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]

In case you forgot, Sezmi plans to roll up live broadcast and pay TV along with web videos, on-demand movies and DVR functionality in a single, easy to navigate set-top box. Needless to say, this is a tall order, and most of us probably relegated Sezmi to the vaporware bin. However, trials of the product have begun in LA and a $US25 million cash infusion from investors has given the project new life. In fact, it seems that Sezmi spent the last year working out deals with the likes of Sony Pictures, MGM Studios, Paramount Studios, Warner Brothers, Lion’s Gate Entertainment and Universal Studios for on-demand streaming, and ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC, Turner, MTV Networks Discovery Channel, Telemundo and Univision for TV content.

Sezmi plans to offer a tiered pricing plan that starts with Sezmi Select, the entry tier, which will offer all local channels (in SD and HD) as well as access to on-demand content for $US4.99 per month. Sezmi Supreme will include cable and local channels for $US24.99 per month.

[Sezmi via Variety and Zats]

Currently in beta with 5000 subscribers, here’s what we know:

• It’s free with a subscription
• You authenticate up to three devices through Comcast.net or Fancast.com
• Video playback on Move Networks player
• Video on Demand content, though no word on HD content
• Streaming will count against Comcast’s 250GB monthly bandwidth caps

But don’t take our word for it. Watch the whole interview with Comcast’s Amy Banse here:

[NewTeeVee via mediaexperiences2go via Engadget]

Appropriating channels aside, I actually really like the look of this HL-B54S soundbar from LG. On top of its 4.1 surround sound, it incorporates a slot-loading Blu-ray player, Wi-Fi for BD-Live access and streaming clips from YouTube, and an iPod dock built-in. It plays back all the lossless audio codecs, connects to your TV via HDMI 1.3, supports DLNA for accessing your content on your network, and has USB slots that support playback of DiVX and MKV files.

The unit does look to be quite deep though, which might mean it’ll stick out a bit far under your TV, but if you need the convenience of an all-in-one unit, don’t have a Blu-ray player and can’t wire up your house with proper 5.1 audio, I reckon this could be worth checking out. $1499 is even a pretty good price…

[LG]

Boxee’s fantastic media centre software has always been just that: fantastic connected media player software. Today, the company says its going to announce hardware — a Boxee Box, even.

Boxee’s post on the box has nothing in the way of details yet, so I’m just going to have to take a WILD guess at what this thing will look like: It’ll be a box, with an Ion chipset, a medium-sized HDD, HDMI-out and a Boxee sticker. Just a theory!

We’ll get to see the box — assuming it’s not just this Boxee-compatible Myka number we saw a few days ago — come December 7, when it gets the full unveiling treatment. Also interesting, though probably a little aspirational:

* make it easy for users to consume and find content – no matter what the source
* give content owners, aggregators, and developers the tools to create unique experiences with a variety of business models
* enable CE companies to enhance their Connected devices

This will be the first connected device running Boxee, but the idea is to provide consumers with a way to get Boxee in their living rooms, no matter whether it’s on a Connected TV, game console, set-top box, BluRay player, computer, etc.

Multiple Boxee Boxes! Boxee Boxen! [Boxee]

Instead, Dell has turned to AMD chips starting with a base Athlon processor (which can be bumped to an AMD Athlon X2, and AMD Athlon Neo X2). A single hard-drive squeezes inside (up to 1TB) along with as much as 8GB of RAM. And you can choose between integrated graphics and an ATI Radeon HD 4330 512MB card.

That should be enough power to drive 1080p out of the HDMI port (through an optional Blu-ray drive and TV Tuner if you’d like). You also score four USB ports (two front, two back) along with two eSATA ports for easy drive-expansion.

The Zino HD goes on sale today. But I haven’t spotted it on their site just yet. I’m interested to see what you really get in that base $US250ish rig. and how much a few of these key upgrades will cost. If Dell keeps the price down, the Zino HD could be a no-brainer when compared to the Atom and Ion-based systems floating around. [Dell]

UPDATE: Dell’s press materials they sent out said the Zino HD would start at $US250. As of right now, the cheapest configuration online is $US360. We’ve contacted Dell for clarification.

UPDATE 2: This is fun, isn’t it? Swap out Windows 7 Professional with Home and the price drops to $US260. I have no clue why a sub-$US300 computer defaults with a $US100 OS upgrade.

UPDATE 3: OK, it looks like the website pricing updates are done. My base configuration is down to $US230 with a 1.6GHz Athlon, 2GB RAM, DVD drive and 250GB (7200rpm) hard drive. Bumping the specs up to a dual-core Athlon puts the price to $US289.

The product page doesn’t mention the actual size of the screen, but you would surely burn to death trying to watch anything on this. Outside of that bizarre addition, the Poseidon from Chillchaser has a lot going for it. Features include: carbon fibre heating tubes that reduce power consumption and cut emissions by up to 50 per cent, standard 220V-240V electric supply instead of gas, 4m heating area at a 110-degree angle, replaceable elements that last up to 8000 hours, safety auto shut-off and durable all-weather construction.

Poseidon will set you back about $1500, but you could always forgo the useless media player and spend half that (or less) on Chillchaser’s other models. [Chillchaser via Appliancist]

Here are the specs:

• Disc formats: Blu-Ray Disc media, including BD-R/RE, BD-Live and BonusViewTM, DVD/DVD+R/DVD-RW, CD/CD-RW, MP3 or JPEG files on disc
• Audio formats: LPCM, MP3, Dolby® Digital, Dolby TrueHD, DTS®, DTS-HD Master AudioTM and WMA.
• RJ-45 connection for internet access
• IR-remote in/out jacks for system integration
• HDMI output (V.1.3a with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HDTM bitstreams and high-resolution video)
• Front-panel USB jack for additional BD-Live memory or MP3 or JPEG file playback
• Optical and coaxial digital audio outputs
• Dimensions (H x W x D): 66mm x 440mm x 352mm
• Weight: 3.7kg

Anything there that makes you want to spend enough cash for two PS3s?

[Convoy]