Owners of Nintendo's current home console are perfectly happy with Wii Definition quality: about 1 million Wii users downloaded from the Wii's Netflix streaming service one-month since its launch.

It took Microsoft three months to get that same figure on the Xbox 360.

Go Wii and Movie Downloads

Avega Hooks Up Cisco, Maybe Apple

Avega (the Australian Company who developed the next-gen of audio wireless technology now being used by Cisco) will roll out a video wireless system that will stream HD content over a normal 802.11n wireless network without a set top box.

Avega Systems is now a US entity. With the development team still based in Sydney this start-up could become a major CE player in the wireless audio market after investments of $7 Million last year by Cisco Systems, JAFCO Asia and Technology Venture Partners

The core of the Avega offering is an 802.11n-based hardware platform and "skeleton" user interface that clients such as Cisco can customize. Other partners could offer different features, such as gesture recognition.

Go Avega Systems

Is it possible that ho-hum Yahoo has finally a new hit up its sleeve? Now there's a real reason for Steve Ballmer to keep wooing Yahoo...

Many have tried internet over TV but Yahoo has a new approach: a set of widgets called Yahoo ConnectedTV, designed for a new wave of "connected HDTVs" that will begin hitting the European market (at least Korean brands) in Q3 2009. Think iPhone Apps but for TV: the widgets themselves will be created by the third parties. The most interesting widgets will be the ones that work in harmony with the shows.

At this year's CES (and in Europe you can bet on IFA), companies like LG unveiled connected TVs with internet or network connection.

As your TV connects to internet, you can go to a Yahoo site. There you choose and install a widget (choose Facebook, for example) on the Linux OS inside your TV. The widget installs on your TV and overlays your web choice on top of your TV programming.

And you never had to reach for a PC or mouse…it’s TV-driven.But analysts predict this will force a new wave of TV remotes to accommodate the multifarious web content.

Go Yahoo Wins with Widgets

At NetEvents in Portugal, the Nokia Siemens Networks Head of IP transport Bernd Schumacher told his audience that most operators agree that 100X increase in internet usage can be expected by 2015. Operators expect 5 billion users and are scrambling to cut operational costs.

Schumacher says “the future has already started” but how will carriers accommodate this surge? And what's in it for retail?

Go The Sky is Falling