Netflix Targeting Android Next

Netflix is looking to hire an Android video playback expert.

While nothing is set in stone or officially confirmed, ajob posting on Netflix's site indicates that the video streaming service is looking for a "great engineer" to help with Android applications. Recently Netflix launched its service on the new iPad, and plans to do the same with Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. A version of the video streaming service also also scheduled to hit the Nintendo Wii sometime this Spring.

This latest job position should be good news for consumers who own smartphones based on Google's mobile OS. Currently the only real video streaming service available on the Android Market is Jetflicks, costing an initial $2 for the "gateway" application and a $10 monthly fee for the content. While the quality is favorable, the subscription-based service only offers TV shows including just-aired episodes and those currently in syndication. Unfortunately, Netflix on an Android device could shut down Jetflicks for good.

"Netflix is looking for a great engineer to help us build Instant Streaming client implementations on Android devices," the job listing states. The position requires a "deep understanding of" and hands-on experience with media playback on the Android platform. Other requirements include 10+ years of relevant software development experience, and expert knowledge in OO design and implementation using C++.

With the iPhone and iPod Touch versions under its belt, Netflix could very well take what it learned from developing the streaming application for Apple's handhelds and apply the experience to an Android app rather quickly. Stay tuned--more info should appear in the coming weeks.

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You Guys Are Still Spending a Lot on Gaming PCs

Enthusiasts make up nearly half of all the dollars spent on gaming-related hardware on PCs.

Despite the doom and gloom around PC gaming that's gone on for years now, research shows that the PC gaming hardware market is still very strong. In fact, it seems that the type of people who like to read Tom's Hardware – the enthusiast class – account for nearly half of the dollars spent towards gaming hardware.

According to Jon Peddie Research, 46 percent of the dollars spent in 2009 on stuff like boutique PCs, high-end processors and graphics cards, SSD's, specialized gaming mice, keyboards, speakers, monitors and others come from PC enthusiasts.

The research firm figures that PC enthusiasts have a special style element to them that JPR calls a "muscle car element." These days, a respectable GPU from a recent generation has a pretty good shot at running any PC game at a decent frame rate and image quality level. This opens up the PC gaming market beyond just high-end systems and towards the more humble performance and mainstream users.

Jon Peddie, President of JPR, noted that "gamers are ordering, building, and modding their rigs with components that just a few years ago were simply not available with any economy of scale. SSD's, water cooling, gaming mice and keyboards and other components have come to the Performance class and gamers are starting to snap them up."

As a result of this, JPR estimates that the enthusiast class will only account for 35 percent of the dollars spent on gaming by 2013, despite projections of growing to $12.5 billion – up from 2009's $9.5 billion. This will be due to a spread of gaming towards the performance and mainstream segments, which should be good news to anyone making a PC game these days.