Netflix did better than many expected in its Q4, and the company is already gearing up for another big moment: The release of its scripted series House of Cards next month. Read more at paidContent »
YouTube got a lot of play during this week’s Google earnings call, in part because the site is starting to move the needle for Google. Read more »
Watch out, AirPlay: Netflix and YouTube are working on an open second screen protocol, and they’ve already secured support from key CE makers and content platforms. Read more »
Ooyala now allows its customers to embed videos right within their tweets – and anticipates that some of the tweeted videos may be very Twitter-esque. Read more »
Jamie Oliver’s new Food Tube channel is live on YouTube – and it’s going to feature some familiar faces for people who scour the video site for unique food videos. Read more at paidContent »
It’s inauguration weekend, and hundreds of thousands are flocking to Washington D.C. to take part in the festivities. Live streams if the event are going to be available on the web, on iPads, mobile phones and connected devices. Read more »
It’s a color sensor, a weather station, a gas leak detector, a thermometer for everything around you, and so much more: Check out Node, the ultimate sensor device. Read more »
Microsoft published a first prototype for plugin-free video chat in the browser Thursday. However, it’s a bit different from what Google and others have in mind. Read more »
YouTube is about to take a stake in Vevo, according to multiple reports. That would be a smart move, because it would help YouTube to hold on to more than half a billion views a month. Read more at paidContent »
Redbox Instant is letting its users play for prizes to get feedback on its beta test, and collect a lot of useful data in the process. Data that one day could be used to improve the service’s movie discovery. Read more »
Time Warner Cable wants Netflix’s 3-D movies – but not its Open Connect CDN. That’s why the cable provider is now alleging discrimination. Read more »
Technicolor CEO Frederic Rose is confident that his company’s video streaming service M-GO can compete with iTunes and other VOD vendors, in part because his company isn’t distracted by any related hardware products. Read more »
This is cool: Haier showed off vision control for TVs at CES, allowing viewers to adjust the volume or even access smart TV functionality with subtle eye movements. Read more »
Rhapsody is taking the fight for music subscribers to Spotify’s home turf: The U.S.-based service is going to launch in 16 European countries this spring. Read more »
Streaming music from your iPad to your connected TV just got a whole lot easier: Skifta, a popular DLNA media shifting app for Android, released an iOS version on Wednesday. Read more »
Don’t count out DVDs just yet: That was one of the key messages that Redbox Instant by Verizon CEO Shawn Strickland had for a select group of reporters Wednesday. Strickland said that Netflix’s decision to sideline DVDs was a mistake. Read more »
Turn on one of TCL’s new Ice Screen TV sets, and one of the first apps to pop up is Frequency, a video curation app that presents five million new videos every day, neatly organized in a variety of channels. Read more »
Plex is going to the cloud by hooking up with Dropbox: The media center app maker will soon enable its users to sync their personal media collection with their Dropbox account, and then stream everything straight from Dropbox on iPads, phones and connected devices. Read more »
Google TV may be getting ready to take the fight to Apple and Roku by allowing CE manufacturers to build pure streaming boxes without any cable TV integration. Vizio CTO Matt McRae told us that he expects these devices to surface later this year. Read more »
Netflix is starting to stream a limited slate of 3-D movies – but you’ll only be able to watch if your ISP uses the company’s Open Connect CDN. That way, Netflix is enlisting its customers to move ISPs towards its own content delivery network. Read more »
Netflix is currently testing personalized profiles for its subscribers, and we’ve got some first photos of how they look like. If successful, these profiles could finally rid your recommendations of your kid’s questionable movie choices. Read more »
Samsung has put a lot of work into improving its Smart TV experience, and it wants to share it with consumers who bought last year’s model. Which sounds great – except for that hefty price tag. Read more »
Time Warner Cable is going to stream live television to Roku boxes through a new app that is going to be released some time this quarter. This makes Time Warner Cable the first operator to strike such a deal with Roku. Read more »
Everyone can brag about big screens at CES, but 3M went one step further: It showed off a 84″ multitouch display. Much smaller, but just as neat is Spehro, the Bluetooth-connected ball that can be used in more ways than you may think. Read more »
Dish entered the second-screen game this week at CES, offering its subscribers an iOS app that combines the traditional programming grid with social discovery and remote control capabilities. It’s what a lot of startups try to do – but maybe an operator can just do it better? Read more »
It’s been a long and turbulent history for CinemaNow, a pioneering digital movie platform – and now it’s time for another chapter: Current owner Rovi has decided to sell the white-label platform two years after it spent a whopping $720 million on it. Read more »
Al Jazeera English has long been a refuge for U.S.-based TV viewers who want to watch their news programming online, thanks to live streams on a number of different platforms. However, the yet-to-be-launched Al Jazeera America cable network won’t be available live online. Read more »
A bunch of new TV and media playern devices shown at next week’s CES will allow users to beam their videos from their mobile phone to the living room screen, AirPlay-style. It’s all part of Google’s efforts to establish an open alternative to AirPlay. Read more »
Don’t like the look and features of your Google TV’s home screen? Now you can change it with Open Launcher, the first dedicated launcher app for Google TV devices. The first release replaces Google TV’s app launch bar with a more customizable version. Read more »
No, Intel won’t be announcing its TV service at CES. But the company is definitely getting closer to revealing what it’s been working on, and a number of juicy new the details about the project, which has been developed stealthily, do sound intriguing Read more »
It’s time once again to watch the ball drop on Times Square. Don’t want to actually wait in person on Times Square? No worries, there are plenty of opportunities to watch all the action on the web, on your iPhone and on your Android handset. Read more »
Got a new Roku this holiday season? Or maybe you bought one for your parents or in-laws, and now you’re in charge of getting it to work? No worries, we’ve compiled five essential tips to get the most our of your Roku. Read more »
Netflix is down for some customers this Christmas Eve, thanks to a outage of some of Amazon’s cloud infrastructure. However, there’s good news: You may be able to watch your holiday movie, after all. Read more »
Plex is giving its Windows and OS X clients a refresh, adding AirPlay and code from XBMC’s latest Frodo project. The software also got a new name, but will initially only be available to paying subscribers daring enough to try pre-release software. Read more »
NextGuide updated its iPad app with 18,000 clips of current TV shows from Hulu’s library of content. That’s good news for NextGuide users, but it also raises an interesting possibility for Hulu: The service could generate tons of additional views by spreading its clips more liberally. Read more »
Now that’s a coincidence, if there ever was any: Earlier this month, Amazon filed for two trademarks for extended warranty and servicing under the Kindle brand. Turns out that the description of these services was lifted verbatim from Apple’s AppleCare trademarks. Read more »
There’s been a flood of boxes coming from Asia that bring Android to your TV. Some of them simply blow up a mobile phone UI on the big screen. The Cloud TV Box from Sungale instead uses a dedicated TV UI, but is that enough? Read more »
Online video advertising is hot, and attracting some serious venture capital: Video ad platform Tubemogul just closed a $20 million Series C round of funding to pay for more hires and and expand internationally. The round comes after Tubemogul decided to focus exclusively on advertising. Read more »
Mac OS X video chat app Rabbit uses some unique design decisions to set itself apart from the competition. Even with its sound design, Rabbit wants to emulate the dynamics of real-life social gatherings. But will it be able to compete with Skye and Hangouts? Read more »
Google is offloading Motorola’s set-top-box business to Arris, a fellow TV box maker that will pay a total of $2.35 billion for the Motorola Mobility division. Which brings up the question: Did it really make sense for Google to spend $12.5 billion on Motorola Mobility? Read more »
