XBox news roundup from E3:
A price cut and more storage and interface and functionality upgrades.
Netflix-on-360—finally.
Details:

_For now, Netflix will only stream in about-SD resolution.
_As Netflix transitions to HD, Microsoft said it stands to reason that streaming HD to the Xbox should be feasible.
_Netflix will be for Xbox Live Gold members only, so you’ll be paying that [...]

Netflix dropped it’s first set-top box, dubbed “The Netflix Player by Roku” (Roku is a CE company founded by ReplayTV’s Anthony Wood). The device is strictly for watching “Instant Viewing” streams from your Netflix account.
The Pros:

Cheap ($100)
802.11g wireless
Firmware upgradeable (to what extent remains to be seen)
HDMI
optical audio (though no surround–the Netflix streams aren’t surround anyway)
Movies [...]

A thought-provoking piece from Joel Johnson (Heh…no relation.) at Boing Boing gadgets. It really is only a matter of time before “little computers” are actually built-into monitors.
In Appledom, iTunes is the future, not AppleTV. AppleTV and other PC-based media centers only exist because no television manufacturer has figured out how to make a passable, [...]

It was disclosed this week at Appleinsider that Apple filed a patent in Oct. 2006 over what appears to be DVR functionality. Apple’s interface design and usability brought to the DVR could be the killer app for the AppleTV.
The patent at USPO.

Worthwhile: Saving the HDi platform for non-HD DVD media.
MS Don’t Kill HDi! An Open Letter from Format War Frontline
On a technical implementation level HD-DVD was farther along than Blu-ray, even at the time of its death. HDi comprised a powerful tool and a competitor that raised the stakes on its rival, especially because it was [...]

I’ve switched from Greencine to Netflix, due to Greencine’s complete lack of customer service. Here’s the RSS for my Netflix queue.
Mac Goodies
Newsfire is now free. Best MacOS newsreader after NetNewsWire. Secrets is a preference pane to access hidden/secret prefs in the OS and numerous apps.
DIY
From Here to Awesome I’ll let them explain it:
(Either JavaScript [...]

Apple finally released the anticipated “AppleTV Take 2″ update yesterday.
The ATV Guided Tour.
Engadget has pics.
Notes+Observations after a quick update and run-through:
_ATV now includes 1080p support.
_Compatible/works with AirTunes.
_You can now stream radio stations from iTunes. Very interesting. (New idea—how about Xm/Sirius integration?)
_Purchases on the ATV auto-sync back to the paired iTunes, pretty much how the mobile [...]

A developer has released a beta plugin for Windows Media Center that allows you to edit your queue, browse titles, and watch Netflix streams. More details at the developer’s site.
It’s really a shame that Apple hasn’t opened the AppleTV (officially) to such development. WTF?

Apple Rumor: Some sort of event/announcement at the end of February.
Apple files a rather interesting-looking interactive video patent(s) regarding the Apple Remote and AppleTV. Widgets in yr video.
Perian has released a 1.1 update, including performance enhancements and support for DTS and AVCHD. It also improves compatibility with Quicktime 7.4 (Also updated with a bug and [...]

The two most interesting aspects of iTunes offering rentals—
_The implications for Apple TV—expect at least a software update to support the new functionality. Accessing the iTunes store from the living room is certainly one good step in reviving/re-inventing a cool product suffering neglect and lackluster adoption. A little more computing muscle/storage and the addition of [...]

Jaman, the online community for World-Cinema downloads, distribution and discovery, has released instructions on viewing/syncing Jaman downloads (supposedly including rentals) with AppleTV. This was rumored/announced back in June.
The hack/mod is explained in-depth at AppleTV hacks.
I’m looking forward to getting an AppleTV to hack/play with. Thinking about the possiblity of integrating it into a forthcoming project.