California Governor Jerry Brown last week signed a new law designed to protect digital privacy rights. The California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA) mandates that a warrant is required in order for state law enforcement agencies or investigators to compel businesses to turn over metadata or digital communications such as emails, texts, and cloud-stored documents. Additionally, it requires a warrant for the tracking or searching of electronic devices. The White House, meanwhile, has backed down on its battle with tech companies over encrypted data of digital devices. Continue reading CalECPA: California Governor Signs Landmark Privacy Law

Shortly after Jack Dorsey was named permanent CEO of Twitter, the company is reportedly readying company-wide layoffs to begin this week. According to sources, the number of layoffs remains uncertain, but most departments are likely to be affected. Re/code reports, “The downsizing comes at the same time Twitter is restructuring its engineering organization to make it leaner and more efficient, these sources say. It’s likely that many of those impacted by the layoffs will be engineers, which make up about half the staff.” Twitter has more than doubled its number of employees since Q2 2013 to roughly 4,100.

The Entertainment Merchant’s Association is offering ETC members a 50 percent discount on registration to its Digital Media Pipeline conference, taking place October 14 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. This year’s event — which runs $198 with the discount — will focus on the delivery of digital entertainment, including electronic sell-through, transactional VOD, subscription VOD and ad-supported VOD. Studio execs, digital retailers and service and tech providers will discuss the latest trends in online entertainment. To take advantage of EMA’s offer, visit the Non-Member Registration page and enter Discount Code 904. Continue reading ETC Members Offered Major Discount on Digital Media Pipeline

Following an earlier price increase in Europe this year, Netflix is raising its subscription fee for new customers in the U.S., Canada and parts of Latin America. Subscribers who opt for the plan that allows two viewers to simultaneously use an account will be charged $9.99 ($1 more per month), while one-screen and four-screen plans will not change. Current customers will have a grace period before being affected by the increase. “With more than 65 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix is counting on customer gains and higher prices to sustain revenue growth and finance the cost of its film and TV offerings,” reports Bloomberg.

Sony announced yesterday that it has completed its acquisition of SoftKinetic Systems, Belgian innovator of time-of-flight (ToF) range image sensor technology. SoftKinetic’s depth-sensing camera tech is ideal for tracking hand gestures, which makes the startup a logical fit for Sony and its ongoing efforts with augmented reality smart glasses and the PlayStation VR headset. According to Re/code, the company’s ToF cameras “work by shining a diffused laser out into the world and measuring how long it takes that laser to bounce back, similar to the motion camera Kinect that connects to Microsoft’s Xbox.”

During the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that while it is “a bit further out,” his company is working on augmented reality. Facebook signaled its intentions regarding virtual reality when it acquired Oculus, but augmented reality presents new challenges, according to Facebook’s Michael Abrash, and is likely to take longer. “The implications for a Facebook-driven AR system are pretty obvious,” suggests TechCrunch. “Imagine, maybe, walking down the street and getting a heads-up display for the number of likes a business has.”

Brand consultancy Interbrand recently released its annual Best Global Brands report and, not surprisingly, tech companies continue their worldwide dominance. Apple and Google topped Interbrand’s list for the third year running. “The study, which is in its 16th year, assigns dollar values and ranks to what it deems the top 100 global brands, based on company performance,” explains Quartz. The analysis considers “financial performance, influence on consumer behavior, and staying power relative to peers.” Microsoft was ranked number 4, IBM number 5, Amazon number 10 and Intel number 14. Cisco took the number 15 spot and Facebook was ranked 23rd.

While streaming services continue to invest in original series to attract new subscribers, the SVOD battle over TV rights has also been heating up. Amazon, Hulu and Netflix are competing for the exclusive rights to stream popular shows that first air on television. A number of new deals have been announced in recent weeks, including Amazon picking up USA Network’s “Mr. Robot,” Hulu getting Fox’s “The Last Man on Earth,” and Netflix signing ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder” and CW’s “Jane the Virgin.” Most recently, Viacom extended its licensing agreement with Hulu. Continue reading Hulu Doubles the Amount of TV Content it Licenses from Viacom

Less than three months after its launch, Jet.com has decided to waive its $50 annual membership fee, which was key to the startup’s business model. The NJ-based shopping site raised $225 million in venture capital prior to going live, making it one of the most-hyped tech startups this year. Considered a potential challenger to Amazon, Jet.com was seen by many as a discount shopping site, a perception Jet executives are hoping to change. However, a shift to its membership model could mean reduced savings for users. “Without the membership fees, it will be more challenging for Jet to beat Amazon’s prices — its key pitch to customers — while also funding a massive advertising campaign,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The European Union’s highest court, the European Court of Justice, dealt a blow to the American tech industry yesterday when it struck down the international Safe Harbor agreement that previously allowed companies to move digital information between the EU and the U.S. The pact allowed companies to transfer data such as social media updates and online search histories. However, the court ruled that Safe Harbor was flawed since the U.S. government used it to access the online information of Europeans, an issue that was raised by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Continue reading European Court Rules Data Transfer Pact with U.S. is Invalid

Starting in January 2016, cable channel ABC Family will be renamed Freeform as part of a rebranding effort to target a younger audience. The new channel plans to shift from aging millennials to younger viewers, coined “becomes.” The name Freeform is meant to reflect the way today’s teens and young adults consume their media. The rebranded channel does not have a logo yet, but a radical new approach is expected. “A Facebook video created to introduce the new name and look, for instance, relies on a rapid patchwork of fonts and images — appearing much more like MTV than Disney,” according to The New York Times.

The FAA proposed yesterday to fine Chicago-based aerial-photography firm SkyPan International “$1.9 million in connection with allegedly flying drones in restricted airspace above New York and Chicago 65 times from March 2012 through December 2014, including 43 flights near New York’s large airports,” reports The Wall Street Journal. This figure dramatically surpasses the $18,700 that was previously the FAA’s largest fine issued for unauthorized drone flights. As the use of drones continues to surge, the FAA “has stepped up a public campaign to keep drone users away from high-profile events like the Super Bowl and the papal visit.”

On October 15, the USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) will launch an Experimental Audio Design Lab within its Mobile & Environmental Media Lab. The new venture will serve as a creative think tank exploring innovative audio projects, and a service organization helping other projects within SCA realize audio goals. The lab will work across storytelling media including gaming, narrative, embedded and enchanted objects, augmented reality, virtual reality, mobile, world building, experimental cinema and more.  The Experimental Audio Design Lab seeks corporate involvement for both sponsorship and research problems to solve. Contact Chanel Summers (chanel@syndicate17.com) if you would like additional information.

Amazon is readying a new service, code-named Space Needle, designed to help businesses better analyze their growing collections of data. The service — which will compete with IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Tibco and others in the lucrative business intelligence space — could help the Amazon Web Services cloud-computing division secure more customers by housing more of their data. Amazon is in a strong position for an add-on service; clients such as Airbnb, Netflix, Nike and Pfizer already store their proprietary data on AWS. Continue reading New Analytics Service from Amazon to Make Better Use of Data

Microsoft announced that it has purchased Irish gaming tech firm Havok Software — which it describes as “the leading provider of 3D physics” — from chipmaker Intel. Since Microsoft is working on both gaming and augmented reality, “its Xbox and Hololens projects require that the software giant have the best tooling possible,” reports TechCrunch. According to Havok, its technology can be found in game titles such as “Halo,” “Call of Duty,” “Uncharted” and the special effects of movies including “X-Men: First Class,” “World War Z” and “The Matrix.” Microsoft says Havok is “a fantastic addition” to “existing tools and platform components for developers, including DirectX 12, Visual Studio and Microsoft Azure.”