For $169, the Helios H4000 looks like it's going to be a great DVD player. It upscales DVDs to HD resolution, supports PAL and NTSC for you foreign film buffs, and supports a bevy of playback formats.

Has anybody heard more about this?

Quoted: HELIOS High Definition Upscaling and Wireless Network Media Player. Build your own wireless home theater and revolutionize your digital lifestyle

DVD Jon is a bad-ass. He's cracked version after version of the Apple Fairply DRM. Now he's settig up a company to offer it as a service to anybody that wants their content to play on Apple hardware.

Quoted: DRM-buster DVD Jon has a new target in his sights, and it’s a big piece of fruit. He has reverse-engineered Apple’s Fairplay and is starting to license it to companies who want their media to play on Apple’s devices. Instead of breaking the DRM (something he’s already done), Jon has replicated it, and wants to license the technology to companies that want their content (music, movies, whatever) to play on Apple devices. This may not be good news for iTunes the store, but it could make the iPod even more popular.

Chungking Express came highly recommended by my friend Ken (who has never led me astray and goes by the handle of redelk2535 on Blue Dot). Ross and I watched this movie over the weekend. While it is not a very cheery endeavor, once I gave the film some room to breathe, I came away quite impressed.

The movie is essentially two short films which are coupled thematically. Both are about young cops in an urban setting who have recently experienced breakups. These are the stories of their respective struggles to get back on their feet with women neither of them could have expected.

The visuals in the film are stunning and the editing is extremely well done. Both stories showcase deft storytelling and pacing, although the second storyline seems quite superior to the first along every meaningful axis.

The first story just shows a bit too much randomness associated with the female lead's backstory. If I were rating the two stories as independent films, the first one would get a 4 and the second would get a 5.

I do, however, look forward to seeing more Wong Kar Wai.

Quoted: Amazon.com: Chungking Express: DVD: Kar Wai Wong,Brigitte Lin,Tony Leung Chiu Wai,Faye Wong,Takeshi Kaneshiro,Valerie Chow,Chen Jinquan,Lee-na Kwan,Huang Zhiming,Liang Zhen,Zuo Songshen,Lynne Langdon by Kar Wai Wong,Brigitte Lin,Tony Leung Chiu Wai,Faye Wong,Takeshi Kaneshiro,Valerie Chow,Chen Jinquan,Lee-na Kwan,Huang Zhiming,Liang Zhen,Zuo Songshen,Lynne Langdon

This looks like an interesting device and I'd never heard of it before. It allows you to stream video content from any video source to multiple PCs. You can control all of the functions remotely and burn straight onto DVD using your PC.

Quoted:# 300 foot wireless range in the home (or office), based on 802.11a/g
Quoted: # Multicasting on multiple PCs at one time, in one location
Quoted: # Record and Burn in MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 format**
Quoted: # Use your PC as a Personal Video Recorder
Quoted: # Use as a wireless tuner for Windows XP Media Center Edition PC (MCE)
Quoted: # Can be used as your Wireless Access Point
Quoted: # Simple setup

Thanks to Amazon.com's subsidiary CustomFlix DVD, you can now purchase episodes of the Charlie Rose show on Amazon.com!

Quoted: Acclaimed interviewer and broadcast journalist Charlie Rose engages America's best thinkers, writers, politicians, athletes, entertainers, business leaders, scientists and other newsmakers in one-on-one interviews and roundtable discussions. The Charlie Rose Show DVDs are available for the first time at Amazon.com.

I will admit to an unholy fascination with Gwyneth Paltrow. It's true, I said it, and this is one of my favorite movies with her in it. I hadn't seen this movie since it came out but I got it from Netflix and watched it again last night.

While based on a Jane Austen novel, this is one of the only interpretations that does not stoop to absolute sappiness at the end (like the recent "Pride and Prejudice" where I wanted to entirely snip the last 15 minutes). The dialog sparkles and there is humor in nearly every line (pretty much what you'd expect from the director of "Bullets over Broadway"). This looks and feels much like a stage comedy so if you're into that thing, you'll dig it.

Quoted: Most people didn't mind Gwyneth Paltrow's English accent in this charming, 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel (which also inspired Clueless). But even if it doesn't sound quite right to you, there are plenty of authentic and wonderful Brit thespians in this film by screenwriter-turned-director Douglas McGrath (co-author of Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway), including Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply), Alan Cumming (Buddy), Phyllida Law (Much Ado About Nothing), Ewan McGregor (the Scots star of Trainspotting), and Sophie Thompson, outstanding and finally heartbreaking as the chattering Miss Bates. Paltrow plays Austen's benign busybody, Emma Woodhouse--so busy trying to arrange the lives of others that she is sidestepping her own. McGrath brings a kind of pretty and light touch to the production, his best move the wise delegation of creative authority to the actors themselves. --Tom Keogh

The New York Times is reporting...

Quoted: Amazon.com is in talks with three Hollywood studios about starting a service that would allow consumers to download movies and TV shows for a fee and burn them onto DVD's.

A guy I know at A9.com is leaving them to go work for this company. Seems like an odd move to me but I thik he's just ready for a change.

Quoted: Peerflix is an online peer-to-peer service that allows members to legally trade DVDs with each other. Started in 2004, the Peerflix service is an easy way for anyone to get the most out of their DVD collections. With Peerflix, members can maintain a dynamic and updated library of DVD titles in a cost effective manner. Peerflix has already grown to become the leading online destination for DVD owners to trade their DVDs. The Peerflix service is currently available in both the United States and Canada