50 Ways to Improve Your 2009

Both Battleground and Lilyhammer get mixed reviews, as streaming services branch out

(NEWSER) - Online streaming sites Hulu and Netflix both launched original series this week, as both services take baby steps toward competing with regular television, reports Gigaom . A look at each:

• Hulu's Battleground is the more conventional of the two, a 13-episode comedy about a Senate campaign in Wisconsin that started today, with a new 22-minute episode airing each Tuesday. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has solid praise for Battleground, saying it is "a smart, well-written comedy series you might find on a premium cable network." The AP is less kind, however, calling it "a light, watered-down knockoff of The Office," while the New York Daily News comes down somewhere in-between.

Political comedy called 'Battleground' and travelogue show to debut

(NEWSER) - Hulu is expanding its foray into the world of original programming with two new shows set to debut before summer, reports the Wall Street Journal . Battleground, scheduled to begin in February, will be a 13-episode scripted comedy about a not-exactly-functional Senate campaign. Don't expect a low-budget production: Hulu execs said the show's costs would align with those of cable shows ... which can run as much as a few million dollars per episode. More»

Amazon Prime customers can now access 7K shows, 2K movies

(NEWSER) - Netflix and Hulu beware: Amazon has struck a new blow in the battle for streaming content. A deal with NBCUniversal has added some 1,000 movies and TV shows to the web giant’s streaming library. Alongside a deal with CBS, Amazon now provides its Prime customers—who pay $79 a year for free shipping and other perks—with 7,000 TV shows and 2,000 movies, Mashable reports. Meanwhile, Netflix faces a setback as customers quit over its new pricing plan . More»

We can achieve more if we recognize the roadblocks, writes Steve Roy

(NEWSER) - We’re all looking for more in life, but it's easy to get sidetracked—and crippled—by chronic stresses. In order to move forward, we need to identify the obstacles in front of us. Steve Roy at Dumb Little Man recommends 10 things we can change that will allow us "to live life on our own terms":

1. Our life-draining jobs: "Get out before it's too late (easier said than done)."
2. Family anxiety. When it comes to kids, worries of kidnappers and pedophiles keep us up at night, but it's the tantrums and bad behavior that really do us in. However, Roy has "yet to figure out how to have a peaceful household and therefore can offer no insight to this at all."
3. Ordinariness: " What the world does not need is another average Joe living paycheck to paycheck." Do something amazing, inspiring, or interesting.

Price covers streaming shows, not downloads

(NEWSER) - Apple is trying to hammer out deals with TV programmers to allow it to rent individual programs for 99¢ rather than the $1.99 it currently charges to permanently download a program in standard definition, sources tell NewTeeVee . Users will have 30 days to watch each rental, and unlike the current iTunes offering, the content will stream, so they can watch it immediately. More»