Vizio is about to up the ante with the release of its “XVT” line of flatscreen TVs, certain models of which will come with a slew of pre-loaded applications that give you access to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, along with video download services like Netflix and Blockbuster.

It comes with a wicked cool remote that, like some cell phones, includes a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

The full list of Internet apps is as follows:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flickr
• Yahoo! Widgets
• Netflix
• Blockbuster OnDemand
• Amazon Video On Demand
• Rhapsody
• Vudu
• Revision3
• Showtime
• Pandora

The Vizio XVT will be available this holiday season with these options in 42″, 47″, and 55″ models, for $1,199, $1,699, and $2,199, respectively.

Image: Copyright 2009 ©Vizio.

A lawsuit against Walmart and Netflix was filed in California saying that consumers were hurt because of their monopoly agreement where Walmart removed their DVD rentals and redirected everything to Netflix. Netflix on the other hand, promoted Walmart sending buyers to their site.

This monopolistic partnership has prompted Blockbuster to raise their subscription price to keep at par with Netflix. In the end, consumers were the losers which led to the lawsuit.

Netflix and Walmart could easily lower their prices as they help each other out and I don’t see any reason why they have to increase their prices which led Blockbuster to do the same.

At least, when consumers are concerned it only means they are not downloading pirated copies using their computers.

Netflix is the world’s largest online movie rental service and now you can use it to instantly watch some of your favorite Comedy Central and Nickelodeon shows!

image: netflix.com

By accessing Netflix.com using your computer or by using Netflix-ready devices on your TV, you can watch shows like South Park (the first nine seasons are already available!), iCarly and SpongeBob SquarePants whenever you like.

This is a great service for many reasons but, as a parent, it’s nice to know that if my daughter wants to see an episode of Dora the Explorer, I can simply turn it on (which could make keeping her occupied as I cook dinner a lot easier when she doesn’t feel like coloring).  I can see parents with sick kids at home loving this too.

Of course, even if you aren’t a parent, being able to find and watch a specific episode of South Park at any time is great.  This is just another way that Netflix is revolutionizing the way we watch television and movies.

Jason Snell of Mac World reviews the Netflix Instant Watching service for Intel Macs.

As pointed out by the article the service isn’t available to all Netflix users yet. They’re slowly rolling it out. Since I’m both not a Netflix customer and a U.S. resident I can’t try them out for myself. The review gives us all a glimpse though.

So with Netflix offering instant gratification will we see a contender to iTunes? Don’t think so, not until they improve their instant watching catalog. At least that’s what I got from the review.