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Zune HD users should be pretty happy today given the latest firmware update, one that will bring native XviD support to the device as well as streaming Smart DJ.

Microsoft says the player will soon have native support for the MPEG-4 Part 2 ASP codec, and the player will playback XviD videos, which is still the codec of choice for most videos downloaded online. The format will play via your HDTV as well if you own the Zune HD Dock.

Smart DJ playlists, a "Genius"-esque song playlist creator, will also be available on the player and not just the desktop software.

Beginning "in the Spring," Wii owners will finally get Netflix movie and TV streaming, the third console to receive the service.

To use Netflix, Wii owners will be sent a free disc that must be in the tray at all times, just like on the PlayStation 3. Xbox 360 owners can access the service without a special disc, but pay on average $50 a year for their XBL subscription. You must also be a Netflix subscriber, with a subscription that costs $9 USD or higher. The streaming is then free.

In the United States, Nintendo has sold over 25 million Wii units, making it the largest user base of the current generation of consoles.

Netflix has 17,000 shows and movies available via its "Watch Instantly" streaming program.

Last October a company called Free All Media announced a service to offer ad-supported, DRM-free music. Earlier this week I got an invitation to the Beta for Free All Music. I decided to give it a try and report back to Afterdawn's reader's.

Keep in mind that Free All Music is currently in beta testing, and may change significantly, perhaps many times, by its public launch. If you'd like to check it out for yourself, and are in the US and at least 13 years old, you can sign up for the Beta waiting list on their website.

How It Works

Previous attempts to offer free music downloads, like SpiralFrog and Qtrax, have offered DRM laden Windows Media tracks paid for by standard background ads seen on many web pages. The problem is these files don't play on most portable media players - no iPods or Zunes for example. Since the DRM is tied to your computer you also have to download multiple copies if you want to listen to a song from multiple computers.

The kiosk company MOD Systems, which launched in October has said today that playback support of its movie downloads has been extended to all PCs, and soon to Blu-ray players, HDTVs and other devices with SD card slots.

MOD kiosks offer movies from Warner Bros. and Paramount which are downloaded to SD cards. Despite SD cards being supported by many devices, the movies could only, until now, be played back on MOD SD set-top boxes.

Additionally, MOD says they have created technology that will allow device makers to add MOD support, through easy firmware updates. Players that can playback MOD will have the name "GreenPlay."

LG Electronics has launched the BD590 at CES this week, a wireless Blu-ray player that includes a 250GB HDD built-in.

The player will also have the online movie service VUDU integrated. Users can download and rent films in SD or HD.

Additionally, the player can rip and copy CDs using the drive. The new "MusicID" feature will let users hear "an entire song playing within a movie or TV show using the BD590’s remote control."

As with most BD-Live LG players, Netflix, CinemaNow, YouTube and Pandora are integrated. New to the BD590 are Picasa and Accuweather.

"LG is committed to offering consumers easier access to more content on demand, which is reflected in our 2010 line of Blu-ray products with new content partners, advanced technology and unique design," adds Peter Reiner, senior VP of marketing at LG Electronics USA.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has upgraded the interface for DisplayPort to version 1.2, doubling the data rate from v1.1 and providing support for multiple monitors.

Data transfer rate is now 21.6 Gbps, allowing for higher display resolution, color depth, refresh rates, and 3D playback.

Says PCMag: DisplayPort v1.2 supports "multi-streaming"—the ability to transport multiple independent uncompressed display and audio streams over a single cable, supporting protected content and high performance applications such as 3D gaming. This enables the use of multiple monitors connected by cable in a daisy chain or hub configuration. Whereas the current Display v1.1a standard can support one 2,560-by-1,600 monitor at 60Hz, DisplayPort v1.2 can support two such monitors with one cable, or four 1,920-by-1,200 monitors. Many other combinations are possible, including multiple video sources, multiple displays (even at different resolutions) and multiple audio speakers.

The MOTO Development Group has published a report this week which has given the Apple iPhone, hands-down, the best marks for quality of touchscreen.

The phone was put up against three Android competitors, the Nexus One, the Droid and the Droid Eris.

The test itself was pretty simple: "Although we usually use sophisticated tools to test touch screen accuracy, MOTO has also developed a simple technique anyone can use to evaluate the resolution and accuracy of a touchscreen device. All you need is a basic drawing program (download one if necessary), a steady hand, and a few straight lines drawn very slowly on the screen."

The iPhone had the smoothest, straightest lines, although it notably had the worst sensitivity towards the edges of the screen. The Droid had the worst sensitivity all-around, while the Nexus One and the Eris had some trouble with "light contact."

3D technology was the biggest new trend of the 2010 CES event, and the creation of new glasses and digital 3D has certainly made the experience a more enjoyable one. Despite the advances, prominent eye experts has said that 3D tech may still lead to headaches for many users, and they should have their eyes checked first before investing in 3D HDTVs or other tech.

"There are a lot of people walking around with very minor eye problems, for example a minor muscle imbalance, which under normal circumstances, the brain deals with naturally," says Dr Michael Rosenberg, an ophthalmology professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. 3D "translates into greater mental effort, making it easier to get a headache," Rosenberg added.

Normally, each eye will see things at a different angle.

"When that gets processed in the brain, that creates the perception of depth," adds Dr. Deborah Friedman, a professor of ophthalmology and neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. "The illusions that you see in three dimensions in the movies is not exactly calibrated the same way that your eyes and your brain are. If your eyes are a little off to begin with, then it's really throwing a whole degree of effort that your brain now needs to exert. This disparity for some people will give them a headache."

The James Cameron epic Avatar has continued to crush the competition at the Box Office and in the record books, becoming the second-highest worldwide release ever, just one month after release.

Globally, the film earned $191.5 million this weekend, for a total of $1.3 billion. The figure surpasses "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which made slightly over $1.2 billion during its run. Avatar is now only behind Titanic, Cameron's last epic which collected $1.84 billion at the Box Office in 1998.

In America, Avatar has hit $430 million in sales, good for 7th all-time. Titanic is the leader there as well, at $601 million.

Internationally, the film is a sensation as well, with $906 million in sales. France is the largest market, at $100 million, followed by Germany at $73 million. The film set a Chinese launch week record as well with $40.2 million last week.

The film cost $230 million to produce and had an estimated marketing budget of $130 million.

Avatar will also undoubtedly be the best selling Blu-ray and DVD of all-time when it is released sometime later this year.

PCMag is reporting today that members of their staff have followed the tech-heavy CES event by heading to the AVN Adult Entertainment event and noticed that the porn industry seems to have unanimously selected MicroUSB for their, um, charging needs.

In the past, the porn industry has helped push standards (see VHS vs. Beta, and more recently Blu-ray vs. HD DVD), and this latest trend could help give MicroUSB the push it needs to be the standard across most tech appliances. Currently MicroUSB is used by HTC and other phone manufacturers, and is the standard for most digital cameras.

Quoting PCMag: "It looks like many in the porn industry are getting on board as well, with a new crop of vibrators that can be charged from the comfort of your PC. From now on, you'll only have to pack one cable for those long business trips."

Google is on the verge of settling with Chinese authors, says the Chinese Writers' Association, after months of fighting over whether Google had the right to scan books and upload them for its giant online library.

"Following discussions and communications in recent months, we do believe that our communication with Chinese writers has not been good enough," Google said in a letter to the Association. "Google is ready to apologize to Chinese writers about this." The letter was signed by Erik Hartmann, Asia-Pacific head of Google Books.

Just last month, the case of author Mian Mian went to Chinese court and the judge told both sides to settle the case.

Overall, Google has scanned 10 million books since 2004, getting consent for 2 million from publishers. Another 2 million are public domain. The remaining 6 million are still in dispute.

According to the American Dialect Society, the term Google (when used as a verb), is the top of word of the last decade, beating out "green," "blog," "text," "9/11," and "war on terror" for the honor.

"It's hard to imagine life before we were Googling," American Dialect Society executive council member Ben Zimmer says.

In 2002, "Google" was voted as "most useful" by the Society, and there aren't too many people out there who could have seen Google's raging successes coming.

During the decade, the suffix "-er" saw a boost, with terms such as "flip-flopper" and "birther" becoming commonplace, and the prefix "un-" saw a boost as well, with terms such as "unfollow" and "unfriend" becoming mainstays thanks to Twitter and Facebook.

A few of the notable words of the decade that have not "stood the test of time" despite being very popular at one point include "muggle" (from Harry Potter), "bushlips," and "plutoed."

CBS, via the Society has posted some of the most notable words for each year of the past decade:

2000:
Chad; Courtesy call; Civil union; Nader traitor

Sony president Kaz Hirai has said the company will be expanding the PlayStation Network across most of the Sony product range, not just the PS3 and PSP gaming consoles.

The new PSN will be unified across HDTVs, Blu-ray players, PCs and laptops.

To access the service, eventually users will have a "single user login and experience across all product lines."

Beginning next month, when the PSN video service arrives on Windows PCs, Bravia TVs, and Sony Blu-ray players, the company will launch a new studio, Sony Network Entertainment which will be in charge of content produced for distribution via PSN.

LG has unveiled the GW990 smartphone at CES, the first to use Intel's Moorestown platform, alongside Intel's Moblin Linux OS.

The phone itself is gigantic, but includes a 4.8-inch screen that features a 1024x480 resolution. The device gets about 4 hours of talk time and 300 of standby for its 1850 mAh battery, and includes a now-standard 5MP camera.

The Moblin OS looks similar to Android but has much less developer support as of yet. LG uses an "S-Class" UI for the GW990, adding 3D effects and large, colorful icons.

The Atom CPU allows for flawless multitasking, says PCmag, and the editor says he watched a movie, while checking his calender and sending a text, all at the same time.

The device is not priced as of yet, and will hit Korea first in the Q3 of this year. No word on a North America release.

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Dreamer has announced this week at the CES event that Oppo Blu-ray players will now include the BluTV IPTV service.

"The OPPO BDP-83 model is one of the few Blu-ray Disc players that can support nearly every type of traditional five-inch disc, so adding connectivity to the device through Dreamer and BluTV further strengthens its appeal as the central hub of the connected living room," adds Won Baek, CEO and president of Dreamer. "Dreamer transforms Blu-ray Disc players into a full-featured HD set-top box, making it easy for consumers to browse, search and watch interactive content on their TV screens."

Current owners can recieve the service by simply updating their firmware. BluTV has 20 casual games such as chess, and many different widgets.