delay

Long waits for some Netflix Blu-ray customers

If you're a Netflix customer who's paying an extra $1 a month to rent movies on Blu-ray, you might have noticed that the discs aren't being delivered as quickly as DVDs.

Josh Lowensohn, one of my colleagues here at CNET News, was complaining that he's had Futurama: Bender's Game, in his queue for over a month. The flick Wall-E has been in the queue since November 18. Why is it taking so long for Netflix to ship?

I called Steve Swasey, Netflix's very accessible spokesman, and he said the Web video store simply doesn'… Read more

Adobe delays Photoshop.com, CS4 goodies

Adobe Systems has delayed by a few weeks the release of some upgrades to its Photoshop.com online service and to its high-end Photoshop CS4 software.

The upcoming Photoshop site upgrades include features to import address book entries from Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and Gmail to improve photo sharing; an uploading tool to synchronize software on a person's PC with the version stored online; and new pricing options. They had been due Tuesday but now will go live "later this month," Adobe said in a statement Monday night.

Also slipping a few weeks is the Photoshop CS4 Configurator, … Read more

Bloom: My new favorite iPhone app

Have you ever spent a long, happy evening with a new effects pedal and a pair of headphones? Do you have an Apple iPhone and $3.99 to spare? If so, open the iTunes Store and download Bloom immediately.

Released last Thursday by Brian Eno, who more or less invented ambient music, and fellow traveler Peter Chilvers, Bloom is like discovering a seashell you've never seen before--beautifully simple yet infinitely complicated.

It displays a pastel multicolored screen. You hit different spots on the screen to play different notes--bass notes at the bottom, treble at the top. The notes are … Read more

My night as an iPhone fanboy

SAN FRANCISCO--The first bad omen for our experience with Apple's iPhone 3G came late Thursday night, when some of us waiting outside the Apple store here may have insulted a priest.

Sitting on the sidewalk in front of the store, a group of us, giddy with excitement about Apple's new handset, noticed a priest walk by. "Hi, Father," I quipped. "Tomorrow, will you bless our iPhones?"

The priest wasn't amused. Things really took a turn for the worse when someone tried to explain to him why the iPhone was worth the money and … Read more

Google denies report of Android phone delay

Update 3 p.m. PT: T-Mobile confirmed its Android phone is still on track, too.

Google denied a report Monday that phones using its Android software have been delayed to 2009.

The Street reported the delay, citing an unnamed source. But Google denied the report.

"We're still on track to announce Android-powered phones this year. Some of our partners are publicly stating that they plan to ship Android phones in the fourth quarter," Google said in a statement.

That's little surprise, given that Android leader Andy Rubin last week said phones using the soon-to-be-mostly-open-source software will … Read more

Kindle back on shelves at Amazon

Barely a month after Jeff Bezos' very public mea culpa over delays, Amazon's Kindle is apparently back on the virtual shelves.

The e-tailer's listing page for the e-book reader indicates that it's in stock and available for purchase, at the usual $399 plus free two-day shipping.

After the Kindle had sold out so quickly after its launch in November last year, there had been some speculation that the delays were caused by production problems or were planned deliberately to stoke more demand. But as Craver David Carnoy indicated, it was probably just a victim of holiday shopping madness.… Read more

SlingCatcher delayed--again

This is just getting silly.

The makers of the popular Slingbox have been promising the SlingCatcher for almost a year and half now. And once again, the projected release date will come and go quietly.

Gregg Wilkes, vice president of sales for Sling Media--which is now owned by EchoStar Communications--told a frustrated customer in an e-mail that the goal to release the device during the second quarter of this year will not be met.

Wilkes writes: "Will the catcher ship in Q2? No. We are upgrading the user experience and making enhancements to the feature set. These may … Read more

Bezos: Sorry for the delays, more Kindles on the way

If you happened to have visited Amazon's Web site today, you might have noticed that a large message from Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, was plastered across the home page of the site. Basically, it was a big fat apology for Amazon's inability to ship its Kindle electronic book reader in a timely fashion.

Ever since it quickly sold out at launch, a lot of folks have been speculating about just how many Kindles Amazon had sold and whether the long delays in shipping were a case of production problems or a PR ploy designed to make the Kindle appear … Read more

Podcast storage is down...

When i tried to upload the podcast this morning, I was welcomed to a "Forbidden" error. It turns out, all of our podcasts are returning this "Forbidden" error right now, resulting in the inability for us to serve podcasts to you at the moment.

We have a team working feverishly on the issue, and just as soon as everything is all fixed, I will post the new episode to the feed. Sorry for the delay, everyone!

Valentine Zunes delayed but may be free

If you ordered one of those Valentine's Day Zunes, there's good news and bad news.

The bad news is that Microsoft is running way behind on shipments and may miss the holy Feb. 14 deadline "due to some issues in our fulfillment center," according to an e-mail cited by Gizmodo. The good news is that the same e-mail says Microsoft is refunding the entire amount to those whose orders are in jeopardy--meaning that the media player will be free regardless of whether it gets there on time.

A sales rep confirmed the unfortunate situation--or fortunate, if … Read more