Settle down, it’s not quite here yet – but at least Mac users are finally on Netflix’s radar. The company says it will  begin providing support for Mac users in a few months time. The news was recently broken by Netflix representative “Brent” on the company’s official blog,

“We’ve been busy working getting a solution that will allow you to watch instantly on your Mac. So hang in there – we’ll have something for you by the end of the year,”

Encouraging words, however long overdue. It’s always astounding how businesses can completely ignore a large and growing segment consumers. Oh well, better late than never?

In other Netflix news, the company has parterned with Starz Play in a deal that will add 1,000 titles to its “Watch Instantly” selection, and is planning to add a further 1,500 by years end. Hits such as “Spider-Man 3,” “No Country for Old Men” and “Superbad” will be part of the new package of titles.

Last night Netflix sent out an email (full text below) explaining that it will be getting rid of profiles. For those unfamiliar, the profile feature allows one account to have multiple profiles. For example, you could pay $13.99 to get 2 DVDs at a time sent to your addresss but have one DVD come from your queue of chosen movies while the other DVD comes from another queue of movies.

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Bite me, Blockbuster Online. Oh, and you too, Facebook.

About three years ago, I signed up for Netflix, Walmart DVD Online, and Blockbuster Online. I wanted to see which interface was better, and who was quicker about sending me DVDs in the mail. Netflix won, hands down.

Blockbuster has recently come out with an interesting idea, however, where you can rent online, as well as in the store. They have been pestering me to “come back” for years, and yesterday they sent me a free month. So I thought, what the heck. I’ll sign up, rent a few, and then cancel after 29 days.

I canceled after one. Here’s why:

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Last week plenty of rumors were floating around about a potential Microsoft / Netflix partnership. The announcement was supposedly going to happen during the keynote address (by Xbox Live exec John Schappert) at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco last Wednesday. The concept: make it so Netflix’s 7,000 available “Watch Instantly” movies would be viewed easily on your TV via the Xbox 360.

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Notwithstanding the price slashing Toshiba has been doing (HD DVD player with 7 movies for $129 compared to Blu-ray players starting in the $300’s), Netflix choosing to drop HD DVD by year’s end in favor of Blu-ray exclusivity is quite the blow to the HD DVD crowd. Thanks a lot, Netflix. Give me an online streaming experience in HD by year’s end, and you’re forgiven. See below for full text of the email going out to any Netflix HD DVD users:

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I’m not usually one to go for the top 10 list method of discussing limitations of a product. But then again, products don’t usually have 10 weaknesses I care enough about to compile a list. Apple TV, on the other hand, falls into this category. And it’s not even a first generation product!

But to be fair, I should point out that this is a product I sincerely want to work. After all, I already use iTunes to manage my music, and the iPod is my music player of choice. Too bad, then, that Apple TV simply isn’t ready for prime time. Here are the top 10 reasons you should wait:

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So today is Apple’s yearly coming out party where good ol’ Steve Jobs takes the stage and releases big surprises (even if most are leaked days earlier). There’s a new ultra-thin notebook, new features for the iPhone (SMS messaging to multiple friends), new apps for the iPod Touch (Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes, and Weather), iTunes movie rentals, and the second generation Apple TV.

Despite the fact that plenty of people already seem to be professing a new found love for the MacBook Air, my interest is more towards Apple’s desire to be in the center of my living room. So let’s take a look at the newly released Apple TV set-top box and iTunes rental package:

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Netflix will be making a big announcement tomorrow, coincidentally one day before Apple will be making some [similar] big announcements of its own:

Starting Monday, January 14, 2008, Netflix subscribers will have unlimited access to movie viewing online. The company plans to do away with its quota/hours system it had in place before (viewing hours per month were based upon how much you paid for you mail-in DVD plan). The only group of Netflix subscribers to be left out of this unlimited plan: you who pay the minimum of $4.99 to rent just two DVDs per month.

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The big news today is that Netflix and LG plan to market an LG-branded device (like a cable box) that will allow you to watch movies on your TV via Netflix streaming. Details are sketchy, but the product is to be available in the second half of this year.

And multiple sources are claiming that this magical device will play both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, the two big next generation high definition rival formats that are incompatible with each other. LG already offers a Blu-ray / HD DVD combo player for $799, but some are hoping this new Netflix device will be priced much lower.

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In theory, Blockbuster has a better offering than Netflix in that it “lets you rent online with the flexibility to exchange movies in-store, so you never have to wait for a movie.” That is, according to the marketing pitch plastered all over its homepage. But I decided to see just how “total” Total Access is, and I found it pretty lacking. In short, over half the movies in my Netflix queue are not available at my local Blockbuster.

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