It's finally here!  As of today, the CALM act is officially in effect.  For those not familiar, the main thrust of CALM is to ensure that commercials are not louder than the shows that they're airing with.  In other words, no longer will you be blasted with a crazy loud commercial for sponges or something when you've just experienced a really sweet or sad moment in your favorite show.

The folks at Redbox have finally revealed all of the details of their disc and streaming subscription service and it's looking good, especially if you're a Blu-ray fan.  The service will cost $8, which is the same price that Netflix charges for its streaming service.  It's coming to iOS and Android devices as well as TVs and other gear from Samsung and LG as well as Google TV, with more almost certainly on the way.  The streaming doesn't seem to give you much that Netflix doesn't, but Redbox more than makes up for it with the disc rental component of the deal.

High definition streaming can be confusing to some, mainly because the traditional 1080p and 720p labels don't mean as much as the bitrate at which they're encoded.  Typically, higher bitrate means higher quality.  Netflix says that they've changed things up with their own streaming service though, and are offering a new streaming quality that they say offers higher quality at a lower bitrate.

Alright, let's start with the obvious.  No, nobody watches you back through your TV, no matter what conspiracy theorists say.  Well, the CIA is planning to, but that's not the point.  The point is that Verizon has plans for a DVR that will pack both a camera and a microphone to allow for better targeted advertisements.

Two big pieces of news came in from the world of streaming video delivery, both of which weigh in the favor of Netflix.  Firstly, Redbox Instant has been delayed to the spring of 2013.  The company says that they're still doing private beta tests within the organization and will be conducting a public test of the service in January.  The second bit of news is that Disney has signed a significant deal with Netflix that includes pay-TV window streaming rights to feature films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and their most recent acquisition – Lucasfilm.