Hot on the heels of yesterday's Walmart news of a downloadable video service, Amazon and Tivo announce that they are partnering to make it easy to play Amazon's Unbox downloadable content on your TV through a Tivo box.

The two companies announced a test version of the new service, called Unbox on TiVo, will begin Wednesday, the day after Wal-Mart announced it would enter what has quickly become a competitive market for downloadable video with its own online video store.

The partnership will allow video downloaded from Amazon's UnBox service to be transferred to the set-top boxes of TiVo's 1.5 million customers in the United States.

"We think this is a breakthrough," said Bill Carr, Amazon.com's vice-president of digital media. "We're providing people with the simplest way to actually play back their digital content on a television set."

While video download sales are growing - Apple officials said last year iTunes was selling roughly one million a week - the stumbling block has been that the video is essentially trapped on the computer. Observers say that is what makes the TiVo deal unique.

"Frankly, nobody else has the solution that allows you get something over an internet connection and watch it with the click of the button," said James McQuivey, principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc. "If it's that easy, then they'll be the first. They'll be able to plant their flag."

So does this mean you can play it on your Tivo box *and* save it to your computer? I'm guessing yes, since Amazon previously let you download the videos you purchased to 2 different computers.

But what happens when you decide to end your Tivo subscription or get a new computer? I'm guessing you don't get to re-download your content. And if that's the case, it's still a better deal (for movies, at least) to purchase a physical DVD that you could play anywhere without restrictions. The exception would be if the downloadable content comes cheaper (which it should...there's no packaging or processing going on).

Wal-mart beat Apple to the internet movie download punch today as it unveiled a beta service that lets you purchase TV shows and movies online through their website. Apple does not yet have all of the movie studios onboard for their downloads through the iTunes store, and those may not be full resolution movies anyways.


Wal-mart is pretty vague about what kind of file it is, though they claim you can play it repeatedly.

As for the size, here's the info:

Available Movie Formats

PC Format: Recommended for our customers that do not own or intend to purchase a compatible portable video player. PC/Laptop videos can be played on a PC/Laptop or on the TV via a Windows Media Extender (e.g. Xbox 360) or through direct connection from a PC to a TV. Videos in this format have the highest image quality. Technical Specification: 640 X 480 maximum resolution, 30 fps, 1,500-1,700 kbps average bit rate. THIS FORMAT WILL NOT PLAY ON MOST PORTABLE VIDEO PLAYERS.

PC & Portable: Recommended for our customers that own or intend to purchase a compatible portable video player. This bundle provides the greatest flexibility providing you two files: one to play your on PC, and one for your portable players. This bundle requires approximately 30% more storage space and time to download as a stand-alone PC/Laptop format. PORTABLE BUNDLE FILES ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH iPODS.

Available TV Episode Formats:

Portable Format: Our TV episodes are optimized for fast downloads and viewing on the go. All TV shows can be played on both your PC/Laptop and compatible portable video players. Technical Specification: 320 X 240 maximum resolution, 30 fps, 500-810 kbps average bit rate. PORTABLE FILES ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH iPODS.

With all sorts of companies (from Netflix to iTunes to Wal-mart just to name a few) competing in the digital download space, the competition should be quite beneficial to us consumers!

Reasons why the recent move by Viacom to pull their (particularly Comedy Central) content off of YouTube is stupid:

1. Stephen Colbert can't get people to post up videos like the blue screen contest
2. He also can't brag about how many clips there are of him on there
3. No more free advertising for The Daily Show and Colbert Report (just two of Viacom's many shows) through clips posted and subsequently spread through the internet via blogs

I think it is perfectly reasonable for them to remove full episodes that get posted online, but to remove clips from shows is pointless. It's awesome to be able to see clips of shows that were missed, and I'm sure people find out about the shows and start watching them that way. Plus, people will always find another way.

Now that YouTube is semi-integrated with Google Video, this has implications there as well.

Actually, now that I think about it, this may have been good. I didn't realize that iFilm has every segment of every Colbert report. No more sorting through multiple user submissions!

I knew that Sarah Silverman was pretty funny, but her new show, The Sarah Silverman Program, is pretty hilarious. I recommend checking it out. It didn't just have a couple of funny moments, but it was actually funny throughout.

This is it...time for a Bears' victory! GO BEARS!!!

I've realized I've been posting about a lot of upcoming movies, and there's some really interesting ones coming out this year, so here's a rundown of the movies in 2007! As I went through it, it became way longer than I originally intended. Admittedly I included a few that sounded like they could be interesting but could be crap. We'll see how it turns out.

Movie Title		Release Date
	Ghost Rider Admittedly, it'll probably suck. But still, Nic Cage is awesome. Trailer	2/16
	The Number 23 Another movie of dubious entertainment value, but seeing Jim Carrey in serious roles like Eternal Sunshine and Truman Show has proven that he's got some real acting chops. (Not to say that Ace Ventura wasn't funny as hell. Because it was.) Trailer	2/23
	Reno 911!: Miami This is going to be nothing but non-stop hilarity. Anyone that's seen more than an episode of the TV show would agree. Trailer	2/23
	300 The trailer for this looks pretty awesome. Epic battles and cool visuals. Hopefully the acting's good. Trailer	3/9
	The Ex I'm only mentioning this one because both Jason Bateman and Amy Poehler are in it. According to imdb: Slacker Tom Reilly (Zach Braff) is forced to work for his father-in-law (Grodin) after his wife (Amanda Peet) steps away from her high-paying job in order to care for their new baby. The pressures at work and at home are bridged when Tom discovers his new co-worker (Jason Bateman) has a history with his wife.	3/9
	Sunshine A sci-fi movie about the Sun going out and a group of people going to reignite it. The trailer looks kind of cool. Trailer	3/16
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TMNT! Does this really need an explanation? Sweetness. Trailer	3/23
	First Snow As IMDB so eloquently put it: "Whoa, Guy Pearce in a paranoia-driven thriller? How ... retro. But the slowly-building buzz here indicates first-time director Mark Fergus uses mood, and his awesome cast, to great effect. We also hear indie pin-up darling Shea Whigham is super scary!!"	3/23
	Blades of Glory Of course it's got Will Ferrell and Jon Heder, but how about Will Arnett and Amy Poehler?!? (They're married in real-life) Trailer	3/30
	Grindhouse I've already posted about this ludicrous, yet cool, movie. Trailer	4/6
	Spiderman 3 Another movie I've posted about previously. It's going to be awesome. Trailer	5/4
	Shrek the Third Another sequel, though this has been successful and the third one will probably be no exception. Trailer	5/18
	Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End Apparently the fact that the second one didn't do very well doesn't matter. This really doesn't seem like it could be that great, despite how good Johnny Depp is.	5/25
	Ocean's Thirteen Two entertaining movies and an awesome cast...this one's going to be good. Trailer	6/8
	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Can you ever go wrong with Jessica Alba? Oh yeah, and it's sure to be chock-full of cool CGI. Trailer	6/15
	Evan Almighty Steve Carell already stole the show in the first one, and is guaranteed to be hilarious. Just check out the trailer. Trailer	6/22
	Live Free or Die Hard More ridiculous sequel-age, but I had to put it on the list! I'm sure somebody somewhere is anticipating this. Even if they probably shouldn't be. Trailer	6/29
	Transformers The teaser for this CGI-fest has been out for a long time now...this definitely brings back the childhood memories. Trailer	7/6
	License to Wed Are you a fan of The Office (US)? If so, check out this tasty nugget from IMDB: "This is essentially a 90-minute spin-off of 'The Office,' as it seems everyone involved with this production, save Robin Williams and Mandy Moore, has been imported from the show. Does that means it's safe to assume License will be less broad in its comedy than we'd expect from a big summer movie? Provided the preacher takes a backseat to his two co-stars, and Ms. Moore is allowed to further explore the comedic edge she's hinted at in Saved!, 'Entourage' and, most recently, American Dreamz (which was terrible, though I thought she was quite good as Sally Kendoo)."	7/6
	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Just admit it already...these are fun movies to watch. Trailer	7/13
	The Simpsons Movie Wow, how long has it been that this has been rumored, hyped, and otherwise anticipated? I think it was at least 5 or 6 years ago that they talked about doing this, and that would have been much better timing since the Simpsons have slowly declined from their comedy hey-day. Still, it's the Simpsons in movie form...will they exploit the ability to be raunchier and more vulgar a la Family Guy? Trailer	7/27
	The Bourne Ultimatum Matt Damon returns as Jason Bourne? Sign me up!	8/3
	Rush Hour 3 Because I was just thinking about how I didn't get enough Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker interaction in Rush Hour 2. Seriously, what the hell? This is absurd.	8/10
	The Invasion Nicole Kidman in a sci-fi movie? Something about aliens? Chalk up another one for the dubious entertainment value column.	8/17

Beyond that, we've only got Resident Evil (9/21), Saw IV (10/26), and National Treasure sequel (12/21) as the movies of note through the end of the year (so far). I can't even imagine how they're making a Saw IV. Is the writer still not through proving that he is one of the most sick and twisted minds out there today?

Hope you found something of interest, and remember, you can always make a countdown for anything you're eagerly anticipating!

The new version of Windows is about to come out, and one of the (optional) features in Windows Vista is speech recognition in the OS to handle certain tasks. But it turns out that a webpage or audio file could be used to trigger the voice commands even if you didn't intend them to, allowing a website to delete your files by playing commands from your speaker that get picked up by the microphone. Of course you would have to have speakers and a microphone for this to work, as well as enabling the voice commands.

Yep, you read correctly. YouTube is going to do a Superbowl Commercial Wrap Up, meaning they are going to have all of the Super Bowl commercials on their website and allow people to rate them.

We are hosting every single commercial appearing in the Super Bowl on YouTube. You can watch them, share them, and coolest of all, you can rate them. So everyone can help choose the best spots, and they'll be available on YouTube right after the game. We’ll be linking to the Super Bowl Wrap Up from the front page of Google. Marketers are going to get a huge audience spending more time with their shiny new creative, and the viewers can watch as often as they'd like.

I wonder if YouTube (and consequently, Google) is going to get a cut of the cost of the ad since they're really letting people view an advertisement again. There's currently an image on YouTube's designated Super Bowl page:

Looks like the Harold and Kumar sequel, scheduled for release next year, has added 11 actors to the cast.

David Krumholtz, Neil Patrick Harris, Rob Corddry, Christopher Meloni, Ed Helms, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Paula Garces, Jack Conley, Roger Bart, Danneel Harris and Eric Winter will join John Cho and Kal Penn in "Harold & Kumar 2" for Mandate Pictures and New Line Cinema.

*SPOILERS* (movie synopsis)
The sequel is set in motion on the same morning that Harold and Kumar finally satisfy their munchies at White Castle and the object of Harold's affection, Maria (Garces), sets off for Amsterdam. The pair decide to pursue her so Harold can proclaim his love. But when an overzealous passenger mistakes Kumar for a terrorist, the plane is diverted and the boys are off on a new escapade of mistaken identity. From Guantanamo Bay through the Deep South, Harold and Kumar encounter myriad wackos, jerks and whores as they are pursued by the Department of Homeland Security all the way into Bush Country.
*END SPOILERS*

Both Rob Corddry and Ed Helms? First the Daily Show, then The Office, and now this. They're quite the comedy duo.

Yep. Will Arnett of Arrested Development fame is starring in not just one, but 2 movies with Will Ferrell!

...In Semi-Pro, [Will Ferrell] just got a big Ace to stack the deck with: Will Arnett of Arrested Development fame. He'll be playing the team announcer, and he joins the already solid ensemble of Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, and Andre Benjamin/Andre 3000. Of course, Arnett and Farrell are already working together in Blades of Glory as rival skaters.

I wonder if he'll ever make a Mr. Bananagrabber movie?