According to a Facebook post from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, subscribers to the video streaming site viewed more than 1 billion hours of video last month, marking a new record for the company.
“Congrats to Ted Sarandos, and his amazing content licensing team,” wrote Hastings. “Netflix monthly viewing exceeded 1 billion hours for the first time ever in June. When ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Arrested Development’ debut, we’ll blow these records away. Keep going, Ted, we need even more!”
Netflix is still working to repair the damage done last year after splitting off its DVD-by-mail service. This new milestone may be the result of those efforts.
“Netflix ended the first quarter with more than 26 million subscribers worldwide, which was a new high for the company and more than 1.5 million above the number it had in the fourth quarter of last year,” reports TechCrunch. “More importantly, its subscribers are engaged and watching a ton of video on the service.”
After Hastings’ announcement, the company’s stock rose 6.2 percent, its largest gain since May 23, reports Bloomberg. In total, Netflix stock has risen 4 percent in 2012 so far.
Rather than a separate chip to communicate with cell phone towers, another for Wi-Fi base stations, a third for GPS signals, and a fourth for Bluetooth, software-defined radio hardware receives the raw electromagnetic signals and uses software to handle each frequency.
In theory, a single software-defined radio chip could perform the function of all these separate chips simultaneously, plus record FM radio and digital television signals, read RFID chips, track ship locations, or do radio astronomy.
“Software-defined radio will make it possible to use the electromagnetic spectrum in fundamentally new ways,” reports Ars Technica. “Most radio standards today are designed to use a fixed, narrow frequency band. In contrast, software-defined radio devices can tune into many different frequencies simultaneously, making possible communications schemes that wouldn’t be feasible with conventional radio gear.”
Per Vices co-founder, Victor Wollesen, whose company has developed a low-cost software-defined PCI Express card, one day sees a time when every home will have a similar radio device.
“We see our device being used as a center that’s able to take any sort of wireless signal, process, and re-package it. A universal router,” he explains. “Our device, by loading a piece of software on it can replace a router, a cell phone, a base station, or a garage door opener.”
More importantly, these devices will usher in a new era of wireless experimentation leading to innovative new uses such as spread spectrum approaches that make much more efficient use of the frequencies.
Tech journalist Larry Magid comments on the current transition of physical to digital media (notably books, CDs, DVDs) and its potential impact from consumer and cultural perspectives.
He notes that a lack of shelves housing our physical media may take away a viewable history of our hobbies, interests and education.
“The loss of this visible manifestation of who we are may be of little consequence to most people, but it’s a loss worth noting,” he writes, adding that books, CDs and DVDs are becoming endangered species that will eventually become expensive luxury items.
Magid points out that this is not necessarily all bad, citing the multiple conveniences of e-books and digital storage of music and movies.
However, he makes an exception regarding his record collection: “I do have a soft spot for LPs. Some say they have a warmer sound, but what I mostly like about LPs is the covers and the ritual of carefully placing them on the turntable and lovingly returning them to their sleeves. And there is nothing like flipping through those old album covers for a trip down memory lane.”
“I do think there will come a time when we won’t easily be able judge a friend by his book covers, but somehow society will endure,” Magid concludes. “Maybe we’ll have to settle for talking to people to find out what interests them or, perhaps, someone will create ‘an app for that.'”
While the iPhone was once considered just a fancy, expensive cellphone by some — it’s now obvious, five years after its initial launch, that the iPhone continues to revolutionize mobile phones and computing.
“The iPhone is not and never was a phone. It is a pocket-sized computer that obviates the phone. The iPhone is to cell phones what the Mac was to typewriters,” according to John Gruber of Daring Fireball.
Gruber suggests that the iPhone was the “world’s best portable computer… It was the best because it was always there, always on, always just a button-push away. The disruption was not that we now finally had a nice phone; it was that, for better or for worse, we would now never again be without a computer or the Internet. It was the Mac side of Apple, not the iPod side, that set the engineering foundation for the iPhone.”
The post claims that in the past five years, Apple has “destroyed the handset industry by disrupting the computer industry.”
“Today, cell phones are apps, not devices,” notes Gruber. “The companies that were the most successful at selling cell phones pre-iPhone are now dead or dying. Amazon, Google, and now even Microsoft are designing and selling their own integrated touchscreen portable tablets. ‘App’ is now a household word. All of this, because of the iPhone.”
Sam Biddle offers a compelling commentary via Gizmodo that questions several of the announcements made during the recent Google I/O event, suggesting the company “revealed an unsettling lack of human understanding.”
“We’ve had privacy concerns before, but could it be more? Could it be that Google just doesn’t get real people?” asks Biddle.
The keynote featured some interesting products including the Glass wearable computer, smartphone system Google Now, the Nexus Q social media streamer, and new Google+ parties.
“But underneath each of these feats of technology you could see a hollow, lurching weirdness that makes you wonder: Who will use any of this stuff besides the actors in Google’s promo videos?” he asks.
Google is indeed ambitious and its motives seem genuine in its efforts to make our lives better through technology.
However, Biddle questions whether Google, despite its intentions, is effectively focusing on today’s average consumers: “There isn’t any lack of effort or innovation here, but rather a gaping disconnect between the way data geeks and the rest of us see the world.”
Verizon argues that the Federal Communications Commission’s new network neutrality rules exceed the agency’s regulatory authority and violate network owners’ First Amendment right to freedom of speech and its Fifth Amendment property rights.
Congress has debated net neutrality 11 times since 2006 but has yet to enact legislation. Even if it had, Verizon argues that it would violate its constitutional rights.
“Broadband networks are the modern-day microphone by which their owners [e.g. Verizon] engage in First Amendment speech,” writes Verizon.
“Although broadband providers have generally exercised their discretion to allow all content in an undifferentiated manner, they nonetheless possess discretion that these rules preclude them from exercising,” the company adds. “The FCC’s concern that broadband providers will differentiate among various content presumes that they will exercise editorial discretion.”
Verizon also believes the FCC’s rules violate the Fifth Amendment through a “government compulsion to turn over [network owners’] private property for use by others without compensation.”
The European Court of Justice has ruled that customers have the right to resell software purchased even if the software was only downloaded rather than purchased on physical media.
The doctrine of copyright exhaustion (or the first sale doctrine in the United States) prevents rights holders from controlling used copies of their work.
However, software developers have made the case that exhaustion only applies to copies on physical media such as CDs and DVDs, not downloaded copies. Thus, they were able to make the case that they could prohibit reselling of downloaded copies.
The ruling means that in the EU, there is no difference between copies on physical media and downloaded copies. Both are eligible for reselling.
Still the European court issued some qualifiers. One, the original owner must make any copies they possess inoperable. Plus, they are not allowed to split the licenses for resell.
It is not clear how this ruling would apply to downloaded media such as films, TV shows, books and magazines.
In its August issue, Vanity Fair offers analysis of what the article describes as the “astonishingly foolish management decisions” at Microsoft that “could serve as a business-school case study on the pitfalls of success.”
According to the article, Microsoft’s “stack ranking” — where all employees are ranked as top performers, good performers, average, and poor — was “the most destructive process inside of Microsoft, something that drove out untold numbers of employees” and eventually “crippled Microsoft’s ability to innovate.”
The company’s focus on Windows and Office blinded them to opportunities in emerging technologies. “Ideas about mobile computing with a user experience that was cleaner than with a PC were deemed unimportant by a few powerful people in that division, and they managed to kill the effort,” suggests the article.
“I see Microsoft as technology’s answer to Sears,” said Kurt Massey, a former senior marketing manager. “In the 40s, 50s, and 60s, Sears had it nailed. It was top-notch, but now it’s just a barren wasteland. And that’s Microsoft. The company just isn’t cool anymore.”
Vanity Fair notes that today the Apple iPhone “generates more revenue than all of Microsoft’s wares combined.”
“They used to point their finger at IBM and laugh,” said Bill Hill, a former Microsoft manager. “Now they’ve become the thing they despised.”
“After attaining unlikely success as an open platform, Twitter is demanding that third-party apps show Twitter’s stream the way the company wants them to,” reports ReadWriteWeb.
“You need to be able to see expanded Tweets,” wrote Michael Sippey, Twitter product manager, explaining that those features make Twitter “more engaging and easier to use… These are the features that make Twitter Twitter.”
However, will the company risk destroying the culture that has grown up around it by squeezing too hard on third-party developers?
“Twitter works because people who love the service have built a culture on top of it,” notes the post. “They use what makes them happy.”
“In the past, people who weren’t happy with Twitter’s native offering were able to build something they liked better. If Twitter breaks that ability, the nature of the relationships built on its network will change. Features aren’t what ‘make Twitter Twitter.’ People are.”
Facebook is branching out to new areas such as e-commerce by exploring its own network for potential acquisitions.
The social network has more than 900 million users, a number that hasn’t escaped developers. Millions of apps such as social game maker Zynga got their start on Facebook.
“But as recent acquisitions of mobile apps Instagram and Karma show, Facebook is considering snapping up companies on its own platform — turning it into a potential competitor for other app developers,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
“How does it take advantage of commercial opportunities in its own ecosystem, without scaring off software developers?” asks the article.
Facebook is particularly interested in new approaches to monetizing its mobile site, although some analysts warn that acquiring companies that build on its platform could be a strategic error.
“I sure hope Facebook stays a platform and allows developers like us to be successful,” explains Hjalmar Windbladh, founder of gift-giving app Wrapp. “If you jeopardize that, your time as a platform has passed.”
“So far this year, Facebook has made 11 acquisitions, shelling out more than $1.5 billion for deals for which it has publicly disclosed terms, up from just $68 million last year,” notes WSJ. “The company has a lot more money to spend after raising $6.8 billion in its IPO in May, giving it about $11 billion in cash plus access to a $5 billion credit line.”
Online marketing firm Monetate reports that for the first time tablets are outpacing smartphones in the amount of traffic they drive to e-commerce sites.
“In the first quarter of 2012, tablet traffic to commerce sites hit 6.52 percent, overtaking smartphones (5.35 percent),” reports GigaOM. “In the last year, tablets’ traffic increased 348 percent while smartphones visits grew by 117 percent over the same period. Almost all of the traffic (95 percent) was from the iPad, said Monetate.”
The increasing popularity of tablets is also impacting the PC, which saw its traffic to e-commerce sites drop four percent in one quarter.
“Tablets are at an inflection point, where its coming into its own as a primary Internet portal,” explains Monetate CMO Kurt Heinemann. “It’s only going to grow at this point.”
“Monetate found that tablets converted visits into purchases at a rate of 3.23 percent, not far behind the PC at 3.51 percent and well ahead of smartphones at 1.39 percent,” notes the post. “Tablet users view an average of 11.07 pages per session, compared to 12.05 page views for PC users and 7.18 pages for smartphone users. And tablet owners add items to their cart at a rate of 9.66 percent, compared to 10.2 percent for PC users and 4.25 percent for smartphone users.”
In a related story from TechCrunch, NPD predicts tablet shipments will grow from 121 million today to 416 million by 2017, “when they will overtake notebooks to become the most popular mobile PC device, driven by a drop in costs and a rise in features. Overall mobile PC shipments will reach 809 million units by 2017, from 347 million today.”
This rise in tablets is also expected to lead to a decline in notebooks. “One takeaway from this: although Apple with its iPad line of tablets has dominated the tablet world in market and mindshare up to now, the space is far from penetrated, and that means that companies like Microsoft, Google and others still have a lot to play for,” suggests TechCrunch.
The era of passive television viewing is about to end as mobile computing continues to dismantle the traditional silos of media consumption.
We are no longer reliant on magazines for articles or the radio for music. “Content can be consumed and interacted with across multiple platforms of varying form,” notes ReadWriteWeb.
The greatest change in this regard is set to take place with TV. “The future is not in the hands of network television conglomerates, reality stars or video-streaming services,” suggests the post. “It is in the hands of the developers.”
Although meaningful change has yet to emerge from attempts to create Internet-connected TVs, this is about to transform as companies develop smarter applications to connect TVs, smartphones and tablets. The article cites Apple and Google as potential game-changers.
“When Google announced the Nexus Q last week at its Google I/O conference, it was with a wink toward the developers in the audience,” suggests the post. “Without directly saying so, Google expects developers to hack the device. They might turn the Q into a device that automates home utilities, or creates dynamic media experiences that connect smartphones and tablets to the television.”
Additionally, Brightcove recently released updates to its App Cloud platform that will help developers create dual-screen iOS apps that connect to Apple TV through AirPlay.
This solution “enables media publishers to develop rich content apps for the iPhone and iPad that simultaneously control content, data and information presented on an HDTV while displaying synchronized content on the iPad or iPhone,” according to the company’s announcement.
Mozilla’s open mobile project known as “Boot to Gecko” has been officially named Firefox OS.
According to Engadget, “Firefox OS will be positioned as a low-priced, entry-level alternative to leading mobile operating systems.”
“Industry support is growing behind Mozilla’s plans to launch a new fully open mobile ecosystem based on HTML5,” notes the company press release. “The operating system, which Mozilla today confirmed will use its Firefox brand, will power the launch of smartphones built entirely to open Web standards, where all of the device’s capabilities can be developed as HTML5 applications.”
Firefox OS continues to win over carriers “including Deutsche Telekom, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and Telenor,” reports Engadget. ZTE and TCL Communication Technology have already signed on to make phones based on the HTML5-powered operating system.
“The first Firefox OS powered devices are expected to launch commercially in Brazil in early 2013 through Telefonica’s commercial brand, Vivo,” explains the press release.
“The push toward HTML5 as a broader mobile platform comes at a time when some early advocates seem to be moving away from mobile Web applications out of frustration with their performance,” adds AllThingsD in a related article. “But Mozilla is doubling down on the Web. The named reference to Mozilla’s biggest brand is purposeful. Much as the Firefox browser targeted Internet Explorer, so Firefox OS is a major project meant to disrupt the existing smartphone leaders.”
According to CNET: “Foxconn aims to use its investment in Sharp to land orders for Apple’s upcoming large-screen TV — so the ongoing speculation goes.”
The post cites Ho Chao-yang — former president of LCD maker Chimei Innolux and current chairman of Chi Mei Materials Technology — as its source.
DigiTimes reports in a related article: “It is a win-win strategy for Foxconn and Sharp, and the tie-up is believed to be able to create new markets, Ho stated.”
The Foxconn-Sharp theory was first floated earlier in the year. “We expect Apple to debut the iTV by the end of this year, and it is likely to adopt Sharp’s 10th generation TFT production line to produce TFT LCDs for iTVs,” wrote analysts from Daiwa Capital Markets at the time.
The analysts also noted that Foxconn’s investment in Sharp would allow Apple to utilize vertical integration in Apple iTV manufacturing.
Last month, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou refuted any claims that the company was working on an Apple HDTV. “But, hey, what else is he going to say?” asks CNET. “Apple’s biggest manufacturing partner would be the last company to tell the world it was working on an upcoming Apple product.”
“The wish-list of an Apple HDTV includes features such as a Retina Display, IGZO technology, iCloud integration, SIRI technology, and Facetime, among other goodies,” notes the post.
Enterprise mobility company Good Technology polled 1,000 U.S. workers “to get a better understanding of their mobile work habits,” reports TechCrunch.
The findings show that 80 percent of Americans continue to work after leaving the office, while half of those people feel they have “no choice” but to do so.
“Connectedness means customers demand fast replies. There’s no off switch,” notes the article. “Half of respondents check their email in bed, starting at around 7:09 AM. 68 percent check email before 8 AM. And you wonder why people hate email so much? God forbid we get a cup of coffee in us before dealing with the latest work emergency.”
The average amount of “extra work” taking place outside the office amounts to an average of 7 hours per week, or about a full day. “That’s nearly 30 hours per month or 365 extra hours per year,” according to TechCrunch.
The article suggests the need for implementing a new system of communication, perhaps even an updated email system that allows for status messages, simple yes/no responses for minor or follow-up queries, and an automated routing mechanism for those clocked in as “on duty.”
According to a Facebook post from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, subscribers to the video streaming site viewed more than 1 billion hours of video last month, marking a new record for the company.
