Google released an end-of-year rundown that measures the most popular apps on its Play Store. This year’s fastest growing app category has been health and fitness, led by diet tracker MyFitnessPal. With 100,000 mobile health apps available now for Android and iOS, the global health and fitness app market is worth about $4 billion. In other categories, Facebook topped social, Netflix was the leader in entertainment, Pandora was the most popular music app, and Flipagram led the photography category. Continue reading Health & Fitness is Fastest Growing Category on Google Play

A project called “Maui” being developed internally at HBO to launch the company’s standalone streaming video service next year has been terminated. Instead, HBO has opted to outsource the development of its service to MLB Advanced Media, a company with experience in streaming media technology. As a result of Maui’s cancellation, HBO has also parted ways with its chief technology officer, Otto Berkes, who had been with the company since 2012 and oversaw the project.  Continue reading HBO Outsources its Streaming Tech Development to MLBAM

Instagram — the photo- and video-sharing app owned by Facebook — announced yesterday that it presently has 300 million monthly active users, up 50 percent in nine months (more than 70 percent of its users are now outside the United States). The new numbers suggest that the social service is more popular than Twitter today (Twitter recorded 284 million monthly active users for Q3). Instagram is looking to leverage its meteoric popularity to engage users in new ways, and draw advertisers at the same time. Continue reading Instagram Now Bigger Than Twitter, Looks to Brand Advertising

As the Internet of Things grows, the creators of OpenSensors.io believe that the public could benefit from sharing data from the many sensors that collect information around the world. OpenSensors is like a social network, where people can publish their data and subscribe to other people’s data. The software brings all of the info together, making it easier to route it to the appropriate locations. The open source nature of the data means anyone could use it for their own research or app. Continue reading OpenSensors.io Lets Anyone Share Data from Smart Devices

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have created a camera that can capture how light moves as it goes through and around objects. The camera may be used to observe body processes, study quantum phenomena, and eventually develop invisibility cloaks. Compressed Ultrafast Photography (CUP), as the technique is known, achieves an incredible speed by converting photons to electrons and recording the time and space data needed to create an image. Continue reading Fastest Camera Ever Captures 100 Billion Frames per Second

Amazon’s latest experiment with its delivery service promises one-hour deliveries. The Amazon Prime Now service is being tested across New York City using a fleet of bike messengers. The program has plans to implement drop-off drones in the future. Amazon’s drone carriers, which could cut the one-hour delivery time in half, has yet to receive approval from the FAA for domestic use. Amazon joins companies such as Postmates, WunWun and Uber in the market for expedited delivery services. Continue reading Amazon Tests Delivery Options via Bike Messengers, Drones

Amazon Prime members who enjoy free two-day shipping and unlimited streaming of music and video can soon add Ultra HD to their subscription perks. Amazon announced yesterday that it is releasing a catalog of television shows and movies that stream in 4K, joining Netflix in a move that may provide consumers with another reason to consider a UHD TV purchase. Current UHD models offered by LG, Samsung and Sony feature a built-in chip capable of decoding 4K video streamed from Amazon. Continue reading Amazon Announces Streaming 4K Content for Prime Members

Despite revenue generated by licensing content to streaming services, some analysts and execs are concerned that the growth of subscribers to Netflix and related services may negatively impact traditional TV audiences and related advertising revenue. During the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference on Monday, research was presented that suggests a significant disruption in media consumption, as Netflix subscribers watch less broadcast TV than consumers without the service. Continue reading Research Suggests Streaming is Impacting the Business of TV

The Pirate Bay was taken down yesterday after Swedish police raided a server room over alleged copyright violations, seizing computers and servers in the process. Pirate Bay’s file-sharing section and its Suprbay.org forum were both affected. The move follows a series of recent events surrounding the service that have returned it to the spotlight. Online sources are reporting that file sharing services such as EZTV, Torrage and Zoink also went down yesterday, but it is not yet clear whether they were raided. Continue reading Pirate Bay File-Sharing Service Raided by Police, Shut Down

United Talent Agency and Rentrak, an entertainment data company, have teamed up to bring studio marketers a tool that tracks the hype on social media surrounding a specific film. With this data, marketers would be better armed to make the necessary tweaks to a marketing campaign that can help make a movie a hit. PreAct is the name of the new tool, and since its debut in January, the service has signed up entertainment giants such as Sony Pictures Entertainment and 20th Century Fox. Continue reading New Tool for Film Marketers Analyzes Buzz on Social Media

Hachette Book Group, which publishes best-selling authors including Michael Connelly, Malcolm Gladwell and James Patterson, announced on Monday that it is partnering with Gumroad to determine whether author tweets can help push book sales. In today’s social media landscape, authors with significant Twitter followings — such as John Green and Paulo Coelho — have experienced major success. Gumroad enables creators to sell products directly to social media followers without leaving Twitter. Continue reading Hachette Launches Twitter Experiment to Boost its Book Sales

The International Telecommunication Union announced its approval of a new DSL standard that combines fiber and copper to transmit at gigabit speeds. The Broadband Forum industry consortium is testing interoperability of products and has scheduled a trial certification program. Following certification of chipsets and equipment, G.fast implementations are expected to hit the market next year. The standard is seen as a new way to deliver bandwidth intensive applications such as Ultra HD television. Continue reading ITU Approves G.fast Standard, Should Benefit UHD Streaming

The NPD Group reports that awareness and satisfaction of UltraViolet is on the rise with American consumers. According to NPD’s “Digital Video Adoption Monitor Report,” 44 percent of U.S. consumers have heard of UV or recognize its logo. That marks a nine percent increase over last year. Consumers pointed to DVD and Blu-ray packaging as the primary source for raising awareness. NPD notes that 91 percent of current UV users indicate they are satisfied with the service, up eight percent from 2013. Continue reading UltraViolet Awareness and Satisfaction on the Rise, Says NPD

Galaxy Note 4 users interested in virtual reality can spend $199 for the newly launched Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition, available via the Samsung and AT&T sites (a Verizon version is on its way). A variety of VR games and applications are available from the Oculus VR app store and a 16GB microSD card starter kit. Since Gear VR is designed for mobile, there are limitations to the types of games you can play, but Samsung offers a Bluetooth controller with more standard game controls in a $249 bundle. Continue reading Samsung Launches Gear VR Headset, Powered by Galaxy Note

As Facebook’s video startup Vessel begins to take shape, the company has aggressively pursued some of YouTube’s most popular online stars. In response, Google has been structuring more lucrative deals for its stars to keep them from leaving. The company has gone as far as offering multiyear deals, performance-based bonuses and additional funding for video production. Although Vessel has yet to launch, it is reportedly looking to secure programming in advance of its debut.  Continue reading Google Offers Special Deals to Keep Top Talent on YouTube