Filed under: GAMING
Nintendo has announced that the latest version of its DSi portable game player will hit U.S. shelves in April. The device, which currently has more than 850 titles to choose from, sports an extra camera designed for interactive gaming. InformationWeek (2/18) , VentureBeat (2/18)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Business, Flat panel display, Market share, Marketing and Advertising, Reuters, Samsung Group, Sony, Vizio
Thanks in large part to a successful brand-recognition marketing initiative, Vizio in the fourth quarter became the second-best-selling flat-panel TV set maker in the country, according to iSuppli. Vizio, with 14.3% market share, overtook Sony, but remains behind market leader Samsung, which enjoys a 20.2% piece of the business. Reuters (2/19) , Dealerscope (2/20) , TWICE (2/19)
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Filed under: MISC | Tags: Academy Award, Academy Award for Best Original Song, Academy Award for Best Picture, Awards, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Movies, Peter Gabriel, Slumdog Millionaire
“Slumdog Millionaire” has a 90% chance of winning the Academy Award for best picture, according to Intrade.com, a site where players buy shares in a movie’s Oscar prospects. “Slumdog,” from News Corp.’s Fox Searchlight, has the best odds of winning since “Chicago” took the award in 2002. (Iwantmedia 2/20, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aHNoD_5Eibng 2/20)
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Academy Award, Clearwire, Comcast, Michael Ian Black, MichaelShowalter, New York City, Real Housewives of Orange County, Television
ABC is unlikely to attract a big viewership for Sunday’s Oscars telecast, due to the film academy’s snub of box-office hit “The Dark Knight.” The Academy Awards broadcast attracted its largest audience when all-time box-office leader “Titanic” was voted best picture for 1997. (Iwantmedia 2/19, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=apwDYaHQL7Qw 2/18)
Bravo’s season finale of The Real Housewives of Orange County Tuesday night at 10p attracted 1.4 million A18-49 viewers and 1.97 million total viewers. Skipping to the opposite coast and following at 11p, the second season opener of The Real Housewives of New York City delivered 1.23 million A18-49 viewers and 1.64 million total viewers. (Cynopsis 2/19)
Comedy Central has ordered seven episodes of “Michael and Michael Have Issues,” which is expected to debut in July. The series will feature comedians Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter, who will play the comic hosts of a TV sketch show who also have some issues to deal with off-stage. Variety (2/18)
Comcast added 247,000 digital-TV customers, 184,000 broadband subscribers and 344,000 digital-phone households in the fourth quarter of 2008, the company reported Wednesday. Overall, revenue was up 9%, to $8.77 billion, but earnings fell 32%, to $412 million, largely because of a $600 million write-down related to Comcast’s investment in the Clearwire wireless-technology initiative. OneTRAK (2/18) , The New York Times/The Associated Press (2/18) , Light Reading (2/18)
Despite the fact that more than 400 TV stations already have switched to all-digital TV signals, more than 5 million U.S. households are still not ready for the digital-TV transition, according to the latest data from Nielsen. Those found to be least prepared are people younger than 35, African Americans and Hispanics. TVWeek.com (2/18)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Facebook, iTunes, Nick Verreos, On the Web, Social network, Social network service, Television, Verizon FiOS
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Disney-ABC’s Oscar.com unveiled a new original web series “Road to the Oscars,” featuring Bachelor and Bachelorette host Chris Harrison. The series, which will feature Oscar news, exclusive interviews and behind the scenes footage, consists of nine episodes with a new show premiering everyday through Monday, February 23. The site also launched its “Oscars Designer Challenge: Behind the Dress” competition hosted by “Project Runway” alum/ fashion designer Nick Verreos. (Cynopsis 2/19)
Facebook has just launched
its first widget for Facebook Connect, its recently-introduced platform that allows users to authenticate themselves using their Facebook logins. Dubbed ‘Comments Box’, the new widget allows site owners to integrate a comments section into their webpage. But unlike normal commenting systems, comments left in Comments Box will be relayed back to the users’ Facebook profiles, where the conversation can continue (users can also choose to receive notifications through Facebook whenever someone responds to their comments on other websites). (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/facebook-connect-gets-easy-with-new-comments-widget 2/19)
Online TV firm Next New Networks and Verizon FiOS are launching an online network called $99 Music Videos to showcase the talents of emerging musicians and filmmakers. The companies say they are looking to create an “MTV for the digital and iTunes age.” (Iwantmedia 2/19, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3iee816b19c15d56f1b3e2b5da7f3676cb 2/19)
A new interactive site dubbed Fashionology.com launched yesterday as a web extension to a hands-on shop in Beverly Hills that allows tweens to design and make their own clothing. Building on tools popularized by dress up sites, Fashionology uses animated avatars to allow young users to play around with designs, share and borrow ideas with others and order finished products. (Cynopsis 2/19)
Despite the well publicized failure of Bud.tv, sneaker maker Adidas is rolling out its own video portal this week to promote its brands the viral video way, per Adweek. The portal began with basketball page featuring celebrity endorsements from NBA stars such as Dwight Howard, but plans are to ramp up content to include hundreds of embeddable videos, photos and integrations with social networking sites. The portal is the brainchild of EVB, San Francisco. (Cynopsis 2/19)
Nickelodeon‘s portfolio of sites claimed the top spot in comScore’s Family & Lifestyle category in Jan., posting a 13% gain in unique visitors (28.7 million) over a year ago. The group, which includes Nick.com; NickJr.com; The-N.com; Neopets; Shockwave; AddictingGames; ParentsConnect and NOGGIN.com; also ranked first in video streams among kids brands according to Nielsen’s VideoCensus. Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group was fifth among the top brands overall by video streams, behind only YouTube, Yahoo, Hulu and Fox Interactive Media. It delivered 204 million streams and 6.3 million unique video viewers. (Cynopsis 2/19)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: 3GPP Long Term Evolution, Alcatel-Lucent, AndroidMarket, Google, iPhone, Pinch Media, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone
There may be more than 20,000 iPhone apps out there that have been downloaded more than 500 million times, but what is the average shelf life of each app? Greg Yardley, CEO of Pinch Media, offers some stats based on the 30 million+ downloads his iPhone app analytics startup has kept tabs on. One of the most telling slides in a recent presentation he gave shows the drop-off rate in iPhone app usage (see above; entire slide presentation embedded below). For free applications, only about 20 percent of users return to use the app the first day after they download it, and then it quickly drops off from there. By 30 days out, less than 5 percent are using the app. The chart for paid apps shows a slightly steeper fall-off rate. So there is a very brief window of time to capture people’s attention and potential revenues. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/pinch-media-data-shows-the-average-shelf-life-of-an-iphone-app-is-less-than-30-days 2/19)
If there’s one thing smartphones have taught us it’s that you can never have enough speed in your network. Despite the severe economic downturn Verizon Wireless announced it is pushing full steam ahead with plans to launch a 4G network in 2010 with vendor partners LM Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent. Verizon announced it is currently in Long Term Evolution (LTE) field trials in the U.S., demonstrating download rates of 50-60 MB/second by utilizing the bandwidth acquired in the FCC 700 MHz spectrum auction. European trials are also underway in a joint venture with Vodafone. (Cynopsis 2/19)
The company has released a set of policies for its Android Market, which includes a provision letting users return unwanted apps within 24 hours. The policies also give Google authority to remotely delete apps that violate its terms of use. Bloomberg (2/19) , mocoNews.net (2/18)
Mobile content aggregator MobiTV announced a milestone, surpassing 6 million subscribers and adding 1 million subs alone from the beginning of Dec. as the proliferation of 3G-powered smartphones takes off. The company also added the iPhone to the list of 350 devices it supports. MobiTV’s content offerings include primetime shows from NBC and ABC and more than 40 channels of content, including ESPN, Disney, CNBC and MSNBC. (Cynopsis 2/19)
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Filed under: GAMING
Nintendo has announced that the latest version of its DSi portable game player will hit U.S. shelves in April. The device, which currently has more than 850 titles to choose from, sports an extra camera designed for interactive gaming. InformationWeek (2/18) , VentureBeat (2/18)
