Netflix’s first foray into the realm of original content will kick off this coming February with a new series called Lilyhammer, about a New York gangster trying to make a new start in Lillehammer, Norway. The new show is billed as a fish-out-of-water series, starring former Soprano’s mainstay (and E Street Band guitarist) Steven Van Zandt. The trailer certainly seems intriguing, and after a turbulent year for Netflix, an interesting looking new series could break new ground for the content streaming giant.

Though analysts had been expecting it, Barnes & Noble booksellers announced a new addition to their eReader line today: The Nook Tablet. However, calling this device an eReader is something of a disservice, as this latest Nook aims to be the hand-held multimedia device that also lets you read books on it. Now where have I heard that before?

Here’s what you need to know about the new device.

On a post on the Netflix blog this morning, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced that the recently revealed DVD-only service, Qwikster, was to be canceled before it ever launched. Less than one month ago, Netflix made the world wonder when they announced that they would be splitting their service in two, leaving the streaming service to the established Netflix branding, while creating a new brand, Qwikster, to handle the DVD-by-mail service that was once the cash cow for Netflix. The blog post is short and probably sweet for those who weren’t looking forward to either dealing with two different services, or for those who were planning on dropping their DVD-by-mail service in order to prevent dealing with two different services. The post begins rather effectively, getting right to the point, eschewing any kind of roundabout excuses:

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster.

Word on the street is that Microsoft is in talks with various content companies, Comcast, and Verizon about getting some TV content for its Xbox Live service. The initial report comes from Bloomberg, which reports that an Xbox Live streaming content service might be announced as early as next week, according to someone who is not authorized to speak publicly on the topic.

According to another report by Digiday, Microsoft is also working on an agreement with Comcast whereby Xbox Live users can sign up (and pay) for Comcast content that can be streamed through the system itself. As for now, Xbox Live users can get streaming content through Netflix or purchase movie and show rentals through the Zune Store. It makes sense though, that Xbox would want to broker some streaming deals of its own so it can get a little closer to the real action (and the real money).

The Internet has been buzzing about the possibility (the inevitability, really) of a new Kindle-branded Amazon tablet for a while. Now it’s finally here. Announced officially at an Amazon press conference this morning, the Kindle Fire is the newest addition to the Kindle family and brings some remarkably new functionality to the Kindle we’re familiar with, all for a competitive, come-at-me-iPad price of $199.

So, let’s break it down, the Kindle Fire is a touchpad. Although it only has two-finger touch support, it has touch support, which sort of elevates it to the big boy tablet arena. As for physical specs, the Kindle Fire operates on Android, weighs about 14.6 ounces and has a 7-inch touchscreen which clocks in at around 3 inches smaller than competitor iPad. Whether you see that last bit as an advantage or a flaw is matter of preference.

Back in March, there was news of a new plan featuring major studios to stream “premium” movies via DirecTV a mere 60 days after their premiere in theaters. With the backing of Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, and 20th Century Fox, studios hoped to head off the rise of streaming and declining DVD sales without upsetting theater owners too much. The only catch was that these so-called Home Premiere movies would cost viewers about $30 per movie. Now, DirecTV CEO Michael White is saying that those prices are “awfully high.”

From Bloomberg:

Few customers will purchase the premium rentals unless the quality of the movies improves and the price comes down, White said in an interview.

“They’re priced too high for consumers,” White said. “We didn’t choose that price, but that’s where the studios forced us to be.”

This could be good news for Netflix, which has been on the ropes in terms of retaining its content, and other streaming services looking to make gains in this new marketplace. Hopefully this will be the death knell of this completely wigged out scheme, and we can stop worrying about paying double a movie ticket to stream a flick.

(Bloomberg via TechDirt)

DreamWorks Animation has struck a deal with Netflix to provide its movies and television specials to the now somewhat independent streaming giant. DreamWorks chose Netflix over a deal with HBO, with both DreamWorks and Netflix citing the deal as the first time a major Hollywood supplier chose a Web platform over pay television. Analysts estimate the deal is worth over $30 million per film to over an unspecified number of years to DreamWorks. Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos comments on DreamWorks’ move from pay television to Web streaming:

“You’re seeing power moving back into the hands of content creators. When a company like DreamWorks ends a long-running pay TV deal — when a new buyer in the space steps up — that’s a really interesting landscape shift.”

The addition of DreamWorks may be a big step in Netflix pushing through all of its recent negative attention and content loss, as Netflix recently lost a ton of content when their deal with Starz ended, and many people are viewing the Netflix and Qwikster split as a portent of content doom for the company. However, Netflix will begin streaming DreamWorks’ content starting in 2013, over an entire year away. It should be noted, according to CNET, that HBO allowed DreamWorks out of its contract two years early — obviously not broken up over the matter.

(The New York Times via Techmeme)

I’m a fairly recent neophyte when it comes to Netflix. As I’ve been subscribing for just under a year, I have little-to-zero investment in what was once my experience with the service as compared to what it is now. Even then, I didn’t begin seriously utilizing what I had until late March or early April; the loss of Showtime didn’t faze me as it happened before I knew what I had.

The more recent announcement that Starz would be ending their deal with Netflix in 2012 didn’t shock me either. The old media giants are still recoiling from the new ways, and often. Besides that, Starz never really had the best selection as a channel, though my love for Disney borders on obsession. Perhaps the biggest change for Netflix, prior to this week, was the introduction of separate plans for DVD-by-mail and streaming customers in July.  For those following along at home, this was where Netflix began to dip heavily in the eyes of customers. Those who had been with Netflix since the introduction of instant streaming had grown accustomed to receiving both DVD-by-mail and the instant gratification of streaming services. The announcement that they’d have to double their investment in order to receive the same benefits as before was not received well, to put it mildly. However, it makes perfect sense with the spin off and reveal of Qwikster, which will ship games as well as DVDs, as a distinct entity from Netflix.

As you may be aware if you aren’t living under a rock, Facebook’s f8 conference was held today in San Francisco. During the conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg made something very clear; there are some big changes coming down the pipe. The first and most striking, from a design perspective, is the Timeline.

The current (and previous) Facebook profile pages do a good job of representing your life in the recent past. While they present some static information like music you like, where you go to school, where you are employed, and so on, most of the information on your profile is very recent activity like status updates and posted links. The Timeline aims to change that by presenting information that aims to represent you as a whole instead of as the last few minutes or hours.

Despite being a bit slow on the uptoketake, it seems that everybody’s favorite pot-smoking Elmo Twitter account @Qwikster, owned by Jason Castillo, has wised up to what exactly he’s been sitting on. His account, mostly dormant until now, has sprung into action with Netflix’s announcement that they intend to split their DVD by mail service into a separate company called Qwikster. Castillo is now tweeting again, talking about his newly realized fame, more tantalizing details about his everyday life, and getting all the money he wants.

With the realization that he has something Netflix wants, of course, come a series of demands you might expect out of someone who finds English to be “about boring as s#*t” and is trying to get to soccer already. After teaming up with his “maynes” @SoccerIsLifegc7, the two have passed on an alleged $1,000 dollar offer and aren’t talking til the figure hits six digits.