According to a recent survey conducted by Nielsen, Twitter users not only like to chat about movies on social media, but they attend more screenings than average American consumers. “Twitter users said they plan to see a median of five movies this summer — 25 percent more than the average moviegoer surveyed,” reports Variety. “In addition, they are 87 percent more likely than non-users to go see a movie within the first 10 days of its opening and 340 percent more likely than non-users to have seen more than 12 movies in theaters over the last six months.” Twitter users are also more aware of upcoming films than non-users (58 percent were aware of 19 upcoming summer films).

Facebook is working with Nokia’s HERE mapping division to power its mobile maps. The social network is using HERE maps and geocoding for its mobile version, while conducting tests for apps such as Instagram and Messenger. According to TechCrunch: “Businesses use Facebook as part of their advertising and marketing operations and offering ads based on specific locations, or other location-based services, gives Facebook more ways to build up their relationships (and revenues) with these businesses.” The Finnish company has confirmed it is considering a sale of HERE, which has an estimated value of $2 billion. Potential buyers include Apple, Baidu, Alibaba, Samsung, and Uber, among others.

According to TechCrunch, Uber is quietly prepping a new program that would offer online shoppers same-day delivery service via UberRUSH couriers and Uber drivers. Sources indicate that Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus and Tiffany’s are among the retailers in talks with the Uber Merchant Delivery program. More than 400 merchants are reportedly in discussions with Uber or have already been testing the service. “Experimenting and finding new, creative ways for the Uber app to provide even greater value to our riders and driver partners is a way of life at Uber,” said a company spokesperson. “We have been piloting UberRUSH with multiple retailers for the last year.”

Flywheel is trying to save taxicab businesses with Uber-like apps, including a new way for passengers to pay for rides with their smartphones. “After getting into a cab, passengers merely open the Flywheel app to automatically link up with the driver’s app,” reports Fortune. “After the ride ends, the passenger can pay directly through the app.” Flywheel is currently available in five cities, where it is helping cab companies fend off popular services such as Uber and Lyft. DeSoto Cab in San Francisco even rebranded its entire fleet into Flywheel cars. Flywheel collects a 10 percent cut from fares and charges passengers $1 per ride.

During its NewFront presentation in New York this week, Disney-owned Maker Studios announced Maker Select, which will allow advertisers to buy ad space on Maker’s 55,000 YouTube channels in addition to all other YouTube channels. Maker Select will incorporate Maker’s audience data with data from YouTube, Nielsen, social networks and additional sources. Advertisers can target ads based on content type, brand compatibility and audience makeup. The new offering comes from a partnership with Web video analytics firm OpenSlate. Continue reading Maker Select Enables the Purchasing of Ad Space on YouTube

BuzzFeed is sharing details about a new tech it calls Pound (Process for Optimizing and Understanding Network Diffusion), intended to enhance Web and social media analytics by tracking how a story progresses from one user to another. At this week’s NewFronts, BuzzFeed Publisher Dao Nguyen said the company is seeking beta partners to help transform Pound into a useful product. “She also talked about data that BuzzFeed gathers to categorize videos based on whether they offer information, emotion or appeal to a viewer’s identity,” reports TechCrunch, adding “that informational videos do better on YouTube, while identity-driven videos do better on Facebook.”

Amazon, Google, the National Association of Broadcasters, and Pandora Radio are among the launch members of the MIC Coalition (Music, Innovation, Consumers). The group plans to advocate for music policies that are “balanced among all participants rather than just those of the major record labels and publishers,” according to Broadcasting & Cable. Other members include CEA, Cox Media Group, iHeartMedia, and National Public Radio. “American music is the most successful in the world, aided in part by intellectual property laws that do not tilt in favor of record labels over the millions of daily listeners who consume music,” said NAB President Gordon Smith.

As part of its Media Management in the Cloud at NAB, the ETC held a panel discussion on cloud security, which continues to be a leading concern of M&E firms considering greater adoption of cloud technologies. The panel was composed of leading experts in cloud security from different parts of the M&E and cloud industries. Among the questions discussed: How can cloud infrastructure better ensure security? What are the most common security concerns of cloud tenants? What is the next level of emerging security standards? How is security best balanced with ease of use? Continue reading ETC Panel Discusses Cloud Security: Today, Tomorrow, Beyond

Shortly after becoming the first pay TV provider to provide access to HBO Now, Cablevision plans to offer Hulu Plus to its broadband customers. This will mark the first such deal between Hulu and a traditional pay TV provider. “Cablevision also last week debuted a pair of ‘cord cutter’ Internet packages, which include the option to bundle in HBO Now,” reports TechCrunch. “Hulu Plus, like HBO Now, will be offered to Cablevision’s Optimum Online customers who pay for high-speed Internet access through the telecommunications provider.” At the Digital NewFronts this week, Hulu announced SVOD rights to 180 “Seinfeld” episodes and a new multiyear agreement with AMC.

During a conference call with analysts yesterday, HBO chief exec Richard Plepler suggested that the new HBO Now streaming service could possibly include non-HBO TV and film programming in the future. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Plepler said “Warner and Turner could be involved.” When asked about plans for expanding, Plepler explained that additional deals are expected by the end of the year, while HBO and Amazon are “in discussions about the size and scope of our relationship.” Regarding HBO Now’s performance, the CEO is “clearly thrilled at early returns and also argues that it vindicates the position that having a streaming service takes nothing away from viewers watching HBO in more-traditional ways,” notes THR.

On April 15, at ETC’s Media Management in the Cloud conference held at the NAB Show, John McCoskey, EVP & CTO of the Motion Picture Association of America, and Jim Reavis, executive director of the Cloud Security Alliance, delivered the MPAA keynote updating the audience on the MPAA’s first cloud security standards, which are continuing to progress and may be launched later this year. They encouraged media industry professionals interested in cloud security to implement the CSA’s Cloud Controls Matrix. Continue reading Development of MPAA Cloud Security Standards Moves Forward

Speaking at ETC’s Media Management in the Cloud conference at NAB, Lincoln Wallen, CTO of DreamWorks Animation, described how “Cloud 2.0” gives digital graphics and animation artists extraordinary new creative freedom and power. Wallen described how this vision has already been realized in DreamWorks’ CGI movie development using in-house animation software Apollo (publicly unveiled in May 2014). The Cloud 2.0 wave Wallen champions focuses on using the cloud as an agile supercomputing resource with on-demand “Compute as a Service” scalability. Continue reading DreamWorks CTO: “Cloud 2.0” Will Transform, Empower Artists

Jaunt VR is launching its Jaunt Studios division to create live-action virtual reality experiences. The new studio, to be located on the west side of Los Angeles, will hire a team of directors, artists, and staff in the next few months to work with Jaunt VR’s engineering team, which plans to remain in Palo Alto. “Jaunt Studios will be led by Cliff Plumer, former CEO of Digital Domain and chief technology officer of Lucasfilm,” according to Variety, noting that Plumer has been involved with VR since before the first Oculus Rift dev kit. “He has since helped introduce VR tech to Hollywood and got involved with live-action VR production,” explains the article.

Facebook has introduced a video calling feature to its Messenger app for mobile users connected via Wi-Fi or LTE. The free calling feature is activated by a tap of the camera icon in the chat interface. It is expected to bring new competition to services such as Facetime, WeChat and Skype. The feature — initially rolling out in North America and Europe — is another move by Facebook to expand its offerings. “Just last month, the company introduced a feature that lets Messenger users to send money to each other. A few days later, it opened up Messenger to outside developers, and now users can download dozens of apps to send funny GIFs, personalized emoji and other enhanced messages,” reports The New York Times.

ESPN filed a lawsuit Monday in New York Supreme Court against Verizon, claiming that Verizon’s new FiOS TV packages — which allow subscribers to purchase a basic set of channels starting at $55 per month, and add tiers of genre-based channels — are in breach of contract regarding ESPN distribution. While Verizon introduced the new packages to attract consumers looking for more flexibility, the company has met resistance from major players such as 21st Century Fox and NBCUniversal regarding current programming agreements. Continue reading ESPN is First to File Suit Against Verizon Over FiOS Bundles