Add it to my tab, please: Verizon customers can soon add app and media content purchases from Google Play to their monthly phone bill, Google confirmed Thursday. Google previously struck similar partnerships with other U.S. carriers. Read more »
The popular media player application VLC just added support for Opus, the new open audio codec co-developed by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft and others. Meanwhile, there has been more speculation on how music platforms like Spotify could benefit from switching to Opus. Read more »
Netflix is getting ready to let users control the playback on their TV with their mobile phones. The company recently added support for such AirPlay-like features to the PS3, and is now looking to extend support to a number of other connected devices. Read more »
Live streams of the presidential debate? Check. Second screen apps that let you voice your opinion about either candidate’s performance? Got it. Live-teweeting fact-checkers? Of course. A debate drinking game? Cheers! Our ultimate guide to watching the second presidential debate got all your needs covered. Read more »
Boxee is back with a new devices that focused squarely on broadcast content: The new Boxee TV comes with two tuners for over-the-air content and unlimited DVR recording space in the cloud. The company’s existing Boxee Box will be put into maintenance mode. Read more »
Google has teamed up with LG UPlus to add its Google TV platform to the IPTV operator’s set-top boxes. The collaboration comes with a marketing campaign featuring South Korea’s new superstar PSY, but without any hardware from Google’s own set-top box maker Motorola Mobility. Read more »
The DVR is back – and this time, it’s all about cord cutting: Simple.tv wants to get consumers to ditch cable with its DVR for over-the-air broadcast content that can be streamed to Rokus and iPads. But how well does the device actually work? Read more »
Microsoft’s new Xbox Music service won’t just run on an Xbox: The service, which aims to compete with both iTunes and Spotify, is also coming to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 as well as Android and iOS. That’s a significant change of tune for Microsoft. Read more »
TVs that pause programming when you go to the bathroom, iPads that grey out your Facebook feed when you hand over the device to a coworker: PredictGaze wants to use simple webcams to control devices without having you wonder over potential privacy pitfalls. Read more »
Netflix currently has closed captions for 82 percent of all the videos it is streaming. By October 2014, this number will go up to 100 percent, according to a consent decree the company entered to settle a lawsuit with disability rights advocates. Read more »
It’s debate time again: Joe Biden will face off against Paul Ryan Thursday starting at 6 p.m. PT. Can’t follow the event live on TV? No worries, we’ve got an exhaustive list of live streams on the web as well as iOS and Android. Read more »
Sling Media is launching two new devices that iterate on its original proposition of place shifting, streaming your TV signal from your cable box to mobile devices and other screens. But how innovative is this, and how well does it really work? Read more »
Kim Dotcom’s U.S. lawyer believes that the case against MegaUpload will eventually fall apart, in part because New Zealand’s police violated multiple laws when raiding Dotcom’s residence and arresting him.Dotcom is getting support from the EFF, who is suing on behalf of a MegaUpload user. Read more »
Pandora’s founder Tim Westergren tried to do away with the notion that there is no money in streaming music by revealing that some musicians have made $2 million with Pandora’s streaming service. The data comes at a time when Pandora is looking for better royalty rates Read more »
Found a broadcast program on YouTube that doesn’t come with closed captions? Then you can now use a special complaints form to tell on the publisher, who should have supplied subtitles according to new regulations that came into effect earlier this month. Read more »
Naked, meet native: Adult video service FyreTV is launching the first native Android app on Google TV, and a company representative told us that he has high hopes for the platform. Just like on Android phones, consumers can install third-party apps on Google TV devices. Read more »
How about this for good timing: Last week, news broke that Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara is going to produce the Hollywood version of the Argentina’s hit TV drama Mujeres Asesinas. Starting this week, DramaFever.com is bringing the original to U.S. audiences. Read more »
The Washington Post’s new daily news show The Fold is interesting for a number of reasons: It debuts on Google TV and was made specifically to be viewed on connected TVs, and its target audience are cord cutters who don’t watch cable news anymore. Read more »
Videos from Engadget, Techcrunch, Martha Stewart and E! are now available on Android and iOS devices, thanks to a new family of apps released by AOL’s video network AOL On Thursday morning. The network expects tablets to do especially well for longer content. Read more »
YouTube just added some additional recourse for users that feel like they’ve been wrongly targeted for the alleged upload of unlicensed content: The site added an appels process to its Content ID program that defaults to the DMCA if the dispute isn’t resolved. Read more »
One of the best things about Apple TV is now available on Google TV: Check out this Cord Cutters quick tip for a demo of AirPlay video streaming from an iPad to a Google TV device. All you need is the right app. Read more »
Google just inched closer to plugin-free video chat in your browser by adding a key component of the new real-time messaging framework WebRTC to the beta version of Chrome. However, there are still some roadblocks ahead before WebRTC becomes a widely adopted standard. Read more »
Are you away from your TV when Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are going to face off during their first presidential debate this Wednesday? No worries, plenty of sites are providing live streams, combined with realt-ime fact checking and mobile cheering and booing. Read more »
Can a virtual stock exchange for content curation, combined with Reddit-style voting, lead to better online video discovery? Turkey-based media curation startup Woisio thinks so, and it is trying to prove its theory with a private beta test of its new platform. Read more »
Jon Stewart’s Daily Show could soon be available live on the internet, if Dish Network has its way. The pay TV operator is reportedly in talks with Viacom about making its live feeds available online. The question is: how much would you pay for it? Read more »
Are you lost for words when dealing with the inner workings of common household appliances? Then you might want to check out FixYa’s new iPhone app, which gives users the option to record their problems in video, so they don’t have to write about “that thing.” Read more »
YouTube wants to give mobile phone users a chance to find music video content by artist, discography and genre, with the goal of bringing music content to hundreds of millions of its users. These plans could be an answer to Vevo’s mobile music initiatives. Read more »
Cloudee, Boxee’s private video sharing app for the iPhone is now available to anyone. The company also added a desktop uploader as well as an improved web UI. Storage is still free for a limited time, so you might want to upload your clips now. Read more »
Stocking stuffers anyone? I know, it’s only September, but Redbox and Verizon are already looking forward to the holiday season, when they plan to launch their Netflix competitor. The service, dubbed Redbox Instant by Verizon, also wants to offer pay-per-view streaming on its website. Read more »
Are you looking for an alternative to Apple’s YouTube iPad app, which the company removed from iOS 6? Then look no further: An independent iOS developer just published a new iPad app called Jasmine that offers all you need, and then some. Read more »
The videos your contacts are sharing on Facebook, combined with the latest tweets and reminders for your friends’ birthdays, all on one screen: Video curation app Stevie puts a whole lot of information on one screen without feeling too busy. Read more »
Gesture recognition app Flutter just came out with a new version that makes it possible to skip from one Spotify song to another with a simple gesture, captured by your webcam. Of course, you could just press a key. But Flutter’s plans are much more ambitious. Read more »
TV’s most action-packed willful suspension of disbelief is coming to Hulu Plus: Hulu has signed an exclusive agreement with WWE to distribute its TV content, including shows like Raw and Smackdown the day after they air on networks like USA and Syfy. Read more »
Educational content still looks and feels like mobile apps before the iPhone, argued Rafter CEO Mehdi Maghsoodnia at GigaOM’s Mobilize 2012 conference. His thought-provoking take: What education really needs is not more digitized textbooks, but open platforms, where smaller innovators can compete with big publishers. Read more »
Sprint CTO Stephen Bye didn’t want to say what he had to promise Apple in exchange for getting the iPhone 5 with LTE when quizzed about it at GigaOM’s Mobilize 2012 conference. Instead, he said that Sprint isn’t all that concerned about the spectrum crisis. Read more »
Music video platform Vevo will give itself a visual refresh Thursday, decluttering its video watch pages and adding a whole new artist page. Those changes were driven by the company’s new product team, which traded New York’s glitz for a low-key startup experience in San Francisco. Read more »
Roku’s new streaming stick costs $100, but comes with a nice built-in surprise: The device uses Wifi Direct to communicate with Roku’s remote control, and the company has confirmed that it is working on ways to use the technology in an AirPlay-like fashion. Read more »
When Skype and Google Talk eventually ditch their apps and plugins, they’re going to use WebRTC. And when the next Chatroulette comes around, it may be using WebRTC as well. Check out this video to understad what WebRC is all about. Read more »
Seth McFarlane’s performance on Saturday Night Live became available on Hulu Japan just hours after it aired on NBC in the U.S., and upcoming episodes will be released in the country just as fast. But don’t expect Hollywood to give up on international windows altogether. Read more »
