VERUKA SALT WOULD BE SO HAPPY:

Netflix offers instant access (Michael Liedtke, 1/15/07, Associated Press)

After accepting a computer applet that takes less than a minute to install, subscribers will be able to watch six hours to 48 hours of material a month on an Internet streaming service that is supposed to prevent piracy.

The allotted viewing time will be tied to how much customers already pay for their DVD rentals. Under Netflix's most popular $17.99 monthly package, subscribers will receive 18 hours of Internet viewing time.

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Apple keeps Leopard under wraps (First Post, 1/16/07)

Last week's MacWorld Expo keynote address was Steve Jobs's most eagerly anticipated ever, yet finished up notable in some ways for how little he said. There was no news about Leopard, Apple's forthcoming answer to the Windows Vista operating system, nothing about Apple's iLife core suite of lifestyle software, and not a squeak about .Mac, the expensive and much-derided email and online synching service begging for an overhaul.

However, just before the 90 minutes spent spectacularly giving birth to the ultimate smartphone, he did demonstrate Apple TV - a small and smart box designed to use your home WiFi network to grab video, audio and photographs from your computer and send them to your HD widescreen television. (With a 40GB hard drive, it will store a sizeable chunk of digital entertainment, too.)