Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group paid $3.5 billion in cash to purchase Legendary Entertainment, one of Hollywood’s largest independent movie companies, making it the largest such deal between Hollywood and China. Dalian Wanda’s other Hollywood holdings include AMC Entertainment, the second largest cinema chain in the U.S. The company, which got its start in real estate, also owns theaters and produces movies in China. Legendary has co-financed numerous movies, produced its own and has TV and digital divisions. Continue reading Chinese Company Buys Legendary Entertainment for $3.5B

Move over, Siri. Some new consumer products will include the artificial intelligence platform and “Jeopardy!” winner, Watson. IBM announced at CES 2016 that it has partnered with Under Armour to use Watson in the company’s fitness app to help make suggestions based on health data. Watson will also power a new robot from the Japan-based SoftBank company. The Pepper robot is designed to provide an interactive experience that would replace the kiosks in retail stores, banks and hotels. Continue reading CES: IBM Pushes Watson Brand with New Product Integration

At the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said the company is facing pushback from television networks and Hollywood studios balking at selling global rights. Netflix has set the goal of offering service in every country in the world by the end of 2016, in part to offset a slow-down in domestic subscription growth. To do so, the company is committing to 31 original scripted shows slated for 2016, more than double the 15 that aired in 2015. Continue reading Netflix Amps Up Original Content, Pushes for Global Presence

Facebook, Google and numerous startups are among those actively researching new possibilities with artificial intelligence technology. Japanese automaker Toyota is joining the crusade with a five-year, $1 billion R&D effort. The planned Silicon Valley facility will become one of the largest research labs in the area. Toyota Research Institute will initially open a lab next to Stanford and an additional facility near MIT in Cambridge. Toyota’s plans represent a shift in tech research — a return to a focus on science and engineering rather than a push for tech that would become a specific product or service. Continue reading Toyota Invests $1 Billion in Planned Return to Traditional R&D

Nintendo is building its new online network, Nintendo Account, with Japanese mobile gaming publisher DeNA. Nintendo Account will allow gamers to login to games via consoles, PCs, smartphones and tablets. Nintendo recently announced that its first foray into mobile games would be “Miitomo,” a new take on the popular “Tomodachi Life” series that will emphasize microtransactions, player-to-player communications and dressing up players’ Mii avatars. The company is also replacing its defunct Club Nintendo with the My Nintendo loyalty system. Continue reading Nintendo is Shifting Gears with New Moves into Mobile Gaming

Nintendo will unveil its first-ever game for smartphones, a radical departure from its long-term exclusive focus on its console. In the years of avoiding the move to smartphones, the Kyoto, Japan-based company missed the spectacular rise of mobile gaming, which this year, says research firm Newzoo, is on track to outpace console games in global sales for the first time. But Nintendo is finally opening up, not just with mobile games but also theme parks and a new console game. The first mobile game could debut in a few days. Continue reading Nintendo Abandons Its Console-Only Strategy, Enters Mobile

Although everyone is talking about 5G, no one has defined it — up until now. China and the European Union have agreed to create a working definition for 5G by the end of the year. If they do, their agreement could go far in forcing the issue in an environment in which others are posturing and issuing statements with little detail. Meanwhile, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which defined 3G and 4G, is also working on the standard but is unlikely to choose a technical standard until February 2016. Continue reading China and European Union to Create Working Definition for 5G

In 2016, Aerosense, jointly owned by Sony and robotics firm ZMP, plans to launch a commercial drone service targeting construction, logistics and agriculture industries. A prototype of an airplane-shaped drone was unveiled this week. The drones, which will be capable of capturing HD images and transmitting them to the cloud, will rely in part on the mobile phone and digital camera technologies developed for Sony’s Xperia smartphones. Analysts believe the unmanned aircraft industry may be worth $82 billion in the U.S. by 2025. Continue reading Sony and ZMP Team Up to Offer Commercial Drone Services

While debates over privacy on and off the Internet rage, Japan has just come out with an ideal item for the privacy conscious: eyeglasses that block facial-recognition technology. The Privacy Visor, which was the brainchild of the government-affiliated National Institute of Informatics and an eyeglass manufacturer over the last two years. The Visor works by using patterns and angles on the lens that either reflect or absorb light, disrupting auto-focus to make faces undetectable. Continue reading Japanese Glasses Guard Privacy by Disabling Face Recognition

On August 8, BT aired a live broadcast of a Premier League match on its newly launched BT Sport Ultra HD channel, the first such channel in Europe. The broadcast, which featured Manchester United versus Tottenham Hotspur, is the first of a series of live weekly broadcasts; future live broadcasts include UEFA Champions League, Aviva Premiership Rugby and MotoGP. BT’s TV Entertainment Ultra HD package, which costs subscribers about $23 a month, relies on a 4K-capable TV and BT’s 4K-capable 1TB Ultra HD YouView+ set-top box. Continue reading BT Sport Ultra HD, Europe’s First 4K Channel, Broadcasts Live

According to a new report from eMarketer, photo and video sharing app Instagram, which does not have a desktop ad product, is projected to bring in $595 million in mobile advertising revenue worldwide this year. The report predicts the Facebook-owned network will reach $1.48 billion in mobile ad revenue in 2016 and $2.81 billion the following year. By 2017, eMarketer expects Instagram will account for more than 10 percent of Facebook’s total ad revenue and, in the U.S., Instagram will have higher net mobile display ad revenues than Google and Twitter.

Continue reading Instagram to Generate $595M in Mobile Ad Revenue in 2015

Sony is opening a drone company, called Aerosense, in partnership with Tokyo startup ZMP, Inc. The drone business, which will focus on business clients, will be half-owned by the two companies. ZMP’s expertise is in autopilot technology and the Aerosense devices will feature Sony image sensors, which are also used in Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones. Sony plans to market drone services rather than the drones themselves. Aerosense faces tremendous competition in the burgeoning drone marketplace. Continue reading Sony Enters Drone Market in Venture with Tokyo Startup ZMP

Researchers in Tokyo have developed a way to print electrodes directly onto material, featuring highly conductive elastic ink that could be used to measure heart rates and report vital statistics. If researchers can make the technology robust and washable, then stretchable, sensor-loaded clothing could become a future trend in commercial wearables. Sportswear, for example, is one area that could benefit. Google’s Project Jacquard, NTT DoCoMo and chemical company Toray Industries are among those developing smart fabric technology. Continue reading Next Wearables Could Use Smart Fabric with Conductive Ink

In the wake of E3, Sony has announced that its new PS4 will be thinner, lighter and pack more storage than its predecessor. The new PlayStation 4 1TB Ultimate Player Edition, coming to North America next month, will weigh 10 percent lighter than the current PS4 and use 8 percent less power. The new console will come in black or white with a hard drive bay cover in a matte finish, which Sony suggests provides “a more casual look.” Earlier this month, Microsoft confirmed that its latest Xbox One would feature 1TB of storage and an upcoming wireless controller. Continue reading Sony Announces 1TB PlayStation Will Be Thinner and Lighter

The Interactive Advertising Bureau conducted a survey across 24 countries regarding smartphone video viewing. According to “Mobile Video Usage: A Global Perspective,” mobile screens are increasingly being used to stream longer-form video. Findings indicate that 36 percent of consumers watch videos daily that are 5 minutes or longer. Full movies and TV shows are also viewed on mobile screens, especially in China. Respondents (including 50 percent in the U.S.) indicate that their video viewing on smartphones has increased year-over-year. Continue reading Study: More Streaming of Long-Form Video on Mobile Screens