It's a brisk news day in tech this Monday before Thanksgiving. Here's what I find interesting:
* First up, iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch users woke up to a little dash of Christmas right before the holidays: It's the new iOS 4.2. The software update brings some goodies to the iDevices, especially the iPad. For me, three features that tap the devices wireless capabilities are new: AirPlay (play music over Wi-Fi); AirPrint (print stuff over Wi-Fi) and Find My iPhone (find your lost or stolen iPhone via 3G or Wi-Fi). Hit Engadget for a review of iOS 4.2
* Next, Netflix just launched a new "streaming-only" monthly plan, for $7.99 a month. But they jacked up prices on "streaming + DVD" plans to $9.99 a month and up. People are complaining on the company site that Netflix doesn't offer new enough content on its Watch Instantly stream to justify a streaming-only price at $7.99. I tend to agree. I'll be taking a closer look at Hulu Plus through my Roku now.
* Here's a hypothetical: if you're a billionaire media tycoon who makes a lot of money off newspapers, but feel threatened by the Web, what would you do if a device like the iPad magically appeared? Why, try to re-create newspaper economics on this Internet tablet of course! This isn't a hypothetical: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is working on an iPad-only digital "newspaper", called The Daily, that publishes once a day on the device. Really? Really. Bwahahahahahaha!
(Photo of Rupert Murdoch via PaidContent)