Box.Net (Etilities Forum) expanded its set of web-based offerings by releasing a document collaboration tool accessible via a browser to complement its storage and file sharing services. While some may initially identify this as in competition with Google Docs, ArsTechnica reports that this is not the case. In fact, this new service simply aligns well with its existing strategy of offering cloud-like services making users’ access to data easier and improving their ability to share it and drive collaboration without cumbersome software.

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According to Netflix (Etilities Forum) CEO Reed Hastings, the company will start offering streaming-only plans in 2010. This seems like a natural move for Netflix, which has been pushing its streaming service hard accross as many platforms as it can: PCs, Macs, X-Boxes, TiVos, and Blu-Ray players.

In order to make such a plan truly attractive, Netflix will need to boost the number of available titles: while there are over 70,000 in its DVD library, the online library has a mere 12,000, a relatively small number comparatively.

Boosting the size of the online library would be to everyone’s benefit, as the DVD by mail model has two main flaws, both overcome by the streaming model:

1. You have to wait for your DVDs to be mailed to you and to be mailed back.
2. It often takes a while for new releases to find their way to your home in DVD format because of the initial surge in demand (don’t you hate always seeing the ‘Very Long Wait’ next to the titles you really want in your Queue?)

Now if by 2010 Netflix can smooth out the buffering issues with its streaming offering that many are currently experiencing, this could be a very successful initiative.

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Boxee, the open source project that allows you to watch TV programming on your television or computer without having cable, announced yesterday that it was pulling all Hulu content this coming Friday, at  the request of Hulu (Etilities Forum).

Unsurprisingly, the reaction of the online community so far has been extremely negative. And rightfuly so, given that nobody wins from this: not the users who can no longer watch their favorite content on their TV set, and not Hulu, who will lose all of the ad revenue generated from those very users.

The irony in all this is that Hulu itself is just as displeased by this situation as everyone else: in a blog post, Hulu explains that this decision stems from the content providers themselves. Hulu CEO Jason Kilar explains: “Our content providers requested that we turn off access to our content via the Boxee product, and we are respecting their wishes. [...] The maddening part of writing this blog entry is that we realize that there is no immediate win here for users.”

A strange situation indeed… One can only wonder what the content providers are thinking.

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As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Verizon (Etilities Forum) is looking to compensate for the loss of some of its customers by offering a phone line dubbed the “safety” or “piece of mind” line, which would allow incoming calls, but only outgoing calls to 911 services.  This line might give you an alternative to your current landline which you don’t use and is likely to compete against the low-end line of Vonage (Etilities Forum)  at $17.99 per month.

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We’ve often complained that whenever Blockbuster (Etilities Forum) announces new offerings, it mostly follows in the footsteps of its competitor Netflix (Etilities Forum). This time, however, we must give credit where credit is due as Blockbuster announced today that it would add video game rentals to its “Total Access” service, something that Netflix does not offer.

Currently, Total Access sends you DVDs in the mail that you return in exchange for new DVDs. You pay a monthly subscription cost, and how many DVDs you can hold on to at once depends on how much you pay. The addition of viedo game rentals to this service will initially launch as a pilot program, and if successful, it is expected to be rolled out nationwide in the 2nd half of this year.

Without specifically naming Netflix, the press release does point out that this differentiates Blockbuster from the competition: “A combination video game and movie online offering — with in-store exchange privileges — is a tremendous value and convenience offering not available through anyone other than Blockbuster.”

Currently, the best-known online gaming rental company is Gamefly, which does not offer movie rentals. This will give Blockbuster the edge of being the only company to offer both types of media in one plan.

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Charter Communications (Etilities Forum) apparently didn’t want Comcast (Etilities Forum) to have all the fun, recently announcing they will place monthly bandwidth caps on their cable Internet customers. Entry tier users (15Mbps) will have just 100GB per month – less than half that of Comcast. Customers at the next tier up will be capped at 250GB (on par with Comcast), while those at the brand new 60Mbps tier will enjoy fully unmetered access.  That last privilege comes at a price of $130 or more per month, though.

These caps will affect all Charter customers effective Monday, February 9th.  Charter has not yet announced plans on how they will address overuse.  Extra fees, decreased network speeds, or even loss of Internet connectivity could be on the table.

As with all bandwidth caps, consumers will see the impact as they increase the use of their Internet connections by voice and entertainment services.

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President Obama relied upon it heavily during his campaign, in fact some say that he revolutionized its use. He reached millions using it and promised to make it available to all. Just as information technology (IT) has changed the way we work and think, the way we communicate and interact, it also changed the world of politics. It is therefore no surprise that IT would find its way into the stimulus package.

Though ever changing in negotiations between Democrats and Republicans, the House and the Senate, the White House and Congress, we went through the bill to dissect the IT components and the potential impact that it could have on you and technology in general. So far, we’ve counted a little over $10 billion in the bill allocated in four broad categories: improving citizens’ access to broadband, improving healthcare through IT, improving education through IT and improving government through IT.

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