“Mob City,” a three-week event about mobsters in 1940s Los Angeles, premieres Wednesday night on TNT. In an effort to generate early social buzz, the script for the first episode is being released in its entirety (minus the surprise ending) as a stream of Twitter messages. The first episode was written by the show’s creator, Frank Darabont (“The Walking Dead,” “The Green Mile,” “The Shawshank Redemption”). The tweets began distribution yesterday using Twitter Cards. Continue reading New TNT Series “Mob City” Releases Script Via Twitter Cards

Forbes reports that Apple was a big winner on Black Friday. The article notes that InfoScout reviewed more than 90,000 shopping receipts in the U.S. and learned that Apple products accounted for 22 percent of Target’s sales on Black Friday. The iPad Air 16GB, iPad mini 16GB and iPad Air 32GB models were the number one, two and three sellers, respectively. Additionally, the iPad mini 16GB model was the number one seller at Walmart. Continue reading Black Friday: Apple iPad a Big Winner at Target and Walmart

Seattle-based Amazon is promoting Kindle tablets and e-readers in a pop-up shop in a San Francisco mall, providing a glimpse at what the online retailer could look like in a physical space. Amazon is also offering devices, branded covers and power adapters via vending machines. While Amazon has been expected by some to follow Apple and Microsoft in opening brick-and-mortar storefronts, the company said it has no immediate plans to do so. Continue reading Amazon Opens Pop-Up Stores to Market Tablets and E-Readers

Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online commerce days of the year, is now extending to the rest of the holiday season. Consumers are no longer waiting until the Monday after Thanksgiving to surf the Web for deals. Rather, utilizing their tablets and smartphones, consumers are shopping online for a longer stretch. This is forcing companies like Amazon and eBay to compete with retailers to attract online buyers both before and after Cyber Monday. Continue reading Holiday Shopping Takes a Mobile Turn, Companies Respond

YouTube is reportedly planning to launch its premium on-demand music service later this year, according to sources. The service, similar to Spotify, but including video, is designed for mobile music listeners. It is expected to offer a tiered approach, with an ad-supported free component and a premium option that includes unlimited access to a catalog of songs similar to the All Access subscription service available via Google, YouTube’s parent company. Continue reading YouTube Could Launch its On-Demand Music Service This Year

The traffic app Waze is partnering with Universal Pictures in order to produce a celebrity voice navigation feature. The first celebrity to give directions is comedian and actor Kevin Hart. Waze essentially crowdsources traffic and navigation data, and friends and fellow travelers are able to post updates that provide a real time picture of road conditions. The app gained popularity after it was acquired by Google earlier this year for $1.3 billion. Continue reading Celebrities Now Give Driving Directions via Traffic App Waze

Entertainment media execs met with President Obama this week to discuss including copyright protections in new trade agreements and help in facilitating improved relations between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. During the meeting, the president offered his administration’s assistance in bridging the divide between the two industries. A priority in Hollywood is to stop search engines from linking to websites that stream pirated content. Continue reading Hollywood Executives Discuss Piracy with President Obama

Intel is reportedly asking about $500 million for its OnCue service, which the chipmaker developed before making the decision to no longer pursue its online pay TV ambitions. The company is looking to secure a sale by the end of the year, according to inside sources. Verizon, which has been talking with broadcast and cable channels regarding terms for a streaming TV service, is believed to be one potential suitor. Intel has also met with Samsung and Liberty Global. Continue reading Intel Looking to Sell Online Pay TV Service for $500 Million

Media consumers are spending more time on mobile devices and less time watching television, and ratings from the past couple of years suggest that cable TV is on the decline. Since 2010, about 5 million people have ended their cable and broadband subscriptions. And for the first time ever, less than half of major broadband companies’ subscribers pay for cable TV. Broadcast and cable TV ratings have been heading downward since the end of 2011. Continue reading TV Ratings Consistently Declining as Consumers Go Mobile

The Sense 3D scanner is now available, with a $400 price tag and scanning abilities for objects up to 10 x 10 feet. The handheld device can even digitize a person, and within the next few years, it is expected to become a mainstream consumer product. Sense reviewers are enthusiastic about the scanner, praising its attention to detail and ease of use, although there is a minor learning curve and some have questioned the need for a USB cord. Continue reading 3D Systems Portable Handheld Sense Scanner Now Available

Video game playing is becoming a new form of spectator sport as livestreaming popularity continues to soar. More and more, game companies are encouraging players to share clips of their gameplay highlights and stream them live. Jayson Love is the host of “MANvsGAME” — a popular Web show in which he broadcasts his gaming to Twitch — and between advertisers and subscribers, he’s poised to earn $100,000 next year just by playing games. Continue reading Popularity of Video Game Livestreaming Grows, Rivaling TV

We recently reported that Sony’s PlayStation 4 sold more than one million units in its first 24 hours of availability. Now, Microsoft has made the same claim with the launch of its Xbox One console on November 22. While the sales figures set a new record for Microsoft, easily defeating first day sales of its Xbox 360, the Xbox One launched in 11 more countries than the PS4. Both companies are expected to sell 3 million units by the end of the year. Continue reading Microsoft Sells One Million Xbox One Consoles on First Day

“Discover, shop, and express your style” is the slogan for Polyvore, an online global community that has created over 80 million collage-like “sets,” designed to give everyone a voice in shaping trends and influencing purchases. While it may not be a household name yet, the social network drives disproportionate amounts of social revenue. At 20 percent, it drives more social traffic than Pinterest (15 percent) and four times that of Twitter (5 percent). Continue reading Polyvore Drives More Social Traffic Than Pinterest and Twitter

A team from Disney Research Zürich led by Wojciech Jarosz has developed a new rendering technique that is expected to save animators significant time in the editing process of feature films. The new computational algorithm, which is being presented at this week’s ACM SIGGRAPH Asia conference in Hong Kong, can reduce rendering times for scenes that are affected by light — like those with water and smoke — by a factor of up to 1,000. Continue reading New Animation Technology to Save Production Time and Cost

Bravo is one of the first networks to make use of Facebook’s new Keyword Insights API. Scanning private posts of the social networking site’s 100 million-plus users, Bravo is taking advantage of the feature — introduced in September — by running keyword searches during new episodes of the “Real Housewives” TV shows and using the data for social engagement during reruns. The reruns are referred to as the “social edition” versions, which include tweets and comments from the stars. Continue reading Bravo Uses New Facebook API to Enhance User Engagement