Apple TV took an early hit when Fox and Universal’s movies weren’t available for streaming from the iCloud. The two studios have pre-existing agreements with HBO that protected an exclusive window for the cable channel.
“Fortunately, the cable channel is already entering into negotiations with the studios to relax that rule for people who have already bought their movies — having already done so for stablemate Warner Bros. A settlement is expected to be forthcoming in the next few weeks,” Engadget reports.
“HBO isn’t planning to give up its exclusive windows, for which it pays hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and which allow it to beam movies to its online service HBO Go as well as to its traditional TV channels,” notes the Wall Street Journal in a related report. “But HBO is relaxing terms to let users of iCloud and other services send movies they already own to other devices during those windows, an HBO spokesman said.”
“The issue highlights how behind-the-scenes conflicts between the digital and traditional media worlds affect consumers, often without their knowledge,” adds WSJ. “For years, online retailers have offered some newer movies for sale or rental, only to have those offers disappear again within a few months.”
Walt Mossberg cites a dramatically improved screen and superior cellular speed as the high points of Apple’s new iPad in his Wall Street Journal review.
The new display is like “getting a new eyeglasses prescription… Text is much sharper and photos look richer.”
The new iPad is 8 percent heavier and 7 percent thicker, but it retains the long battery life which is much better than any other tablets Mossberg has tested.
The 4G LTE gave the impression of being continuously on Wi-Fi with average speeds over 17mbps on Verizon and 12mbps on AT&T. You can also use the device as a personal hotspot — “a base station to connect laptops and other devices to the Internet.”
The iPad has some 200,000 apps and a multitude of music, books, periodicals and video options available.
Mossberg recommends the new iPad as “the best tablet on the planet.”
Yahoo is suing Facebook for patent infringement. The suit alleges that Facebook’s News Feed, advertising methods, privacy settings and more use 10 of Yahoo’s social networking patents.
Yahoo is seeking triple damages and seeks to prevent Facebook from using its patents.
“The attack by the Silicon Valley Internet icon against perhaps the most powerful consumer social networking site today — also based in tech’s heartland and also an important partner of Yahoo — is sure to be a controversial one, pitting Yahoo against a company that has surpassed it handily in recent years in regards to popularity among consumers,” reports AllThingsD.
The move against Facebook was hotly debated within Yahoo with many execs reportedly opposing it. Yahoo has typically used patents only to defend itself.
“Yahoo’s lawsuit is the most prominent in the social networking arena, a sector that has seen a huge explosion of late,” notes the article. “Its timing could not be worse for Facebook, since it is in a quiet period for its upcoming IPO, which is expected to value the company at close to $100 billion”
Only three months after its acquisition by Facebook, location-based app Gowalla is closing its doors.
According to Gowalla’s landing page: “Thank you for going out with Gowalla. It was a pleasure to journey with you around the world. Download your check-ins, photos and lists here soon.”
“This leaves Foursquare to prove that its pivot will keep its location-based services relevant for users,” reports Digital Trends, adding that “Foursquare stands as the lone giant lumbering in location-based check-ins, despite the fact that the majority of its users aren’t in fact using Foursquare for checking-in.”
“There are a lot of people using Foursquare who aren’t checking in. People use the app to consume data. That’s a really important and interesting trend,” says Dennis Crowley, Foursquare’s CEO.
Digital Trends suggests the Gowalla purchase for $3 million in Facebook shares was a talent acquisition: “With plans to expand Facebook’s location-based API for statuses and updates detailing user’s visits on their Timelines, the majority of Gowalla’s team settled in Facebook’s Palo Alto, while the remainder stayed in Austin to work in Facebook’s Austin office.”
The initial wave of Panasonic’s Smart Viera HDTVs unveiled at January’s CES are about to become available.
“Panasonic said models in the ST50, UT50, and XT50 plasma series and the E50, ET5, E5 and X5 LED series will be available this month. Also announced were ship dates on LED LCD TV models, a 47-inch (available this month) and 55-inch (available in April and May),” reports TWICE. “The 2012 LED LCD model line features 16 models this year, up from seven a year ago.”
The line features the cloud-based Viera Connect service that offers access to popular applications including Netflix, YouTube and Pandora. It also includes a fitness app that works with a separate Bluetooth-enabled armband.
The ET5 series will feature Panasonic’s first 3D TVs to make use of passive polarized 3D glasses.
Shipments of some models will begin this month, with others to follow in April and May. The article includes a list of MSRPs.
Toshiba’s glasses-free 3D 55ZL2 will launch this week in the UK for about $11,000. At that price, it may not be the breakout model 3D supporters have been waiting for, but its glasses-free approach is a step in the right direction.
“With a 4K resolution and no need for glasses to view 3D content, could it be the savior of 3D at home?” asks Digital Trends.
The 55-inch TV features 3840 x 2160 resolution, 2D-to-3D conversion and upscaling of 1080p content “beyond Full HD.”
Digital Trends describes the lenticular display: “Combined with a camera which tracks viewer’s faces and a multi-core processor inside the set, different images are projected to the left and right eye, producing a 3D picture.”
Additional features of the ZL2 include: Wi-Fi and DLNA connectivity, USB recording, online video content and social networking features, mobile app, built-in subwoofer and four HDMI ports.
After prominent broadcasters including ABC, CBS and NBCUniversal filed lawsuits against Aereo regarding its online television service, the company is fighting back with a countersuit.
The New York-based company, backed by Barry Diller, believes its plan to retransmit broadcast signals is not illegal and notes that the broadcasters did not send Aereo any formal notice inhibiting the service’s March 14th launch.
“Consumers use the Aereo technology to do no more than what they are entitled to do: access local television broadcasts on the public airwaves using an individual antenna; create unique copies of that broadcast content for their own personal use; and play back their unique recordings to their televisions or other viewing devices for their personal use,” the company stated in the filing.
According to Reuters, Aereo “advertises itself as a ‘potentially transformative’ service that would complement Google Inc’s YouTube, Netflix Inc and other services that let viewers watch programming online… Broadcasters, however, counter that Aereo’s planned ‘antenna farms’ deprive them of their right to retransmission fees from cable and other companies that rebroadcast their programs.”
Tony Wible, an analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott predicts distribution may trump content in the near feature.
“A handful of media companies have become overly dependent on digital licensing deals that increasingly have the potential to disrupt ad revenue for all players, including those that have been reluctant to license content to Netflix,” Wible wrote in his report. “In essence, we believe we are nearing a tipping point where distribution is gaining an edge over content.”
Even though entertainment industry executives deny that Netflix has affected TV ratings, Wible suggests that fixed pricing for digital deals is hurting media companies.
Fixed pricing reduces the companies’ ability to vary the price of ad revenue, which then promotes competition from other networks. These competing networks help to lower ratings and further drop ad revenue. As a result, content producers turn to digital licensing to compensate lost ad revenue.
He estimates networks could be losing nearly $9 of ad revenue per home per month and only earning back 35 to 75 cents of monthly revenue with digital licensing deals.
Carlos Slim Helú is a Mexican billionaire who owns the largest wireless company in Latin America, América Móvil. His latest venture is an Internet television network called Ora.tv that is recruiting Larry King for a new program similar to “Larry King Live.”
“It will have a slate of shows of varying lengths and will stream them via the Internet to computers, phones and television sets in the United States, Latin America and elsewhere, bypassing traditional television distribution systems,” reports The New York Times.
King is a co-founder of Ora.tv. His new show will include his wife for a style/celebrity interview segment. His prominence is expected to attract Internet viewers and on-air talent.
“Ora.tv and companies like it are trying to reach the growing number of video consumers on computers, tablets, phones and Internet-connected televisions,” the article states. “Google is seeding dozens of on-demand channels that are starting this year on YouTube. Netflix and Hulu are starting original shows. And Amazon is believed to be getting into the business.”
In a bid to diversify beyond computers, Intel is developing a Web-based subscription TV service that would compete directly with cable and satellite TV services.
The plan is to become a “virtual cable operator” using Intel technology that would begin by late 2012.
Intel has not yet acquired programming. It is currently making pitches to media companies and asking what they would charge. It has also setup an Intel Media group based in London, which is working on the user experience.
“The new effort would mark a big shift for Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini, who has made clear his determination to move the company beyond the computer industry,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Those efforts so far have include a series of TV-related businesses that have largely failed to gain much traction.”
Media companies have been resistant to similar ideas as they could damage profitable cable and satellite businesses.
Back in October, Google announced its plan to spend over $100 million on channels that provide original content as part of “an escalating battle among Internet platforms like Hulu, Netflix and AOL to capture more of television’s advertising dollars,” according to The New York Times.
Some of these channels are now starting up but it is uncertain whether a large enough audience will subscribe — the first requirement in acquiring higher ad revenue.
According to research firm eMarketer, ad spending for online video is expected to increase about 55 percent this year to $3.1 billion. However, that figure represents a fraction of the $60 billion currently spent on television advertising.
“The eventual payoff for the channels is unclear,” explains the article. “YouTube has exclusive rights to the videos for at least a year, and it has not said whether it will continue to finance the channels after those rights expire. (The channel producers own all their content.) A hit channel might bring in enough ad revenue to justify continuing the production, and Google’s standard advertising agreements give content owners a majority share of advertising revenue.”
DirecTV and Pandora have announced an agreement that will allow the music service’s “stations” to play, without charge, on connected HD DVRs.
“Additionally, you’ll be able to search for artists, songs and browse through different genres, as well as set up jam stations to your liking,” reports Engadget.
DirecTV customers will be able to choose artists and musical genres through the menu of the 1080p guide, customizing Pandora stations.
According to the press release: “Customers will be asked to either create a new Pandora account online or to activate their existing Pandora account on their DirecTV HD DVR. Once activated, Pandora will allow customers to easily create and listen to personalized radio stations, as well as play Pandora over the video that they are watching.”
Symantec designed a clever study to help determine what happens to private information after a smartphone is lost.
As part of the Honey Stick Project, researchers recently “lost” 50 smartphones in public areas of Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Washington DC and Ottowa, Canada.
Each phone was equipped with GPS tracking and a variety of generic “personal, neutral and corporate” apps. None of them were outfitted with passwords.
“While only 25 of the 50 smartphone finders made any attempt to contact the owner and return the device, the more shocking details of the study dive into how privacy is violated after the phone is lost,” reports Digital Trends. “Nearly 90 percent of the devices showed at least one attempt to access the apps within the personal category.”
“The social networking and email applications were accessed on 60 percent of the devices and the online banking application was accessed on more than 40 percent of the smartphones,” notes the article. “A file named ‘HR Salaries’ was accessed on over half of the phones and another file called ‘HR Cases’ was accessed on 40 percent of the sample group. A ‘Remote Admin’ application was accessed on nearly half of the smartphones and a corporate email application was opened up on 45 percent of the devices.”
Symantec recommends using a password or a “draw to unlock” pattern for security. The company suggests using security software “to remotely lock the device or wipe the data from the phone,” and for businesses, encourages formal policies regarding company-issued phones and increased employee education on data protection.
“Since tablets arrived a couple years ago, they have seemed the natural replacement for the printed page, whether it represented a computer document, a book or a magazine,” writes analyst Steve Wildstrom for Tech.pinions. “A tablet could be held like a book or magazine and its software often presented text as pages rather than streams of scrolling text. Their long battery life let you use them without thinking much about the need to recharge.”
What held up this potential shift has been the readability of displays. However, Wildstrom suggests Apple may now have the answer.
“The new iPad, whose display has to be seen to be appreciated, marks a dramatic change,” he writes. “For the first time, type looks as good on a screen as it does on paper. Photos pop in a way they never have before on a tablet, matching high quality printing on good paper.”
Earlier displays for tablets and phones, despite their advances, have been limiting — but the new iPad display may impact how we look at tablets.
“The super high-resolution introduced on the iPhone 4 looked spectacular, but had limited impact because the 3.5-inch display, and even the 5-inch high-res screens turning up on some Android phones, are too small for serious reading,” writes Wildstrom. “Bringing similar resolution to a screen the size of the iPad will change things in much more fundamental ways. The days of printing on paper may finally be numbered.”
As part of its ongoing efforts to attract more advertisers, Facebook rolled out Interest Lists the end of last week.
The new feature “mixes popular Facebook pages with social news aggregation,” reports Digital Trends. “Each curated list is specific to a particular topic such as technology, art, entertainment, causes, music or sports.”
Facebook users can subscribe to lists created by other users. The approach is similar to features such as Twitter lists and Google+ Circles.
“Advertisers will definitely enjoy the ability to curate content within lists, but Facebook users may become annoyed by an increased frequency of page updates that litter the main Facebook feed,” suggests the post. “Facebook users will have to be careful how many subscriptions they acquire in addition to carefully watching the amount of pages followed within each subscribed list.”
