Rovio, creator of the game app “Angry Birds,” is planning the next step for its popular IP: a feature-length motion picture.
The expanding franchise has already proven successful with plush toys, iPhone cases, a Mattel board game, a cookbook, and an interesting tie-in with 20th Century Fox’s feature film, “RIO” (Rovio launched mobile game “Angry Birds Rio” to coincide with the film’s release).
In order to facilitate its next steps, Rovio has acquired Finnish animation studio Kombo and has attached former Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel as special advisor.
Based on the global popularity of the app and the “emotional connection” that gamers experience during play, Maisel sees continued success for “Angry Birds” as an entertainment brand.
Apple has joined Sony and Fox News in the growing list of companies experiencing recent security breaches.
In what appears to be a warning salvo, 27 user names and encrypted passwords from an Apple website were reportedly posted online over the weekend along with a warning of future attacks from hacker group Anonymous.
The hacker group posted a list of data supposedly taken from an Apple Business Intelligence website. Apple has not commented on this.
Anonymous hacker group, which linked to this leak in a Twitter post, threatens that Apple could be a target of its attacks.
Anonymous is running “antisec,” an operation that threatens government, law enforcement and corporations.
The annual iTunes Festival kicked off Friday in England, streaming select performances live in HD to iPads and iPhones for those who downloaded the free app.
The event is scheduled for 31 consecutive nights at the Roundhouse in London.
Paul Simon was the first artist to take the stage. Additional headliners include Coldplay, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World, Moby and more.
Apple funds the event by recording the live sets and selling them exclusively on iTunes.
Wired suggests an alternative business model: “But it makes me wish more festival organizers would do this the other way around — free recordings of the gigs you paid to see at festivals. Or perhaps a handful of free tracks to choose from an entire festival’s lineup, with the complete collection put on sale. There’s no better live recording than one created during the night you attended.”
Big Blue announced a potential breakthrough in digital storage, with the unveiling of a new kind of phase change memory (PCM) chip.
Though still an early prototype, the chip demonstrated impressive advances over Flash memory, including a 100x speed increase, and a hundred-fold increase in the number of read-write cycles the chip can handle.
The need for fast, reliable data storage is projected to increase exponentially in coming years, as more data moves into the cloud.
IBM predicts that this new technology will cause a “paradigm shift” in data storage in the next five years.
Last week ETCentric reported that a new service called MoviePass plans to offer unlimited movie viewing in participating theaters for a fee of $50/month. The initial beta was scheduled for the holiday weekend in San Francisco.
The planned beta test hit a roadblock when a number of San Francisco theaters decided not to participate since they did not consent to the admission price of the proposed model.
Interestingly, the theaters would still have been paid full admission.
From the AMC press release: “As MoviePass was created without AMC’s input and testing, we cannot confidently say the guest experience would be positive for our guests and specifically our AMC Stubs members.”
Google missed out on the $4.5 billion auction for Nortel’s patents, losing to a consortium made up of Apple, Microsoft, EMC, Ericsson, RIM, and Sony.
Google’s loss of the patent portfolio puts its Android platform at a disadvantage, and the company will not have access to over 6,000 patents covering a range of technologies.
It has been reported that Google may respond with a Restraint of Trade suit in an attempt to force the consortium to license some or all of the patents.
The consortium’s participants will likely take key patents for their own use. For example, Apple’s $2 billion may give it ownership of Nortel’s LTE (4G) patents.
In his new book, iPad in the Enterprise (available this August), Nathan Clevenger examines how the Apple iPad has started to transform the way enterprise IT departments are operating. Some interesting excerpts from the book are listed below.
“The day the iPad was introduced we had some discussions about adding them into our environment; 24 hours later, we had 500 devices accessing e-mails,” said Frank Modruson, the CIO of Accenture. “CIOs who resist will eventually be forced to change.”
“As we move forward into a world where cloud enabled networks are the norm,” says Art Glasgow, the CTO at Ingenix, “CIOs have to accept the fact that the world has changed. Any device at any time on the network will be the norm and it will have to be done without sacrificing security and manageability. Cool matters and usability rules the day so devices like the iPad have to be not just accounted for, but designed for. The good news is that devices like the iPad aren’t just cool. They are flexible, multifunction tools that are changing the way we work and create and in that sense may very well be not just an innovation themselves, but a catalyst to innovations.”
An open letter to Research In Motion senior management reportedly written by a “high-level RIM employee” gives a frank description of what’s wrong and makes startling recommendations.
The letter starts with: “I have lost confidence.”
It suggests there is a need to focus on the end user instead of strategic alignments, partner requests or legal advice.
It also recommends focusing on a few projects as Apple had to do when Jobs returned — and calls for a “new, fresh thinking, experienced CEO.”
Developers, not carriers will “make or break us.” Also, reach out and get input from the employees.
Plizy is a new cloud-based discovery and recommendation platform for Internet video.
The company currently offers an iPad app and will soon roll out to other devices.
The app makes recommendations from 300 Web “channels” based on an individual’s video habits, interests and social graph.
It downloads content for later viewing where they have agreements with owners.
The company is signing deals with content owners for quality content.
“You can enjoy TED, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook at the same place. And we are adding something new in the coming days, which is the ability to download some content, so you will be able to download TED videos [for example] and watch them on the plane or the bus or in a train. So we’re trying to push the experience, the discovery, and the access to the best content,” explains Jonathan Benassaya, founder and CEO of Plizy.
The Olympus PEN series extends its successful Micro-Four-Thirds lineup to include upgraded technology in its higher-end models in addition to the new pocket-cam and entry-level E-PM1.
The E-P3 is the new flagship PEN that “brings the series up to DSLR quality with new sensor and processor technology.” Features include a 3-inch 614K pixel OLED touchscreen, 2-1/4000 second shutter speed, and 12.3-megapixel Live MOS sensor. The E-P3 will be available in August for $900.
The most notable addition to the E-PL3 is “its tilting, 3-inch, 460K pixel LCD display,” and like the E-P3 includes 3D capability. It also includes a 12.3-megapixel Live MOS Image Sensor, that “addressed some of the low-light issues holding back former PEN units.” Price and availability have not been announced.
The pocketable six-inch E-PM1 — designed for consumers who have outgrown their point-and-shoots — promises a simplified UI for beginners, 12.3-megapixel MOS, and 3-inch LCD display, but no tilt or touchscreen. Again, price and availability have yet to be announced.
ETCentric reported earlier in the week that social networking site MySpace would be sold to Irvine-based advertising firm Specific Media for $35 million in cash and stock.
Although News Corp. has claimed that its Google ad deals helped curb MySpace losses over the recent years, others suggest a darker picture.
The sale of MySpace for a mere 6 percent of its original $580 million purchase price may be yet another chapter in a disappointing tale, one which started with a failed attempt to build an all-service media empire.
Ars Technica suggests that when considering the entire picture, including the operating losses over the years, the MySpace acquisition may have cost News Corp. well over $1 billion (read the article for a breakdown of the math).
Specific Media, with Justin Timberlake as a backer, is expected to focus on music for MySpace’s new direction.
Only 2 percent of U.S. homes will have a 3D TV by year’s end, and the market is expected to only improve slightly to 5 percent penetration in 2012.
However, SNL Kagan reports that these figures will jump to 21 percent in 2015.
Internet-enabled TVs are currently more popular, projected to go from 14 percent penetration this year to 51 percent in 2015.
The report also concludes that a lack of 3D content has been a problem thus far, but growing interest in 3D sports and films should help sustain the technology in the future.
Social blogging network Tumblr announced the release of its Tumblr iPhone 2.0 mobile app this week.
According to Digital Trends: “Users can now manage multiple Tumblogs, reply to messages and save drafts — important functionality that was completely lacking from the first version.”
Another positive addition includes the ability to sign up directly through the mobile app, rather than on the Web.
Digital Trends offers a positive review and suggests: “If you’re on Tumblr (and have an iPhone), definitely download this app right now.”
Apple may soon “amp up competition with Android” by offering its iPhone 3GS for $0 (with a qualifying service contract).
The iPhone 3GS was launched in the U.S. in June 2009.
RBC Capital Market analyst Mike Abramsky suggests the free phone will be made available the same time that Apple releases its successor to the iPhone 4, providing options for different demographics.
Abramsky also forecasts the free 3GS could “expand the iPhone’s worldwide marketshare from some 64 million users to more than 150 million users.”
Google’s Android is currently the top-selling smartphone platform in the U.S.
