In the next couple of weeks a very interesting new movie will be hitting theaters nationwide. What makes Haywire so intriguing is that it has a fantastic pedigree, yet it is being released in the January doldrums. Normally this would speak to the poor quality of the movie, but early word has been strong and it is hard to bet against Steven Soderbergh.

The movie is released in a couple weeks, but to help drum up more excitment the first five minutes of the movie have been released on Hulu. For those of you who are unaware of what the film is about, here is the synopsis:

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I don’t know about you but it seemed like I used to have several Barnes & Noble stores in my neighborhood and now I need to drive quite far to find one. Not that that really means anything. Amazon doesn’t have any stores at all and they’re doing pretty well.

The above only goes to illustrate that you don’t necessarily need a solid business model to launch a tablet these days. Heck, look at Motorola and RIM, they did it. So, if follows that Barnes & Noble, a company that already has eReaders and such like Amazon does, would try their hand at a full tablet as well.

In fact, they just announced one today. And, judging from the specs and the early word on the street, they seem to have done a pretty good job. The company took the wraps off of said Nook Tablet during a press event in New York City this morning. Here’s the major specs:

• Screen: 1024 x 600 “laminated, no-air” 7-inch IPS LCD
• Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Processor: 1GHz dual-core TI Omap 4
• Platform: Customized version of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• Internal memory: 16GB
• microSD card expansion slot: up to 32GB cards
• Integrated microphone
• Battery life: 11 hours reading, 8-9 hours video (with wireless off)
• Price: $249
• Availability: Pre-order now, ships November 17

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The internet business is a pretty tricky thing to keep one’s thumb on. Especially when you are in charge of hundreds of thousands consumers ready for their on-demand entertainment. That’s why it was especially puzzling when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings decided to belly up to the DVD/VOD war and claim Qwikster would be his champion.

That’s when things got tricky, as Netflix subscribers were fleeing the scene, hoping this meant they wouldn’t have to spend double the amount they were spending to get the same DVD and streaming service. Now that Qwikster is dead and gone, it seems that the original company is still suffering from its mistake. From Variety:

While investors were disappointed with the reported decline of 810,000 streaming subscribers in the second quarter, some equally depressing projections for the final months of 2011 also contributed to a 27% drop in after-hours trading, sending the stock to $85. It had opened the day at $119.37.

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At first, Hulu seemed like a great idea and many trumpeted it as a new way to watch TV programming. Now, Hulu is up for auction and looks to be in real trouble.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, bidders don’t seem to be coming out of the woodwork to buy the online network and the deadline for bidders has been extended to this Friday. At the moment, companies like Yahoo, Google and Amazon are among those looking closely at the online streaming video service owned by News Corp, Disney, Comcast and Providence Equity Partners.

However, that doesn’t mean any of those companies have actually decided to move forward with a bid. They haven’t. Still, with bids expected to be as high as $1.5 billion-$2 billion, things may not be over for Hulu just yet.

Although, even if one of the companied does bid and Hulu is sold, that doesn’t mean it wil continue in its present form. Given the current state of its business, chances are it probably won’t. In fact, I would be surprised to see Hulu in existence in another three years.

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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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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Last week may have had a few decent moments, but having someone like Miley Cyrus host Saturday Night Live will only get you so far. That’s why we’re all pretty excited to see Zach Galifiniakis return for a second time this weekend to host the show.

Nobody was sure if we’d see Zach again on the show, let alone this soon, as his last hosting gig didn’t go off as smoothly as it could have. The episode was full of awkward moments and missed jokes, but it seems that Lorne and the gang are ready to give the comedian a mulligan, and welcome him back with open arms.

In promoting this Saturday’s episode, both Zach and regular funnyman Andy Samberg recorded the typical TV spots for the network. We’ve got the whole list of them strung together, thanks to HULU.

Check out the reel after the jump, and join Andy and Zach on Saturday Night Live this Saturday at 11:30pm.

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This week on The Flickcast your favorite hosts take on some new and recurring topics to entertain, inform and otherwise keep you interested. . . at least for a little while. Some of the topics covered today include the brand new Green Lantern trailer, more on The Walking Dead, Hulu Plus price drops, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows leaked footage, trailers for The Mechanic,  Red Riding Hood, Teen Wolf, Cowboys Vs. Aliens, Marvel’s Hulk TV series and more.

In addition, the boys also made new picks this week for your viewing, listening or reading pleasure. Matt picked the animated series Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes while Chris picked the first person shooter game Medal of Honor.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

In an announcement that’s not that surprising seeing as adoption of the premium service has been rather slow, Hulu has decided to drop the monthly price of its “Plus” service by $2. The new monthly bill for the service will now be $7.99, effective immediately.

According to Hulu: “The monthly price for Hulu Plus moving forward is just $7.99. Any current subscribers who joined during our preview period will receive a credit for the difference from the $9.99 preview price. This credit will automatically be applied to their next billing cycle.”

Good news. But wait, there’s more. The company also announced some cool promotions aimed, presumably, at generating new business. They are:

• One free week trials for all new subscribers. In addition, current subscribers who joined during the preview period will receive a credit for one week of Hulu Plus toward their next month’s subscription.
• Two free weeks of Hulu Plus for both current subscribers and friends they invite through our referral program. Subscribers can learn more by clicking on the “Referrals” tab on their Hulu profile page.
• 11 weeks ($20 worth) of free Hulu Plus with the purchase of a Sony BRAVIA connected TV or Blu-ray player through January 31, 2011.
• One free month of Hulu Plus with the purchase of a Roku device through December 15, 2010.

In addition , Hulu also announced that the service will be launching on Roku today and will be coming to “Internet-connected Vizio, LG Electronics, and Panasonic Blu-ray players and HDTVs; TiVo Premiere DVRs; the Xbox 360; and Western Digital’s WD TV Live Hub Media Center and WD TV Live Plus Network Media Player,” in the coming months.

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With Apple’s recent announcement of the new Apple TV, the competition for your living room is heating up once again with Google set to soon jump fully into the fray. Announced in May, Google TV has officially been given a launch date here in the US.

According to the report, Google will launch its TV service in the United States this autumn and worldwide next year. CEO Eric Schmidt said the service, which will allow users to browse the Internets via their televisions, would be free, and Google will work with a diverse group of content providers and electronics manufacturers to bring it to consumers.

Companies such as Sony and Samsung are already looking at including the service in their devices. More are sure to follow suit, if only to try and secure a better deal for themselves then Apple has traditionally provided.

The real question is do people want to use the Internet on their TV’s? I suppose they do considering I do it every day by watching something like Hulu or Instant Netflix on my TV via the XBox 360 or PS3.

Although, I wouldn’t exactly call me a “typical consumer” so what I do with technology might be more than most people are willing, or able, to do. That said, if Google TV does end up having those features, I might be more interested.

Want to know more about Google TV? If so, check out the official video explaining it after the jump.

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Since the announcement of Hulu’s pay service (aptly titled Hulu Plus), the big question on everyone’s mind is simple: Why pay for a service that I was getting for free? Well, we’re happy to say that it’s definitely worth it. The worth became apparent to me as I stood in a 45 minute line at Comic-Con in San Diego and passed the time by watching episodes of Family Guy and The Office.

You may be saying to yourself: “I have plenty of videos on my iPhone so who cares.” and before today I could agree with you. There is something incredibly freeing about having access to the handful of movies or TV shows stored on your iPhone. The wonderful new Hulu Plus app gives you instant access to every episode of hundreds of different TV shows and movies.

Unlike previous streaming technologies, such as Slingbox, that required WiFi, the videos streamed seamlessly using the 3G network and the quality was on par with any video purchased in iTunes. Another concern that usually pops up with programs like this is how it will handle multitasking when faced with oncoming texts and phone calls.

Hulu Plus performs admirably by reloading the video where you left off, rather than restarting from the beginning.

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As we mentioned a few weeks ago, for those users lucky enough to get the invite, Hulu Plus is currently in it’s preview period.  As promised, Hulu has begun enabling the applications on various devices, including the much anticipated PlayStation 3 update.

In a coup for all you Playstation 3 defenders, Hulu Plus has chosen the Playstation 3 for limited console exclusivity through the end of the year. And for those of you who were concerned, no you don’t need a CD to play it like Netflix, you just need to download the free app from the PlayStation store.

The program looks almost identical to the Hulu desktop, and the video streams in beautiful 1080p (as long as your internet  and TV can handle it). Unfortunately, in order to access the preview you do need to be a PlayStation Plus member. Aside from Hulu Plus, said membership allows access to free or discounted add-ons, themes, avatars and games.

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