In its first move to directly back a content company, Google is participating in a funding round for Machinima, a prominent content partner for YouTube. In contrast to Google’s other investments for YouTube content, this is not a loan but investment for an actual equity stake.
This round is expected to raise more than $30 million, which will value Machinima at $190 million.
Machinima, which reportedly generates in excess of a billion views per month, produces videos primarily for videogame players.
“The deal may ruffle some feathers among other video makers, some of whom already complain that YouTube favors Machinima and a handful of prominent content partners,” reports Peter Kafka for AllThingsD.
“The counter to that argument: Why shouldn’t Google back content producers who make stuff for its properties? After all, YouTube is trying to become more like TV. And most of the big TV networks own their own studios outright,” suggests Kafka.
Following ratification by Nevada’s legislature to regulate self-driving cars, the California State Senate has proposed its own set of standards. The California bill passed 37-0 and now heads to the State Assembly.
California is taking a more cautious approach than Nevada. “Earlier this month, Nevada issued its first testing license to Google, allowing the company to begin trials on state roadways. California’s bill doesn’t go quite as far, outlining general performance and safety requirements that manufacturers must meet before embarking on test drives,” reports The Verge.
The legislation requires mechanisms for disabling the autonomous functions and requires at least one licensed driver be in the vehicle during test trials. Additionally, companies conducting trials must be insured at $5 million minimum.
Senator Alex Padilla authored the bill and envisions California as “the global leader” of autonomous driving. He notes that autonomous driving would not only create new jobs, but would decrease tragic accidents since the “vast majority of these collisions are due to human error.”
“Through the use of computers, sensors and other systems, an autonomous vehicle can analyze the driving environment more quickly and accurately and can operate the vehicle more safely,” adds Padilla.
Google now officially owns Motorola Mobility after starting the $12.5 billion acquisition process in August.
The deal had been stalled since February as the companies waited for China to approve the agreement, which it did over the weekend. Europe and the U.S. had already announced their approval.
China was stalling as it questioned Google’s claims that Motorola would continue to operate independently and that Google would not show the vendor favoritism.
Before approving the deal, China “forced Google to agree to keep Android open and free for a period of five years to ensure it didn’t change its stance and give Motorola preferential treatment,” according to CNET.
The acquisition could help ease Google’s legal issues, since Motorola Mobility holds thousands of patents and patent applications. Google has been involved in numerous legal proceedings over claims that its Android phones violate patents.
“Rumors have been swirling for the last week or so that there could be significant layoffs at Moto following the merger, which would further enforce the perception that Google is more interested in the company’s patents than in entering the hardware business,” notes Engadget in a related post.
Teaming up with Comcast Cable, Verizon Wireless is launching Viewdini, “a new portal for mobile users to aggregate, search out and get delivery of all kinds of video content,” details The Hollywood Reporter.
The announcement was made during the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) Cable Show in Boston.
Dan Mead, president of Verizon Wireless, says the company has been working for several years to create this new approach to video on its network in response to “the desire of consumers to be able to absorb any video on any device they want any time they want.”
“It’s indicative of the changes in the media landscape,” added filmmaker and actor Edward Burns during the NCTA panel. “The audience has changed. They aren’t nostalgic for the way we consumed entertainment.”
A study by Robert Hammond, assistant professor at North Carolina State University, shows that file sharing of an album prior to its release actually benefits sales.
The study was conducted on a sample of 1,095 albums from 1,075 artists from May 2010 to January 2011.
Hammond collected download statistics on new albums released on the largest BitTorrent tracker dedicated to music and compared this data with sales numbers.
“I isolate the causal effect of file sharing of an album on its sales by exploiting exogenous variation in how widely available the album was prior to its official release date,” Hammond explains in his paper. “The findings suggest that file sharing of an album benefits its sales. I don’t find any evidence of a negative effect in any specification, using any instrument.”
“However, according to the research, sales may actually be hurt by going after these sites,” reports TorrentFreak. “Hammond’s findings suggest that piracy itself acts as a form of advertising similar to radio play and media campaigns, where more downloads result in a moderate increase in sales.”
IBM has decided to ban the use of Apple’s Siri on its internal networks as the company is concerned that confidential emails, messages, appointments, addresses, and more are being stored by Apple.
According to Apple’s iPhone Software License Agreement: “When you use Siri or Dictation, the things you say will be recorded and sent to Apple in order to convert what you say into text.”
“Because some of the data that Siri collects can be very personal, the American Civil Liberties Union put out a warning about Siri just a couple of months ago,” reports Wired.
The privacy concerns are especially felt by corporate users. “Just having it known that you’re at a certain customer’s location might be in violation of a non-disclosure agreement,” says Edward Wrenbeck, lead developer of the original Siri iPhone app.
However, Apple’s handling of Siri data may not be all that different from what takes place with other Internet companies. “I really don’t think it’s something to worry about,” adds Wrenbeck. “People are already doing things on these mobile devices. Maybe Siri makes their life a little bit easier, but it’s not exactly opening up a new avenue that wasn’t there before.”
Google was forced to anonymize its search information due to privacy concerns. Perhaps Apple may be forced to do the same.
A number of companies are developing augmented reality glasses that display information in the wearer’s field of view.
Google, for example, is rumored to be selling its own Google Glasses next year.
Potential applications include turn-by-turn directions, retrieval of information, face and object recognition, automatic language translation, etc.
One device from Recon Instruments is made for skiers and snowboarders and displays speed, text messages, caller ID and plays music.
In entertainment, glasses can be used for augmented reality games.
“By 2020, the world will have perfect augmented vision,” said Dave Lorenzini, who designs augmented reality apps and related businesses at consulting firm Augmented Reality Co. “It’s like creating the Internet again but inside the real world.”
A new study from the American Association for Public Opinion Research suggests people answer more honestly when responding via text rather than verbally. The study included 600 respondents who were asked questions both over text messaging and verbally through phone calls.
“We believe people give more precise answers via texting because there’s just not the time pressure in a largely asynchronous mode like text that there is in phone interviews,” explains researcher Fred Conrad.
“Besides allowing respondents more time to gather their thoughts, the electronic nature may also insulate both sides of the communication, allowing them to communicate more freely without regard to the immediate impact and consequences of their output,” reports Mobiledia.
The article notes that political researchers may want to poll using texts rather than phone calls, as mobile users are more likely to text than call, and would likely contribute more accurate data in this medium as well.
One downside to the detached nature of texting is that it increases the chances of bullying, as it provides “enough distance to allow young people to say and do things they wouldn’t consider in face-to-face conversation” explains the article.
Nvidia recently launched Kepler — the first GPU designed specifically for the cloud. Vendors such as HP, Dell, Cisco, and IBM will offer supporting products in the near future.
“The whole concept behind these servers is to serve up a desktop experience from the cloud,” reports Digital Trends. “Tremendously powerful new processors toiling away in the cloud could make it irrelevant what kind of screen you connect with, ushering in a new age of computing.”
“This means delivering games, applications, utilities, and media to any device that will run the client: iPads, iPods, Android tablets, smartphones, and even cars and smart TVs,” explains the article. “As this technology comes to market, it will increasingly not matter what you are using — you’ll be able to get your stuff on it as long as it is connected with decent bandwidth.”
The article cites demos from Nvidia’s recent GPU Technology Conference in San Jose that introduce some compelling ideas. Imagine if games, for example, were delivered like streamed movies and could go everywhere, regardless of platform.
“What if you could run Windows on a Mac, or an iPad, or anything that would host a tiny client?” asks Digital Trends, suggesting software could potentially be delivered like electricity. “If you like Apple hardware but hate the Apple platform, you can still run Windows. If you want to run Windows on your big smartphone or tablet in an emergency, you can do that, too.”
Lenovo claims that its upcoming ThinkPad models are thinner, lighter and moving toward the ultrabook category with features such as 3G wireless and Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors.
The China-based PC maker says its X1 Carbon Ultrabook, for example, will be among the world’s lightest 14-inch laptops (at three pounds).
The company is also highlighting its X230 ThinkPad that will hit shelves next month for $1,179. Weighing less than three pounds, the 12.5-inch X230 touts 24 hours of battery life and 4G/LTE mobile broadband access.
“If you’d rather have your X230 in tablet form, Lenovo has thought of that, too: The ThinkPad X230t has a rotating display that can be folded over to create an instant tablet. It is touchscreen enabled, comes with a stylus pen and also works with a ThinkPad laser mouse,” reports AllThingsD.
Lenovo’s new ThinkPad X, T, W, and L Series laptops include Intel processors, Dolby audio, and HD displays.
“The T430s is the ThinkPad line’s lightest 14-inch (non-ultrabook) laptop, while the T530 has a 15-inch full-HD display. But the most notable feature of these laptops is probably the addition of 4G/LTE broadband availability through Lenovo’s upcoming contract-free broadband service,” notes the article.
The laptops will be available in June, priced from $879 to $1,399.
Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable have agreed to a deal that will provide 50,000 nationwide hotspots for their customers.
The deal “will let customers from any of those companies connect to the new ‘CableWiFi’ access points,” reports SlashGear, and customers can access the hotspots using “the same credentials they would use for their companies branded hotspots.”
Bright House and Cablevision already have hotspots in New York and Florida, but they will now expand their offerings with CableWiFi.
The hotspots will first appear in New York, Los Angeles, Tampa, Orlando, and Philadelphia — with more to come.
“This is the largest and most inclusive Wi-Fi sharing effort among cable operators to date,” explains the press release. “In early 2010, Cablevision, Comcast and Time Warner Cable entered into an agreement allowing their customers in New York City, Long Island, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Connecticut to access Wi-Fi hotspots offered by each operator in these areas.”
Hulu continues to expand its library with this week’s announcement of 10 new summer shows. Three will be original content, seven will be site exclusives, and all will begin airing in June.
The three original shows will include a travel series called “Up To Speed,” a movie review show called “Spoilers,” and “We Got Next,” a comedy.
The exclusive programs will include comedies “Rev,” “Little Mosque” and “The Yard;” dramas “Pramface” and “The Promise;” in addition to a magic show and sci-fi show.
Hulu hopes the introduction of additional original content will help transform its service into its own fledgling network.
The announcement comes shortly after the company surpassed the plateau of two million Hulu Plus premium subscribers.
On Monday, Comcast announced that it’s making its newest set-top box, the X1, available in Boston in the coming weeks, “with a rollout planned across the entire country later this year. It’s also introducing a mobile app to control the set-top box from the iPhone or iPad,” according to TechCrunch.
This announcement comes after several years of aiming to develop a set-top box “that would take all of the smarts out of the box and put it in the network, essentially allowing the cable provider to launch new services and update the new features without having to totally rewrite applications or push out new firmware,” details the article.
All the processing for the X1 is done on the network, giving Comcast the ability to test and create new apps for its customers without considering the age or version of the set-top box.
“It will also provide more personalized features, such as allowing customers to see which shows their Facebook friends are watching,” adds TechCrunch. “The new X1 iOS app will improve navigation on the set-top box, allowing subscribers to use the virtual keyboard to search through all the live and on-demand channels more efficiently than using a traditional remote control. Users can also filter by genre and interact with other social media apps.”
Leap Motion has developed a motion control system that it claims is significantly more accurate than Microsoft’s Kinect.
According to the Leap Motion blog, The Leap is described as a “revolutionary piece of hardware no larger than your iPod that’s two hundred times more accurate than any product currently on the market. We believe that with The Leap, tomorrow we will no longer be tethered to hardware.”
“The Leap consists of a small USB device with industry-standard sensors and cameras that, in tandem with the company’s software, can track multiple objects and recognize gestures,” reports The Verge.
The system provides Web browsing, 3D modeling, and gaming with pinch-to-zoom and precision drawing capabilities.
The company is hoping to lure developers to their software by giving away free sensors to what the company defines as qualified developers.
The $69.99 system will be released early next year and will run on both Windows and Mac OS X. Pre-orders are available via the company blog.
ETCentric staffer Phil Lelyveld recommends this CNET article about The Leap (including videos) that “describes how they are working on an App Store to encourage developers, and are echoing Apple’s design/usability philosophy.”
Microsoft’s experimental social network site So.cl is now available to anyone. Previously, only “students studying information and design at the University of Washington, Syracuse University, and New York University” could access the network, reports VentureBeat.
“So.cl (pronounced ‘social’) is an experimental research project, developed by Microsoft’s FUSE Labs, focused on exploring the possibilities of social search for the purpose of learning,” according to the FAQ page.
Users can sign up using either their Facebook account or Windows Live ID. When using the Facebook option, users can choose to deny automatic posts and comments to their Facebook pages.
The social networking site “closely resembles Google+’s layout, but it also takes ideas from Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest,” explains the post. “You can follow other So.cl users or follow interests like food, art, or movies.”
The “Everyone” feed provides a simple way for users to see what most So.cl users are searching.
“So.cl can be used by the general public, but it is our goal to focus on learning communities,” indicates the FAQ page.
