Good news, developers of the world -- the Netflix API will be open to all starting tomorrow. As of October 1st, absolutely anyone can self-signup by visiting the read link, and while details are a tad sketchy at the moment, it sounds like this could hold some serious promise. The API itself allows access to data for 100,000 movie and TV episode titles, is completely free and (most importantly) allows commercial use. In other words, it's kosher if a bright developer out there somewhere feels like "creating an iPhone app to sell for $0.99 (Netflix's words, not ours)." On the technical side, the API includes a REST API, Javascript API and ATOM feeds, and it also uses OAuth standard security "to allow the subscriber to control which applications can access the service on his or her behalf." It's time to get creative, folks.

Anthony Park just released his MyNetflix Media Center plugin. The application lets you add/remove movies from your Netflix queue, browse for movies, and view history and recommendations. The part that will tempt you into installing the beta software however is the ability to stream "Watch Now" movies from the warm comforts of your Media Center. You do have a Netflix account don't you?

[Via Chris Lanier's Blog, thanks Matt]

Quite frankly, it was hard to take Netflix's sudden freeing of its Watch Instantly feature as anything but a response to Apple's forthcoming iTunes movie rentals, but according to a piece at The New York Times, the two are actually aiming at different markets. After speaking with Netflix's Reed Hastings, it was found that the vast majority of its streamable content was "older," and considering that users of this service can never look forward to brand new releases being available, the cost (i.e. free to most mail-in subscribers) makes sense. As for Apple, it's able to focus on crowds who are looking for a more robust, generally fresher selection, but of course, you'll pay the premium each time you indulge. Furthermore, Netflix has yet to make transferring video to any display / device other than your monitor easy, and while an LG STB is indeed on the horizon, the differences in content selection are still likely to lure separate eyes. For more on the how's and why's behind the battle that probably isn't, go on down and tag the read link.

Looking for a new way to use FairUse4WM? Have a Netflix account? If so, go on and roll your sleeves up, as a crafty (and acrimonious) fellow has managed to find a workaround that enables you to not only decrypt the DRM-laced "Watch Now" movie files, but save them to your hard drive for future viewing. Admittedly, the process is somewhere between painless and potentially frustrating, but the gist of it involves Windows Media Player 11, FairUse4WM, Notepad, a Netflix account, and a broadband connection. Through a series of hoop jumping, users can now strip the "Watch Now" files free of DRM and watch them at their leisure and on any video-playing device they choose. Granted, there's certainly issues of legality mixed in here, but where there's a will, there's a way. [Warning: Read link language potentially NSFW]

[Via TVSquad]

Remember how back in the day -- before software developers got wise to this sort of thing -- you could extend the life of some shareware indefinitely by simply winding back your machine's calendar every so often? Well according to tipster "Livesunkept" (a pseudonym, we suspect), a similar jury-rigged hack is all it takes to vastly extend your monthly allotment of viewing hours for Netflix's new Watch Now streaming video service. Normally Netflix keeps track of how long you've been watching, and correlates that number to the fee you pay each month, subtracting from your bank of minutes based on your subscription level (i.e. an $18 plan might give you 18 hours of streamed viewing). Always looking for a way to beat the system, Livesunkept discovered that if you disconnect your network adapter after a given movie has finished downloading (usually 15 to 20 minutes), and then clear your cache and cookies before reconnecting it at the end of the flick, Netflix will only charge you for a few minutes of viewing time even though you rightfully owe about two hours worth of credits. Now we don't really have time to watch movies around here -- thus no Netflix / Blockbuster subscriptions -- so we haven't been able to try this workaround out for ourselves and verify that it works. That's why we have commenters. So if you're a member of the Netflix posse, please do us a favor and report back after you've given this hack a whirl -- don't tell anyone else, though, or you'll risk ruining the supposed loophole for all the hard-working cheats and cheapskates out there.

[Thanks, Livesunkept]

Just as online music stores introduced the "rental" model to music listeners, it looks like we're finally getting beyond the rent / purchase model for online movies, with Netflix mixing things up with its new Watch Now feature. A user gets an hour of video watching for every dollar they spend monthly on the service -- a $17.99 subscriber gets 18 free hours of video. There's no concept of buying or renting a movie, instead you just watch what you want to watch, with every minute spent watching each movie counting against your total, but nothing more. This helps users catch the last few minutes of recent rentals they might not have finished, or preview a bit -- or the whole thing -- of a prospective selection. With a good enough connection, the quality apparently approaches DVD, but there aren't any portability options or DVD burning here: it's all browser based and not a whole lot more. The feature is also XP only at the moment, but Netflix hopes to expand to other platforms, including cellphones. Currently there are roughly 1,000 titles available, which Netflix hopes to expand to 5,000 this year. Netflix is live with Watch Now for select customers right now, and will slowly expand to the rest of its subscribers over the next six months. It seems we've been waiting for Netflix to get into this gig for years -- oh wait, we have -- and while it does seem to be taking a bit different angle to the biz, we're glad to have 'em all the same.