Tone in various forms of electronic communication has often led to confusion between friends, colleagues and family members — especially when the intended tone is sarcasm.
“Now, as more people are sharing their opinions with casual acquaintances and strangers on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook — rather than in private text messages to people who know their senses of humor — the sarcasm disconnect is even greater,” notes the Wall Street Journal.
Data miners are increasingly met with this challenge. “Sarcasm is proving to be an obstacle for the academics and marketers who create computer programs to analyze massive pools of online chatters to gauge public opinions about products and politicians,” explains the article.
USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab has launched a Twitter Sentiment Analysis project that “unites linguists, sociologists and computer scientists to try to build a modern-day lexicon for computers to read and interpret huge chunks of data provided by the millions of people who share their opinions online,” reports WSJ.
The project has turned to politics to analyze data. For example, the lab’s computer has analyzed more than 40 million tweets involving candidates and hot-button issues. Additionally, more than 50,000 tweets have been manually analyzed to determine sentiment.
“Many of the ETC member companies are using sentiment analysis from companies like Crimson Hexagon to guide their marketing and social media efforts,” explains ETCentric contributor Phil Lelyveld. “This USC research program will improve the accuracy of the analytics that they use.”
As part of its strategy to “channelize” its popular video site, YouTube has so far helped fund about 160 “channels” that feature original content and, in some cases, celebrity talent.
“And just like the TV world, YouTube isn’t going to renew all of last season’s programs,” reports AllThingsD. “This week, Google’s video site will start offering new contracts to some of the channel programmers/creators it signed up in the last year. But not all of them: YouTube figures it will end up re-investing in up to 40 percent of its original channels by the time the renewal process is done.”
YouTube plans to address the renewals in batches, beginning with the first group of channels it launched in January.
New deals are expected to reflect the ones originally established last year, in which content creators received up to $5 million to produce content exclusively for the site. Channels that are not offered new deals will not be bounced from the site. YouTube hopes the producers will continue to provide content.
“Jamie Byrne, YouTube’s director of content strategy, says the site is most concerned about engagement — primarily the total ‘watch time’ a channel has generated — and cost — how efficient programmers have been with their programming budget,” explains the article.
Financial performance is not expected to be a deciding factor in the new deals, since the advertising model remains a work in progress.
“We’ve had some really great response from the advertiser community. As we continue to talk to advertisers and marketers, there’s a real sense that they’re looking at YouTube differently,” Byrne says. “But as we look at this initiative, we are taking the long view here. It’s not necessarily about immediate results.”
A federal judge in California ruled last week that broadcasters did not prove they had sustained enough damage from DISH Network’s ad-skipping Hopper DVR to warrant a preliminary injunction.
“U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles refused to grant Fox Broadcasting’s first attempt to block DISH Network’s advertising-skipping DVR services known as ‘AutoHop’ and ‘PrimeTime Anytime,'” explains The Hollywood Reporter.
However, Fox says it is “gratified the court found the copies DISH makes for its AutoHop service constitute copyright infringement and breach the parties’ contract.”
“The satellite company is asserting that AutoHop (aka the Hopper) is really just an improvement on existing recording devices that have been accepted by the industry and judicially blessed as ‘fair use’ going back to the Supreme Court’s 1984 ruling on the Sony Betamax VCR and continuing through the Ninth Circuit’s 2008 ruling on Cablevision’s remote-storage DVR,” explains THR.
“Fox dismisses DISH’s contention that the technology is merely a ‘souped-up DVR’ and disputes that the freedom to time-shift is at stake here,” notes the article.
The court ruling is currently sealed from public view until both parties have the opportunity to remove any trade secrets. Fox said it intends to appeal the decision.
At least one patent battle in the smartphone wars is finally over. Apple and HTC reached a settlement over the weekend to dismiss all current lawsuits the companies have against each other.
Additionally, the companies have inked a 10-year cross-licensing deal that grants rights to current and future patents held by each party. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Apple sued HTC in 2010, claiming that the Taiwanese manufacturer infringed on patents related to the iPhone. HTC, in turn, accused Apple of infringing several of its mobile technology patents.
“The deal was the first settlement between Apple and a maker of devices that use Android, an operating system that has rapidly swallowed most of the smartphone market and threatened Apple’s position in the mobile business in the process,” reports The New York Times. “Other patent lawsuits continue around the globe, including far more significant ones between Apple and Samsung, by far the biggest maker of Android smartphones.”
While the deal may suggest that Apple CEO Tim Cook is eager to end the distraction and risks of patent fights, it may not necessarily be a sign that Apple will settle its fight with Samsung.
“The stakes in Apple’s dispute with Samsung are far higher than they were in its battle with HTC,” notes the article. “Samsung ranked No. 1 in smartphone market share during the third quarter of this year, shipping 56.3 million of the devices, while Apple was second with 26.9 million smartphones, according to estimates by IDC. HTC, in contrast, was fifth, shipping 7.3 million phones.”
Google is experimenting with a new social feature for Chrome that allows users to interact with others by creating and sharing instrument tracks.
“For those who want to play music with friends across the country — or down the street, for that matter — Google is testing a new interactive Web app that lets you rock out with others in real time,” reports Mashable.
The JAM with Chrome app operates via HTML5 and allows up to four people to interact online with 19 virtual instruments, including drums, keyboards and acoustic and electric guitars.
The app has two approaches: “easy mode,” featuring basic instrument functions and autoplay capabilities — and “pro mode,” which gives users full control over their virtual instruments.
“If you ever dreamed of playing in a band, now’s your chance to be a rock star,” explains Google in a blog post. “No matter what your level of talent — from daydreaming air guitarist to music pro — you can JAM together in real time over the Web.”
“Google has been upping its music profile over the past few months,” reports CNET in a related post. “It announced last month that it would soon be rolling out its scan-and-match feature for the company’s music service in Europe and in the U.S. shortly after. Scan-and-match is a feature that lets users store music on computer servers of a host service. The service can then stream songs over the Internet to the user’s choice of Web-connected music players.”
Following Netflix’s lead, Hulu has launched a dedicated kids section. Starting yesterday, the ad-free Hulu Kids feature is available to Hulu Plus subscribers via the service’s website and the PS3.
“Hulu Kids comes with shows from PBS, Nickelodeon and Lionsgate, and the content is sorted by age groups,” reports GigaOM. “The total number of shows listed on the section currently stands at 43. A spokesperson confirmed that Hulu is working on bringing Hulu Kids as a separate content section within the Hulu Plus app to additional devices.”
According to the Hulu blog announcement, current children’s programs include popular titles such as “Thomas & Friends,” “Robot and Monster,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Dinosaur Train,” “Arthur” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Netflix launched its own kids section online last summer with a new design meant to be more appealing to younger users. Hulu is simply relying on its recently launched Web UI.
“Making this kind of content exclusively available to Hulu Plus subscribers shows that Hulu is starting to put a much bigger emphasis on its paid offering, and slowly deemphasizing the free Hulu.com website in the process,” suggests GigaOM.
“The fact that these kids shows are available ad-free is good news for parents who don’t want their kids confronted with advertising, but it’s also a sign that Hulu is moving towards becoming a more direct competitor for Netflix, which has always been ad-free,” concludes the post.
Exhibitors Regal and AMC were at ShowEast in Florida to support the Warner Bros. high frame rate (HFR) release of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”
“Meanwhile, the studio moves cautiously with its plans to introduce the theater technology, which has encountered a number of problems as it goes through a testing phase,” writes Carolyn Giardina for The Hollywood Reporter.
Some industry sources had anticipated tens of thousands of screens would be ready to show the film at 48 fps. “Instead, Warners has decided to offer ‘Hobbit’ in what is being called HFR 3D as a platform release, using 400 screens domestically, that will include 90 screens from Regal and 92 from AMC along with another 500 in international markets,” notes Giardina.
When Jackson’s film launches December 14 in the U.S., most theaters will screen the film at the traditional frame rate of 24 fps.
The slow adoption has hurt manufacturers who had banked on selling equipment, although they remain optimistic of HFR’s future. A number of studios plan to produce HFR movies for release in 2013 and 2014.
“We want to make sure we do it properly and make sure the public sees it in its best form,” explains Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. “We are very committed to this. [High frame rates are] the most important change in exhibition, probably since the introduction of sound.”
Theaters have faced a number of obstacles. “Some configurations could play HFRs but then couldn’t easily switch back to 24 fps for projecting other items like trailers,” writes Giardina. “There have also been some issues with how individual technologies worked in combination with other newly developed products. Additionally, theater personnel require training on the new technologies.”
Nikon has announced its fifth DSLR model since January with the new D5200, an update to the D5100 that includes features popular on Nikon’s more advanced D7000.
Unveiled on Tuesday, pricing has yet to be announced, but the camera is expected to ship by December.
“The new consumer-level DSLR shooter pulls a number of features from Nikon’s pricier D7000 camera, including its 39-point autofocus system (up from the 11 points found on the D5100) and 2016-pixel RGB metering sensor,” reports Digital Trends.
“Buyers of the new camera might want to consider investing in some beefy SDHC/SDXC cards and hefty external hard drive, with its new super-sized 24.1-megapixel APS-C sensor guaranteeing snap-happy photographers rapid memory usage with the large picture files the camera will be serving up,” suggests the post.
According to Nikon, the D5200 features a more intuitive user interface and shoots 1080p video at 60 fps. An optional WU-1a adapter offers remote shutter control and the ability to send photos wirelessly to iOS and Android devices.
The TFT LCD screen “flips out, twists and turns, making it more likely you’ll get the picture you’re after when shooting at arms’ length over the top of people’s heads,” notes the post.
“For those who prefer a dash of color with their camera bodies instead of the usual black, the Japanese camera giant is offering the D5200 in two other flavors — bronze and red.”
The new Nokia Lumia 820 and 920 smartphones, launching on Friday, run Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8 operating system. The phones connect to AT&T’s 4G LTE network. Pre-orders through AT&T have already begun.
“The prices for these 4G LTE phones are particularly reasonable, and less than those rumored, with the Lumia 820 costing a mere $50, and the higher-specification Lumia 920 just $100; but you’ll have to sign your life away for two-years to take advantage,” reports Digital Trends.
“You can choose between a red, white, grey, black or yellow Lumia 920, while the Lumia 820 comes with a variety of rear covers for you to choose between,” according to the post.
The Lumia 920 features an 8.7-megapixel PureView camera, 4.5-inch 1280 x 768 touchscreen and a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. The 820 has a 4.3-inch screen with 480 x 800 pixel resolution.
Apps include Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive and Nokia City Lens.
“The Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 are exclusive to AT&T, but T-Mobile offers its own version of the 820, named the Lumia 810, and Verizon will also be getting in on the Windows Phone 8 fun with the Lumia 822,” explains the post. “They’re identical when it comes to features, but vary slightly in design.”
After eight years of competition, Microsoft’s Hotmail has been knocked off the top spot as most-used email service by Google’s Gmail.
Hotmail launched in 1996 as one of the first Web-based email services and was purchased the following year by Microsoft for an estimated $400 million.
“Hotmail has been continually revised, upgraded and refined by Microsoft, with the company even going so far as to introduce an ‘all-new’ update a year ago that mimicked many of the features that won users over to Google,” reports Digital Trends.
However, the update was not enough for the service to maintain dominance, as Gmail took the lead last month worldwide.
“This isn’t the first time that this shift has been reported; Google quietly boasted about it happening way back in June of this year, in the middle of a blog post about cloud computing when it announced that it had ‘more than 425 million active users globally,'” indicates the post, pointing out that comScore disagreed with Google’s numbers at the time.
But now it is official, as confirmed by third-party metrics. Digital Trends notes that Microsoft introducing Outlook.com as its Hotmail replacement in July could be a factor.
American email service use is slightly different than the global stats. Yahoo has 40.8 percent of the U.S. market, compared with Gmail’s 36.7 percent and Hotmail’s 18.9 percent.
Apple has sold three million units of the fourth-generation iPad and iPad mini since launching them on Friday, beating analysts’ expectations and setting a new sales record.
“We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis,” notes CEO Tim Cook. “We’re working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand.”
According to Apple, sales of the 7.9-inch mini and the fourth-gen iPad “easily topped the 1.5 million Wi-Fi only tablets sold during the third-generation iPad’s opening weekend in March,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Apple will start shipping cellular-enabled versions of both new iPads in the U.S. within a few weeks.”
However, the company has been tight-lipped regarding the actual number of minis sold.
“ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall estimated iPad minis accounted for about two million of those initial iPad purchases over the past three days, putting sales well on their way toward meeting the research firm’s estimate of about five million iPad mini sales this December quarter,” explains the article.
The mini, which starts at $329, provides competition with rivals that offer 7-inch tablets running Google’s Android OS.
The Netflix board of directors has adopted a stockholder rights plan known as a poison-pill defense to prevent billionaire investor Carl Icahn from acquiring more shares in the company.
“The stockholder rights plan, approved unanimously by Netflix’s board on November 2, would be triggered if an ‘activist shareholder’ acquired 10 percent of the stock, or an institutional investor bought 20 percent,” reports Bloomberg.
The move is designed to make a potential hostile takeover too expensive, and fend off larger companies such as Amazon and Verizon.
“Netflix has received no takeover offer and has had no discussions with Icahn, said a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because it is private,” explains the article.
Icahn, who owns nearly 10 percent of Netflix’s shares, said in a regulatory filing that the company’s new poison pill was “particularly troubling” and criticized Netflix for “poor corporate governance.”
Last week, analyst Anthony DiClemente of Barclays Capital issued a report suggesting Icahn might have purchased his stake in Netflix with the intent of eventually selling the company. The assertion was based on Icahn’s prior history at Blockbuster and Lionsgate.
Amazon may be targeting Netflix and Hulu with its new monthly payment option for Amazon Prime.
The new subscription “includes free two-day shipping, access to e-books and instant streaming of movies and TV shows,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
Priced at $7.99, the new monthly option is actually more expensive than the $79 subscribers currently pay annually for Prime. However, this may not be an issue for consumers when they look at Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime, and realize all three have the same monthly fee — but Prime includes more perks.
“The monthly subscription comes as brick-and-mortar retailers are furiously battling with Amazon for shoppers this holiday season and rolling out all kinds of promotions such as price matching and free layaway,” notes the article.
“Analysts say the option could entice shoppers who don’t want to be locked into Amazon Prime for an entire year to sign up during the holiday months for free shipping.”
Additionally, Amazon has been installing “lockers” in retail, convenience and grocery stores, hoping that online shoppers looking for a more secure pick-up location will turn to the lockers. Staples announced on Monday that it will also install Amazon Lockers in its stores.
Hulu has announced a deal with CBS that will bring 2,600 episodes of shows such as “Medium,” “Star Trek,” “I Love Lucy,” “The Twilight Zone” and “CSI: Miami” to the video service starting in January.
CBS content will be restricted to classic series and recently canceled shows. The CBS website will continue as the sole venue for ad-driven episodes of current series.
The network finally joins competitors such as NBC and Fox, which have been offering content via Hulu for years. The streaming service currently has more than 400 content partners.
“Hulu says that the deal with CBS will be in effect for multiple years, but the company did not provide financial details on the agreement,” reports CNET. “Some CBS library shows will be available on the free Hulu.com, though Hulu wouldn’t say which programs will make the list.”
The majority of titles from the CBS library will be made available on the premium version, Hulu Plus, for customers who pay the $8 per month subscription fee.
“The CBS deal comes as Hulu faces a number of internal questions in the wake of buying out early investor Providence Equity Partners,” notes TechCrunch in a related post. That means that Hulu is controlled entirely by its parents and content partners Fox, Disney, and NBCUniversal.”
“That deal triggered a liquidity event, through which all employees with stock were able to cash out, leaving some key executives — like CEO Jason Kilar — little reason to stick around. There’s a lot to change ahead for Hulu in the next 12 months, so getting an unexpected content partner on board is positive news.”
Remember Furby? Hasbro’s hit robot from the 1990s is getting a second life thanks to a tech upgrade in which the furry little critter develops a personality as a child interacts with it.
An expensive and complex development project for Hasbro, the Furby reboot is already being promoted by Walmart, Target and Toys R Us.
The new Furby is one of more than 20 products that Hasbro is bringing back with improved tech capabilities. The company needs a hit, as the popularity of mobile devices has led to sagging sales for traditional toys.
Manufacturers are hoping that kids familiar with smartphones and tablets will gravitate toward a new generation of “app toys” (a new product category dubbed by toymakers).
“One of the best-selling gadgets at electronics chain Brookstone is the Rover Spy Tank, which is remotely controlled by an app on an iPhone or iPad,” reports Businessweek. “Mattel has a line that it calls ‘apptivity’ toys that includes Hot Wheels cars a child can move along the screen of a tablet as a digital racetrack scrolls underneath. Mattel’s Fisher-Price brand is even incorporating smart devices into toys for preschoolers.”
Upgraded sensors and a computerized brain will lead to each Furby behaving somewhat differently, depending on how it is treated by its owner.
“Furby also works with mobile devices,” notes the article. “A free app for Apple’s iOS operating software and one for Google’s Android later this year will allow users to translate what Furby is saying and feed him everything from coffee to a dirty sock, potentially eliciting a burp or other adorably rude noises.”
