Netgear is trying to compete with its former partner Roku with its own streaming media player, the Netgear NeoTV, also know as the NTV 200. Check out our review below:

Show notes for this episode:

• The Netgear NeoTV was originally priced at 0, but you can find it online for around . More info on the device on Neatgear’s website.
• Netgear had originally teamed up with Roku to distribute a co-branded player based on Roku’s platform, but that partnership only lasted a few months.
• Many of the NeoTV’s apps are powered by Flingo. Check out our previous Flingo coverage.

What kind of features are you looking for in a player like this one? Is not having Hulu Plus a deal breaker, or do you care more about having YouTube? Please share your thoughts in the comments, get in touch with us on Twitter (@cordcutters) or email us at cordcutters @ gigaom.com.

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The hottest item that you probably couldn’t get for Christmas this year was the Nest learning thermostat — the smart gadget has been sold out for weeks and you can’t get one until 2012. But I bought one a couple months ago for a Christmas present for my parents and the device finally showed up a couple days before the big day.

Since I was planning to give it as a present, I didn’t want to configure the device, but I did want to do a lil unboxing for y’all so you can see what it looks like and what you get inside. The packaging does remind me of Apple products (the creators designed the iPod and the iPhone), but the real test will come when we try to install the thermostat. I’m slightly worried about my parents tackling this project, but I’ll let you know how they fare in a couple weeks.

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The Channel Master TV is a new DVR that squarely targets cord cutters who don’t want to pay any monthly subscription. But is the device worth 0? Check out our take on it:

Show notes for this episode:

• Channel Master TV started selling at the beginning of November for 0. Check out the Channel Master website for more information.
• This DVR offers a free two-day EPG. Users who want a more advanced EPG need to subscribe to a premium guide, which costs a year.
• Want a DVR, but don’t want to pay 0? Then check out our review of the EyeTV One TV tuner and DVR.

Do you miss your cable DVR after you’ve cut the cord? Have you replaced it with something else, or are you still looking for the perfect solution? Let us know in the comments, get in touch with us on Twitter (@cordcutters) or Facebook or email us at cordcutters @ gigaom.com.

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Netflix subscribers can soon watch more episodes of ABC shows like Desperate Housewifes, Grey’s Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters, thanks to an extended licensing agreement between the video subscription service and Disney. Episodes will, as it’s usually the case with Netflix content, be added a little after the current season of a show has ended.

The agreement also adds the entire ABC show Alias as well as the ABC Family show Switched at Birth to the Netflix catalog, and ensures than Netflix is going to continue to be able to stream all seasons of Lost and Ugly Betty. Check the official press release or Netflix’s blog post for more content covered by this agreement.

The re-up with Disney comes at a critical time for Netflix. Its recent price hike, followed by the short-lived plan to completely separate its DVD business under the Qickster brand, have not only cost the company 800,000 domestic subscribers; the stock has also tanked from a high of 4 earlier this summer to at the closing of the markets last Friday. Having popular TV content for years to come could not only help to keep the remaining subscribers happy, but possibly also persuade investors that things may not be so bad after all.

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VMware CEO Paul Maritz has been banging the drum for a new era of application development tailored to a world of cloud computing, big data and multi-platform delivery, and NoSQL is often seen as an important part of that evolution. That end, the SpringSource division of VMware has been advancing its NoSQL prowess by working very closely with Neo Technology to produce a version of the Neo4j graph database optimized for Spring environments.

Further, SpringSource founder and GM (and current SVP of applications platforms at VMware) Rod Johnson is now chairman of Neo’s board of directors. VMware has been nothing if not strategic in how it has grown the SpringSource business since acquiring it in 2009, so the alignment with Neo could foreshadow a stronger NoSQL push by VMware.

What’s particularly interesting is that Emil Eifrem, Neo Technology CEO and one of Neo4j’s creators, told me Spring Data Neo4j is the product of a joint development between himself and SpringSource’s Johnson. And not only is Johnson now chairman of Neo’s board of directors, but as far as Eifrem knows, it’s Johnson’s only board seat of any kind.

The seemingly tight connection doesn’t mean VMware will start pushing Neo4j as the only NoSQL database that matters, or buy Neo Technology tomorrow — Spring Data Neo4j is actually part of the greater Spring Data project that includes a number of other NoSQL options — but it does underscore VMware’s ongoing commitment to NoSQL and other alternatives to legacy relational databases. Last year, it purchased distributed data grid vendor GemStone Systems and hired Redis key developer Salvatore Sanfilippo.

As Eifrem said, both Oracle and MySQL established their lofty positions by being the right tool for the application evolutions that were happening around the time of their respective births. MySQL was the “M” in the LAMP stack that underpins so many first-generation web applications, he said, so “what is the LAMP stack of the cloud?” Perhaps it’s a NoSQL database like Neo4j.

Graph databases such as Neo4j are particularly well suited for social media uses because of their ability to draw connections between different pieces of data, but Eifrem said Cisco already is using Neo4j for a large master data management system. And, although not wholly uncommon among NoSQL databases, Eifrem said Neo4j also provides support for both transactions and Java environments, which makes it a nice fit within the Spring developer community comprised of approximately 3 million enterprise developers working programming largely in Java.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based Neo closed a .6 million Series B round in September.

Feature image courtesy of Flickr user opticalreflex. Graph database model courtesy of Neo Technology.

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Let’s just face it — anytime some new start-up comes along and tries to innovate around the idea of music, it is hit by some roadblocks. Latest one to realize that  – Turntable.fm. The social music discovery service is now unavailable to International visitors and is now restricted to just the US residents. In a tweet this morning, the company shared the news with its followers.

It is a shame considering Turntable.fm was just beginning to blow up and ushering in a new era of music consumption. In a few weeks, Turntable.fm (formerly Stickybits) had attracted 140,000 members and was being actively pursued by investors. Many were skeptical of the legality of the service and the current actions are only going to increase investor skepticism.

Being supremely addicted to Turntable.fm, I hope this little startup finds a way to first survive and then thrive, because it has a lot of potential. Olga Nunes, a San Francisco-based musician used Turntable.fm to get traction and push sales of her music. I think this is the read potential of Turntable.fm — artists and fans, all in one room, driving sales. Say what Lady Gaga???

What is Turntable.fm? Here is what I wrote in a previous post.

Turntable.fm is a New York City-based social music listening and discovery service that is spreading on the web like wildfire. The idea behind the service is pretty simple: You sign-up by using your Facebook credentials, create a music listening room and invite people to come join you in the room. You can create a playlist by selecting songs from the service or upload your tracks. Others can join, and become co-deejays.

If you don’t want to deejay, you can skip from one room to another based on musical interests. You can chat with others and share your playlists. You even get your own avatar that bobs to music. The whole experience is not just about music. It’s about finding others who enjoy music and forming relationships with them — albeit transient ones.

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