It’s been five years since Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos introduced the very first Kindle device in New York City.
“On Thursday, September 6, Bezos will again speak to the media, this time in Santa Monica, California, and the stakes will again be sky high,” reports Businessweek.
Last year, Amazon expanded the franchise with its launch of the $199 Kindle Fire, which made an initial commercial splash.
“But the Kindle Fire was also something of a critical disappointment, with its chunky weight, bland industrial design, and lack of basic features like a camera and volume controls,” suggests the article. “For the first time, many customers bought a device from Amazon and felt they didn’t get much value from it.”
The tablet landscape is getting rougher with this summer’s launch of the Nexus 7 from Google and the new iPad Mini expected this fall.
“If tablets are to be an important gateway to music, movies, e-books, and games — media products that make up half of Amazon’s overall business — Bezos is going to have to build a much deeper moat,” suggests Businessweek.
Since the event is being held in Los Angeles, we might hear news regarding Amazon’s video ambitions, perhaps from its L.A.-based content creation arm, Amazon Studios. We might also receive news regarding the long-rumored Amazon phone, an Amazon set-top box or a move away from Google’s Android to run the Kindle Fire, suggests the article.
The struggle for seasonal and small mom-and-pop theaters to survive may become more challenging as the industry completes its transition to digital.
“20th Century Fox promises to phase out film by the end of next year, and the others are expected to follow,” reports The New York Times.
John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, notes that 30,000 screens have been converted to Digital Cinema, while 10,000 remain in different stages of transition.
For a small cinema, the $75,000 cost of a digital projector can exceed an entire year’s profits, making it difficult to convince banks to provide a loan.
Some independent exhibitors are taking donations from patrons for upgrades, considering a retro approach to keep 35mm film alive, or closing their doors. Others are waiting on possible state grants and considering whether to sign a joint financing agreement.
“Devised through negotiations between the national theater owners group and the major studios, these Virtual Print Fee agreements entail per-movie payments from distributors for running their movies,” explains NYT. “For distributors, these givebacks are more affordable than striking film prints, and for theaters that qualify (because of limited grosses, many seasonal ones don’t), these payments can help pay off bank loans or leases.”
However, the agreements include constraints such as what films can be shown and how often.
BuzzFeed’s latest Social Intelligence Report describes Reddit as “a monster for traffic referrals,” while arguing that Pinterest may be little more than a “social gimmick.”
“In July, Reddit set a new page views record, topping 3.1 billion for the month,” reports Adweek. “Yet even more impressive is the jump that publishers in the BuzzFeed Network saw in Reddit referrals, which increased by 64 percent from June to July.”
“The report also shows that StumbleUpon, the long-reigning king of traffic referrals to the network, continues to fall, which suggests that Reddit’s socially sharable content may be taking users away from the browsing platform.”
About 114,000 referrals came from Pinterest, according to the report, significantly below the service’s 400,000-referral peak in April.
“Things aren’t all gloomy for Pinterest though,” notes Adweek. “The site has seen a 200 percent increase in referral traffic throughout its first full year of public operation.”
The article suggests that online publishers and advertisers should note the referral trends as a crucial shift: “By a large margin, the success of content from sites like Reddit to generate referral traffic stems from how well it resonates on an emotional level with an audience.”
“The trend of publishers creating engaging content that understands and connects in a meaningful way with an audience may be a reaction to the previous, more robotic era of search-optimized content, but it has proven results to draw viewers as denizens of the Web exhibit a growing dependence on social networks,” concludes the post.
The development team at search engine Bing has created a new feature that allows users to browse friends’ Facebook photo albums and search for specific images via keywords.
“Called the Friends’ Photo feature, any Facebook user can visit www.bing.com/friendsphotos and log into Facebook in order to enable access to photo albums,” reports Digital Trends. “The most recent photos posted by your friends will appear in a large thumbnail format on the screen similar to the layout of Pinterest.”
“Each photo can be clicked to open up a version at a larger resolution,” notes the post. “In addition, comments about the photo are loaded on the right side of the page. The user has the ability to add a comment, like or share the photo as well as open up the photo on Facebook.”
While the real advantage to this functionality on Bing is the search bar, it is worth noting that a successful search via keywords is reliant upon effective tagging and adequate descriptions.
“According to Bing, the Friends’ Photo feature doesn’t work with Facebook users that have blocked photos from being accessed by third-party applications,” explains the post. “Facebook users can edit this setting by visiting the Privacy Settings page and clicking on ‘Edit Settings’ in the ‘Ads, Apps and Websites’ row.”
Nokia has scheduled a September 5th launch event to debut its new Windows Phone 8 devices. For those who can’t wait, a set of photos has been leaked that are rumored to be the new phones.
“Reportedly named the Lumia 820 and the Lumia 920 with PureView, photos of the latest Nokia phones have appeared on a random Twitter account called evleaks,” reports Digital Trends. “Possibly a stunt by Nokia’s own PR team or the work of a rather sneaky individual, the photos showcase a pair of gorgeous new smartphones.”
If the photos are accurate, the two Lumia devices will feature “the boldly colored, polycarbonate design of Nokia’s original Windows Phone 7.5 offerings,” a 4.3-inch screen for the 820 and 4.5-inch screen for the 920, PureView camera technology and Carl Zeiss optical lenses.
“We’re really hoping these leaks turn out to be the real thing,” notes Digital Trends. “An LTE-equipped smartphone sporting PureView technology is exactly what Windows Phone needs right now, a device to compete with other flagships. Add Nokia’s brand recognition, useful applications, and sharp design and Windows Phone 8 may just be able to take its place beside iOS and Android.”
In a related report from Reuters, “Samsung Electronics became the first handset maker to announce a smartphone using Microsoft’s latest mobile software, making its surprise, hurried announcement just days before the highly anticipated launch of Nokia’s version.”
Samsung’s brief announcement at Berlin’s IFA show regarding the new ATIV S Windows phone — with a 4.8-inch display, 8-megapixel rear camera and Corning Gorilla glass — “comes amid expectations that smartphone makers may turn increasingly to Windows devices after a U.S. jury decided many of Samsung’s Google Android-based phones infringed Apple Inc. patents,” suggests Reuters.
LG, Philips and Toshiba are among the manufacturers working together on a common system for Internet-connected TVs.
At the IFA show in Berlin, manufacturers addressed “banding together to develop a common system that allows users to listen to music, watch videos and play games via the Internet on TV sets,” reports Bloomberg.
The companies are concerned about Apple and Google, which have made product forays into the online TV market. Additionally, Apple is rumored to be readying a new TV product.
“Apple and Google’s rise in the smartphone market has pushed Nokia and Research In Motion Ltd. to the brink,” notes Bloomberg. “Now, television makers are scrambling to make sure the same won’t happen to them.”
Meanwhile, Sony is betting on its 84-inch LCD TV that will feature 4K horizontal resolution, due in stores later this year.
“While current high-definition TVs have screens with 1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels, the new TV has a screen with 3,840 pixels by 2,160 pixels,” reports Computerworld in a related article.
Since there will be a wait for native 4K content, Sony’s new set features an upscaler that will convert existing high-def images to 4K resolution through a software algorithm.
Canon has announced a release date for its flagship C500 and unveiled a new addition to its EOS digital cinema camera collection.
The new EOS C100 features 1,920 x 1,080 AVCHD, a Super 35mm 16:9 CMOS sensor, an ISO range of 320 to 20,000 and an EF mount system. The C100 is expected to ship in November for $7,999.
“Other features of interest include a push auto iris function, one-shot auto focus, a multi-angle 3.5-inch LCD and a locking HDMI output,” reports Engadget.
The previously reported C500 — Canon’s $30,000 4K camera — is slated for an October debut. The two cameras join the Cinema EOS lineup, which includes the EOS C300 (intended for mainstream HD production) and the EOS-1D C 4K Digital SLR.
“Canon also took the opportunity to offer up two new cinema lenses: the CN-E15.5-47mm T2.8 L S/SP wide-angle and the CN-E30-105mm T2.8 L S/SP telephoto,” notes the post.
“We developed the Cinema EOS C500 digital cinema camera to deliver the benefits of full 4K motion capture to Hollywood’s premier filmmakers, while the C100 is designed for economical productions that need sophisticated HD capabilities and optical lens diversity,” explained Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies and Communications Group.
Steve Jobs famously told his biographer Walter Isaacson that Android was “a stolen product,” adding, “I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.” But so far, the company has yet to target Google directly.
However, Apple’s $1.05 billion victory over Samsung regarding patent violations could potentially lead to similar legal action against Google, since Samsung’s devices used the Android operating system.
Google is more involved with making its own hardware today and new products are expected to result from the company’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility.
“And the jury in the Samsung trial found that features built into Android, and not just features added by Samsung, violated Apple patents — potentially forcing Google to adjust its software,” reports The New York Times.
“What it means for the Android folks is a very careful review, back to the drawing board, including a close examination of Apple’s stable of patents to weed out anything that looks risky in terms of violating the Apple portfolio,” says Charles S. Golvin, a Forrester mobile analyst.
“Google declined to comment on whether it would make changes to Android,” reports NYT. “But when it comes to features like tapping to zoom, it may have to ‘design around’ Apple’s patents and safeguard itself and its hardware partners, said Robert Barr, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley and former patent counsel for Cisco Systems.”
“The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and digital media asset management company MediaMine have partnered to develop a new Walk of Fame app for travelers that is ‘part tour guide, part scavenger hunt, part game and part local services provider,'” explains The Hollywood Reporter.
According to MediaMine, the app — expected to launch by next summer — will feature a star map that includes photos and videos, local points of interest that highlight entertainment and shopping, a trivia game and a scavenger hunt.
“Travelers will also be able to post photos to the app and share their experiences on various social networking sites,” adds THR.
“The idea is to transform a tourist’s trip from a passive experience into one with engaging information in the form of news, videos, photos, letters and other information about the fascinating events occurring in Hollywood throughout the 20th century as well as present day,” notes Leron Gubler, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.
ETCentric staffer Phil Lelyveld notes that the ETC has met with MediaMine and their activities align with some of ETC’s current projects.
During Sony’s IFA press conference in Berlin, CEO Kazuo Hirai unveiled the company’s new 84-inch 4K TV, the Bravia KD-84X9005.
“The thing is beautiful — and yeah, we can confirm, as Kaz suggested, that you really do want to stick out your hand and touch the picture when you’re standing in front of it, particularly, when the video cycles through images of the ocean, with water droplets hitting the screen,” reports Engadget.
According to the post, the 84-inch Bravia is “surprisingly thin” and features “speaker bars attached to either side of the display, with a control panel along the bottom. The stand consists of two metal bars holding up what’s surely a weighty set.”
“This new 4K TV comes equipped with a 4K LCD panel comprising approximately 8.29 megapixels which is 4 times the resolution of Full HD standard, and incorporates ‘4K X-Reality PRO,’ Sony’s super-resolution high picture quality engine optimized for 4K LCD TV,” notes the press release.
“In addition, the combination of ’10 Unit Live Speaker’ side speaker system, which is optimized for this large-size screen, with Sony’s unique high-quality sound signal-processing technology achieves powerful three-dimensional sound that envelops the viewer in position-orienting tones, from deep bass to high notes,” adds the release.
The post includes a slideshow and brief video, in which the reporter describes a smooth and realistic picture.
A new TiVo product called Stream enables users to transfer and store pre-recorded television content on mobile devices for immediate or later viewing, a service similar to some current app offerings from cable operators.
“The $130 box, available September 6 from TiVo.com and in Best Buy soon after that, streams content from your TiVo to up to four mobile devices in your home at high-definition quality,” reports Katie Boehret for the Wall Street Journal.
TiVo Stream is compatible with iPhones, iPads and newer iPod touch models. An Android version is currently in development.
“Stream also turns mobile devices into TVs of their own: You can scan the channel guide, select a show and watch it live,” explains the article. “It also lets people wirelessly download content to their mobile devices for watching anytime, like on planes or during road trips.”
Stream requires that the user owns one of TiVo’s Premiere models ($150, $250 or $400, depending on the model) and subscribes to the TiVo monthly service fee (there is no additional service fee for Stream).
After evaluating Stream in her home, Boehret writes that she doesn’t want to give it up. She praises the easy set-up, download and buffer speeds, and the convenience of watching programs on multiple devices in different rooms of her house.
Sources indicate Apple will debut the next iteration of its iPhone during an event slated for September 12.
A second event, currently scheduled for October, is expected to feature the so-called “iPad mini” — a smaller version of the company’s popular tablet with a display of less than eight inches.
Recent speculation hinted at both products being announced at a single event. However, sources have debunked that theory.
“I don’t think Apple would want reviews of both a new iPhone and new-size iPad appearing at the same time,” writes John Gruber on his Daring Fireball blog. “Why share the spotlight? Why have another Apple product battling with the iPhone for the top spots in news coverage?”
“With a new iPhone and a new, diminutive iPad in the pipeline, Apple has two opportunities to commandeer the tech news cycle ahead of the annual holiday shopping binge, and it’s going to take them both,” suggests AllThingsD.
TIME, in cooperation with Qualcomm, recently surveyed 5,000 people in an effort “to better understand attitudes about mass mobility.”
An infographic has been posted that provides an overview of the survey results. Some interesting findings:
29 percent of U.S. respondents said their wireless device is always the first and last thing they look at every day (15 points below the international average).
26 percent said they feel guilty if they don’t promptly respond to work-related messages outside of normal work hours, and 66 percent indicated they would take their wireless mobile device to work instead of their lunch.
65 percent of parents believe their devices make them better parents.
32 percent said that given the choice, they prefer to communicate via text message, and 17 percent said they check their phone at every meal.
29 percent of respondents said they fear society places too much emphasis on technology.
Apple’s decisive victory over Samsung on Friday fortifies its current wireless dominance and could potentially make Google and others rethink future product plans.
“The nine jurors here also sent a signal that companies need to be much more careful in incorporating basic design elements in their electronic devices, particularly those affecting the way gadgets look and feel,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
The verdict arrives just weeks before Apple is expected to unveil its new iPhone. The company has earned $156 billion in iPhone-related revenue in the last five years.
Patent lawyers anticipate the decision will lead to an increase in patent suits and may open new ground for litigation. More companies may use Apple’s success in the case to defend the design and features of their own products.
WSJ explains: “More courtroom warfare could raise costs to makers of smartphones and tablets and reduce the number of gadgets on the market — increasing prices to consumers, some lawyers and market watchers say.”
Products with similar form factors and features may be in peril, notes the article: “Not only Samsung but Google — and other smartphone makers who use its Android mobile operating software — could decide, or be forced, to drop or modify features to avoid running afoul of patents.”
While some developers claim the verdict could lead to higher costs for Android software, other analysts suggest that Apple is not the only innovator out there.
“Apple’s patents will not be that hard to design around,” says Jorge Contreras, associate professor at American University Washington College of Law. “I don’t see this verdict as an Android killer.”
Google believes that most of the patents in the case do not relate to the core Android operating system. “The mobile industry is moving fast and all players, including newcomers, are building upon ideas that have been around for decades,” said a Google spokesperson.
Game publisher Capcom has released details regarding its planned online service ResidentEvil.net, a companion to the “Resident Evil 6” game.
According to the Capcom video included in the post, the free service will allow players to compete in challenges, track stats and earn points, while interacting with social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
“The publisher will also launch a smartphone app for iOS, Android and Windows devices,” reports USA Today. “‘Resident Evil 6’ launches October 2 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.”
“Video game publishers and developers have been working for a while now to try and keep gamers playing their games long after their initial release,” notes WebProNews in a related article. “The downloadable content (DLC) that comes along with a major title release is almost expected at this point, and some companies have even successfully turned their DLC into a subscription service.”
“Whether this type of service will take off for a game that has no large-scale competitive multiplayer mode will be interesting to see,” suggests WebProNews. The article cites requirements of signing up for a ResidentEvil.Net account and having a PlayStation Network or Xbox LIVE account as potential hurdles. “If this is accurate, Capcom is snubbing PC gamers, who are exactly the type of gamers most likely to form niche communities around games they enjoy.”