Filed under: Feature | Tags: Apple, Apple TV, Arts, Entertainment, Netflix, Roku, Shopping, Television
DROP IT LIKE ITS HOT: ROKU MAKES ME HAPPY
I finally got the Roku out of the box and took it for a test drive. After 1 minute connecting to my wireless network and Netflix account, I was on my way. The hardest part of the entire process was probably upgrading my Netflix package to accommodate for the device (I was one of those people on the next-to-nothing plan).
The device immediately searched through my queue of 100 titles to pull out the 10 that were available instantly to watch.
The What
I’m assuming you’ve heard about the Roku but if not here’s the skinny. The device allows you to watch titles in your Netflix queue (available to watch instantly) on your television screen rather than just your computer screen.
In Use
The Roku is exceptionally easy to use. The interface is simple in the vein of Apple interface design. The only choice the user is allowed to make is which title to watch from those available. No searching or adding titles is allowed. I’m down with that especially being that my computer is always seconds away. Here’s my only request: Allow viewers the ability to watch trailers for those titles available.
Selection of Titles
Roku’s site boasts 10,000 titles but in searching for titles which mattered to me, I was a little disappointed. That said, I’m sure selection will improve over time.
Quality of Video
Connections exist for both HD and SD even though Netflix only currently offers titles in SD quality. That’s bound to change. I connected my HD TV to the HD component video cables in hope of a brighter tomorrow. . .
Speed
When I selected Super Size Me, the title began within seconds. Easy breezy. BTW, recommend this documentary. Thoroughly convinced me that when faced with a fast-food-only selection, kiddie size is the only way to go.
Price
$100
Buck Stops Here
It’s a great little device at just the right price. To get one of your own, click here.
Alternative Netflix Viewing Options: On Your XBox
Instead of buying a Roku to watch your Netflix movies, you can install a plug-in for free on your XBox and watch for no additional charge. The XBox plug-in may be a little buggy and slow but it does allow you to edit your queue and search through all titles available to watch instantly. The Roku only allows you to watch titles already in your queue. If you have an XBox, this is the way to go.
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Arts, Camp Rock, Disney Channel, High School Musical, Jonas Brothers, Movies, Studios, Television
George Carlin, the man behind the Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV comedy routine, died of heart failure yesterday at the age of 71, reports the AP. He went to the hospital yesterday afternoon complaining of chest pains, and passed away later on that evening. (Cynopsis 6/23)
With 8.9 million viewers, Disney Channel’s “Camp Rock” made-for-TV movie was the most-watched program last Friday night. The movie’s premiere, which stars The Jonas Brothers, even outperformed the debut of Disney Channel’s original “High School Musical.” (TVWeek.com 6/21)
You know you’ve made it into the public zeitgeist when you’re the subject of a question on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” as AMC’s series “Mad Men” recently was. But the show, set in a 1960s-era Madison Avenue advertising agency, has done that one better: Running from Tuesday until September, the Science, Industry and Business Library within the New York Public Library will stage an exhibition about the ad men — and women — of that era. (The New York Times 6/23)
HBO will bring “In Treatment” back for a second season. Production of the new season of the series, which stars Gabriel Byrne and Dianne Wiest, is scheduled to begin in New York this fall, and new episodes are scheduled for 2009. (Broadcasting & Cable 6/20)
Former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw is being chosen to temporarily take over the moderator duties on “Meet the Press” left vacant by Tim Russert’s death. The veteran journalist will lead the Sunday morning news program through the U.S. presidential election. (Iwantmedia 6/23, http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b143723_tom_brokaw_named_temporary_press.html 6/22)
Tim Russert (left) and Tom Brokaw (right)
Bravo’s season two premiere of Flipping Out last Tuesday (10p) drew in 511,000 A18-49 viewers and 672,000 total viewers. (Cynopsis 6/23)
The NFL Network, which has been striving to become a cable TV powerhouse, with limited success because of the lack of a major carriage deal, is in talks with ESPN about a joint venture that would give the network distribution on most systems across the country, according to these reports. The talks have gone on for some time now and have reportedly now reached a high level — all the way up to NFL Network boss Steven Bornstein, who once ran ESPN, and Disney chief Bob Iger. (New York Post 6/21, CNNMoney.com/Associated Press 6/20)
Late Friday, ABC announced it is appealing the FCC’s ruling and fines that center on a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue that, according to the FCC, violated indecency policies. (Cynopsis 6/23)
Disney execs including CEO Bob Iger are touting “the Disney Difference” to convince investors that the company’s products and brand make it less of a cyclical media business and more like a consumer goods company, similar to Nike or Coca-Cola. So far, the campaign is proving “a hard sell.” (Iwantmedia 6/23, http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN2240180220080623 6/23)
In a high-profile victory for cable companies, the FCC ruled late last week that Verizon Communications could no longer contact customers who were in the process of switching phone service to other providers. Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks filed a complaint with the FCC, arguing that the practice was illegal. (The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires 6/23)
Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: ESPN.com, Google, Google Trends For Websites, Michael Beasley, National Basketball Association, NBA, NBA Draft, News and Media
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
MLB.com continues to set the standard for live online streaming delivering between 1 and 1.5 million games over the internet each day and racking up between 50-60 million unique visitors a month during baseball season, per Variety. More than a third of all MLB tickets sold online, more than any other sport. (Cynopsis 6/23)
Google has just introduced Google Trends For Websites, a new tool that lets users take a peek at the traffic data from sites around the web. The new feature pits Google against a number of well-established players in the traffic data space, including Compete, Comscore, Alexa, and a host of others. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/20/google-faces-off-with-compete-alexa-comscore-quantcast-brings-nothing-new 6/20)
ESPN launched its latest online exclusive series giving fans an “all access” look at Kansas State basketball star Michael Beasley, expected to be one of the top 2 picks in the NBA draft on June 26. Ten 3-5 minute webisodes will premiere on ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile TV throughout the summer. (Cynopsis 6/23)
YouTube is said to be paying creators a fee to license films for its new indie short-film destination. A YouTube spokesperson says: “We are experimenting with a variety of limited promotional sponsorship programs.” Still, YouTube is “not getting into the acquisitions business.” (Iwantmedia 6/23, http://newteevee.com/2008/06/21/youtube-paying-upfront-for-content 6/21)
Disney’s ABC is expected to announce that episodes of prime time shows like “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives,” along with short clips and game highlights from ESPN, will be accessible through indie video site Veoh.com. Veoh is backed by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. (Iwantmedia 6/23, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/business/media/23veoh.html 6/23)
Disney is selling Movies.com to Comcast’s Fandango.com, the online ticketing service. Disney once envisioned Movies.com as a video-on-demand platform, but the joint venture with Fox never got off the ground, and the site remained an entertainment news repository. (Iwantmedia 6/23, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117987926.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1 6/22)
While Barry Diller’s IAC plans to divide its myriad Internet outfits into five separate public business units, the company is pooling them with an advertising-sales and targeting system that will marry data from across all its assets to sell “audience cubes.” (Iwantmedia 6/23, http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=127899 6/23)
PBS announced it is streaming the entire 11-part Election Day series on the P.O.V. website, beginning at 11:30 pm ET on July 1 – the night it airs on PBS. The series, shot from dawn until the wee hours of Nov. 2, 2004, examines the political process through the eyes of group of citizens who struggle to get their voices heard. (Cynopsis 6/23)
Efforts by television networks to make their programs available for free on the Internet are “absurd,” says Liberty Media boss John Malone. NBC’s online coverage of the Beijing Olympics will be a “flop.” Expensive events won’t “have adequate underwriting through advertising.” (Iwantmedia 6/23, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/67e0a1e2-3eed-11dd-8fd9-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1 6/20)
(Below) Now, here’s an interesting theory. This is like blaming the retail store because you’re product just isn’t selling. Lame at best.
The Apple iPod is partly to blame for the collapse of the music industry, according to a report from eMarketer. The Mac maker helped set the tone for a “rat’s nest of restrictions and incompatibilities” that led to consumer confusion and stalled the growth of digital music. (Iwantmedia 6/23, http://www.redherring.com/Home/24370 6/20)
Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Websites (Week ending June 14, 2008)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 ABC www.abc.com 27.92%
2 FOX* www.fox.com 26.03%
3 CBS www.cbs.com 23.97%
4 NBC www.nbc.com 15.07%
5 The CW www.cwtv.com 6.73%
6 MyNetworkTV www.mynetworktv.com .27%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise, *includes traffic aggregated from stand alone websites americanidol.com, amw.com, familyguy.com, thelot.com and thesimpsons.com.
Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Show Sites (Week ending June 14, 2008)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 FOX American Idol 11.00%
2 NBC Deal or No Deal 8.64%
3 FOX American’s Most Wanted 7.35%
4 FOX So You Think You Can Dance? 6.54%
5 ABC The Bachelorette 5.78%
6 NBC Last Comic Standing 2.97%
7 CBS NCIS 2.87%
8 NBC The Office 2.01%
9 ABC The Mole 1.94%
10 ABC Lost 1.91%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise
Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Android, China Mobile, Germany, Google, iPhone, Mobile phone, T-Mobile, The Wall Street Journal
Google is finding that launching an entirely new cell phone platform is taking longer than expected. When it first announced its Android mobile operating system, Google said the first Android phones would be available during the second half of this year. Now the mobile carriers that signed up as Android partners are pushing out their launches, with only T-Mobile still trying to get an Android phone out by the fourth quarter of this year. All the other carriers are pushing out their deployments until 2009.
(http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/23/googles-android-hits-snags-with-mobile-carriers/ 6/23)
Berlin, Germany based Plazes, a location based social network (and one of the first startups we ever wrote about here on TechCrunch, back in 2005), has been acquired by Finland-based Nokia, the companies are announcing today. The price is not being disclosed. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/23/breaking-germanys-plazes-acquired-by-nokia 6/23)
Filed under: GAMING | Tags: Activision, Apple Corps, Beatle, EMI, Microsoft, MTV Games, Nintendo, Video game
Beatle representatives have held talks with Activision and MTV Games on a potentially multimillion-dollar agreement to create a video game based on the iconic pop group. A deal would have to pass muster with Apple Corps, which handles the band’s business interests, and EMI, the U.K. record company that has control over the Beatles’ master recordings. (Financial Times 6/22)
Independent developers of video games are finding an eager market from the makers of gaming consoles who are looking for innovative exclusive titles at a relatively low financial risk. Besides enabling Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony to keep up with new talent, reaching out to the indie developers helps them find titles beyond the expensive, but familiar franchises that dominate the market, according to this analysis. (Forbes/Associated Press 6/22)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Bessemer Venture Partners, Business, Consumer electronics, EE Times, Home automation, News and Media, Panasonic, ZigBee
Despite slow adoption rates so far, a new study says demand for home servers will grow to 90 million units by 2015. The home automation hubs — capable of storing and forwarding pictures, video and data — will gain popularity as consumer electronics companies begin to offer more user-friendly products than today’s PC-based systems. (EE Times 6/19)
Filed under: MISC | Tags: Arts, Business, DreamWorks, Movies, Paramount Pictures, Philippe Dauman, Steven Spielberg, Viacom
Viacom‘s Paramount Pictures may benefit from a split with Steven Spielberg‘s DreamWorks film studio, says JPMorgan Chase. Paramount may improve profit by making lower-budget films under the Nickelodeon and MTV labels, the strategy of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. (Iwantmedia 6/23, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=agUyhWkMHbjo 6/20)
