Rather than fly out to SxSW we decided to make a road trip out of it, with stops/meetups at Richmond, Atlanta and New Orleans. Besides doing a meetup in each one of these cities we’d like to meet and talk with users, students, and developers. For our time in Austin we will stick with is what now a Boxee tradition: a Boxee RV and a Boxee kegger.

With this in mind, we need some help from Boxee fans out there. Please leave a comment if you can help with any of the items below:

• Venue for meetup in each city – if you live in Richmond, Atlanta or New Orleans and have an idea for a venue (bar, big office, club, university) that can host ~ 100 people
• A fixer – in each of these cities would be great if we would have a local “fixer” that can help secure the venue, arrange for drinks, food, sound system and in general be able to hustle.
• Great stops along the way – any good ideas for must-stop spots along on our way. this is our current drive plan: http://goo.gl/maps/yxMO.
• Bail agent –  as a cab driver in vegas once told me “when in a new town, it’s always good to have a phone number for a good bail agent”

On the morning of March 8th we will pick up a Jeep Cherokee (or something similar Hertz tells us) and get going. We will drive it like a rental, play loud music, moon fellow travelers, eat greasy food, stay in cheap motels.  We’ll also be giving out T-shirts & Boxee Boxes by D-Link along the way.

Currently our schedule looks like this (click on a Meetup to RSVP):

**UPDATED March 7th (Mon) - Richmond Meetup

March 8th (Tue) – meetup moved to Monday

March 9th (Wed) – Atlanta Meetup

March 10th (Thu) – New Orleans Meetup

March 11th-12th (Fri-Sat) – Drink. Party. Meet with people. Dance.

March 13th (Sun) – The 2nd Annual Boxee SxSW Kegger (1p – 5pm)
If you were there last year you know it was a good time.  We’re going to try and keep the same easy going atmosphere this year so you can just come out and meet good people, have some food, and have a few drinks. We’ll send out more updates as the date gets closer.

March 14th (Mon) – Fly back to NYC. Start cleansing process.

We are happy to announce that TV shows and movies streaming instantly from Netflix are now available on the Boxee Box by D-Link in the US and Canada.

Netflix support was the most common request we had on our blog comments, forum posts, tweets, etc.  We heard you loud and clear. We were bummed that we could not make it happen earlier, but are very excited to have it out today.

To instantly watch movies streaming Netflix on your Boxee Box, you’ll need to update the software on your Box – it will update automatically to the new version (1.0.4.17443) within the next 24hrs or you can manually check for the update by going to Settings>System>Update.

I’ve been a Netflix member for years now, and anxiously waiting for the day when I could use it at home on my Boxee Box.  For only $7.99 a month this is a no brainer. It’s not just about movies, I just finished the last season of Spartacus, and I’m now watching Season 2 episodes shortly after they air. Netflix already has more than 20M members, if you’re not one of them you should sign up for Netflix now. They have a one month free trial.

Netflix on the Box will simultaneously launch in Canada.  Netflix on the Box is different from the version you see on the PC/Mac versions of Boxee. It has the brand new Netflix UI which they constantly update, test and improve.  Additionally there’s more discovery options featuring unique Netflix recommendations and many of the movies are available in HD.  If you are a Netflix fan, you will love it.  Order a Boxee Box from Amazon here.

Below is an amateur video of Andrew by Andrew showing Netflix running on the Boxee Box:

Now that you’ve seen it in action, pick up a Boxee Box today.
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Included in this release is a new Application signing process was introduced with this version. If you are hosting your own Applications Repository, or developing applications on the Boxee Box, make sure to sign up at http://www.boxee.tv/developer, and generate the required keys.

If you are a Boxee Box user who is having an issue with an App in an external repository, please contact the developers and inform them of this change.

Check out all the updates to the firmware here.

We’re in a bit of an awkward spot at the moment.

The Netflix app is up and running on Boxee (we watched the intro to Full Metal Jacket earlier today), but we have not yet satisfied Netflix’s security requirements. We anticipate availability soon.  It’s terrible to be so close to releasing and yet still be waiting on one thing to fall into place.

There’s not a day that goes by without dozens of emails, comments, tweets, asking about Netflix.  We all want it.  We hear you in every medium (even audience cries at the Crunchies) that you tell us you want it and we’re doing everything we know to do to make this happen as quickly as possible