According to Bloomberg, struggling Internet-based film and TV streaming service Hulu is looking for a buyer. One of the companies supposedly in the running for the service and considering a purchase is Apple.

In case you’re not up on the current Hulu situation, in July the company announced that it had hired Morgan Stanley and Guggenheim Partners to assist with a the sale and rumor was that Yahoo! and, possibly Microsoft and Amazon, were interested.

However, it seems Apple may be the frontrunner now. Although, at this time, no company has made an actual bid for Hulu.

A Hulu purchase may seem like a good thing for Apple. They’ve already got iTunes but Hulu would allow them a better way to compete with streaming services like Netflix since, at the moment, you can only purchase or rent videos from within iTunes.

Something to keep in mind, though, is that Apple isn’t really know for acquiring companies. They are just as likely to take an idea and spin it and launch a new service of their own as an addition or enhancement of their existing service. Plus, Hulu only has about 1 million subscribers at the moment and that’s not really all that many.

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Today, Amazon announced it has made some improvements and changes to its Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services. The first change of note is that anyone who signs up will get now unlimited space for music. That includes users who sign up for the minimum $20/year 20GB plan.

Amazon also announced that Cloud Drive customers can now store all MP3s purchased from the Amazon MP3 music store for free. This includes songs purchased before Amazon launched the Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services. And, those songs won’t count against your total storage.

Finally, Amazon announced that its Cloud Player for Web is now available on the iPad, and that it’s been optimized for use with that device’s Safari web browser. To try it out, head over here: www.amazon.com/cloudplayer.

For more, click through for the official press release from Amazon.

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In direct competition with Apple’s own App Store Amazon announced late yesterday the launch of its online store for Mac OS X applications. The store, which features downloads of over 200 different software titles and 51 different games, will go head to head with Apple’s own offering.

Programs such as Microsoft Office, Intuit’s QuickBooks and games such as Dragon Age: Origins and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare are currently available. Customers can quickly purchase and download applications using their Amazon accounts, download the software and get to work. No need to wait for a box to arrive at your doorstep.

In addition, purchases are automatically backed-up in case customers need to reinstall the apps at a later date. This is a nice feature and saves customers from having to hassle with downloading again and also with backing up lots of software installers.

According to the online sales giant the “Mac Download store features an install-less download process where the customer gets just the product without any unwanted extras, making for faster and easier purchases. Plus, downloads are conveniently backed up in your Games and Software Library where you can download an unlimited number of times for personal use.”

When cool new things come out like Amazon’s recent Cloud Player service you pretty much assume these things will work with your iPhone, iPad or other iOS device. They are, after all pretty darn popular with the kids who also happen to love music. Sadly, at least at launch, that wasn’t the case with Amazon’s new offerings.

That was then. Now, things are a bit different. Amazon has decide that IOS users have suffered enough and has flipped the switch that allows Cloud Player to work with Mobile Safari. You will still get the ominous “Your browser isn’t supported” warning, but once you get past that you can experience the service in all its glory, complete with background playback and control.

In case you’re not familiar with Amazon’s Cloud Player service, you get 5 GB of free storage once you sign up. Anything purchased from the Amazon MP3 store can be automatically added to your Cloud Drive without counting against your storage quota.

In addition, Amazon will give you an extra 15 GB of free storage when you purchase at least one MP3 album, bringing your storage limit up to 20 GB. You can also upload and stream any tracks you already have with it.

All in all, its a pretty cool service. Sure, it would be nice to have a native IOS app instead of having to use Safari, but one thing at a time. This is progress and you can probably expect a new IOS app soon enough.

Late yesterday, Amazon announced that Kindle customers will soon be able to borrow eBooks from more than 11,000 U.S. libraries. Amazon’s Kindle Library Lending project will enable users to check out eBooks from local libraries and then read them on their Kindle or on any device with Amazon’s free eReader software installed.

But wait, that’s not the only cool thing about this service. Unlike traditional libraries, which don’t allow borrowers to write in books, with this new service readers can make notes and highlight as much as they want. “We’re doing a little something extra here,” said Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle.

“Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we’re extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced.”

Sounds pretty cool, right? I wonder if this will in any way help save libraries? Or, will this cause them to be obsolete faster? Either way, its a nice feature for Kindle owners. It would be nice if this could aslo help keep libraries around longer. We’ll see.

Also, what will this mean for the Amazon tablet rumored to be launching later this year? My guess is they will probably hit around the same time.

Amazon is working with OverDrive on its Kindle Library Lending program, which it says will launch later this year. Click through for the full press release from Amazon.

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With all the ways in which consumers can get video content to their televisions, its sometimes difficult to figure out what way is the best. From Netflix to Google TV to Amazon, Apple TV and more the number of choices has grown a great deal over the last few years.

Now, another player in the race for your living room is upping its game. Roku, which has only been available online, has announced that its media streaming box, the Roku XD model, will be available nationwide at all Best Buy locations. This is a big move fore the company and one that they obviously hope will lead to increased sales.

The Roku box has been doing pretty well as an online-only option (selling over 1 Million units) so getting into stores and in front of more potential buyers has got to help sales. However, as with any device of this type, content will be king. The convenience of being able to stream Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, Hulu and more using one box may appeal to many. Plus, the price of $79.99 is also pretty good.

However, for those who already have other hardware options to stream content (an XBox 360 or PS3 for example) this device may be a non-issue. Plus, there’s no way to get anything on this device from iTunes so that may also eliminate some potential users who prefer to stick with Apple’s offerings.

Still, competition is a good thing and the more players in this space, the better. Good luck Roku.

Check out the full press release from Roku after the jump.

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Today, Amazon became the first player in the cloud music game with the announcement of its cloud-based music storage service known as Cloud Drive. The new offering will allow users to store up to 5GB of music in Amazon’s new, online locker and playback uploaded tracks via their Android smartphone, Android tablet, Mac, or PC.

In addition, users who purchase a complete album via Amazon’s MP3 store will automatically be upgraded to 20GB of storage, free of charge, and tracks purchased on Amazon are automatically uploaded to the cloud. In other words, purchased tracks do not count towards your storage quota. Nice.

Music isn’t the only digital thing you can store in your Cloud Drive. You can also upload photos and other files directly to it through the web interface. Seeing this you have to wonder what cloud storage based offering such as Dropbox are going to think about it. Although, you can’t share files or folders with other users. At least not yet.

You can play your stored music using the Cloud Player for Web or for Android devices. Not surprisingly, there’s no Cloud Player app for iOS devices. If you’re worried that 5GB of storage just won’t be enough for your music collection, extra storage can be had with plans starting at $20 per year.

The service is live now and the Cloud Player for Android is available in the Market. Click thorough for the full press release from Amazon.

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Some would say it’s a crazy move to try and sell apps for the Android smartphone market outside of Google’s own Android Market which seems to do a relatively commendable job of making apps available and easy to download. But that’s precisely what Amazon has decided to do.

You’d also think it was painfully obvious that naming your new Android marketplace “Amazon Appstore” would result in an instant lawsuit from Apple, but again Bezo’s company seems to be pitching caution to the wind with their latest move. And predictably enough, Apple has filed suit against Amazon for trademark infringement.

Despite all dangers, the new Amazon Appstore for Android has indeed launched and the company is bribing folks to give it a try.

Up for grabs? A full copy (no ad-supported nonsense here) of Angry Birds Rio, the latest version of the popular game from Rovio. Pretty sweet, right? And you know what else is free right now? World Series Of Poker: Hold’em by Glu.

Not so fast! First you have to download the Amazon app, which seems easy at first, but becomes increasingly more difficult than you can possibly imagine. It failed miserably on my first attempt to install it. More recently, it managed to download and install much more smoothly, so it seems like you may have an easier experience than I.

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Are you one of the millions of Amazon shoppers that takes advantage of being a Prime member and gets free, unlimited two-day shipping on pretty much anything? And as good as that is, did you ever hope that your $79.00 annual fee for that service would ever give you more benefits?

If so, this is your lucky day. Today, Amazon announced that it will also offer Prime members “unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows” from Amazon’s Video On Demand library.Yep, you read that right. For the same fee per year you will also get free streaming of movies and TV shows.

As someone who’s tried Amazon’s streaming service before using my trusty Tivo Premiere, I can say that it works quite well. Better, in most cases, than Apple’s similar offering: the Apple TV 2.0. As I’m already taking full advantage of Amazon’s Prime membership, and have for years, this added benefit will definitely keep me as a member.

The new service is available right now to existing Prime members. Amazon is also offering a one month free trial to check out the service as well so what have you got to lose?

Amazon released its “Best of 2010″ lists late last week which highlight the online shopping powerhouse’s best-selling, most wished-for and most gifted products of the year. In the best-selling category, Amazon’s own Kindle topped the electronics category.

Kindle is now the best-selling product of all time on Amazon.com. Which, if you think about it, makes sense. It’s a great product and it has tight integration with the rest of Amazon. That’s what they call in the trade a “win win.” AT&T’s Samsung Captivate was Amazon’s best-selling device in the Wireless & Accessories category, reaffirming Android’s continued success in that market. Just sorry it had to be on AT&T’s network.

Call of Duty: Black Ops was Amazon’s best-selling video game, Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro topped the computer category and Sherlock Holmes was the company’s most streamed movie of 2010. So, kudos to Activision, Apple and Robert Downey, Jr.

Click through to check out the full list.

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Watch out iPad, the Amazon Kindle is gunning for you and is trying to take away your shiny luster. How? By being a big success that’s how.

To that point Amazon announced yesterday that its third-generation Kindle eBook reader is now the best-selling product of all time on the Amazon.com website. It replaces Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the previous Amazon.com sales record-holder.

The online giant Amazon has not revealed official sales figures for any of its Kindle devices, though recent estimates suggest Amazon is going to sell 8 million Kindles in 2010. Which, in case you don’t know, is a lot of eBook readers.

The company currently offers two versions of its popular Kindle eReader — a Wi-Fi-only version for $139 and a 3G-equipped model for $189. Click through to check out the full press release from Amazon.

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With the launch of the Apple iPad, along with the rise of tablet-based devices in general, the mainstream tech media began to sound the death knell for dedicated eReader devices, the Kindle included. Surely they would be eclipsed by tablets that could do far more than just read books, right? Well, not so fast. Amazon seems to have a trick or two up their sleeve with the latest iteration of their device, dubbed the ‘Kindle 3.’

Right out of the gate, the Kindle 3 has positioned itself at a price-point far below the iPad and even below some of the Android-based tablets that are starting to pop-up in the sector. The latest Amazon Kindle 3 ($139/Wi-Fi Only; $189/3G+Wi-Fi) lowers the price of entry while adding a long list new features and improvements.

The latest eReader from the retail giant features a faster 6-inch e-ink display with improved contrast, a sleek new graphite color, an included leather cover with integrated LED light, a new WebKit-based browser, and double the storage. It’s unclear why, however Amazon has dubbed their browser “experimental” at this point. Perhaps there are some bugs that need to be worked out with browsing on this device?

Be sure to hit the jump for all of the drool-worthy specs of Amazon’s latest Kindle 3.

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