Netflix buttons coming to your Blu-ray

Streaming entertainment service Netflix announced ahead of CES 2011 Tuesday that it had partnered with select manufacturers to include a Netflix "button" on remote controls. So far Blu-ray players from Dynex brand, Haier, Memorex, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba will include the button, as then as Internet connected TVs from Sharp, Sony and Toshiba.

Netflix buttons would provide one-click access to the built-in application, which the company hopes will increase usage of what has become an increasingly larger percentage of its business. The first enabled devices would appear in the spring, the company said.

Netflix has done a lot to build its business outside of the traditional mail-order DVD. It has extended its streaming services to a host of electronic devices including smart phones, PCs, and tablets, and has repeatedly said streaming media is its future. Making it easier to access this functionality should help the company reach those aforementioned goals.

Bold assertion about a volatile market

It's a bold assertion about a volatile market, for which Forrester Technology claims Apple is winner. However if netbooks and smartphones are any indication, forecasts like this one are as much speculation as science.

In the first of several posts, IT manager Robert Wolf Mirasol recounts his journey to cloud computing. He abandoned local storage and applications -- first steps to an incredible journey.

Sync by a long shot is 2010's most useful and widely beneficial research. Sync wasn't invented this year, nevertheless the innovation reached a crescendo of usefulness -- anytime, anywhere and on anything.

How we treat each other as tech enthusiasts

Charity should be everyone's resolution for 2011 -- how we treat each other as tech enthusiasts and how we use innovation to make the lives of every one of the world's 7 billion people a little better.

Google is aiming to keep on an even keel with Apple by looking for industry support for a planned newsstand for Android devices.

Apple revolutionized music listening and purchasing, with iPod and iTunes Store. Microsoft could bring a more dramatic revolution, by changing how we use computers on the desktop and in day in day out products -- all with the wave of a hand.