Last month, S3 Graphics released their 400 line of discrete graphics cards. Now they’ve announced their predictably named Chrome 500 series. The new line can handle Blu-Ray and HD streaming playback and provides much-needed support for DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0. There is also a built-in Dolby 7.1 digital sound processor, GPGPU (General Purpose GPU) technology, ChromotionHD and true compatibility with DisplayPort / HDMI / DVI. The first one to see release will be the 512MB Chrome 530GT (pictured above.)

The price is set at just $44.95 which should please you bottom-line conscious consumers out there.

Roku has announced a partnership with entertainment giant Netflix in order to bring HD streaming to consumers by the end of the year. Currently, Netflix offers no option to instantly stream content in high definition. Roku will be releasing a $99 dollar standalone Netflix player that will feature HD streaming, according to the company’s VP of Consumer Products. They also promise a tweaked interface to "suit all of those extra pixels." The unit will even be able to handle all of that HD streaming goodness at a lower bitrate than previously expected.