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The 404 1,004: Where we're pink, peeling, and broken (podcast)

Jeff's back from his trip to the Dominican Republic, so we ask CNET Labs editor Joseph Kaminski into the studio to tell us what it's like to be stranded on an island owned by Walt Disney.

We'll also give our prediction for tomorrow's Apple iPad HD announcement and learn more about weapons from the future that disrupt speech patterns and jam cell phone signals.… Read more

Netflix streaming deal with Starz ends

Goodbye "Scarface" streaming on Netflix. Goodbye streaming of "Young Frankenstein," "Toy Story 3," "Big Trouble in Little China," "Beetlejuice," "Gangs of New York," and many more.

Netflix's 4-year contract with Starz ended as of yesterday, meaning that streaming of all of Starz's movies has ceased. According to CNNMoney, Starz content accounted for 2 percent of users viewing time.

Starz announced that it would end its streaming deal with Netflix last September. In a statement, the company wrote, "This decision is a result of our strategy … Read more

Jobs' seat on Disney board not to be filled by widow or Trust

Neither Steve Jobs' widow nor a representative of his trust will be on the ballot when Disney shareholders meet in March to vote on re-electing the company's board of directors, Reuters reports. That's despite the fact that the Jobs trust is Disney's largest shareholder.

Jobs had been a Disney board member, and the company's top shareholder, since Disney bought his Pixar studios in 2006, and he'd been helping Disney move forward into the digital era, Reuters reports.

Jobs died of pancreatic cancer last October.

The Steven P. Jobs Trust owns nearly 137.3 million shares, … Read more

Bring the world of Disney to your desktop with Disney Screensaver

Kids of all ages will enjoy Disney Screensaver, a free animated screensaver from ScreenSaverGift that displays background images of your favorite Disney cartoon characters with active but pleasant 3D screen animations. It's not loud or flashy, but its colorful motion and upbeat background music make it an amusing distraction that will be especially appealing to the small ones.

As with the developer's other free screensavers, Disney Screensaver basically installs itself, as we discovered when we opened our screensaver properties. We selected Disney from the list, and Windows displayed a preview of the screensaver, a scene based on the … Read more

Meet Kermit the Frog, gadget geek

When you get a chance to interview Kermit the Frog, you don't pass it up.

Kermit has been the most famous frog in the world for decades. And with the success of his new film, "The Muppets," which has already earned $56 million domestically, he's been making the rounds, sharing his thoughts on everything from meeting presidents to why he never seems to age to what it's like to work alongside his girlfriend, Miss Piggy.

But this is CNET. We wanted Kermit to talk about iPhones. And Twitter. Technology, in other words. We couldn't get the frog who has sung so eloquently about rainbows to tell us how he feels about the most famous double rainbow in the world, or about how often Miss Piggy texts him, but he did dish about his preference for Apple's devices. … Read more

YouTube expands movie service with Disney films

Google said today it has licensed hundreds of Disney movies for play on YouTube's premium movie channel, making it partners with three of the top six Hollywood studios.

Only a handful of titles will be available for rent immediately, but Google said it expects to add hundreds more in coming weeks. Some of the titles YouTube will feature include "Alice in Wonderland," "Winnie the Pooh," "Cars" and "Cars 2."

Google clearly knows an opportunity when it sees one. Netflix is staggering, having alienated subscribers by raising prices and then spooking them … Read more

'Toy Story' aliens invade fashion runway

Buzz Lightyear is flying into high fashion, and he's taking Woody, the Aliens, and the rest of the Pixar-inspired crew with him, thanks to a new "Toy Story" fashion line from Bossini of Hong Kong.

A set of photos on Bossini's Facebook page show off the new line, which includes dresses, men's shirts, kids' costumes, and accessories.

Obviously, clothes that tap into the "Toy Story" motif are nothing new, as Disney and Pixar merchandise their movies faster than Kim Kardashian seeks out divorce lawyers. But from what I can make of Bossini's captions, it's laying out prices as high as $1,000 per three-eyed-alien tunic. … Read more

China Telecom to give the U.S. wireless business a shot

China Telecom wants to go where Walt Disney and ESPN couldn't: the U.S. wireless business.

The Chinese telecommunications provider wants to break into the U.S. market with its own service next year, the company told Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The company intends to go after Chinese Americans and tourists with its offer, which would provide one line for use in the U.S, and another that would work in China.

Rather than build its own network, it plans to lease capacity from another carrier, although the company declined to specify to Bloomberg who the potential partner would be. Traditionally, … Read more

YouTube, Disney cut video deal, report says

Google and Disney are partnering on an effort to bring more attention to their respective brands.

Disney and Google's YouTube are expected to announce a partnership tomorrow in which the two will spend $10 million to $15 million on original series, according to a report in The New York Times. Disney will produce the shorts, which will be distributed on a co-branded channel on Disney.com and YouTube, the newspaper reported. It will also reportedly feature amateur video uploaded to YouTube.

YouTube representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

News of the partnership comes as competition … Read more

Netflix, Amazon can boast new Disney deals

This is exactly how the Hollywood studios want the online video sector to look: several companies paying for and distributing their content while competing on things like convenience and price.

Disney has renewed a licensing agreement with Netflix and penned a new deal with Amazon that will give both a crack at much of the same content.

Netflix will continue to offer on its streaming service past seasons of Disney's "Hannah Montana" and of Disney-owned ABC's "Ugly Betty," "Grey's Anatomy," and "Lost." Amazon's deals also brings many of … Read more