No, it's not free, but for Netflix fans, the new Roku set-top box should be a big hit. Netflix announced that it will begin selling a $99, hardcover-book-sized device from the California startup Roku that allows people to watch more than 10,000 titles on-demand, without waiting for those mail-order DVDs. That's about ten percent of the total Netflix library - way more than you'll get from Verizon or Comcast. The selection isn't fantastic, but there are plenty of good older movies on the list. The quasi-catch is that you must have an active Netflix account to maintain access to that library.

The convergence Consulting Group has just released a report stating that Web-based TV viewing is on the rise. By 2010, the group predicts that 23 percent of the content produced by broadcast and cable TV will be viewed online—up from about 9 percent today. At the same time, since advertisers haven't moved too many of their dollars over to the new medium yet, you have to expect that the big networks won't let a full transition happen too quickly—the money has to be there first. In other words, old-fashioned commercial-heavy programs aren't going away just yet.