Alley Insider’s Dan Frommer reports that Netflix is working with manufacturers to get Netflix streaming built into your next TV:

Beginning this spring, Korean electronics giant LG will build Netflix streaming directly into some of its plasma and LCD HDTVs, the companies will announce today.

This means that Netflix subscribers will be able to stream more than 12,000 movies and TV shows on their TVs without a separate set-top box or a PC.

The move puts Netflix — for convenience, at least — ahead of its Internet streaming rivals like Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL), which require set-top boxes or computers for their movie streaming/rental services. (It’s especially helpful if you don’t have any more hi-def inputs available on your TV.)

In 2009, we’re going to see more and more support for Internet video services being built into HDTVs. 

But, while people’s attention is rapidly moving to Internet video, I think it’s premature to be integrating Internet video into digital televisions. It would be nice to have an all-in-one box that does it all – but it’s going to be a long time before the technology and services for Internet TV settle down. Get a Netflix TV, and you won’t have access to YouTube or Hulu.

For the next five years, most people will be better off with a separate Internet video box, like Apple TV or a Netflix player, depending on their needs.

What do you think? Is the time right for TV’s that directly support Internet television?

Microsoft has announced its official response to the Zune 30’s leap year problem, which caused Zunes around the world to fail:

My Zune 30 is frozen. What should I do?

Follow these steps:

1. Disconnect your Zune from USB and AC power sources.
2. Because the player is frozen, its battery will drain—this is good. Wait until the battery is empty and the screen goes black. If the battery was fully charged, this might take a couple of hours.
3. Wait until after noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (that’s 7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).
4. Connect your Zune to either a USB port on the back or your computer or to AC power using the Zune AC Adapter and let it charge.

Once the battery has sufficient power, the player should start normally. No other action is required—you can go back to using your Zune!

My Zune 30 has been working fine today. Should I be worried?

Nope, your Zune is fine and will continue to work as long as you do not connect it to your computer before noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).

Note: If you connect your player to a computer before noon GMT on January 1, 2009, you’ll experience the freeze mentioned above—even if that computer does not have the Zune software installed. If this happens, follow the above steps.

What if I have rights-managed (DRM) content on my Zune?

Most likely, rights-managed content will not be affected by this issue. However, it’s a good idea to sync your Zune with your computer once the freeze has been resolved, just to make sure your usage rights are up to date.

What if I took advice from the forums and reset my Zune by disconnecting the battery?

This is a bad idea and we do not recommend opening your Zune by yourself (for one thing, doing so will void your warranty). However, if you’ve already opened it, do one of the following:

• Wait 24 hours from the time that you reset the Zune and then sync with your computer to refresh the usage rights; or
• Delete the player’s content using the Zune software (go to Settings, Device, Sync Options, Erase All Content), then re-sync it from your collection.

According to a new report by Pew Internet, Amercian voters expect Barack Obama’s administration to communicate directly with them using new media.

A majority of Obama voters expect to carry on efforts to support his policies and try to persuade others to back his initiatives in the coming year; a substantial number expect to hear directly from Obama and his team; and a notable cohort say they have followed the transition online.

If Obama follows through on this, it could change the dynamics of American politics as dramatically as his use of new media changed political campaigns. 

In the election, Obama was everywhere – Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Myspace and even texting to phones. 

Is this what you want or expect from your President?

ComScore has published its take on the top social networking sites for November, and it continues to be dominated by social media sites, like Blogger, MySpace, WordPress.com and Flickr:

Top Social Networking Sites

1. Blogger (222 million)
2. Facebook (200 million)
3. MySpace (126 million)
4. WordPress (114 million)
5. Windows Live Spaces (87 million)
6. Yahoo Geocities (69 million)
7. Flickr (64 million)
8. hi5 (58 million)
9. Orkut (46 million)
10. Six Apart (46 million)
11. Baidu Space (40 million)
12. Friendster (31 million)
13. 56.com (29 million)
14. Webs.com (24 million)
15. Bebo (24 million)
16. Scribd (23 million)
17. Lycos Tripod (23 million)
18. Tagged (22 million)
19. imeem (22 million)
20. Netlog (21 million)

(ranked by unique worldwide visitors November, 2008; comScore)

It would be nice to see ComScore’s chart broadened to include new media sites like YouTube, which involves as much social networking as Flickr.

via TechCrunch

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Podcast hosting service Podango’s site has been wiped off the face of the internet. 

Visit their site and you’ll get a message that they are “currently on vacation”. Podcasters hoping to recover anything from Podango’s site appear to be out of luck. 

But at least their logo now shows Podango as being out of beta!

On Dec 26th, Podango told users that “we are encouraging you to begin taking all necessary steps to secure your data or begin moving to another hosting provider.”

Five days later, they are pushing up daisies – but saying that they have “temporarily shut down”.

Others in the industry are surprised by Podango’s sudden demise. 

It’s “beyond shocking that this company would give 5 days notice, during the busiest time of the year,” says blubrry’s Todd Cochrane. “They have effectively destroyed a large number of podcasters by simply not giving those media creators enough time.”

Do you believe this is really a temporary shut down for Podango? Or are they down for the count?

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=01C1850FC6928547

Time has announced their picks for the top viral videos of 2008. You can view them all above, or check out the list below. 

The Top 10 Viral Videos Of 2008

1. Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) 
2. Western Spaghetti by PES 
3. Christian the Lion
4. Hamster On A Piano (Eating Popcorn) 
5. Barack The Vote – Obama Loses Election 
6. Super Mario Rescues The Princess: Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade 
7. The Onion: Pretend You Give A Shit About The Election 
8. Star Wars according to a 3 year old
9. You Can Vote However You Like 
10. MadTv No Frills Airlines 

Humor rules the list – but Obama Loses Election showed that viral video could be used intelligently in the world of politics.

A little something for the new year – a look back at a year in 40 seconds.

Eirik Solheim‘s One Year In 40 Seconds blends still images taken from the same spot throughout one year. 

Details here.

Remember all the Year 2000 hype about computer systems all failing at the same time?

It looks like it’s hit the Microsoft Zune – 9 years late.

We’re going to apologize ahead of time to our friends at Microsoft, because we’re bringing the Zunetanic icon out of retirement for this one.

Across the world, Zune 30s have started dying. Here’s how one report describes the situation:

Apparently, around 2:00 AM today, the Zune models either reset, or were already off. Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and… freezes with a full loading bar (as pictured above). I thought my brother was the only one with it, but then it happened to my Zune. Then I checked out the forums and it seems everyone with a 30GB HDD model has had this happen to them.

Microsoft is aware of the Zunepocolypse, dubbed by some as Z2K, but so far has only issued this terse response:

We were made aware of a widespread issue facing owners of Zune 30 devices this morning.  We have a technical team working hard to isolate the issue right now and will update everyone as much as possible.  Thanks for your patience while we get to the bottom of this.

Think heads will roll because of this?

Update: Microsoft has an update: “There is a bug in the internal clock driver causing the 30GB device to improperly handle the last day of a leap year.”

They expect the issue to resolve itself on January 1st:

Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used).  The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year.  The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009.   We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on.  If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.  

Here in Iowa, in December, we are having predictably treacherous winter weather. A balmy 40-degree (F) day melts the snow, which freezes to a sheet of ice as soon as the sun sets.

I not-so-gracefully slipped on my way into the grocery store Monday night. Lovely. I wasn’t hurt (well, not too much), just bruised my pride when people saw me wipe out. Blah. Ow.

So the most recent podcast from international chemical giant BASF caught my attention.

“The Chemical Reporter” asks, “Why does ice melt when you sprinkle salt on it?”

It has some cheesy sound effects, and has a very over-polished corporate tone…. but overlooking that, the mini chemistry lesson was interesting. And helpful.

Other recent episodes include “How does a plasma screen work?” and “How does conditioner make your hair soft?”. The podcast feed is here.

Image: BJHokanson

For the past week, our local newspapers and television have been preoccupied with three main themes: feel-good features about Christmas, horror stories about murderous ex-husbands dressed like Santa Claus, and expanded coverage of multiple waves of bad weather (snow, fog, ice, snow, and ice-jammed flash flooding).

Pushed to the margins of the news (here, at least) has been the recent conflict between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian government in Gaza. Network news gives broad overviews, without any discussion of the conflict’s effect on normal, everyday people there.

The Mideast Youth blog today features a podcast interview with Ramzi, a teacher living and working in Gaza. Ramzi is an occasional contributing writer to the site, and he offers a first-person account of what was happening there over the weekend. With no electricity, and access to food and medical supplies, the picture he paints is grim.

Mideast Youth is a non-profit news blog covering North Africa and the Middle East. Their goal is “to prove the fact that diversity is powerful and positive, and [that] we should find ways to coexist for the sake of a better and more productive Middle East.”

The site features contributions from a wide geographic area, and a similarly broad range of personal, political, and religious perspectives, by their own description including “Palestinian Christians, Arab Jews, Armenians, Iranian atheists, Israeli soldiers, Sudanese poets, Pakistani activists, Kurdish students, Arab Americans and many more representing different sects, social class, nationalities or religions.”

The feed to subscribe to the Mideast Youth podcast is here.