with five films from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance film festivals is yet another sign that online streaming is going to be the future medium for watching movies at home.