the buzz log

The movie industry is turning from DVDs toward Internet content. Wisely, Tivo and Netflix have teamed up to stream movies directly to your TV. So easy! So instant! We may never leave the couch again, much less the house.

Tivo is the service that lets viewers record and watch programs on their own schedule. Netflix is the online movie rental company. Together, they will entertain the pants off of us, we predict.

Although details of the deal are still on the down-low, it sounds like it will go something like this: You're home one night and you've sent back all your Netflix movie rentals. There's nothing on TV, the kids are bouncing off the walls, and you cannot, will not watch "Nemo" for the zillionth time. Going out for dinner and a movie (not to mention hiring a babysitter) has become the cash equivalent of a week's salary. If you're still employed.

What's left? Subscribers of Tivo who are also members of Netflix can order movies or TV shows online for free — which will be automatically added to your Tivo lineup, conveniently accessible from your remote. The choices of TV episodes and movies are practically endless, with 12,000 selections ready to go. This is all part of a move to compete with services like Apple's iTunes, which offer similar options online.

The partnership will be available in early December. That's right, saving your sanity, and your wallet, one TV at a time.

Filed under: TV, Technology, DVD

After landing a coveted iPhone, a few geeks weren't content with just pinching the screen over and over. No, they immediately felt the urge to take the device apart and tinker with it. Searches on "iphone hacks" jumped 137% yesterday, propelled by the primal geek urge to tinker.

Related queries on "how to unlock iphone," "iphone teardown," and "iphone crack" showed the determination of those looking to understand the inner workings of the must-have gadget.

With the iPhone at the forefront of hackers' minds, we wondered what else those restless souls were working on. Here are our top 20 hack searches over the last week...

Two final notes following our hack attack...

—How can you hack a book? The Harry Potter Hacker (#3) claims to have secret plot details about the 7th and final chapter in the wizard's saga. Did he glean the info from a computer at Rowling's publisher? Spoiler alert, indeed.

—The PS3 is losing the sales race to the Wii and Xbox 360, but it's the most popular console with hackers. We were surprised to see the gaming machine place so high, mostly 'cause of its high sticker price. Do hackers have the disposable income to risk breaking a console?

Filed under: Technology, Hacks, iPhone

Year after year, more people are falling victim to a harrowing disease. This insidious affliction is spread by hapless inhabitants of the frontiers of digital photography. The most recent outbreak of this plague, Nikon Acquisition Syndrome, was sparked by the announcement of a new sub-$1000 digital SLR camera, the Nikon D80.

In the week since Nikon announced its new 10.2 megapixel gizmo, digital photography fiends everywhere have been breaking out in cold sweats and reaching out to the Search box for relief. Queries on "nikon d80" rose 250%. According to our statistics, over 80% of NAS sufferers are male and most of these poor souls are between the ages of 35 and 54.

The medical industry is ignoring this terrible disease and no cure is in sight. In fact, our sources tells us that the digital imaging industry is spreading the virus with absolute prejudice. And it's not only Nikon. We expect shortly after the release of the D80 in September that Canon will release its own, perhaps more debilitating, strain of aquistion syndrome. This is a highly contagious and competitive digital SLR market. Gear hounds, beware.

Filed under: Technology, Cameras