In an effort to boost theater attendance, cinemas across the U.S. are expanding their screenings to include concerts, plays, operas and sports events.
Among this year’s offerings have been the Metropolitan Opera’s performance of “Twilight of the Gods,” a live version of radio show “This American Life,” the National Theatre’s stage production “Frankenstein,” and the Mayweather-Cotto boxing match.
“Along with improved food offerings, bigger screens and 3D projections, theaters nationwide are programming more so-called alternative content,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “Hoping to reverse long-term declines in theater attendance by luring customers away from an increasing array of entertainment options in the home, they’re showing live rock concerts, plays, operas, boxing matches, college basketball games and even public radio shows, often to sold-out houses.”
Approximately two-thirds of the 40,000 U.S. screens have converted to digital, making electronic delivery via satellite possible. “In the next two years 2,000 theaters with a combined 15,000 screens will be connected to a new satellite distribution network,” notes the article.
This opens up new options for exhibitors, especially during traditionally low attendance times.
At $25 per ticket, some 400 theaters screened the Mayweather-Cotto match in May. “At many of those theaters, the fight was sold out and was, on a per-screen basis, the second-highest-grossing offering that day, behind Marvel Studios’ blockbuster ‘The Avengers,'” explains the article.
“With the technology we’re putting into place, we will have a high-quality digital delivery system that can support both live entertainment and theatrical exhibition,” said Darcy Antonellis, chief technology officer for Warner Bros. “It’s the natural evolution of digital cinema.”
The newly rebranded Dolby Theatre (former Kodak Theatre), home of the Academy Awards, reopened this week with new signage and a new audio-visual system.
As previously reported by ETCentric, Dolby Laboratories recently signed a 20-year deal with CIM Group (Hollywood & Highland Center owner) for naming rights to the facility.
The four-level, 3,400-seat venue has been outfitted with Dolby 3D projection and the company’s new Dolby Atmos audio system. The premiere of Disney-Pixar’s new film “Brave” will be the first to showcase the new sound format.
Dolby Surround 7.1 uses different audio channels, while Dolby Atmos object-based sound uses individual speakers rather than entire speaker arrays. In the newly outfitted facility, Dolby Atmos also adds overhead speakers installed on 50-foot trusses.
Atmos offers the equivalent of 128 channels, as compared to the six channels of 5.1 or the eight of 7.1.
“With sound ‘objects,’ directors and mixers stop thinking about which channel a sound goes on,” reports Variety. “They place the source of the sound in space relative to the listener — that is, they make the sound source an ‘object’ — and then the playback device routes the sound to whatever speakers give the desired effect.”
“The Atmos decoder learns all the speaker positions and the acoustics of the room, then the decoder uses the speakers that place the sound where the filmmakers wanted it, whether there are two speakers in the room or 102,” explains the article.
South Korean manufacturers are betting big on a new line of high-end TVs that are much thinner than traditional flat screens and display sharper images.
“Undeterred by the 3D TV flop and failure of Internet connected TVs to boost sales, Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. are hoping OLED technology will keep them ahead in an intensely competitive business that has caused losses in the TV division of Japan’s Sony for the past eight years,” reports TVNewsCheck.
High-end TV manufacturers are facing heightened competition from Chinese makers — as well as from smartphones and tablets, as consumers are accessing more content on portable devices.
“But Samsung and LG are giddy about a technological leap that they are comparing to the invention of the first color TV in the early 1950s,” suggests the article. “Short for organic light-emitting diode, the wafer-thin OLED TVs boast vivid, saturated colors and deeper contrast than the TV displays now available.”
The new TVs will arrive in Europe, Asia and North America for the holiday shopping season. Retail is expected to initially be at least $9,000 for a 55-inch set, about twice as expensive as current models that size.
“Samsung and LG weathered the downturn in the TV industry well enough to keep cash to invest in production lines for the new display technology,” notes the article. “They think its profitability will not fall as quickly as LCD TVs because the technological gap is wide enough to keep late-coming rivals at bay.”
Sharp has added a 90-inch television to its AQUOS line, the largest LED TV available in the United States.
The massive 1080p TV nearly triples the viewing area of a 55-inch HD units. Customers may have some difficulty mounting it on the wall, however, as it weighs 141 pounds and is 5-inches thick.
The Sharp LC-90LE745U features “a 120Hz refresh rate as well as Sharp’s AquoMotion 240 technology that helps avoid blurring images during fast-paced scenes in action movies or live sporting events,” reports Digital Trends. “In addition, the television is ready for 3D playback and comes with two pairs of active-shutter glasses.”
With built in Wi-Fi, the SmartCentral user interface offers access to apps such as CinemaNow, Facebook, Hulu Plus, Netflix, Twitter, Vudu and YouTube. Video chats are made possible through Skype (camera sold separately).
“Related to the Wi-Fi connectivity, Sharp has included a service called ‘Aquos Advantage Live’ that allows a trained technician to connect to the television remotely and accurately calibrate color levels,” notes the post. “This could be particularly helpful when another family member screws up the settings when fooling around in the television menu.”
Despite its colossal size, the television only consumes about as much energy as two 75-watt light bulbs. This translates to about $28 in annual energy costs for a typical consumer.
Time Warner Cable has received a U.S. patent for technology that disables fast-forwarding of TV spots and other trick mode functions on physical DVRs, network-based DVRs and third-party recording devices.
The patent’s technology essentially offers the opposite functions of the Hopper DVR, recently launched by Dish Network.
“The ability to prevent trick mode functionality may be important for a number of reasons,” TWC writes in the patent. “Advertisers may not be willing to pay as much to place advertisements if they know that users may fast forward through the advertisement and thus not receive the desired sales message. Content providers may not be willing to grant rights in their content, or may want to charge more, if trick modes are permitted.”
Although Time Warner is unlikely to implement the features anytime soon, it has started to disconnect its Look Back tool and its Start Over function.
Look Back allows subscribers to watch a show they forgot to record within three days of its initial airing.
“The penchant viewers with DVRs have for skipping ads has prompted other multichannel providers to look at ways to preserve advertising placed in TV programs,” notes TVNewsCheck. Comcast recently submitted a patent application that details how it could deliver alternative commercials to subscribers that hit the fast-forward button on their remotes to skip ads.”
A look over time at the evolution of computing platforms shows PCs overtaking mainframes and minicomputers, and the coming ascendancy of mobile.
This year Android will surpass Windows in number of devices shipped, while iOS is expected to pass Windows by next year.
This week’s Microsoft announcement of Surface may indicate an abandonment of the software giant’s business model that has worked for more than three decades.
The industry is re-integrating with single companies now working to create operating systems, stores, service, and product design.
Apple was the first to go down this path. And it has both Google and Microsoft following in its footsteps.
“Whether Microsoft or Google will be successful in their integration efforts remains to be seen,” writes Horace Dediu for mobile firm Asymco. “The challenges are immense as the value of the existing chains are enormous and the bonds that tie the company to them very strong. Breaking these ties will seem like value destruction and corporate antibodies will be set loose to kill the transitions.”
The post offers compelling charts that graphically describe the changes afoot.
Facebook has introduced a new tracking service called Facebook Exchange. The service allows advertising companies to use cookies to track users after they visit the social network, and then allows the companies to bid on advertising space.
The tracking mechanism allows companies access to users’ Web browsing after they leave Facebook.com.
“So a Facebook user who visits a travel Web site to buy airline tickets but does not complete the purchase may see an ad on Facebook that will allow them to do just that,” reports The New York Times. “Facebook is only displaying the traditional thumbnail ads that users see in the right hand column of the page and not other ads like sponsored stories or mobile ads.”
Facebook assured users that it will not share any more data with advertisers, and users can opt out of the service either by disabling cookies in their browsers or by going to the “About Ads” page on Facebook.
Facebook hopes to take a step toward addressing its mobile challenges with real-time location-based advertisements.
“Phones can be location-specific so you can start to imagine what the product evolution might look like over time, particularly for retailers,” said Carolyn Everson, Facebook vice president of global marketing solutions. “We’ve had offers being tested over the last couple of months.”
“The holy grail of advertising is finding people when they are at their closest point to making a purchase,” suggested stock analyst Colin Sebastian in an interview with Bloomberg. “Having some location-based element to advertising can be very powerful, and if you combine that with all the personal data Facebook has, the potential is enormous.”
Facebook wants to expand mobile-only news-feed advertisements, as this would allow Facebook to monetize its increased mobile use.
With Bloomberg projecting 80 percent mobile spending increases over last year, Facebook needs to figure out an effective mobile strategy, or its stock prices may plummet even further.
Google has opened up its Google+ API to Flipboard, which will allow users of the popular mobile app to browse, publish and comment on Google+ posts.
The move is part of a larger effort to make Google+ more mobile-friendly, explains Bradley Horowitz, Google VP of product management in charge of Google+.
During a presentation at LeWeb in London, Horowitz demonstrated a Flipboard prototype running on an iPad, bringing “its familiar page-turning experience to Google+ text and photos,” reports CNET.
“The quick demo showed Flipboard’s typical interface, with its design of virtual pages that people can flip from one subject to another. One page showed various photos from a particular user, another textual comments, and a third a combination of some text with a large photos. He also showed a basic interface for posting a comment to Google+,” notes the post, adding that it looked more polished than the iPhone version.
Horowitz also suggested that Google+ tablet apps are in development. “We’re dramatically investing in mobile,” he said. “For us, mobile usage is not a problem. It doesn’t impact our business model. It’s a good thing for us,” perhaps giving rival Facebook a jab.
At the Windows Phone 8 event in San Francisco on Wednesday, Espoo’s Kevin Shields announced “a slew of new and updated apps to currently available Lumia handsets starting next week,” reports Engadget.
New apps include PlayTo, which allows for wireless sharing of video, music and photos. Another called Nokia Counter will monitor and manage data usage.
Mobile imaging was clearly a focus. “Given that this is the company behind PureView, current Lumia devices running Windows Phone will receive an imaging facelift of sorts, augmenting the baked-in optics via Camera Extras,” notes Engadget.
These imaging updates will upgrade the mobile imaging and photo-taking experience on the phone, giving it a self-timer, panorama, action shots and more.
The post also lists a 3.0 update to Nokia Music and My Commute, “which utilizes Drive to compute travel time and arrange routing.”
The Engadget editorial team offers some interesting comments in an extensive post that takes a close look at Windows Phone 8 and its possibilities. The following are some of the highlights:
“Rather tragically, there’s no upgrade path from any current Windows Phone device (the 7.8 stopgap notwithstanding). Your hot new cerulean blue Lumia 900? It’ll be obsolete this fall.”
“None of the handsets sold between today and the release of WP8 (this fall) will be upgraded, and none of the devices sold between now and then will run Windows Phone 8 apps… That may be the right thing to do for the platform’s future, but it’s sure going to sting for current users who, it must be said, are left feeling a bit like beta testers.”
“Microsoft ran down my list of complaints about Windows Phone and put a big red line through each of them. High-res screens, multi-core support, more homescreen customization and a seriously modern browser. All-in-all, Windows Phone 8 is shaping up to be a beastly update to the most visually appealing mobile OS on the block.”
“It’s common knowledge at this point that the availability of quality apps plays a huge part in the failure or success of a mobile platform, and the ‘Shared Windows Core’ provides just what’s needed to get more devs cooking up apps for WP8.”
“Unfortunately for Microsoft, balking a bit at the business space allowed Android and iOS time to offer up their own solutions. But Redmond’s got a long history of enterprise support to fall back on, and this slew of new features certainly looks promising with regards to Window Phone’s place in the business space.”
“Because of Windows’ momentum and massive market share, there will be plenty of people writing software for Windows 8, and with WP8, Microsoft just turned every one of those folks into developers for its mobile platform. In short, this, at the very least, should help Microsoft close the app gap, and it has the potential to eventually vault Windows Phone Marketplace ahead of its competition from Cupertino and Mountain View — and that bodes well for Windows Phone’s future.”
Microsoft announced ambitious plans for its Windows Phone 8 operating system at a sneak peek event on Wednesday.
The biggest take-away is that for the first time there will be one software platform — Windows 8 — across desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. Developers will be able to create apps that run across platforms, reports Engadget.
Windows 8 phones will support multi-core processors (up to 64), three screen resolutions (800 x 480, 1280 x 720 [16:9], and 1280 x 768), NFC for payments and SD cards. Nokia Maps is built in and includes use offline.
Unfortunately, current phones running Windows Phone will not be able to run Windows Phone 8. However, according to AllThingsD: “Microsoft is planning an update for existing devices that will bring one key feature of Windows Phone 8 — the more customizable Start screen. That update, known as Windows Phone 7.8, will be available for the current crop of Windows Phones from Nokia, HTC and Samsung.”
Microsoft is also promising enterprise-level support and security including encryption, secure booting, and the ability to deploy and manage apps.
The average person receives 63,000 words of information daily (about the length of a novel) from emails, tweets, Facebook updates and other assorted avenues.
Cue, formerly named Greplin, is an iPhone app that seeks to manage that data flow so you don’t have to remember where you saw something important or manually pull together related information.
The vision of its co-founders “is for Cue to be the first thing you check in the morning and the app you return to throughout the day to ‘find out what’s next,’ as the tagline puts it,” reports Businessweek.
You use Cue’s calendar to see what’s next in your schedule. The app pulls info from up to 26 data sources including email, Facebook, Salesforce, Yammer, and others to gather information on, for example, your meeting attendees’ contact information, Facebook updates from them, tweets they posted, addresses, etc.
The app can get smarter over time. It recognizes flight reservations, movie ticket confirmations and package deliveries so that it can automatically enter them on your calendar.
Interestingly, Robby Walker, co-founder and CTO of Greplin, feels that one day they may have to listen in on your conversations so they can catalog them for searching.
Turn-by-turn direction app Waze has expanded its features to include real-time gas prices in a new update. Waze will also integrate discounts at participating locations.
Waze boasts 19 million users across iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Android, and Symbian phone platforms.
The app offers live traffic data and directions. “Crowdsourced entirely from its users, the data makes Waze a far more useful alternative to standalone GPS units,” reports VentureBeat.
By adding gas information to its features, Waze could potentially lure customers from cheap fuel apps such as Gas Buddy and Fuel Finder.
“Waze has also finally added the ability to use waypoints on your trips, allowing you to plot more than one location for a single journey,” notes the post. “The company also has brought its nifty voice control feature to Android phones with this latest update.”
Software start-up Magnifis has announced the release of Robin, a voice-activated mobile assistant for Android devices.
“Robin is like a mashup of Siri and Waze. It’s a voice-controlled mobile app designed for drivers to use in their cars. Like Waze, it’s motion-activated rather than button-activated, which is easier for complying with distracted driving laws and using on the road, and it can proactively warn you about upcoming traffic or speed traps,” details CNET.
However, the post suggests that Robin is not a Siri-killer just yet, as Siri has the ability to send “text messages and play music, making it a true voice-activated mobile assistant,” while Robin focuses mostly on driving-related tasks such as learning the driving schedules and habits of the user.
Robin is still in beta, and available for free at the Google Play store.
In an effort to boost theater attendance, cinemas across the U.S. are expanding their screenings to include concerts, plays, operas and sports events.
