The New York Times reports on Wal-Mart's acquisition of Vudu, a company behind the eponymous online movie service incorporated into many HD televisions and Blu-ray players. While specifics on the deal haven't yet been released, it seems clear that Wal-Mart is attempting to embrace the future of media distribution in a climate of dwindling DVD sales.

Apple has recently announced an extension on its repair program for certain MacBook models produced between May 2006 and December 2007. Qualifying machines display a flashing question mark on the screen when turned on and are eligible for a free hard drive replacement. Customers with symptomatic MacBooks should bring them to an Apple Authorized Service Provider or an Apple Store within 3 years from their original date of purchase or until August 15, 2010 (whichever is longer). Apple also said it will reimburse users who paid out-of-pocket to fix this now-covered issue.

Joining networks like NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX, HBO has dipped its toes into the waters of Web television with its new GO service - sort of. While the other aforementioned networks enable anyone with a computer hooked up to the Internet to access content, HBO's GO will be available only to customers currently signed up for its regular cable service. For those folks, Web access to over 600 hours of premium shows and movies is free; for everyone else, there isn't even an option to pay a fee - at least not yet. It will be interesting to watch how HBO develops this service and its audience in the coming year.

Apple has announced it will award a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card to the customer who purchases the 10 billionth song on iTunes. Not surprisingly with such a large reward, the list of rules is long and labyrinthine, but entering is as easy as purchasing a song. With roughly 9,913,000,000 songs already downloaded, and the current purchase rate being about 150 songs per second (there's a nifty counter on Apple's site), the winning purchase should happen soon!

Were you unable to make it to Macworld Expo 2010 last week? Catch up on what you missed with Macworld's Best of Show slideshow, highlighting 11 products cherry-picked by Macworld's editors.

Macworld Expo attendees can now get a free copy of CrashPlan+ (normally $59.99) by stopping at Code 42 Software's booth, #1278. The commercial version of the popular backup software boasts extra features such as stronger 448-bit encryption, Web-restore capabilities, priority support, and an ad-free interface. Again, this is for Macworld Expo attendees only, but if you are at the show be sure to take advantage of this great offer!

Security research group Cryptopath has discovered a vulnerability in the way the iPhone OS handles authentication certificates that could enable potential attackers to gain access to user data. To take advantage of this flaw, an attacker would have to trick users into downloading a malicious file under the guise of a legitimate update. While there are no reports of this security flaw currently being exploited in the wild, be extra careful when opening unverified links or files until an official security update is released.

Apple's iTunes Preview Web site has enabled Web-based previews of many titles in the App Store, such as Tap Tap Revenge 2.6, linked here. Aside from making it easier for users to check out apps without having to leave their browsers and launch iTunes, Apple undoubtedly wants to encourage Web search engines to link into the App Store. Given that, it's not surprising that the iTunes Preview site still pushes you to iTunes whenever it gets the chance. Finally, an odd - but likely temporary - problem is that not all apps appear to have Web previews, including Apple's own MobileMe iDisk App.