Amazon begins selling TV episodes for 99 cents
Amazon has begun selling TV episodes for 99 cents a piece, just hours after Apple announced that they would begin offering 99 cent rentals on recently aired shows.
Disney and Fox shows, such as “Glee,” “Lost” and “Bones” are now available via Amazon Video On Demand for 99 cents.
When you purchase the episodes, they are yours to keep. You can download them and they never expire. You can also stream them indefinitely.
Shows from other broadcasters, such as AMC, still cost $1.99, however.
The ability to download is only available on Windows PCs and TiVO HD boxes, but you can stream the shows on Macs, HDTVs, Roku boxes and more.
Sony shows off unlimited Qriocity streaming music service
Sony has launched their own challenge to Apple’s iTunes this week, dubbed Qriocity, which will be an unlimited, cloud-based music service available via the PlayStation 3 and other Internet-connected devices such as HDTVs and Blu-ray players.
The service will go live by the end of the year, giving users a chance to stream millions of songs in the cloud.
Besides the PS3, the service will be available on Sony portable media devices, Sony Blu-ray players, Sony home-theater systems, 2010 Web-enabled Bravia HDTVs and Windows PCs.
“We are excited to offer our customers high quality, cloud-based entertainment experiences across many of Sony’s network-enabled devices,” says Kazuo Hirai, president of Sony’s networked products and services group. “Services ‘powered by Qriocity’ will revolutionize the way that users play, listen, watch, share, communicate, learn, discover and create their digital entertainment content.”
Sony has said it will expand the Qriocity “Video on Demand” service which launched in April in the U.S. to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. in the fall.
The video service has content from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Lionsgate, MGM, NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros.
Group releases open-sourced PSGroove PS3 jailbreak
Last month PSJailbreak showed the world that the PS3’s security model was open to be exploited, and Sony was quick to shut down the project.
This week, PSGroove, the “open source PSJailbreak,” has been released for the masses, giving owners a chance to jailbreak their PS3 for a lot cheaper than the $170 PSJailbreak.
The code can be run on a hacked PSP, a TI-84 calculator, a $25 Teensy++ USB development board or a $30 AT90USBkey.
Currently, the Teensy is on backorder and buyers will likely receive it a week or so after they order it.
While the software initially had any piracy features disabled, a second build has been released with all features of PSJailbreak enabled. The software will allow for the execution of unsigned 3rd-party apps and games as well as ISOs of PS3 games.
Another Blu-ray player with Blockbuster On Demand support - too little too late?
US video rental giant Blockbuster just announced the Onkyo BD-SP808 Blu-ray player, set to ship to retailers in September, features a client for their online video service, Blockbuster On Demand.
Blockbuster On Demand is already supported on a handful of players from Phillips, Samsung & Toshiba, as well as a range of other devices including TiVo DVRs and the Archos 605 portable media player. There is also a client for Windows.
Unlike the Netflix Watch Instantly service, which offers unlimited viewing of mostly catalog titles and TV shows, Blockbuster On Demand rents and sells individual titles, including many new releases.
Blockbuster is favored with support from movie studios in the form of earlier access to new releases because this is sees as a tool to keep Netflix and Redbox from dominating the home video landscape. But Blockbuster’s failure to compete with either company has led them to bankruptcy.
Blockbuster’s plans for success in the on demand rental space may also be in trouble if rumors about Apple expanding their iTunes rental operation are true.
Their online offering has neither the brand name recognition of Netflix nor the base of TV-connected clients. From game consoles to Blu-ray players to HDTVs themselves, Netflix clients are everywhere.
Not to mention this year’s introduction of iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch clients. An Android app is also coming at some point in the future.
The widespread availability of the client, especially connected to TVs, has become arguably the biggest driver of recent growth for Netflix.
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Despite 3D influx, summer movie attendance falls to 13-year low
Despite the massive influx of 3D films, summer movie attendance has fallen to its lowest level since 1997.
On the other hand, however, 3D, IMAX and standard ticket price hikes have all led to record revenue for the studios and theater chains.
Tickets sold from May through Labor Day are expected to drop 2.6 percent to 552 million, almost as low as 1997’s 540.3 million tickets sold.
“The movies just didn’t excite people the way they needed to,” says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com Box-Office. “When you raise prices and perceive that quality goes down, you have a major problem.”
Revenue will set a record at $4.35 billion, a 2.4 percent jump from last year. The average ticket price will increase 5.1 percent from $7.50 to $7.88, thanks mainly to 3D and IMAX showings which cost $3 more, on average.
Google rolls out Gmail “Priority Inbox”
Google has rolled out the beta version of their Gmail Priority Inbox today, a feature that will automatically rearrange messages in a user’s inbox so the most important ones show up at the top.
For now, the feature is “experimental” and may never go fully live.
Reuters says “the motivation behind Priority Inbox is Google’s conviction that the problem of e-mail overload continues getting worse, forcing people to spend much time and effort managing their inbox both for personal and work-related matters.”
Priority Inbox is optional and users can switch it on or off at their choosing.
If you enable it, Gmail will divide the inbox into three sections; the “priority” box for important messages, the middle box for “starred” and “flagged” messages and the final box for everything else.
Adds Matthew Glotzbach, director of product management in Google’s Enterprise unit: “If you’re in meetings and you come back to your e-mail and you have five minutes between appointments and you have 50 e-mails, which five messages do you spend your time on in that window of time?”
“We see this as an ongoing evolution of the focus of Gmail, which has always been around addressing this problem of information overload,” Glotzbach noted.
Google renews news content licensing deal with AP
Google has renewed its news content licensing deal with the AP this week, following months of negotiations.
The deal will allow Google to post full-text articles from the AP on Google News.
“We look forward to future collaborations, including on ways Google and AP can work together to create a better user experience and new revenue opportunities,” says Josh Cohen, a Google senior business product manager.
Says the AP: “Under the agreement, AP and Google will also work together in a number of new areas, such as ways to improve discovery and distribution of news.”
There was no word on the financials of the deal.
In January, after a negotiation dispute, Google stopped publishing AP stories. They began running them again in February.
Microsoft to release updated Xbox 360 controller bundle
Microsoft has announced today that they will be releasing a special edition updated Xbox 360 controller, with a “transforming D-Pad.”
The updated D-pad design will transform for different uses. Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb explains and shows off the controller in the video below.
When gamers twist the D-pad, it pops up, revealing a raised plus sign.
Says Microsoft: “Select the traditional plus for distinct cardinal direction movement in games like “Halo: Reach” to change weapons and perform complicated combinations and deadly finishing moves in “Street Fighter” games, or rotate the D-pad to the disc format for sweeping motions in games such as “Pro Evolution Soccer 2011.” Choose your favorite controller set-up and experience unrivaled precision for all Xbox 360 games.”
The control comes bundled with a Play and Charge Kit and will sell for $65 when it hits on November 9th.
Upcoming Apple iPod Touch to have Pico projector?
Small cap company Microvision has seen their stock price jump today after anonymous sources claimed that the upcoming Apple iPod Touch will include a Pico projector from the company.
The Pico projector, used in some phones and digital cameras, allows for owners to display their pictures on walls and other surfaces right from the device.
Sources claim the the addition of Pico projectors to the next-generation devices has been confirmed by channel checks in Taiwan.
Please be reminded this all speculation for the time being, but Microvision’s stock has jumped 19 percent so far on the rumor.
Apple is holding their annual September Media Event tomorrow.
T-Mobile expands HSPA+ network to new cities, will double speed next year
T-Mobile has announced today that it has expanded its HSPA+ data network to nine new cities, making it available to over 100 million Americans.
The new markets are: Boston, Mass.; Erie, Penn.; Fresno, Palm Springs and San Diego, Calif.; Miami, Fla.; Richmond, Va.; Spokane, Wash.; and Topeka, Kan.
Furthermore, the carrier will double the theoretical peak speeds to 42 Mbps in 2011, a 100 percent jump from the current 21 Mbps max speeds.
The T-Mobile G2 will be the first handset to support HSPA+ when it launches in September.
That device has a theoretical peak speed of 14.4 Mbps, faster than Sprint’s 4G network.
To check if you have HSPA+ available in your area, check here: T-Mobile HSPA+ Coverage areas
