Daily Marauder

TECHNOLOGY

After Steve Jobs pulled out of giving the keynote at this year’s Macworld, there was rampant speculation once again about his health. The shares took a hit as investors began to worry about whether Jobs would be able to remain at the helm of the company. Despite an obvious distaste for talking publicly about his health, Apple released a letter today from Jobs designed to dispel the rumors that his cancer has returned, but which reveals that a mysterious “hormone imbalance” has caused him to lose weight. It also admits that this health problem indeed was one of the reasons why Jobs won’t be giving the Macworld keynote. (Apple’s chief marketing officer Phil Schiller will be filling in for him instead). (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/05/steve-jobs-explains-his-weight-loss-in-healthnote 1/5)

The long-sought convergence of television and the Internet may finally be coming to fruition, according to this report. LG Electronics, for one, is expected to announce today that one of its new lines of HDTVs will enable viewers to browse and order from Netflix‘s vast array of movies and TV shows. The Wall Street Journal (free content) (1/5)

Not much else to add but the Roku Netflix box will soon be able to stream 40,000 Amazon titles on demand, “enabling Roku customers for the first time to watch new release movies titles instantly.” The movies cost as much as the do on Amazon and the box will simply connect to your online account and have no movie adding/browsing functionality. The system should be similar to the current Netflix scheme. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/01/05/roku-netflix-box-to-stream-amazon-content 1/5)

Finally…a reason to plug my Roku back in.

Electronics giants Panasonic Corp., Samsung and Texas Instruments will go to this week’s Consumer Electronics Show with what they all feel could be the next big thing in TV-viewing technology: 3-D systems. “Unlike earlier attempts, it’s not just gimmick to try to sell a bad horror movie,” said Texas Instruments’ Doug Darrow. “It’s a whole different picture now.” Los Angeles Times (1/5)