Let me explain: the menu screen for Never Been Kissed appears momentarily when the disc is loaded, then reverts to the standard Fight Club menu. It’s actually a brilliantly hilarious gag perpetrated by director David Fincher for the release. Not only are the two movies polar opposites of one another, but Never Been Kissed outgrossed Fight Club when both movies were released in 1999. To her credit, Drew has a good sense of humour about the whole thing. As a producer on the film, she gave the go-ahead for the prank. [AV Club via Yahoo Movies]

The news comes from the COO of Syabas, the company that makes the Popcorn Hour set-top box. Up until now they’d had a loose agreement with the ‘Tube: They can stream video from YouTube for free, but YouTube can change the terms of the deal whenever they want. Which they did!:

YouTube has always retained the right to change its terms of service in the future should it ever wish to do so. As a result of Google’s decision, Syabas is no longer allowed to access YouTube through its APIs. To be clear, Syabas is not being singled out. With the exception of a few strategic partners Google has chosen to work with, the company has informed Syabas they are asking all over-the-top device makers that are currently connecting to YouTube content through its APIs to take down the service.

To quote every set-top box manufacturer in the world, probably: “Shit.” YouTube access had become the kind of thing you take for granted in a connected box or Blu-ray player, and it was nice to have. Now, it’ll be limited to devices like the PS3, Wii and TiVo — backed by the kinds of players who have the clout to pressure Google, or the money to pay them — leaving everyone else to search for some kind of hacky workaround.

I understand that Google wants to squeeze some ad revenue out of YouTube, and that letting anyone and everyone access raw, ad-free content through the back end probably isn’t the best business plan, but this isn’t Hulu — it’s not like they have many powerful content providers to appease, just a bunch of teenagers with webcams. Set-top box folks: Watch your free video cornucopia dissolve on December 2.

UPDATE: YouTube’s statement:

Since July of 2008, YouTube’s Terms of Service has restricted implementations for televisions based on our APIs. YouTube has been in active discussions with various developers on how best to implement YouTube on set top boxes and TVs. There are several companies, however, that have deployed solutions, like video scraping technology, to circumvent the rules and violate YouTube’s Terms of Service. Companies that have negotiated agreements to use our APIs, like TiVo, Sony, Panasonic and Sony’s PS3 are not impacted.

So, companies like Syabas have been in violation of YouTube’s terms of service for some time now and knew this was going to happen. The question remains, though: Why couldn’t they just comply and get a deal like TiVo or Sony? Does it cost anything? Is YouTube selective? Does it just take awhile? [Syabas via Engadget via Lifehacker]

Is it just what they’re showing us? A Flo TV app, that requires some kind of accessory to tune into broadcasts? That’s possible, but given how well the iPhone can stream video over 3G, it’d be a hard sell, even with Flo TV’s cable-like channel selection. It would also help if said accessory wasn’t larger than the actual iPhone.

Or is it to foster excitement over the idea of native Flo TV hardware support in the iPhone, like in the HTC Imagio? Because that will never, ever happen. So again, why? [Electric Pig]

The AVIC-F10BT isn’t just an in-dash satnav – it’s a complete in-car entertainment system. On top of its 7-inch touchscreen display, the AVIC comes with dedicated cables installed into your glovebox for connecting an iPod or USB device, a DVD player and SD card behind the screen and built-in stereo Bluetooth. There are so many different elements to this product that the only real way to review it is to break it down into sections.

Entertainment
In the glovebox of the car is an iPod cable. It’s quite long, so you could run it all the way to the back, although you probably wouldn’t. Once you plug in your iPod or iPhone, it starts charging and all control goes through to the AVIC system. And it’s a very familiar interface – you get most of the same menus as your iPod, album art and a big “clickwheel” (although it’s really just a big four-way button on the touchscreen that looks like a clickwheel. It’s not a complete translation of your iPod though – there’s no support for Genius or Genius mixes, which is a bit of a shame.

But that’s made up for by the fact that the AVIC supports video. Sure, for safety reasons it’s restricted to when you have the handbrake on, but just the fact that you can play back video from your iPhone on your display is fantastic. If you have rear screens in your car, you can use the AVIC to send video from your iPhone to the rear seats while you use the satnav.

Of course, there’s also the built-in DVD player which will do the same thing, as well as play back CDs (both audio and MP3). The SD card also plays back music, and although I didn’t get to test it, the specs say it’ll play back DivX and H.264 files via either the SD or DVD slots.

There’s also the ability to play stereo Bluetooth through the system, and if your car has steering wheel audio controls, you can get them wired up to control the AVIC, although the car I was driving didn’t have them.

Being a Pioneer car, the audio playback was pretty awesome, but most of that was the speakers. In terms of controls, the touchscreen managed most of it, although there are dedicated volume and track forwards and back buttons on the bottom of the screen.

Bluetooth
The Bluetooth functionality is a godsend. My last car had a Motorola Bluetooth hands-free kit installed that used the car’s speakers, and despite being valued at a few hundred dollars, it had nothing on the AVIC’s Bluetooth. For a start, the AVIC has a screen, which lets you see details a more traditional Bluetooth system could only dream of. Once you’ve paired up your phone, you can see your signal strength and your network on the screen. But the killer is the ability to copy your contact list from the phone over to the AVIC’s 2GB of internal storage, which means you can easily call anyone on your contact list with a few presses of the touchscreen. You also get missed calls, recent calls and a shortcut to your home number easily located on the phone’s main screen.

Considering the legal implications of using your phone while driving these days, this is almost worth the price of admission in itself. OK, not quite, but it’s still the best implementation of installed Bluetooth I’ve played with.

Satnav
There’s a lot to be said for navigation on a seven-inch screen. It’s easy to view, easy to control and, well, that’s pretty much it. Considering I’ve long been lamenting the fact that satnavs tend to be fairly stagnant in terms of new features that are actually useful, having a device with such a big screen was quite refreshing. It uses the latest WhereIs maps, which shows off things like golf courses on the screen as you drive past them. It’s also big enough that it can display your music track information (and album artwork) on the screen at the bottom, even with the satnav running.

There are a couple of other noteworthy aspects to the satnav – first off, it’s a learning device, so if you like to take a particular shortcut, it’ll start directing you that way when you next take that route.

The other big thing is a result of the device been installed – the device will actually track your position when you drive through tunnels. No beeps and messages about lost satellite reception. No confusion about underground exits. In other words, proper navigation wherever you are. And that’s awesome. It really is.

The AVIC-F10BT comes with SUNA traffic, although I have no idea where the TMC antenna is. It’s certainly not running along the bottom of your front windshield, and doesn’t need to be plugged in each time you want to use the satnav.

The Menu
The touchscreen interface is simple. The Home screen gives you the option of Music, Satnav or Phone. But if you press the home button again on the home screen, there’s a customisable page of shortcuts to key functions of the device. Things like navigate home or launching the FM radio. That means you’re no more than three presses from all the key functions of the device, and it doesn’t get much better than that.

There’s a dedicated button on the bottom of the unit that switches between satnav and music control. That may sound like an obvious inclusion, but it’s only when you’re using it that you realise how much sense it actually makes.

Verdict
This device costs $2999, plus installation. It’s the top of the range Pioneer AVIC system though, and offers the ability to control rear screens and audio output if you have a truly kickass speaker setup in your car. It also works with a reverse camera, which can be installed as an optional extra.

But despite all that, $3K still seems pretty steep. But there are a couple of things to consider – if you’re buying a new car, you’re likely to pay that much to get a satnav option, but you’ll probably miss out on the whole Bluetooth and iPod functionality. The other thing is that Pioneer have a cheaper option, which has a smaller screen and fewer functions, but maintains the core aspects of the device (iPod, Bluetooth and satnav) selling for under a grand (plus installation). Considering top of the line satnavs cost almost a grand, that’s incredibly good value. You do need a double DIN free in your car, but if you can spare it and the cash to get it installed, I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending this system. It’s a complete solution for most of your in-car needs, and well worth the price of admission.

[Pioneer]

The T-Box is a twin-tuner DVR with a 200GB HDD and a 7-day EPG. On top of that, it will plug into the new 100Mbps fibre network to offer unmetered access to BigPond Movies and BigPond TV channels through the device, which sees it competing directly with the TiVo and Foxtel iQ. Of course, Telstra reckons that the T-Hub is a complementary offering to Foxtel (considering they own half of it), but the simple truth is that there’s no reason for anyone to own both.

The T-Box is going to be trialled by selected Melbourne customers over the coming months.

Telstra unveils Australia’s fastest cable broadband and new digital set top box

19 November 2009 – Melbourne will become home to Australia’s fastest cable broadband network after Telstra today announced the completion of an upgrade of the hybrid fibre coaxial broadband network offering an ultra fast, multi-user experience.

From 1 December nearly one million Melbourne homes will benefit from the upgrade to the cable network. The network download capacity increases to up to 100Mbps and the upload capacity to up to 2Mbps, offering an increase in bandwidth to share across multiple users and devices within the household.

Telstra also revealed a new television set top box incorporating two digital television tuners. To be known as T-Box™, the set top box features the ability to view and record free to air television programs up to seven days in advance, the ability to pause and rewind live television and seamlessly integrates access to BigPond internet content such as BigPond TV channels and the BigPond Movies download rental service.

Telstra Group Managing Director of Product Management, Ms Holly Kramer, said as the family home now connects multiple computers and devices like the new T-Box™ to the internet, increased bandwidth allows members of the family to receive a better internet experience when they are all online at the same time.

“The completion of this cable upgrade means multiple family members can surf the internet, play games online or download movies at the same time,” Ms Kramer said.

Ms Kramer said the new T-Box™, which will be trialled by Melbourne customers over the coming months, takes advantage of the increase in bandwidth to bring high quality internet television and movies downloaded straight to the home television.

“The Telstra T-Box will enhance the free-to-air digital TV experience by allowing customers to pause and rewind live television, access a seven day program guide to record upcoming programs and rent and download movies from BigPond® Movies.

“T-Box also gives users unmetered access to the seven BigPond® TV internet channels including live news, sport and online music all streamed directly to the television set,” Ms Kramer said.

Telstra also announced that its Velocity fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network has been upgraded to offer a network download capacity of up to 100Mbps into the home for sharing across multiple users within the household.

The upgrades to the cable and Velocity services will mean that the download capacity they offer is so fast that they exceed the capabilities of many internet sites and computers. This means the actual download speeds an individual customer will receive on the services will depend on factors including customer equipment, server limitations, Wi-Fi reception/capacity, and so will be less than the total capacity into the home.

We believe there are only two significant brands in the film industry—”Disney” and “Steven Spielberg”. We would like to establish “Pixar” as the third. Successful brands are a reflection of consumer trust, which is earned over time by consumers’ positive experiences with the brand’s products. For example, parents trust Disney-branded animated films to provide satisfying and appropriate family entertainment, based on Disney’s undisputed track record of making wonderful animated films. This trust benefits both parents and Disney: it makes the selection of family entertainment that much easier for parents, and it allows Disney to more easily and assuredly draw audiences to see their new films. Over time we want Pixar to grow into a brand that embodies the same level of trust as the Disney brand.

This letter was available on the Pixar website until 2006, when Disney, utterly trounced by Pixar in the world of animated features, bought the company. [The Pixar Touch via David Cho]

The November 24 show should be a good one, with a retrospective look back at the last decade of gadgets and games. The Christmas show, which will happen at the Hotel CBD rather than the Shelbourne on December 8, will be a Christmas bonanza, with the coolest tech for the holiday gift-giving season. Should be a lot of fun on both counts, so if you’re in Sydney, make sure you RSVP and check it out (and say G’day if you see your friendly Giz editor there).

[Byteside]

There’s also a full rundown of the current widescreen channels over at TV Tonight, if you want to know which ones have got your widescreen back…

[TV Tonight]

In 1985, people thought Laserdiscs would be the future of cinema. After all, they had unmatched picture quality, they were virtually indestructible and they had a lot of extras. Just like Blu-ray. See what I did there? See? [Obsolete]

I took the same [480p Hulu] Office clip I’d been using for all of the other tests and ran it on my Mac Pro at full screen (2560 x 1600)….Going from roughly 450% down to 190% (or a bit over 10% of total CPU utilization across 16 threads) made full-screen Hulu playable on my machine. In the past I always had to run it in a smaller window, but thanks to Flash 10.1 I don’t have to any longer.

Meanwhile, Nvidia Ion-accelerated video was deemed “almost perfect”. Just take a look at the table. CPU-utilisation of 70 per cent generally makes video unwatchable, but updating to Flash 10.1 made full screen high-def (1920 by 1200) Hulu a smooth stream on the Ion test system.

ATI chips and integrated Intel graphics ran into a few problems, but they’ve been attributed to the Flash 10.1 player still being a beta. Full test information at: [AnandTech | Flash 10.1 download]