MG Siegler at Parislemon has an interesting take on the current state of movie rentals on the XBox 360, suggesting that it’s not ready for prime time:
Last night I sat down to download The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I figured it would take 5-10 minutes to get enough information to start playing and then go. [...]

There’s a great deal of buzzing today about a few Internet video news items:

Amazon is debuting a streaming video store. The service, Amazon Video on Demand, will offer about 40,000 streaming videos for customers to choose from.
TiVo is adding YouTube support. TiVo’s YouTube support was announced in March, and is available to broadband-connected subscribers [...]

MIcrosoft has announced XBox 360 updates that will give interface a cartoon-like appearance and a deal with Netflix that positions the XBox as an Apple TV killer.
“When people turn on their Xbox 360s this fall, they’ll get an entirely new interface and Dashboard, an entirely new Xbox through the magic of software,” said John Schappert, [...]

Cynical Peak’s Rivet is a Mac OS X app that lets you access your iTunes media on your Xbox 360.
In a nutshell, it turns your XBox 360 into Apple TV Jr. You can browse, play, and view your pictures, movies, and video through the Xbox 360’s media blade. Rivet will automatically load and give you [...]

Competition for the next generation Internet television platform is starting to heat up.
Microsoft, seeking to expand offerings on its Xbox 360 console, has reached an agreement with Hollywood firm the Safran Company to produce original shows for distribution on the system. The company represents clients like actor and producer Sean Combs (“Monster’s Ball�), actor and writer Nia Vardalos [...]

At the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates used his last keynote to offer his take on the future, talk about the first “digital decade” and what the future offers. He was joined by Robbie Bach, President of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, who helped Gates demo his mad Guitar Hero [...]

The New York Times has a breathy overview of Vudu, a new set-top box that lets users download and view on their TV any of 5,000 movies. The selling point for the device is its speed, which, according to reports, uses P2P technology to allow almost immediate viewing.
“This is something that is going to alter [...]

At the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), being held in Las Vegas, Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division President Robbie Bach provided an early look at a new service, IPTV on Xbox 360. According to Microsoft, the offering will deliver world-class TV experiences such as digital video recording capabilities, with gaming, movie viewing, and even voice and [...]

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal (subscription), Blockbuster is introducing a holiday promotion that will let Netflix subscribers rent Blockbuster movies for free. Netflix members can exchange the tear-off flaps from red Netflix envelopes for free rentals at any Blockbuster store.
Blockbuster is using the promotion to boost exposure of its Total Access [...]

Apple is reported to be hiring video game designers, suggesting that better gaming will be coming to the iPod and Mac platforms, and even a possible Apple-branded gaming system.
“We think the video game market represents a distinct possibility for Apple, especially considering that it recently announced the availability of video games for its iPod through [...]