DVD rental site Netflix is in the news for hiring human customer-service reps in a move away from automated support. But that's surely the least significant of Netflix's recruiting plans. A tipster whispers that Netflix is trying to hire away Apple engineers to work on a set-top box for movie downloads. Not surprising, after Netflix's alliance with TiVo fell apart, and the DVR maker turned to Amazon.com instead as a partner for movie downloads. And Netflix's hiring of ReplayTV founder Anthony Wood, who's thought by many to be the original creator of the digital video recorder, kept Netflix set-top box rumors alive this spring. But if Wood is now staffing up his team by poaching Apple engineers, that tells us Netflix is getting serious. Heard more? Drop us a line.

Contact information for this author is not available.