If you've been sitting on your next TV purchase for that glut of OLED TVs to flood the market, you shouldn't. LG's VP of OLED sales and marketing, Won Kim, says prices won't come down to LCD levels until 2016. Seven years is a long way off, and so much can change that Kim might be wrong, but in any case, OLEDs won't be reasonable anytime soon.

Kim's statements came shortly after LG announced a 15-inch OLED TV for its Korean market at the end of this year. No announcement for the US market, and that's sort of been the standard so far. Only Sony sells an OLED stateside, and it's just 11-inches. So it's not just market prices we're waiting on - the whole system has to mature enough to even be able to deliver the product.

Kim did say we would see 40-inch OLEDs by something like 2012, but you can bet they'll be expensive. Of course by then who's to say LCDs and Plasmas won't be nearly as good as an OLED? The "absolute black" that makes the OLED so attractive (among some other features) is nearly attainable now with dimming LED TVs. In seven year this generation of technology could come a long way.

One of the best features of the new iMac is that the 27-incher can be used as a passive display via the mini DisplayPort. Unfortunately, that feature only currently works with other devices sporting the same port, which is virtually nothing. Not even Apple's DVI adapter will work.

That's not to say adapters won't be supported later, it's just a really great feature that, sadly, doesn't work at launch. By adding the dummy monitor feature, Apple is essentially giving you a near-cinema display for just over half the price of a 30-inch monitor. Oh yeah, it also comes with a computer inside. But if you were thinking you'd hook that 360 up to your new iMac for extreme graphical sexiness, it looks like you'll have to wait.

During yesterday's earnings conference call, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced plans to launch a streaming-only rental service. Unfortunately that program won't be launched in the US. The new program is meant to expand the company's international profile, but that's not the only reason we won't see it stateside. Hastings also said the model needs to be proven in other markets before expanding.

That probably means Netflix wants to know the model can be profitable before launching worldwide. The new system faces unique challenges as the rent-by-post services just aren't an option in other countries. Hastings says the postal systems in other countries can be too "tricky" for physical mail to really work out.

I'm all for a streaming-only option. Sure, I can have that now as a part of regular Netflix service, but the DVDs are more of a hassle to me than anything else. Why bother with them when all I want is on-demand movie selection?

This summer gave us a lot of speculation about the actual cost of running YouTube. Now the video site serves up nearly 100 billion videos a year, making some analysts wonder where all the bandwidth money is coming from. As Arbor Networks, a net flow monitoring hardware provider, has it, there is no money changing hands. Google's YouTube is being run on the good ol' barter system.

“I think Google’s transit costs are close to zero,” says Craig Labovitz, Arbor Network's chief scientist. Google also said earlier in the year that standard pricing models just don't apply for YouTube. Google has bought up a bunch of unused fiber-optics known as dark fiber through which it sends data to other networks. Those ISPs then trade traffic with Google. It's a system I'll admit I don't completely understand, but when you think about the sheer amount of traffic Google generates, it seems logical they could trade some of their own fiber-optic space for a little bandwidth here and there.

As my source article at Wired points out, this is a fundamental shift in the way the net is carried. It used to be run by smaller ISPs, paying into larger ISPs, paying into intercontinental networks. But when Google sends 10% of all internet traffic around the web, it's bound to find new ways to compensate the bandwidth providers, which is exactly what the company has done for YouTube.

The Wired article is a great read, and full of some cool information for anyone curious about the Net's structure and where things are headed.

Movie theaters are looking into IR light as a way to help combat piracy from movie-goers with cameras. Japan's National Institute of Informatics has requested help from Sharp, which came up with the following method.

By projecting IR from behind the movie screen, movie theaters can wash out a camcorder's image by flooding the sensor with light that is undetectable to the human eye. The light passes through the screen through small holes designed for sound. The resulting effect is a grid of light over the image, rendering the cam unusable.

There is, of course, the problem of getting every theater to install these things, which will likely further increase ticket prices in a declining market. It was a nice thought guys. Really, it was.

It looks like Apple has given the 40GB version of Apple TV the cement boots treatment. The model disappeared from the online store at some point overnight. The 160GB model, on the other hand, got a nice little price cut, down to $229. Previously it was the 40GB at that price point, while the 160GB cost $329.

Though there have been rumors of an Apple TV update recently, the hardware still hasn't changed much since release. The newest rumor is that iTunes LP content has been specifically formatted for viewing on Apple TV, meaning once again that we could at least see a software update in the near future.

In the meantime, you might want to grab the reduced 160GB model if you've been considering it. It's a pretty nice deal on the little box.

Today I've got a review of the Solo line of iPhone cases from iSkin. I decided to shoot the review as a video so you can really see the benefits of the case. Overall, iSkin's put together an excellent product. It's simple, fits the phone well, and looks great. My only complaint is price. At $29.99 for the Solo and $32.99 for the Solo FX, the cases are a bit more expensive than the features they offer. If you can get a deal on either, it would be worth picking up.

As expected, Apple made some changes to its iPod lineup today. With a few improvements, a few additions, and a few unexpected omissions, the new models may or may not be all you've been waiting for. This post is a short list of the changes made to each model. I'll have detailed posts for each model change over the next day or two.

iPod Shuffle
It's the smallest of the bunch and got very few changes. You can now get a 2GB model for $59 and a 4GB model for $79. Apple is still committed to that ridiculous VoiceOver feature, so you'll be seeing more headphone manufacturers with VO support built in. Oh, you can also get the shuffle in five different colors. Nothing else to say, so you won't get a breakdown post for this one.

iPod Classic
This old boy got the smallest (or biggest) update of all. The Classic is now up to 160GB of storage for $249. Boring.

iPod Nano
This is where things start to get interesting. Steve Jobs said today that the Nano has sold more than 200 million units, making it the most popular music player the world over. This is where most of the event was focused - new features for the Nano. As you've probably heard, Apple added a camera. It added a video camera. Only a video camera. More on that later.

The unit also got a microphone to go with video recording, which means it's got voice recording capability as well. There's also a pedometer inside and Apple even added FM radio capability. Really, this is the MP3 player that just about everyone else on the market has been making for years, plus some video, plus that special Apple touch. You can now get the Nano in nine different colors. Read the full update...

iPod Touch
You feel that? That's the feeling of disappointment. The iPod Touch didn't get a camera. Period. No camera. Instead, this model got a price reduction on the low-end and a processor boost on the in the upper two-thirds. The 8GB model is down to $199 while the 32GB and 64GB versions, both of which have the faster processor from the iPhone 3GS, will cost $299 and $399 respectively.

The real update for the iPod Touch is iPhone OS 3.1, adding peer-to-peer gaming functionality, Genius Mixes, and Genius Recommendations for apps. In fact, Apple's whole presentation surrounding the Touch today pitched the model as a "great pocket computer." Unfortunately that computer didn't get the camera update we were all expecting, forcing the average consumer to choose between the functionality of apps versus a video camera.

Apple's Rock and Roll event is still in full swing, but there's at least one bit of news worth sharing right now. Steve Jobs didn't just make an appearance at today's event; he was on stage, announcing the release of iTunes 9, which is available for download today. Obviously it's good to see him back in good health, and better to have him at these big media events, making announcements.

As for iTunes 9, Apple's added a lot more features, which means more and more bloating. The software seems to be getting bigger than ever, and I don't really see that as a good thing. There are some new features, though, that will excite some.

Perhaps the best is Apps Organization, a new tool within iTunes that will allow you to view the app pages on your iPod or iPhone and reorganize them with simple dragging and dropping. As a matter of fact it works a lot like the custom app I wrote about a few weeks back. You can move multiple apps at a time and spring to an app by double-clicking in a scroll menu containing a list of all your apps down the left side. Good stuff.

Another notable feature is iTunes LP, a service that gives you access to all of the trappings of a traditional LP purchase - album art, lyrics, special materials from the artist - in a digital format. Apple will also be adding custom interviews and other special materials to iTunes LP, all viewable within iTunes.

One of the best features with iTunes 9 is home sharing. Yes, I've heard the arguments about owning the music you purchase and doing what you please with it. Let's not rehash that here. Point is, iTunes can now be authorized on 5 computers and those computers can actually copy music between one another with a simple drag and drop. The feature also allows you to view only those songs in a networked library that you don't have yourself.

As for the less notable features, the iTunes store is getting a redesign and there's going to be Facebook and Twitter integration for sharing the things you like. Not anything I'm all that crazy about. The iTunes redesign is more of a tweak than a true overhaul and I think we all know how I feel about the social media iTunes will be integrating.

As I write this I'm also working on two other significant Apple updates, so check back often. There's some disappointing news ahead.

"Look we see the discussions on the web," says Seth Bloom. He's also known as "Seth the blogger guy," and he's featured in a new video by AT&T. The video attempts to describe the MMS delay we've experienced and explain away our complaints with talk of network traffic and increased smartphone use.

The video, which you can see below, is just flat out insulting. It seems to suggest that AT&T's service sucks by no fault of their own, and that maybe if you just took the time to understand a cellular network you would realize that fact. I'll grant AT&T the fact that the iPhone probably would have crippled any network, but the responsibility would still lie with the carrier. It's time to stop pretending AT&T isn't making billions of dollars by not providing the service millions of people signed contracts for.

If anything, Seth should be decrying American carrier exclusivity contracts or the ridiculously low standards to which our wireless carriers are held. But Seth won't do that, because he's only here to humanize AT&T, to explain away our woes, and to get us to really feel for a company that can't provide what consumers are paying for.

The worst part of this video is that people are going to gobble up this bullshit and regurgitate it to all of their friends. Even reputable news sources, sources that should know better, are blaming the iPhone for strangling AT&T networks, like AT&T just watched as Apple muscled its way onto the carrier's network and starting eating up bandwidth. Let's not forget, people, that AT&T helped orchestrate this thing. The fact that they weren't and still aren't prepared to handle the network load is no one's fault but their own.

Every time I read an article lauding the giant sums wireless carriers spend to upgrade their networks I want to vomit. These companies aren't dying. They aren't struggling. A lot of them are growing as much as 5% year over year in the face a recession. That's not exactly the profile of a company I can feel sorry for.

As consumers we need to stop believing this trash. Stop listening when AT&T says it's "working on it," and instead continue to write letters. Continue to lodge complaints. Hell, continue filling lawsuits for breach of contract on the part of AT&T. Videos like this are doing nothing more than telling you to accept shit service lying down because there's nothing to be done about it. There is, we just aren't loud enough to make AT&T pay for it yet.

You may have seen ads for the Dish Network claiming its DVR service is actually "better than TiVo." What you may not know is that they've been ordered to stop selling their DVR service after losing a patent struggle with the very company they claim to be better than. As a result, a judge has ordered Dish to pay TiVo a sum of $200 million as punishment.

About $110 million of that punishment actually accounts for profits Dish reaped as a result of patent infringement. The other $90 million is the slap on the wrist. Dish has already paid out nearly $193 million for previous infringement, bringing the grand total of damages to nearly $400 million. Dish says it plans to appeal this most recent ruling.

As you probably know, TiVo really needs the money. A few years ago it had been essentially left for dead. TiVo reported its first profitable year in some time early this year, but that was largely due to a few new contracts and some big lawsuit money from EchoStar. This win for Dish would keep the company healthily in the black, but as more viewers take advantage of web content, we'll likely see TiVo struggling in the near future.

Source: Bloomberg

There have been plenty of rumors surrounding the Apple media event next week. We're almost guaranteed to see an iPod update, and though people would love to see a tablet announcement, it doesn't look likely. There is one product, though, that the world (including Apple) has all but forgotten: Apple TV.

The box hasn't seen an update since release, really, and analysts think it's a good candidate for a refresh at the music event. Gene Munster, an analyst for Piper Jaffray, points out that the delivery time for the 40GB Apple TV has gone from 24 hours to 1-2 weeks, which you'll notice puts it past the media event. That could definitely mean the announcement of a new model. As far as I know, Apple TV doesn't sell well enough to merit that kind of shortage, particularly during the beginning of September.

Unless Apple does something truly incredible with Apple TV, it will definitely get overshadowed by the addition of cameras to the Nano/Touch lines of iPods. In any case, we're only waiting another 5 days to find out.

According to Silicon Alley Insider, Hulu has passed the nation's second largest cable provider, Time Warner Cable, in monthly viewership. The comScore report for July puts Hulu at 38 million viewers, while Time Warner was estimated to be closer to 34 million.

As the SAI article points out, there's not a whole lot to draw from this news. Cable is still drawing far greater revenues than Hulu, so it's hard to say how the two will compare into the future. There's also the matter of the content actually being watched. While it's probably rare that someone would fire up the DVR just to watch a clip of the Colbert Report, those clips are probably a large part of the viewer count for Hulu. Then again, those Hulu viewers may end up logging more video time because accessing content is a little more active than flipping on the TV. In any case, the comparison isn't quite one to one.

I've been curious to see the Blackberry Storm 2 in action for some time now, and today I thought I'd gotten my wish. Twitter user Salmondrin (whose account has apparently been pulled) has put together a decent video detailing the tech behind the Storm 2's new screen, and he's made it pretty easy to understand for the layman. You can find the video

For the tech savvy user, which I'm assuming most readers here to be, the video leaves a lot to be desired. It's definitely a nice introduction - Salmondrin gives us the CDMA/GSM breakdown (both models coming, the former on Verizon, the latter on AT&T), confirms Wi-Fi, and describes in detail the differences between the original Storm and the Storm 2. What he leaves out, though, is a thorough demonstration of the new screen, which is really what sets the phone apart from both the original Storm and Apple's iPhone.

Please don't misunderstand me. Salmondrin does describe the way the screen works. It's a piezo-electric screen, meaning it's stiff when there's no power running through it, but the screen yields to a more squishy, clickable form when presented with a current. Unlike the original Storm, which could only be clicked in one location at a time, the PE screen allows multiple point clicking, which is a big win if you're typing fairly quickly. What isn't clear, though, is how well typing works in that situation. Salmondrin keeps says multiple times without actually revealing anything new that the Storm 2 is better than the Storm and better than the iPhone.

I'm not here to say that the iPhone's screen is the best thing I've ever held, but it's responsive, quick, and despite my big fingers I'm able to type fairly accurately. Part of the speed, to be honest, comes from the fact that I'm not actually pushing anything. Requiring that kind of pressure is actually worse for someone with big hands because it's harder to keep a good grip on the phone and reproduce the pressure in quick successive strokes. Now I haven't held a Storm 2, so I don't know how well it works. Salmondrin has, and he could have told us. He could have demoed the keyboard by typing words with letters in close proximity, like "r" and "t". Then we would have at least seen the radius of sensitivity with each press. After watching the video it's still not clear whether the keyboard is intentionally laid over a grid of PE squares, where one square corresponds to one key, or if it's a sort of spongey plane that can click just about anywhere.

Instead, all we got was a few shots of him clicking the screen in places and crowing about how great that feature is. Is it an improvement over the original Storm? Sure. But that's true of most any touch screen. Is it really the "huge advantage" Salmondrin claims? I have no idea. He didn't demo the thing enough for me to tell.

A recent story on Reuters claims airlines may be struggling against a new foe in their never-ending PR war: Twitter. Where people were once making phone calls and composing strongly worded letters from the cramped discomfort of a landed airline seat, they're now blowing off unmitigated steam on social sites like Twitter.

I opened the story because I thought it might have a nice spin on making Twitter useful. I know the service has its uses, but I find them to be few and far between for the average user. As it turns out, it's not Twitter that seems to be doing the talking to the airlines, it's things like Dave Carroll's YouTube song, United Breaks Guitars. The song, which Carroll wrote after United broke a guitar and failed to take responsibility, went viral, and urged a quick response from the airline. United donated some money in Carroll's name to a music foundation.

So Carroll makes music, United breaks Carroll's instrument of choice, Carroll can't make music without his instrument of choice, United donates money to help more people get better at making music - is this really the course of action we're after? Seems to me United is trying to say, "Oh we didn't break that guitar because we hate music. We love music. We want more people to make music." But making music was never the issue. The issue was how some United worker mishandled Carroll's luggage. So why is United donating to a music foundation? Why not employee dexterity training? What about emotional intelligence courses to increase worker empathy? Hell, why not just pay your handlers more for not breaking your customer's belongings? I would take anything, anything but a donation to a god damn music foundation.

What we need to realize as a collective customer base is that United is more like the detached, loaded father who still thinks we were one big mistake than a company that knows its business. See, Dad knows what bitching sounds like, and when it happens he throws a pile of money at it. Bitch some more, get a car. Bitch some more, get a new watch. Bitch some more, get a credit card. What dad doesn't understand are the words coming out of our mouths. He doesn't know, or more appropriately, doesn't care to know the real problem, so he addresses it however he sees fit, which is usually some non sequitur of epic proportions.

I realize I got a little off track there, but all of this is to say that none of our complaints, whether they're through Twitter or on YouTube or Facebook or anything else, matter one bit if companies like United can't figure out how to handle them. Christi Day, the woman behind the Facebook and Twitter profiles for Southwest airlines, wants you to know one thing: "The main thing that our customers need to know is that we hear them." And it seems they do. They hear the noise we're making, they just fail to understand the words.