Short films released online have become an increasingly common way for filmmakers to break into the studio system — the latest example being an upcoming action film produced by Mark Wahlberg. Read more at paidContent »
A new streaming video service called HitBliss lets users earn virtual cash by watching targeted ads. They can then redeem their earnings for new movies and TV episodes. Read more at paidContent »
Though plastic sales may be waning, value may remain in ascribing physical characteristics to virtual content. But do “digital album signing” and “second-hand MP3s” add up to real innovation? Read more at paidContent »
Amazon’s European subsidiary now has exclusive second pay-TV window rights locked up for three of Hollywood’s six major studios, leaving precious little premium content left over for rival Netflix to acquire when it expands into Western Europe later this year. Read more at paidContent »
For Flipboard, making the move to the smaller screen of the iPhone seems to have been a risk well worth taking; the personalized news delivery service has already added 1 million new users since the iPhone app launched. It’s a good lesson for iOS periodical publishers. Read more »
On the iPad, few would deny that Flipboard is a category leader; its delivery of personalized, multi-source news is pretty hard to top. Now, the Flipboard team has brought that class-defining experience to the iPhone, in a way that makes perfect sense for the smaller screen. Read more »
This week we bring you the first game I’ve seen that takes full advantage of what iOS 5 and iCloud can mean for gaming: Scribblenauts Remix. In addition to being a fun puzzle game, Scribblenauts also takes syncs saved games across iOS devices using iCloud. Read more »
I’d hate to live in the fictional condo depicted in Monsters Ate My Condo. It’s a vertical matching game where the goal is to sacrifice floors of your condo to monsters to ensure the tower doesn’t collapse, and it plays a little like Tetris meets Bejewled. Read more »
At $7.99, ShadowGun is one of the pricier titles I’ve recommended. But it’s well worth the price of admission for graphics alone. Add in a unique cover system (at least as far as iOS games) and universal support, and we have a winner for this week. Read more »
Movieclips.com confirmed that it has raised an additional $6 million in venture funding. While its founders declined to discuss what the funding is for or who was part of the most recent investment, they said a big announcement was in the works. Read more »
Apple introduced iPhone and iPod touch versions of its iWork productivity suite on Tuesday. Pages, Keynote and Numbers will all be available as individual apps for $9.99, or as free universal updates for existing owners of the iPad versions of the apps. Read more »
Two German music fans were fed up with geo-blocking on YouTube, which has been preventing them from accessing music videos from major-label artists. So they turned the tables and started to block employees of major music labels from accessing popular blogs and other websites. Read more »
San Fran residents, are you busy on Thursday, Sept. 9? Because if you’re not, GigaOM and NewTeeVee want to invite you out to the movies to see a sneak preview of Catfish, a documentary that explores online identity, relationships and love in the time of Facebook. Read more »
The worldwide online market for digital goods will grow amid a state of continuous disruption across all forms of content markets. Fueled by an ever-growing user base, migration from physical formats to digital distribution, and a proliferation of new connected devices, the overall market for digital goods will grow to $36 billion by 2014, up from $16.7 billion in 2009. This report examines the state of paid content and the various monetization and payment models across each of the various digital goods markets. The report examines key players and market dynamics in the film and video, newspaper, online game, music and social networks space relative to their paid content strategies, and includes a revenue forecast of each of these segments relative to the overall paid content market. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Hollywood studios together with cable operators launched an ad campaign today aimed at educating consumers about on-demand video rentals available directly through their local cable providers — and making up for the shortfall generated by declining DVD sales. 20th Century Fox, Focus Features, Lionsgate, Rogue, Sony […] Read more »
