iLounge

Netflix has announced a partnership with LG Electronics to offer an internet-connected set-top box that will allow Netflix subscribers to download movies and other programming directly to the television set. “It’s going to be very slick and easy,” said Reed Hastings, Netflix’s chief executive officer. “We want the TV experience to be very relaxing and not like visiting a Web site.” The box, which will be released in summer or early autumn, will likely compete against the Apple TV and the upcoming iTunes movie rental service.

An iPhone owner on vacation in New York city accidentally dropped his device onto the subway tracks, and, in a very dangerous and foolhardy move, jumped down to retrieve it. Luckily, both owner and iPhone emerged relatively unharmed.

France Telecom’s Orange unit has said that it sold more than 70,000 iPhones in the first month of availability in France, which in “right in line” with company targets of 50-100,000 units. In addition, a spokesperson revealed that 48 percent of the sales were to new Orange customers.

Lagotek has announced that it will showcase a version of its “HIP Modes” home control gadget running on the iPhone and iPod touch at CES. The company claims it is “the first technology that enables the use of iPhone and iPod touch for home control over WiFi and GPRS/EDGE.”

Nexthaus has released a beta version of its upcoming SyncJe client software for the iPhone. SyncJe for iPhone wirelessly synchronizes the iPhone’s Calendar, Contacts, and Notes applications with SyncML servers. The software is free until January 9, at which point it will be available for download for the price of $40.