Have you checked out Vine recently? Legendary pop artist Prince has, with his record label filing a copyright notice with Twitter regarding videos on Vine. It seems like the general public might be giving Vine a serious look. Read more »
Google says it blocked viewers in Egypt and Libya from seeing a controversial video clip on YouTube, after the video was allegedly linked to violence in both of those countries. But should Google be censoring content without even a request from a government or court? Read more »
AT&T has been reducing the number and length of calls to its call centers by relying on so-called smart videos from New York City-based SundaySky. The videos are personalized tutorials that are built on the fly using pre-scripted clips mixed with the subscriber’s own data. Read more »
Google now activates one million Android devices per day and has 400 million devices in the wild, but its media store efforts have lagged. Google Play now has more digital content types, so here’s a look at how it compares to iTunes and Amazon’s digital store. Read more »
I love watching high-definition movies on my Galaxy Nexus because the phone actually has a true high-definition display. There’s a problem though: after watching the rentals, the massive media files aren’t disappearing from my phone. Here’s the quick fix which requires a file manager application. Read more »
Blogger John Gruber noted that Apple and Amazon are the the mobile content kings as all others have no “razor blades” to sell. Actually that’s not true, as Samsung and HTC are building up their media offerings. Here’s a comparison between Apple, Amazon and Samsung. Read more »
The second quarter of 2011 was a fast-paced one for the connected consumer segment, with every sector of the digital media landscape — music, e-books, online video and gaming — experiencing significant events and changes. Media consumption, purchase and management continued its shift towards the cloud, ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
It’s important to dispel potential myths and market misunderstandings when it comes to consumer electronic devices and trends. For 2011, that includes paid video chat, Apple dominating the living room and the misinformed belief that Google will rule the e-book space. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Blame cord cutting, at least in part, for the drop in cable subscriber numbers in 2010. Looking towards 2011, we expect this trend could gather further steam thanks to bundled subscription offerings from players like Microsoft and Apple. We also expect a new iteration of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The flip format isn’t dead by a long shot. My review of the BlackBerry Style gives the details about the phone, but this video shows why the Style might be the perfect stocking stuffer for the BlackBerry lover on your gift list this holiday season. Read more »
Growth of digital content in homes and businesses continues to grow, fueling a demand for more and more storage. And though inefficiency and usability gaps in this market are showing, so too are the opportunities companies can seize to create convenient, secure and redundant storage ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Several significant events set the tone for the digital media ecosystem during in the second quarter. First among these was the release of the iPad, the impact of which went far beyond device uptake; among other things it does not support Adobe Flash, which has impacted the entire chain of web-based video production from content sites re-encoding video to new tools being developed for HTML5-based advertising.
Another principal event in the quarter was the announcement of Google TV, a software platform built on Android 2.1, Google Chrome and Flash 10.1 that will be incorporated into a variety of companion devices including TV sets, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. The platform offers significant advancements in merging TV and the web experience (although TiVo says it has done just that for years). Sony and Logitech have both announced plans to launch Google TV products in fall 2010.
Also in the second quarter, both YouTube and Hulu refreshed their sites, reflecting the market’s growing maturity. But while YouTube spent the quarter on the defensive in its ongoing legal battle with Viacom over copyright infringement, Hulu was on the offensive, introducing new services and preparing a paid subscription service launch. A paid service would bring new revenue streams to the video site, and would put Hulu in more direction competion with Netflix, which is increasingly shifting toward its streaming video service, away from its former mainstay of DVDs by mail. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple has gone all-in for streaming as the primary means of getting content onto its devices. That has distinct strategic advantages for Apple, but it’s not without risks, especially for ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The growing anti-Apple alliance between Google and Adobe is likely to extend beyond mobile devices and apps, however. One collaboration that is surely in the works, even if its not ready to be announced this week, is the integration of Flash into Google’s new Smart TV ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Flickr is a wonderful resource, with millions of images online. Like many vast resources, finding that perfect image can be a real challenge. I regularly search for images of products on Flickr, and a utility I use to expedite those searches is Viewfinder for the Mac. Read more »
The Federal Communications Commission handed the major Hollywood studios a significant victory last week, granting their long-pending petition to allow use of selectable output controls (SOC) on cable and satellite set-top boxes to prevent copying of early-release video-on-demand movies. The studios’ push for the new early ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The HP EliteBook 2740p notebook is the third generation of the Tablet originally released as the 2710p. This tablet adds advanced processor options and touch input to a thin convertible form with a swivel screen. In this video tour you get a walk around the notebook. Read more »
The Lenovo ThinkPad Edge is a good compromise between the enterprise focused ThinkPad line and the consumer market. In the video I give a tour around the notebook and show how solid a performer it is at normal tasks such as web browsing and video playing. Read more »
It’s not often you get to say Ferrari in a notebook video review but that branding is what makes the Acer Ferrari One special. The sexy design coupled with decent performance for an ultra-portable sets the Ferrari One apart from the crowd. Read more »
My son Tyler reviewed the first netbook two years ago and now he’s back with his thoughts on Apple’s iPad. Is it “magical and revolutionary” to a kid that’s grown up in a world that always had personal computers? Read more »
There are already thousands of apps available in the App Store and I have been testing quite a few of them. There are a few apps I am using the most on the iPad and in the video I show briefly how each one looks running. Read more »
Like thousands of you, this week of waiting for the magic of the iPad is a horribly slow time. Buck up, it won’t be long now. This video commiserates with those dealing with this almost unbearable waiting for the iPad to appear. Enjoy this tongue-in-cheek video. Read more »
Apple’s marketing push for the iPad is going into full swing now that the launch date of the device is only days away. There’s the TV ad, for instance, but what caught my attention today was the series of “Guided Tour” videos Apple posted on its website yesterday. Read more »
The Viliv S10 Blade is a thin convertible netbook that redefines the term “sleek.” You’ll know what I mean once you view the video. Combining a multitouch swivel screen with augmented netbook components, Viliv has produced the smallest 10-inch netbook with a full keyboard. Read more »
The 11.6-inch high-res screen on the ThinkPad X100e is a nice touch for an ultra-portable, and the attention to detail is present throughout the design. The inclusion of an AMD processor is a concession to pricing, and I discuss my findings due to that design choice. Read more »
The HP Mini 5102 netbook is as good as any netbook available. The metal casing and long battery life make the 5102 a great traveling companion. If you’ve been waiting for a good look around the 5102, your wait is over. It was worth it. Read more »
Toshiba’s Satellite U505 notebook runs on the new Intel Core i3 processor. I’ll see how this $799 configuration performs, but for now, here’s a short video overview of the device. The range of ports is impressive, but the multitouch trackpad leaves me wanting more. Read more »
Google’s Nexus One Desktop Dock will set you back $45, charges the phone and pumps out Bluetooth audio. But is this accessory worth it? And how well does it — or doesn’t it — work? See for yourself in this video. Read more »
The growing ubiquity of the Internet is having a major influence on the video and software industries, which are using it to enable delivery of their products online.
Advanced infrastructures are required to deliver those contents efficiently. The Internet has been built on a best-effort model, but ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Ordinarily a new Twitter app wouldn’t float my boat, but when I heard that the new Seesmic Look app was optimized for touch operation I couldn’t resist. I installed it on an evaluation ThinkPad x200 Tablet PC running Windows 7, and gave it a whirl. It’s […] Read more »
At NewTeeVee Live this afternoon, YouTube announced plans to improve the quality of video streams available on its site, upgrading the maximum upload encoding streaming quality from 720p to 1080p. The site will roll out 1080p video over the next few days, said Hunter Walk, director […] Read more »
The video phone holds an iconic place in the American technology lore. From black-and-white science fiction movies to Jetsons’ cartoons, many of us were exposed to a futuristic vision of talking to far-flung friends and family through a video display. While consumers have embraced visual communication ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Given Redbox got its start with movie rental kiosks in local McDonald’s franchises, it’s perhaps not surprising that both businesses have been remarkably successful in recent years selling goods for a buck. Both the golden arches and the red kiosks have not only weathered down times ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Cable and satellite operators are no longer the only game in town. True, PayTV operators still enjoy a privileged position in most homes, a consumer lock fortified by a network of proprietary set-top boxes, longstanding service relationships and “bundled” cost hooks. But this dominance is already being contested by a new wave of video creators, aggregators and distributors using the Internet to bypass incumbent PayTV control points and deliver video programming “over the top” of incumbents’ set-top boxes and enable the delivery of web video directly to consumers.
This report examines the evolving world of over-the-top (OTT) video in both open and closed delivery networks. It covers trends in OTT, current plans of the PayTV providers, the rise of virtual operators, current consumer attitudes surrounding OTT and several of the platforms that will enable delivery. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Web series are often praised for their diverse subject matter and original points-of-view. But what does pretty much every single prominent web series over the past several years — ranging from serious dramas like “quarterlife” to more fantastical fare like “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog” — have ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Jonathan ‘Wolf’ Rentzsch, the well-dressed gent who puts on the C4[1] conference for indie mac developers, has put online all the videos from this past year’s conference. There is some great stuff here, especially Cabel Sasser’s talk about the history of Panic and some of the […] Read more »
