Reports indicate that Netflix may begin having a streaming only subscription within the next year. For those of you who have been enjoying the streaming video service of Netflix, but find the requirement of also having a subscription to their mail order DVDs unnecessary, there will be a gift coming your way soon in the form of new subscription programs.  Under the current plans you must also subscribe to at least their “one DVD at a time” plan to enjoy unlimited streaming.

According to FeedFlix, a site dedicated to everything related to the video rental service, video streaming is quickly surpassing the physical division of the company (see graph below)so a new subscription plan that caters to streaming customers only makes sense if this trend continues.  This also makes financial sense to the company as it will cut down on employment costs, mailers, and replacement DVDs as copies of films wear out.  While they have couse have costs associated with the bandwidth for feeding the streams to consumers, they can be considerably less than all of the physical goods they use, as well as be better for the environment.

Look for the new plan to premiere in 2010.

One of the most awaited updates to Gmail has finally happened: the ability to add multiple attachments to an email at once.

In what is a seemingly never ending series of updates to Gmail as of late, Google has announced that you can now attach multiple files at once to an email.  Up until now you had to select a file, click “Attach another file” and select another, doing this one file at a time.  Now you can browse your computer and select multiple files by holding down the CTRL key on Windows machines, or, if you’re on a Mac, you just hold down the Cmd key.  They also now will show you a progress bar for each file so you know that it is actually working as opposed to the old “Loading…” notice at the top of the screen which told you nothing of importance.

While we have seen lots of little tweaks to the system like choosing new colors or editing how the service looks in a tab, those have all been aesthetic changes.  This is one of the most useful changes yet, and one that has been needed for years.  Thank you, Google!

Ever wondered if your inability to reach a Google service is just on your end, or are they having problems? Now you can tell thanks to the Google Apps Status Dashboard.

In the early hours of the morning on February 24th USA time, Gmail became inaccessible.  Due to the number of people who know rely on this service, people were panicked to find out what was going on, but there was no easy way to keep up-to-date with the goings on.  Well, luckily Google has quickly stepped up to the plate by releasing the Google Apps Status Dashboard.

The new tool will show you the status of the various Google products, if everything is working as it should you will see a green checkmark.  If something has gone wrong, you will see a blue icon with an “i” on it, and when you click on it you will be taken to an information page with updates about what is happening with that service.  Seeing as how Google is quickly taking over our online lives with all of their tools, this is a very welcome addition to those of us who use them on a regular basis.

Ever wished you could control how things appear in your browser tabs?  Now you can.

Called “Title Tweaks”, Google has added a new feature in Gmail Labs that allows you to change the order the information shows up in your tabs to make it a bit more user friendly.  The old version read:

Gmail – Inbox (20) – youraddress@gmail.com

to

Inbox (20) -youraddress@gmail.com – Gmail

For those of you out there, such as myself, that have tons of tabs open, this is a lot friendlier to users.  A very welcome addition to the popular service.

Gmail and Google Talk users be warned, the service is under a phishing attack.

The image to the right (provided by Adam Ostrow of Mashable) shows the message people using Gmail and Google Talk have been receiving for the past few hours.  When you click on the link, you are taken to a site (pictured below) named ViddyHo.  The site asks for you to log in with yoru Google credentials to view the video your friend is supposedly sharing with you.  Instead, what you are doing is giving your username and password to a third-party who then spams your entire Google contact list with the same message to get more people to go to their site and do the same.

Back in January we reported on a phishing attack on Twitter that was using a similar method, and again we must warn you that you should never give your login credentials for any service to any site that is unkwown to you.  If you receive a message like the one shown here, ask the person what the video is before you click on it, and even if you should click through, never give your login credentials!  If something like this does ever happen to you, make sure to change your password immediately upon discovering it.

If a new study is to be believed, iPhone and iPod Touch users have next to no attention span.

We recently asked When Do You Have Too Many Apps?, but if a new study from Pinch Media is to be believed, having any apps is pretty much pointless.  We’ve told you in the app story we did that the total number of application downloads was over 500 million, but it appears that people download them and quickly forget about them.  Only 30% of users bother to look at a paid app on the second day they own it, and only 20% of users of free apps do the same.

While we’re sure Apple doesn’t care if you ever use an application again after the initial download, you have to wonder how much longer people will put up with paying for applications they hardly ever use.  When will they finally say ‘enough, I don’t use them’ and stop purchasing new ones?  I have purchased exactly one application for my iPod Touch, an instant messenger, and I use it quite frequently.  However, I have downloaded around 50 free applications, and I actually couldn’t tell you how many of them get used on a regular basis.  They all sound like good ideas when you first grab the, but then you simply don’t find you have time to play with them as much as you thought you might.

The even scarier part of this story is that only 1% of users end up using an application over a long period of time, with games having the highest retention rate.  So the idea people are buying so many applications are fantastic for Apple and the developers, but no so much for the users.

What say you?  Do you find yourself dropping applications quickly, or do you try to get your money’s worth out of them?

What happens when the world of parents and kids collide online? Embarrassment, what else?

In the early days of ultra-popular social network Facebook, you had to have an email address that ended in .edu to join the site.  It was originally intended as a netork to be directed primarily at college age students, but as time went on, they opened their doors wider to all comers, and now it seems that parents are finding the wonders of the site, much to the disappointment of their children.

The site has been well known as a place for students to post drunken pictures of themselves after a weekend of debauchery, but while that was already a bad idea due to school officials and employers finding them, what do you do when your parents see them?  Better yet, what do you do when your parents try to act “hip” and get in to all of the Facebook fun?  That is the question being put forth by MyParentsJoinedFacebook.com.

Examples of some of the best parent moments on the social network are being gathered up (an example below) to let every one see just how much fo a nightmare it can be.  With the ever increasing popularity of Facebook, especially with people trying to find old friends, wasn’t this sort of inevitable?  Enjoy the discomfort folks, it isn’t going away any time soon.

Rumors have begun to circulate that the first release candidate of Windows 7 may be appearing on April 10th.

According to Ars Technica, rumors have begun to spring up that Microsoft may be readying the first release candidate (RC1) version of Windows 7 for mass consumption on April 10th of this year.  For those who are not familiar with the steps a piece of software goes through prior to release it goes as follows:

• Alpha – This version is usually only for internal testing, and is rarely released to the public.
• Beta – This is a version that is getting close to having all of the final features, and, depending on the company, is released to some testers in the public for them to test.  There can be numerous Beta releases as small tweaks are made to the software.
• Release Candidate – This usually consists of two versions, RC1 and RC2.  RC1 will have included notes from the beta testers, and further notes from RC1 users will be incorporated into RC2.  There isn’t always an RC2, but it is fairly common.
• Gold Master – This is the finalized version of the software that will be released to the public.

If the RC1 is truly going to be released by April, this adds heavily to the other rumors we’ve heard that Windows 7 may be out by this fall.  This really gives us pause here at StarterTech that Windows 7 will be more like what Windows Vista was really supposed to be.  The time lapse between Windows XP and Windows Vista was five years, but this will be only two years between Vista and Windows 7.  This is beginning to feel more and more like Vista was a massive release candidate, or even a beta, for Windows 7.

Whatever the case may be, we highly recommend you hold off on all Windows-based computer purchases for the time being if at all possible.  Vista is flawed, as is well documented all across the Web, and while Windows 7 may not be perfect, it is already looking to be an improvement.  If you can wait, we suggest it so that you aren’t essentially buying an already outdated piece of software that is flawed to boot.

Tired of pre-selected themes for your Gmail account? No worries, Google has that covered for you now.

Back in November of 2008, themes and colors were announced for Gmail, but there was nothing that you could customize to be closer to a look or feel that was more your own.  According to the official Gmail blog, all of that has now changed for users of the regualr edition of the service.  As with most advancements with Gmail, users of the apps version of the service for business will have to wait a while before they get the new features.  Someday we at StarterTech are hoping to understand why those users have to wait longer for features.

To take advantage of the new colors, you just need to go to “Settings” in the upper right corner of the main screen, click on the “Themes” tab and then you will find “Choose your own colors” at the bottom of the screen. If you end up hating the selections you make, you can always click “Reset” and revert back to the default colors until you try again.

Skype fans are about to get a huge leg up for using the service while on the go.

It has been announced that later this year Nokia Nseries phones will be receiving integrated calling from the popular VoIP service Skype.  The new fuctionality will be built-in to the N97 model, and owners who have previously purchased the phone will be able to obtain the same service via a firmware upgrade.

The best news is that Skype will be usable over both 3G and Wi-Fi so you will literally be able to use this new feature just about anywhere you want.  You will also be able to instant message with your contacts and the address book will be fully integrated so that you won’t have to be switching back and forth to find the person you need to call.

Similar abilities have been available in the UK via the carrier 3 for some time now, and it is surprising it has taken this long for the service to expand to other areas.

With the software being able to use Wi-Fi or 3G, this could significantly cut down on the number of minutes you use from your carrier, although you will have to check to see how your carrier will be treating these calls.  Over Wi-Fi they should be completely free, and I imagine on 3G it will count as data usage, so make sure you have a good data plan built into your contract.

Things are certainly getting more intersting in the mobile phone market, and looks to get even more so as time goes on.  Who will need a computer anymore if things keep going as they are?