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Verizon has just announced that the last quarter was its best yet -- in regard to subscriber numbers. Those 2.1 million new additions mean that Verizon can now lay claim to 98.2 million customers in total, while smartphones have now claimed an additional 5 percent of this base, up to 58 percent. Since its last report, Q4 consolidated revenues totaled $30 billion for the first time, although profits were hit by $135 million in damages from Hurricane Sandy as well as a one-time pension cost that meant the company took a charge of between $9 and 10 billion for the quarter. This made up a $1.93 billion loss for the carrier, which remained, unsurprisingly, upbeat. Verizon's FiOS internet and TV businesses added 144,000 and 134,000 customers, respectively. According to Verizon, its LTE network is now available to 273 million people and CEO Lowell McAdam is calling the last twelve months "a year of solid progress."

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We'll take a break from football -- true addicts can give the Pro Bowl and Senior Bowl a look -- for one weekend before the big game, but there are other options. That includes hockey now, of course, but also a few premiering and returning shows. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

The Following
If you need a few more connections in your next six degrees of Kevin Bacon game, tune in to The Following, which pits Bacon as an FBI agent chasing down serial killer (and leader of other killers) James Purefoy. It's been heavily promoted, but we'll find out tonight if the high profile cast and production add up to a show worth watching -- it didn't work so well for ABC's Last Resort, which is airing its series finale this week.
(Fox, January 21st, 9PM)

Spartacus: War of the Damned
The last season of Starz' hit Spartacus: War of the Damned kicks off Friday night, and should bring along all the associated violence we've come to expect from the series. As Marcus Crassus and Julius Caesar join the fight things are only going to get more interesting, if you've somehow missed out on the show till now you can check out a trailer embedded after the break. The special effects have never surpassed the level of most made-for-Syfy movies, but somehow it manages to become more than the sum of its parts.
(Starz, January 25th, 9PM)

The Cave
The next adventure game from Double Fine, The Cave hits a slew of platforms this week. Available for download on Steam, PSN, Xbox Live and Wii U eShop, it lets player's pick their own squad of adventures and explore -- what else -- a cave. Somehow that area will include an amusement park, castle and even a ready to launch nuke, but we're most interested to see how it integrates the Wii U GamePad for camera and character switching.
($14.99, multiple platforms / dates)

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Got your HDHomeRun Prime, your favorite DLNA client and an itch to watch some premium HD cable TV? Well, then it's time to head over to the beta forum, download the latest firmware then register as a tester. Those of you lucky enough to have a nice TV provider that doesn't lock everything down with Copy Once flags will be able to watch live TV on just about any DLNA playback device that supports MPEG2. Those not so lucky will need a PS3 or a 2012 Samsung HDTV, without which this little gem ain't going to do you much good. Sadly, this exclusive to the HDHomeRun Prime because its the only one with the hardware to support DLNA, but the new tuners due this spring will allow DLNA access of ATSC, QAM and DVB sources -- as well as allow playback on Media Players that only support h.264. The usefulness of this is still pretty limited while we wait for the rest of SiliconDust's Project:Connect to come together, but we don't see any reason why you wouldn't join in on the fun.

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Microsoft's quest to become king of the living room by continuing the expansion of its console's entertainment services just grew a little more today. The Redmond-based company has announced that NHL GameCenter is now available to Xbox Live members with a Gold subscription, delivering great news to hockey fanatics ahead of the already controversial 2013 season. Regardless of lockouts and all that, though, the National Hockey League application's set to bring plenty of content to the Xbox Live folk, including real-time scores and stats, a Season Central hub that shows you the league's schedule and, naturally, the ability to watch replays and live games (as long as you shell out the $50 fee for the 2012-2013 season, of course). Per Microsoft, NHL GameCenter is available "around the globe," however countries like Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland don't appear to have made the cut. The rest of you, meanwhile, can download the app starting today.

Update: Below is a note from Microsoft about which countries can expect to see the NHL GameCenter app on their consoles, as well as more info regarding the situation in the Nordic regions.

The following countries are receiving NHL GameCenter: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong SAR, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America.

The NHL app will not be available on Xbox within the Nordic markets due to an existing digital broadcast agreement already in place between NHL and Viasat Broadcasting. NHL games can be viewed instead via the Viaplay app, which launched on Xbox in December 2012.The Viaplay app is available immediately for download via Xbox LIVE.

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Now that we're all back to the normal grind outside of the confines of a double-wide trailer, it's time to reflect on the last week's events in chilly Las Vegas. In a return to weekly installments of our tablet mag, we recall the high points of CES 2013 with a look at the battle surrounding second screen tech. We also discuss of all of the Ultra HD news and rundown the Best in Show items in all of the major categories. Eyes-On takes a gander at QNX's Bentley, Hands-On wraps the final two days from the show floor and travel photographer Austin Mann visits for the Q&A. The end of another week is here, friends, so grab your device of choice and cozy up for an extra helping of leisurely gadget reading.

Distro Issue 74 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store
Distro in the Windows Store
Distro APK (for sideloading)
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Netflix or Lovefilm Instant? Perhaps it's only the most content-hungry viewers that decide to sign up with both services, but for the rest of us, we'll only choose one -- but which one? Now Oric, a service that collates legal streaming services in the UK, has surveyed both catalogs and deemed that... it depends. For TV shows and series, Netflix can stream 412 TV titles (with 925 total series), while Lovefilm Instant can only offer up 300 titles and 589 seasons.

However, If you're wanting to pile on the movies, Amazon's UK streaming service then comes out on top, with 3,284 movies almost doubling Netflix's 1,668 titles. There's not much crossover here, either, with 3,015 flicks a Lovefilm exclusive and 1,399 movies that are Netflix-only. Oric also tapped into the catalogs' release dates, with Lovefilm housing substantially more (777) pre-80's films. Netflix, with a smaller number of titles in total, has more recent titles, with 41 coming from last year, compared to 18 on Lovefilm Instant.

However, bigger than the discrepancies between each service is the fact that the UK offerings remain tiny in comparison to their Atlantic cousins. Amazon Prime subscribers in the US get 13,185 movies and 2,204 TV seasons, compared to 3,284 and 589, respectively. So much for the special relationship.

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If you've been waiting to try out XBMC on your Android, it appears now is the time. While beta and nightly builds were already available, the team behind it has finally readied a release it says is "end user friendly," ready to run on most any device. It achieves that feat by offloading video player duties to another app, in this case MX Player, in order to get around XBMC's lack of hardware support for many devices. After sideloading the two necessary APKs we were able to get it up and running without any trouble, tossing in add-ins and playing back locally stored media without a problem. There's a video to go along with the release (embedded after the break) but installing it yourself is probably the best way to get a feel for its video, picture and audio playback abilities.

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Windows Media Center's best companion app for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Nook and Kindle has never required a Ceton branded tuner or extender, but now there's a new name to avoid any confusion. My Media Center is hitting your favorite app store via a free update today, which also includes a few bug fixes and wake on lan. More interestingly, Ceton has released a version of My Media Center for Windows 8, which takes advantage of the new Windows user interface elements and is available in the Windows Store, as of now. There's also an update for the services that needs to be installed on your Windows Media Center PC, so be sure to download it while you're at it. Hit the source link for more screen shots and additional details, or watch the video after the break for a quick demo.

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No, it's not Monday but we're still recouping from the super bowl of electronics so and still not back to our original recording schedule of the Engadget HD podcast. You can tune in live at on this Wednesday edition at 5:30PM and be be a part of it. Start by reviewing the list of topics after the break, then participate in the live chat.

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