Hulu to chop price in half?

Looks like the oh so intelligent broadcast companies behind Hulu are finally realizing the fruits…er…spoils of their labor. For the record: Hulu + sucks. It’s $9.99, has a pretty lethargic list of content (compared to other cheaper and/or free offerings), and has plenty of stupid restrictions ranging from incomplete seasons of TV shows to limitations on what you can play said content on. In the words of Steve Jobs: “It’s a bag of hurt”.

With that said, All Thing D’s Peter Kafka claims to have a close, reliable source tell him that in light of the above revelations, Hulu’s parent companies — ABC, NBC, and Fox — are planning on chopping the price in half. At $4.95/month, Hulu+ seems like a much better deal. But even then, their library of available content needs to be expanded before I’d say “subscribe”.

For now, Hulu is remaining tight lipped about this little rumor. Though if they know what’s good for them, they’ll consider knocking a couple of Washington’s off that entrance fee.

Marshall Headphones ooze sexiness, style, (and hopefully audio nirvana).

If you consider yourself a music connoisseur/audiophile, you’re going to want to mark November 15th on your calendars. For that is the day when Marshall jumps feet first into the world of personal audio with a new model of headphones. For those not too keen on the Marshall brand — They’ve been producing high quality audio products for decades.

Building quality headphones isn’t the easiest of tasks. Just look at all the crappy, failed attempts you can find at your local Best Buy, Frys, etc., etc. So seeing one of the greatest audio equipment manufacturers getting into the headphone space is enough to make me smile like a little school girl. (Really!)

Look for a review to come in the days following their release, as I will flog these bad boys like none other. Until then…

LTE spec spec sheet leaks from the depths of VZW labs..

What better way to spend a Friday morning than oogling over Verizon’s LTE spec sheet currently making it’s way through Big Red retail training channels? As you can see, VZW is boasting quite loudly how their upcoming LTE network will be many times better than both Sprint’s WiMax or T-Mobile’s HSPA+ networks. And with speeds of 5-12Mbps down and 2-5Mbps up, I’d hop aboard the “bash the competitor’s network” too.

But there’s a problem here…

Facetime for Mac account security flaw patched.

Good news: It’s Friday. Some other good news: Apple has fixed the Mac FaceTime/AppleID security flaw. You know, the one that allowed anyone with access to your computer to commandeer your AppleID/account, password, security questions, and all? Talk about light on your feet.

From here on out, any would-be evil doers who try to access your account via the “View Account” will simply be redirected to the FaceTime Account Preferences pane.

Super.

LTE Sim cards coming to AT&T

AT&T may not have a very large LTE network in place until later in 2011, but that doesn’t mean preparations aren’t already underway.

The memo snippet you see above is supposedly circulating around AT&T stores as we speak, detailing to reps how to handle the new LTE sim cards that are rolling out. One particularly interesting tidbit is that during the transition from 3G to LTE sim, a claimed 8…8 variations will be employed. Pretty crazy.

Any AT&T reps care to share — off the record and anonymously of course…

The future rulers of the earth: Hard Disk Robot

The sci-fi quacks you always see forecasting the apocalypse and computer-run future worlds have it mostly right. We are going to be brutally exterminated by our own creations comprised of silicon and rare metals. However, what they don’t realize is it will be at the helm of legions of decrepit, angry, and neglected platter-based hard drives. Take a gander folks, the Hard Disk Robot will come to format us one last time…

Hybrid CFL and Halogen light bulb begs the question: “Why?”

The light bulb was one of the greatest inventions in mankind’s history. Since then, light bulbs haven’t really gone through many changes until very recently. Newer technologies such as CFL and LED technology greatly reduce wasted energy while still providing usable light.

And then you have things like this — the Hybrid CFL + Halogen bulb made by GE. The reason for the mash-up is rather minor — CFL’s can sometimes take up to a minute to fully illuminate. During that ~1 minute start up time, the tiny halogen inside provides instant light. Once the CFL is up to full speed, the halogen shuts off.

Pointless? Yeah, pretty much. Given that these “new” hybrids will fetch a small premium (undisclosed thus far) and don’t actually offer anything new or useful means these will more than likely fail to take off.