Because of automated ad-buying technology, illicit sites streaming video content can make hundreds of thousands or even millions from advertising. MediaLink researched 596 piracy sites, and found that the advertising, often from major brands, generated $227 million annually. These sites get to keep most of this revenue because profit margins typically range from 80 percent to 94 percent after site maintenance and human resources fees are paid. Continue reading Today’s Piracy Sites Making Millions in Advertising Revenue

Deloitte’s recent study, “The New Digital Divide: Retailers, Shoppers, and the Digital Influence Factor” shows that digital technologies are an integral part of the entire shopping experience since they influence $1.1 trillion of in-store retail sales. By the end of 2014, the percentage of in-store sales that digital technologies influence will increase from the current 36 percent to 50 percent. The retail categories most influenced by digital include electronics, furniture and sporting goods. Continue reading Study Measures Influence of New Technology on In-Store Sales

Microsoft is expanding beyond video games in an effort to make its Xbox console more of an entertainment media hub. The software giant is planning to produce TV-like original programming including an expected series from Steven Spielberg based on “Halo,” a version of Swedish sci-fi show “Humans,” a soccer reality-style series and a documentary about discarded Atari games. Microsoft joins a growing field as companies such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Yahoo are tackling original content. Continue reading Microsoft Planning Original TV Programming for Xbox Console

Amazon recently announced Dash, a barcode scanner and microphone that makes no-click online shopping possible. Dash is also connected to Amazon’s same-day delivery grocery service, and basically transforms a person’s house into a showroom. A user can easily scan a product to order it, and even speak into the microphone and Dash will put the item in the user’s cart. The mic puts Amazon ahead of Apple’s Siri and Google Now, since Amazon directly profits from its use. Continue reading Amazon Dash Makes No-Click Online Shopping Dangerously Easy

TV and film measurement service Rentrak recently released its latest “State of VOD” report, which found that free video-on-demand viewing of prime time broadcast television programming increased 24 percent over the same period last year. The Rentrak report also found that 66 percent of prime time program viewing occurred after the third day of original broadcasts, suggesting that there is increased opportunity to generate additional advertising dollars for VOD. Continue reading Rentrak Reports Increase in VOD Broadcast Prime Time Viewing

Amazon recently released statistics that show its Prime Instant Video streaming service has tripled since last year, and is now more popular than Apple and Hulu. Despite its growth, Amazon is still dramatically far behind Netflix and YouTube. According to a recent report from Qwilt, a provider of online-video delivery and caching solutions, Netflix is currently the number one streaming video site, representing more than 57 percent of the streaming market in March, while YouTube follows in second. Continue reading Streaming Video: Amazon No Netflix, But Tops Apple and Hulu

Tel Aviv-based startup StoreDot has unveiled a prototype of a mobile phone charger that can reportedly charge a dead phone’s battery to 100 percent in a mere 30 seconds. StoreDot was created by members of the nanotechnology department at Tel Aviv University. The current prototype, about the size of a laptop charger, is compatible with the Samsung Galaxy 4. The company has plans to reduce the device’s size and expand to other smartphones when the $30 charger becomes available in late 2016. Continue reading Israeli Startup StoreDot Can Charge Your Phone in 30 Seconds

Sony and Microsoft have shipped more than 12 million new game consoles since the products launched last fall. One day after Sony announced it has sold more than seven million PlayStation 4 consoles (up one million since March), Microsoft said it has sold more than five million Xbox One units to retail shops. According to NPD Group’s U.S. retail data for March, hardware sales rose 78 percent from the previous year to $395 million, while sales of new console and PC video games in retail stores dropped 28 percent to $432 million. Continue reading Microsoft and Sony Announce Game Console Sales Figures

Twitter announced yesterday that running marketing campaigns on both Twitter and MoPub will be made easier. MoPub, the mobile ad exchange service that Twitter acquired last October, matches advertisers to ad space across mobile apps, handling more than 130 billion ad requests per month. The new interface, available to select advertisers in private beta, is designed to eliminate the need to set up through separate portals. It allows advertisers to be present on both platforms with greater ease and effectiveness. Continue reading Beta: MoPub Integration is Twitter’s Next Step with Mobile Ads

DARPA’s Mobile Hotspots program is converting retired RQ-7 Army drones into wireless hotspots to provide Wi-Fi to soldiers in remote areas. The drones will be able to transfer data at one gigabyte per second — about the same connectivity of a 4G smartphone — to give troops the same communication capabilities, including access to tactical operation centers and mission data, that others in more central conflict zones have. DARPA is retrofitting the drones with small Wi-Fi antennas. Continue reading DARPA Converts Army Surveillance Drones into Mobile Hotspots

Stanford engineers have created the next step in interactive gaming — a video game controller that can sense a player’s emotions. The handheld game controller can monitor a player’s brain activity to decipher when a user is extremely engaged or bored, which could trigger zombies or another element of the game to be thrown at them to catch their attention. Gregory Kovacs, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford, created a prototype controller in his lab in collaboration with Texas Instruments. Continue reading Engineers Developing Emotion-Based Video Game Controller

According to a new study by the Council for Research Excellence, conversations on social media have less influence than traditional factors, such as TV commercials for new shows or laziness in changing channels, in prompting audiences to watch a new show. In addition, only 16.1 percent of survey respondents say they use social media while watching prime time television, and less than half those participants typically use social networks to discuss the show they are watching. Continue reading Viewers Rarely Start a New TV Show Because of Social Media

While developers consider a number of industries for which Google Glass may have useful applications, some are considering the headset’s potential use in the news business. Professor Robert Hernandez of USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is offering a course this fall on Glass Journalism. “The class will consist of teams (Journalist, Designer, Developer) working together to research and develop different types of news apps designed specifically for the Glass platform,” reads a Tumblr post about the course. Continue reading USC Planning to Offer Journalism Course Using Google Glass

Ken Williams, executive director and CEO of ETC@USC, moderated a Disney/ABC Television Group panel at NAB called “Creating the Watch ABC Product.” From the SPROCKIT stage Monday in Las Vegas, the panel included Albert Cheng and Skarpi Hedinsson of the Disney/ABC Television Group, Ralf Jacob of upLynk and Doug Knopper of FreeWheel. The discussion focused on content creation, advertising, distribution workflow, technology integration and vendor relationships. Continue reading From the NAB SPROCKIT Stage: Creating Watch ABC Product

The first Saturday morning session of SMPTE’s Technology Summit On Cinema at NAB focused on factors that could impact the UHD TV rollout, including research on what humans are able to see and observe. During a panel titled “Understanding the Human Vision System,” Dr. Jenny Read of Newcastle University Institute of Neuroscience set the stage by discussing four parameters of vision: spatial resolution, temporal resolution, dynamic range, and color perception. Related studies from Dolby, EBU and EPFL were presented. Continue reading SMPTE Tech Summit: Understanding the Human Vision System