May 29 - 5:25pm EDT   Apple has confirmed intentions to allow direct purchase of iTunes videos from an iPhone, sources close to the company's training programs say. Originally a blogger is said to have discovered the option's existence by accident, though users of the iPhone 3.0 beta can now gain a glimpse through a custom link. Graphics and downloads in the early browser are currently broken. [full story]

May 29 - 11:25am EDT   Hulu, jointly operated by NBC, Fox and Disney, has launched a new desktop application meant to simplify streaming the site's video. Mac and Windows versions are available, supporting Front Row and Windows Media Center remotes, respectively; aside from controlling playback the software provides a special tracking display, and a distinct menu for browsing categories and subscriptions. Windows systems require XP, 2GB of RAM and a 1.8GHz Core Duo, while Macs differ by needing a 2GHz Core Duo and at least Mac OS X 10.4. [full story]

May 28 - 12:25pm EDT   Apple has made significant improvements to its TV offerings at Canada's iTunes Store, beginning with option of HD. Selected episodes are only rendered in 720p, and cost a minimum of $3 each, but may frequently support 5.1-channel sound and will always come with an SD-quality download meant for sync with Apple handhelds. A 2GHz dual-core processor is required, whether for a Mac or a PC. [full story]

May 26 - 10:55am EDT   Apple may soon allow the iPhone and iPod touch to directly access movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store, a leak suggests. In using an ad-supported version of Twitterfon, one user claims to have encountered a banner promoting not just purchases of videos from iTunes, but also movie rentals. At present the main means of shuttling iTunes video to an Apple handheld is through sync with a Mac or PC; the one exception is podcasts. [full story]

March 24 - 3:05pm EDT   After a brief postponement, Apple has at last enabled Genius video recommendations within iTunes. When browsing personal movie or TV show collections, the Genius Sidebar will now suggest videos to buy from the iTunes Store, based on information uploaded to Apple and compared against the purchases of others. The option can be toggled on and off, in the same manner as Genius for music recommendations. [full story]

March 6 - 10:25am EST   Boxee, the developer of its namesake media player front-end, has released a new alpha version of the app with a built-in RSS reader. The software is installed onto Mac and Ubuntu Linux systems as well as Apple TVs, and provides more elaborate support for downloaded media as well as direct web streaming of shows on ABC and CBS. The Boxee RSS reader is optimized for video, and can feed clips from YouTube, Yahoo and several other sources. [full story]

February 23 - 9:15am EST   Pixar's WALL-E won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony, defeating competition from Bolt and Kung Fu Panda. The movie -- about a robot left on Earth after an environmental apocalypse -- was also nominated for Original Screenplay, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Song awards, but lost to movies such as Milk and The Dark Knight. The dominant title at the Oscars was Slumdog Millionaire, which took home Best Picture and Best Director trophies among others. [full story]

February 20 - 1:15pm EST   Netflix will offer a streaming-only subscription option by 2010, according to CEO Reed Hastings. Though the company was founded on the concept of mail-order DVD rental, which still forms the bulk of its business, Hastings notes that "millions" of its 10 million subscribers are taking advantage of streaming through computers or set-top boxes. Microsoft's Xbox 360 is said to be a particularly popular medium, with over 1 million Netflix users. [full story]

February 18 - 12:50pm EST   KavaMovies 1.2 ($35) is a movie database application that allows users to organize the movies they have seen, the ones they want to see and those that are a part of their collection. The application also connects to the internet to obtain extra information about each movie such as actors, directors, genres and more. Version 1.2 includes new import options, and features a new import wizard to step you through finding the right movie for each title. [Download - 3.3MB] [full story]

February 11 - 3:25pm EST   Apple is preparing an instant streaming option for video at the iTunes Store, a report claims. Said to be named iTunes Replay, the service would be similar in concept to Netflix's "Watch Instantly" option, which allows people to stream material that has already been paid for in a different medium. In the case of Replay, users would be able to watch movies and TV shows that have already been bought in download form. [full story]

December 4 - 10:25am EST   All Mac owners with a subscription to Netflix should now be able to stream select movies online, the company has announced. Though best known for mail-based DVD rental, Netflix also offers a bonus "Watch Instantly" service, which primarily lets Windows PCs (as well as various set-tops) stream some 12,000 movies and TV shows. To stream movies on a Mac, users must have Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later, 1GB of RAM, and a browser with Microsoft's Silverlight plug-in. [full story]

November 11 - 9:10am EST   Apple has introduced a new discount option in the iTunes Store, found within the Movies section. Joining the company's $0.99 Rental of the Week option, the company is now selling a Movie of the Week for $5, along with nine other movies priced at the same cost per title. The debut Movie of the Week is James Cameron's Terminator 2; some other $5 movies include Total Recall, The Karate Kid and St. Elmo's Fire. [full story]

November 10 - 1:10pm EST   Confirming earlier rumors, Blockbuster has announced plans to build a set-top box that will stream digital movies to TVs. The company's CEO, Jim Keyes, further notes that the the device will be associated with its Movielink rental and purchase service, but has not provided details on costs, capabilities or hardware specifications. A release is expected sometime during the holiday season; also in development is support for Blockbuster streaming through Intel chips inside IPTV hardware. [full story]

October 29 - 3:25pm EDT   KavaSoft has released KavaMovies 1.0, a program which organizes movies into a single database. The software connects to the Internet to download information about movies, while providing a way to track which titles have already been watched, and which ones the user wants to see. Movies can be browsed by criteria such as actors, genres, keywords, languages or years; similarly, a list of recommended films can be generated. [full story]

October 10 - 5:00pm EDT   Japan's GClue has unveiled Pocket Clapper, an iPhone/iPod touch app that simulates the clapboards used while filming movies. Users can draw virtual chalk on a blackboard, outlining a scene with production information such as date, time, camera, director, scene, and take, to be used later during movie editing. The app also replicates the clap sound used to align audio and video content that have been recorded on separate devices. [full story]