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It's often tough to explain startups and new tech and what they do, especially if no one's ever done it before.

This and more important news from your Fast Company editors, with updates all day. Amazon Crashes, Takes Down The Internet

iPhone Launch Dates Until recently, we'd been thinking the iPhone 5 would arrive in the August-September timeframe, with the date firming up around the mid-September period.

Only days after reporting $363.9 million in quarterly revenue and $79 million in operating income, up 34% and 99% year-over-year, respectively, DVD kiosk company Redbox has released some more impressive figures. With more than 27,000 kiosks spread across the country, the Coinstar-owned service is now seeing an average of 55 million monthly rentals and up to 40 rentals per second. That's a lot of movies circulating for a service that requires a trip to the local grocery store.

Growing concern over the debt ceiling, America's broken job engine, Wall Street's thoughts on Netflix, and more. The effect of lowering America's credit rating. Economists weigh in on the turbulence that would arise from lowering the federal government's rating from AAA to AA, noting it could create a "further blow to the already fragile national economic confidence," reports The New York Times.

The numbers for Netflix's second quarter are in, and despite recent criticism, the company's not too far from hitting its mark. Subscriptions are up by 1.8 million, to more than 25 million global subscribers, an increase of 70% year-over-year, while global revenue hit $789 million, a 52% uptick from the same quarter last year--though slightly less than the $791 million analysts had expected

Today, document-sharing service Scribd, the world's largest social publishing site with more than 75 million monthly readers, launched Float, an iPhone and web content-reading app that's taking aim at the likes of Pulse, Flipboard, and Instapaper. Like those popular apps, Float enables users to read content from a varity of sources--such as Float's 150 publishing partners, which include AP, Scientific America, and yes, Fast Company--and access the content in one centralized reading platform.

With 500,000 downloads in less than a month, a neo-noir thriller by newcomer Justin Eugene Evans shoots down the standard distribution model in favor of video-sharing site VODO. For director Justin Eugene Evans, making the movie was the easy part.

Consumers are reacting to price increases on Netflix the same way Tea Partiers are likely to react if the government raises the debt ceiling.

A review of Google+, Netflix changes its pricing structure, 'native' apps, and six products that are less environmentally friendly than you think. Testing out Google+. The Wall Street Journal's Katie Boehret reviews Google's latest attempt at a social networking service that falls somewhere between Facebook and Twitter

Bad news today for Netflix subscribers. The streaming and DVDs-by-mail company sent out a message to its members explaining new price changes and plans for its subscription service. Instead of offering a combined $9.99 plan, which includes unlimited streaming and DVDs by mail (one out at-a-time), Netflix said it will split the service into two distinct plans, beginning in September.

Blockbuster spent a significant part of last year ignoring its impending demise. Then-CEO Jim Keyes argued that Netflix was not competition and that the startup had nothing to do with Blockbuster's financial troubles. Keyes said with a straight face that Blockbuster was undergoing an Apple-like comeback and that bankruptcy was out of the question

Yesterday Disney CEO Bob Iger said the owners of Hulu are "committed to selling" the streaming video service. Then Hulu CEO Jason Kilar took to Hulu's blog to address, well, not much at all. Yesterday Disney CEO Bob Iger said the owners of Hulu, which include NBCUniversal and News Corp., are "committed to selling" the streaming video service

“We call it the difference between mechanics and magic,” says Bala Krishnan (right) of the ultra-intuitive TV remote he created with partner Thiru Arunachalam. | Photograph by Toby Burditt How Peel cracked the code of navigating the gazillion-channel universe. AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT, there are thousands of programs ready to stream via satellite dishes and cable wires -- everything from Jersey Shore to Hawaii Five-0

Netflix will expand its streaming service to 43 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the company announced Monday, its largest international expansion so far. On word of the news, Netflix's share price shot up to $283, hitting a 52-week high. The move is yet another part of Netflix's plan to bring its online subscription service beyond the U.S