New Netflix Set-Top Device Makes Us Wish for Monopolies  netflix
player Photo: Courtesy of Netflix  We guess we're excited about
the announcement that Netflix is offering a $99 set-top device
that will allow customers to watch streaming movies on their
TVs. The Netflix Player supposedly works really well and is
simple to use, and we do already have a Netflix account. All the
same, though, the notion of yet another component attached to
our TV just makes us depressed. First of all, are there any
input jacks left on our TV, after plugging in a DVR and a video-
game system and the DVD player and the VCR we still occasionally
use? Second of all, another remote control? Kill us now.  It all
leads us to ask: Why do people hate monopolies, again? We wish a
monopoly would take over the video-on-demand business right now.
Think about it! If Time Warner, or Sony, or the federal
government, just took over video on demand, we wouldn't have to
decide between buying a Netflix Player or buying an Apple TV or
using Time Warn