Netflix has announced plans to offer a Mac version of their Watch Instantly streaming service sometime this year. Netflix executive Reed Hastings dismissed Apple’s new iTunes rental service:

“You only have 24 hours in which to complete watching the movie [on iTunes], so if you watch over two nights, you pay twice. DVD rentals advantages over VoD are ubiquity of content, ubiquity of DVD players, an early window for new releases, and lower prices.”

Watch Instantly is a Video on Demand service that, for $5 a month, allows subscribers to watch as many movies as they’d like with no other charges or fees. The system is currently heavily dependent on Windows Media copy protection mechanisms, which aren’t available on the Mac.

I think this is fantastic news, seeing as Netflix has a very comprehensive library of films (although only 6,000 are currently available through Watch Instantly, that number is bound to go up as the service really takes off) and being able to access them on a Mac allows a wider audience of people to take advantage of the program. Thank you Netflix!

Photo: http://gizmodo.com

Apple has just announced their new MacBook Air at Macworld, and this thing is absolutely awesome. It’s the thinnest notebook in the world (at .76 inches thick at the top and .16 inches thick at the bottom) and one of the lightest (at 3 pounds). The screen is pretty big for this size and weight at 13.3 inches. The specs are beefy, but so is the price.

For $1,799 you get the following:
1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB RAM
80GB 4200rpm HD
802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1

For $300 you can upgrade to a 1.8GHz processor, and for $999 you get a 64GB solid state HD (nifty, but way expensive).

At these prices, the MacBook Air seems geared toward the rich and famous. Better hope you qualify for a student discount! I think I’ll wait until prices come down before even thinking about buying this laptop, but I’ll definitely be staring at pictures for a long time to come.