The Obama administration has announced its Advanced Wireless Research Initiative, a government-funded $400 million seven-year project aimed at developing 5G wireless networking technology, with speeds 100 times faster than today’s 4G and LTE networks. As stated, the project also wants to “maintain U.S. leadership and win the next generation of mobile technology.” The National Science Foundation will lead the project, and other commercial partners including Samsung and carriers will participate. Continue reading Advanced Wireless Research Initiative to Develop 5G Networks

Darth Vader is the star of an upcoming Lucasfilm virtual reality project centered on “Star Wars.” Although the project is largely undefined at this point — it has no name, genre, or release date — what we do know is that the story will both reveal new details about Darth Vader’s background and try out some innovative storytelling techniques. Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB, which accesses award-winning VFX facility Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound and the “Star Wars” story group, is developing the project. Continue reading ILMxLAB Debuts ‘Tatooine’ VR, Develops Darth Vader Projects

Netflix has debuted Flixtape, a standalone website that allows users to make playlists of their favorite movies and TV shows. The lists can be created on the basis of genre (comedy, drama, documentary) or any kind of theme. According to Netflix, these lists can either be shared, via text message, email or social networks including Facebook and Twitter, with family and friends, or simply created for the user’s own reference. The list, however, is limited to a total of six titles. Continue reading Netflix’s New Flixtape Site Lets Users Create, Share ‘Mixtapes’

Japan’s SoftBank Group has agreed to acquire United Kingdom’s ARM Holdings for more than $32 billion in an all-cash deal, which insiders suggest marks a major move by the Japanese telecom toward the mobile Internet. As a top designer of chips for companies such as Apple and Samsung, ARM dominates the smartphone market and is a leader in the mobile revolution. Its designs appear in a range of devices, including Internet of Things sensors. The number of chips featuring ARM processors reached 14.8 billion in 2015, up from 6.1 billion five years earlier. Continue reading SoftBank to Purchase UK-Based Chip Designer ARM Holdings

Netflix has scored big with 54 Emmy nominations, compared to last year’s 34 nominations. The number of nominations puts Netflix in third place, behind HBO (94 nominations) and FX Networks (56 nominations). Its long-standing series “House of Cards” continued to garner nominations, as did new series “Bloodlines” and “Narcos.” Netflix is also besting its competitors in terms of how it creates value for the money it spends on productions, with efficiencies an estimated three-times better than Amazon and Hulu. Continue reading Netflix Scores Emmy Noms, Reaping Value Per Dollar Spent

NBCUniversal just received a patent to track files, in real-time, shared by groups on peer-to-peer networks, part of an anti-piracy effort. “Early detection of high volume peer-to-peer swarms,” the title of the patent, looks for a popular swarm so that the copyright holders can take action before it is “too late to do much good.” Detection relies on a data feed of peer-to-peer swarm activity, augmented by a data analytics engine that processes the data to identify swarms with parameters exceeding a threshold. Continue reading NBCUniversal Awarded Patent to Halt Illegal BitTorrent Piracy

Vevo, launched by Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group in 2009 to sell digital advertising, is going through a rebranding. About 400 million people watch the company’s relatively small catalog of 200,000 music videos, but they primarily watch them on YouTube. Vevo wants to change that. Although it already had an app, it’s rolling out a brand new one that Vevo hopes will not only capture viewers but keep them there with conversations and social media. The company also plans to roll out an ad-free subscription tier. Continue reading Vevo Puts Emphasis on Social with Rebranding and New App

Earlier this week, we reported that Twitter is partnering with CBS News to live-stream video content from the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Now YouTube and Facebook have announced they also plan to offer live video. Google’s YouTube will serve as the official streamer for both parties’ conventions (as it did in 2012), which this time will include 360-degree video with an option for VR viewing. Facebook plans to set up media lounges at both conventions and has invited 22 media organizations to broadcast from their spaces. Continue reading YouTube, Facebook to Stream Video from Political Conventions

The tension between Google’s YouTube and the music recording industry still roils. Google says that YouTube has made payments topping $3 billion to the music industry, but the music industry claims that YouTube’s rates are lower than those paid by SoundCloud and Spotify, both ad-supported. Music is important to YouTube, but YouTube — with its enormous audiences — is also important to the music industry. They need each other, but neither will budge. Now a Google report spells out its point of view. Continue reading Google Report Answers Music Industry’s Copyright Complaints

Magic Leap has not yet set a date to unveil its mixed reality technology, and didn’t do so at a recent Fortune conference in Aspen. There, Magic Leap founder/chief executive Rony Abovitz and chief marketing officer Brian Wallace said the technology is “very real” and “not a research project anymore.” Some listeners detected a hint that a product might be released this fall, but Abovitz and Wallace never made an overt statement. The most they would say is that the public would see its products “soonish.” Continue reading Magic Leap Still Mum on Release Date, Describes Production

Zendesk is introducing Automatic Answers, a service that answers a business’s emails from customers, without human intervention. But it’s far more sophisticated than today’s well-known auto-responders, having been built on a machine-learning platform that in-house data scientists and engineers have been developing for some time. The platform is also used for another Zendesk service, Satisfaction Prediction, which helps determine the customer experience. Automatic Answers will be rolled out later in the year. Continue reading Zendesk Customer Service Product Built on Machine Learning

According to Amazon, product orders made during its second annual Prime Day surpassed last year’s sales by more than 60 percent worldwide (50 percent in the U.S.), while third-party vendors experiencing a 30 percent surge. Amazon says it tripled sales of its own devices in the U.S.; the Fire TV stick was the most popular Amazon device sold during Tuesday’s event. Prime Day debuted last year to commemorate the company’s 20th anniversary and encourage consumers to sign up for its Prime membership service, which offers perks such as two-day shipping and access to Prime Video and Prime Music. Continue reading Prime Day Experiences Sales Surge, Big Day for Fire TV Stick

As of Monday, Fox is livestreaming all its primetime shows to digital platforms in all 210 U.S. TV markets, the first broadcaster to do so. The first live-streaming show out of the gate was a live performance episode of “So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation.” Among the entertainment programs that will be livestreamed every night of the week and late-night Saturdays are “Wayward Pines,” “Master Chef,” ‘Hotel Hell,” “Home Free,” “Teen Choice 2016,” “Scream Queens” and new series “Lethal Weapon.” Continue reading Fox Livestreams Primetime Programs to Pay-TV Subscribers

ABC relaunched its streaming service yesterday to attract cord cutters with an increased number of TV shows and a collection of new digital originals. The network is introducing seven digital short-form series that focus on comedy and lifestyle, with more than 40 digital programs in development. The content is available via the free, ad-supported app and online at ABC.go.com. The app is debuting a redesigned user interface for iOS devices and Apple TV boxes. In addition, pay TV subscribers will have access to exclusive content and, in select markets, the ability to view live television. Continue reading ABC Targets Cord Cutters with Expanded Streaming Offerings

For the first time, viewers of the Olympic Games in Rio will be able to watch on connected TVs and via devices such as Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku and Amazon Fire. There’ll be a lot to watch: NBC Olympics plans on 4,500 hours of live event coverage of 34 sports to numerous digital devices. Also for the first time, NBC will stream content digitally — but only to pay TV customers, since parent company Comcast’s core mission is to keep people paying for cable TV. Continue reading NBCUniversal Marks Numerous Firsts for Upcoming Olympics