Pandora Internet radio service announced yesterday that it has reached a $90 million settlement with record labels over royalties for older songs. A similar $210 million settlement took place in June between the labels and Sirius XM. Sony, Universal, Warner and Abkco sued Pandora last year for nonpayment of royalties. The argument centered on the fact that “federal copyright protection applies only to recordings made after 1972, with a patchwork of state laws applying to earlier recordings,” reports The New York Times. “We pursued this settlement in order to move the conversation forward and continue to foster a better, collaborative relationship with the labels,” said Pandora CEO Brian P. McAndrews.

Yahoo plans to live-stream Sunday’s game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills. The matchup, being played at London’s Wembley Stadium and produced by CBS, will be streamed globally for free via Yahoo’s platforms including Screen and Tumblr. Streaming the game could be a possible first step for Yahoo and the NFL in developing online offerings alongside broadcast and cable TV deals. The NFL has been pushing for new revenue opportunities and has considered partnerships with Silicon Valley in the past. Continue reading Live-Streaming NFL Game Could Be Big First Step for Yahoo

At the YouTube Space in Los Angeles yesterday, YouTube execs formally introduced the company’s anticipated $9.99 per month subscription service. YouTube Red will offer consumers ad-free access to YouTube’s enormous catalog of music, gaming and how-to videos. The company also unveiled YouTube originals during the event, a collection of original programming that will be available exclusively through the new subscription service. YouTube Red will launch next week across the YouTube site, YouTube’s gaming app and the Google Play music service. Continue reading YouTube to Launch its Subscription Service in U.S. Next Week

Disney plans to launch its DisneyLife subscription streaming service next month in the United Kingdom. The service will offer Disney and Pixar movies, music, books and archived Disney Channel shows for £9.99 a month (about $15.45). “Disney plans to make the streaming service available across Europe next year in France, Spain, Italy and Germany, but it does not have any plans to introduce it in the United States for now because of current agreements with cable and satellite companies,” reports The New York Times. Disney’s service could compete with Netflix, which is pushing forward with its international expansion.

YouTube announced new features for its Twitch competitor, YouTube Gaming, launched in August, which provides gamers with the ability to live stream their gameplay and watch others do the same. With Mobile Capture on Android, gamers can now stream directly from their phones. In addition, YouTube Gaming now offers a $3.99 monthly subscription option for supporting favorite streamers (similar to Twitch’s $4.99 partnership program). According to TechCrunch, YouTube’s service has also updated the process for adding games to collections and locating live streams, added YouTube’s watch later feature, and improved the mobile app to remember searches.

The Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday that, upon court approval, Sprint will pay $2.95 million to settle charges claiming the company did not provide proper notice to its customers with lower credit scores that they were paying an additional $7.99 monthly fee, Re/code reports. “Sprint failed to give many consumers required information about why they were placed in a more costly program, and when they did, the notice often came too late for consumers to choose another mobile carrier,” said FTC consumer protection bureau director Jessica Rich. “We appreciated the dialogue with the FTC and we have already implemented the changes requested,” the company responded.

Sony, JVC and Texas Instruments were among those touting 4K Ultra HD devices and content at the recent CEDIA 2015 Expo. Sony debuted its line of Full HD home theater projectors, including a 4K Ultra HD front projector with a laser light engine. JVC showcased its fourth-gen “near-native” 4K Ultra HD liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) tech for three projectors, “supporting some of the industry’s best contrast ratios and brightness levels in front projection,” according to HD Guru. Meanwhile, Texas Instruments announced a home-based 4K DLP chip for future front projectors. Manufacturers say affordable 4K home projectors should be available for demo around CES time in January.

Epson unveiled four new Pro Cinema projectors last week at the CEDIA 2015 Expo in Dallas. Ranging in price from $2,499 to $6,999, the projectors are designed for consumers who are interested in large screens for rooms exposed to a great deal of light. The Full HD 1080p Ultra-Bright Pro Cinema projectors can serve screens bigger than 85 inches with output ranging “from 4,000 to 6,000 lumens of both color and white brightness,” notes HD Guru. “Epson points out that the pricing of its projectors is a bargain compared to what flat-panel TVs would command in screen sizes exceeding 85 inches.”

CBS announced yesterday that its $5.99 per month CBS All Access digital subscription VOD and live streaming service is launching on Apple TV. The service will offer Apple TV users a live stream of their local CBS Television station and more than 7,500 episodes from current and past seasons of series in addition to a library of classic CBS shows. Episodes of 24 current shows will be made available one day after they air on CBS. “New subscribers can sign up for a CBS All Access subscription and a free week-long trial directly through Apple TV, while current CBS All Access subscribers can simply log in using their existing username and password,” explains CBS Los Angeles.

Tobii rolled out its Tobii IS4 eye-tracking platform and Tobii EyeChip, which the press release describes as “the world’s most advanced, compact and versatile eye tracking components for seamless integration into consumer devices.” Both are available for OEM pre-order through the Tobii Early Access Program. The company is targeting desktops, laptops, tablets, automobiles, VR headsets and other consumer devices. Tobii’s sixth generation eye-tracking platform provides OEMs “with near infrared sensors, illuminators, Tobii EyeCore algorithms, Tobii’s proprietary middleware engine and software development kit.”

During last week’s CEDIA Expo in Dallas, Sony showcased its new line of Full HD home theater projectors, including two models that support 4K. Sony is also providing high dynamic range support with its VPL-VW665ES, which allows HDMI input of HDR content with a 300,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. Meanwhile, Kaleidescape debuted its Encore line with the 4K Strato movie player, the “world’s first 4K Ultra HD high dynamic range movie player for the home.” Kaleidescape showed new Alto players and the Terra server, which simultaneously streams 4K content to up to seven Strato players. Continue reading CEDIA Expo: 4K Players, Projectors Coming to Home Theaters

UL (formerly Underwriters Labs) has a pilot program underway as part of an effort to eventually certify Internet of Things devices — including wearables — for safety, security and privacy. UL plans to launch the program early next year. “Because most wearables will be wireless, UL’s concerns include whether the personal data acquired by a smartwatch or other wearable that’s associated with a Social Security number or name is secure over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth,” explains Computerworld. UL, best known for certifying appliances for electrical safety, aims to “raise the bar for how security should be addressed… and establish a minimal baseline for what should be addressed much like we did with electricity 120 years ago,” said engineer Anura Fernando.

According to Piper Jaffray’s latest semiannual survey of American teens, the most important social networks among teenagers are Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, in that order. One-third indicated that they found photo-sharing app Instagram to be their most important social network, while 20 percent cited Twitter and 19 percent listed Snapchat. Only 15 percent said that Facebook was their most important social app. “The findings support the view that younger users are less engaged with Facebook and prefer alternate sites,” reports The Wall Street Journal. However, “this spring, Pew Research Internet Project found Facebook the site used most frequently by U.S. teens between 13 and 17.”

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), which protects University of Wisconsin’s intellectual property and patents, won a lawsuit last week against Apple after a jury decided that Apple’s A7, A8 and A8X processors used in iPhones and iPads violate a WARF patent for improving chip efficiency. The same jury ruled on Friday that Apple would have to pay $234 million in damages for using the microchip technology without permission. Although the amount is less than the $400 million sought by the university’s patent licensing arm, “WARF praised the verdict and said it was important to protect the university’s inventions from unauthorized use,” reports Reuters. Apple said it plans to appeal the decision.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal plans to debut a Web-only subscription video service in January called Seeso that will offer comedic fare such as standup specials, original series, select movies, and NBC classics like “The Office” and “30 Rock” along with late-night hits including “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” The ad-free channel, which will cost $3.99 per month, will offer more than 20 exclusive original series during its first year. NBCU said it does not have plans to remove its content from other digital services such as Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. Continue reading NBCUniversal to Launch Ad-Free Streaming Comedy Channel