Hulu set to launch tomorrow
NBCU first announced the venture back in October of 2007, and now Hulu is finally set to launch tomorrow. For those unfamiliar, the service is a join venture between NBCU and News Corp and will offer free ad-supported TV shows and motion pictures.
The site will offer thousands of free videos from Fox, NBC, and 50 other content providers. Hulu is also in talks with Lionsgate and Warner Bros. to add more content to the Hulu library with those partnerships expected to be announced soon. Notably however, the service has not reached deals yet with CBS or ABC, two major broadcasters.
Hulu went into beta testing in October of last year and has been described as a rival to the much larger YouTube video sharing site. Besides its TV content deals the site also has video licensing deals with the NBA and NHL and will have its content also appear on AOL, MSN, Comcast, MySpace and Yahoo.
iPhone SDK hits 100,000 downloads
After only four days of being available, the Apple iPhone SDK has been downloaded over 100,000 times by developers, said the company.
A few of the more notable developers that are now working on titles are Electronic Arts, THQ, PopCap, Namco, id Software and Sega.
“Developer reaction to the iPhone SDK has been incredible with more than 100,000 downloads in the first four days,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice VP of Worldwide Product Marketing.
“Also, over one million people have watched the launch video on Apple.com, further demonstrating the incredible interest developers have in creating applications for the iPhone.”
The SDK is free for all to download and Apple has also launched the App Store which will allow would-be developers to deliver applications and games directly to iPhone and iPod Touch users.
“The iPhone is the mobile platform game developers have been dreaming of,” said Scott Zerby, vice president, of THQ Wireless.
“We’re looking at how we can use the iPhone’s innovative user interface to create new game experiences for our big brand entertainment partners that consumers love.”
Fox to cut prices on Blu-ray catalog
Fox has announced that it will be the first major studio to have extensive price cuts on its HD movie catalog by discounting 22 of its best selling Blu-ray titles.
The price cut, which began yesterday, will see those 22 select films drop in MSRP by $10 USD each from $39.98 to $29.98 USD. However, the titles have been available for some time now on Amazon and other retailers for much less than the MSRP and usually retail for $19.95 USD.
The complete list, courtesy of HighDefDigest are:’28 Days Later,’ ‘Behind Enemy Lines,’ ‘Broken Arrow,’ ‘Cast Away,’ ‘Chain Reaction,’ ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ ‘Edward Scissorhands,’ ‘Flight of the Phoenix (2004),’ ‘The Fly (1986),’ ‘From Hell,’ ‘Entrapment,’ ‘Fantastic Four,’ ‘Kiss of the Dragon,’ ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,’ ‘Men of Honor,’ ‘The Omen (2006),’ ‘Planet of the Apes (2001),’ ‘Rising Sun,’ ‘The Sentinel (2006),’ ‘Speed,’ ‘The Transporter’ and ‘Transporter 2.’
Although the price drop is not for all of Fox’s titles, its good to see any price drops at all and heres hoping for more to come.
Wii back on top in Japan
According to data figures released by Media Create yesterday, the ever popular Nintendo Wii was back on top of Japanese hardware sales, regaining its spot after PSP sales returned to normal. The handheld had seen a burst after a Limited edition “mint green” colorway was released in the country.
The Nintendo DS also saw strong sales moving 49,000 units to place third for the week.
The Sony PlayStation 3 also saw an increase in sales, attributed to the released of the game Yakuza 3. The console sold 21,000 units, compared to just over 13,000 last week. So far the console has almost sold 2 million in Japan. As always in Japan, the Xbox 360 lagged behind miserably, selling almost 3000 consoles for the week to bring up the rear.
O2 will offer 5 million tracks from Napster
The large European mobile phone carrier O2 has announced a partnership with Napster to “offer the UK’s largest full Track mobile music download
service.”
There is however, one hitch. Your handset must have “O2 Active” to access
the Napster Mobile service, and so far it seems only 30 different handsets can
do so. For those who can however, the service will give users access to over
five million tracks and offer “dual delivery of tracks to both
the customer’s mobile phone and PC via email.”
The new partnership will provide individual tracks for 99p or 5 for £4 for a
promotional Period but there was no word on pricing after that period.
iPhone comes to Ireland and Austria
Although it was
announced months ago the Apple iPhone has finally made its
way to Ireland and Austria, via O2 and T-Mobile,
respectively.
In Ireland, the 8GB model of the phone will cost 399 euros while the 16GB
model will cost 100 euro more. A standard 45 euro monthly contract will give
users 175 anytime minutes, 100 texts, and 1GB internet data. A 65 euro per
month contract will get you 350 minutes, 150 texts and 1GB data and a very
expensive 100 euro plan will get you 700 minutes, 250 texts, and the same
data. Making the offer even less appealing, Irish iPhone users will not get the
amazing “Visual Voicemail” or the free Cloud Wi-Fi access.
For those still interested despite the crippled features and lack of a
[More]>>
2Wire introduces HD capable set-top box
2Wire has introduced its new MediaPoint set-top box that will deliver high definition content via a broadband connection.
The media hub can connect to home networks through wired or wireless connections and can also be remotely accessed via the Internet.
The box’s built-in USB ports allow users to stream all types of video and audio content from flash drives or external hard drives and the device is compatible with UPnP- and DLNA-enabled devices.
Electronista says the box will offer Internet browsing capability through your TV set but the interface method is unknown at this point. Internet radio is another interesting feature you will be able to access from the device.
The device will not be available to consumers directly and instead will come through ISPs such as Comcast and AT&T who purchase them, and “then offer specific content and options for the MediaPoint under their own respective brands.”
Rumor has it the device will sell for $89 USD but will likely be accompanied with a subscription service and contract.
Blockbuster to release set-top box
Finally putting an end to weeks of rumors, Blockbuster has announced they will be building a set-top box that can stream digital movies to user’s TVs.
The move can be seen as a way for the struggling company to compete with rival Netflix which has been making deal after deal to add to their streaming library.
Blockbuster CEO, Jim Keyes, added that the device will be brand associated with its Movielink rental and purchase service but did not disclose any other details. For the time being, cost, hardware and software specs and release date are unknown but Keyes did note the box would be available for the holiday season.
The new device may be too little too late for Blockbuster however as Netflix has had their own set top box (the Netflix player by Roku) available for almost a year. Netflix has also recently signed a deal with Microsoft to have its subscribers stream movies free of charge on Xbox 360 consoles.
Home entertainment tech not just for the young says analyst
The results of a study from ABI Research on the affects of age on technology use show an interesting, and perhaps somewhat unexpected trend. It’s no shock to find that people age 65 and older are less likely to use things like Video on Demand (VOD) or game consoles than those between 18 and 25. What may surprise you is that people in the older demographic may be just as likely to adopt new technology once they try it out.
For example, the study found that although only 35% of people age 65 or higher have used VOD, compared to double that number between the ages of 25 and 29, in both cases those who use it once typically continue to use it at least once a month afterward.
The results for console use were even more surprising. While market penetration in the 18-25 demographic saw no growth over the last year, for those 65 and older there was a 200% increase. This may explain the trend toward increased gaming related sales offsetting falling home video revenue.
But there are still some technologies that don’t show any signs of appealing to the older crowd. Video downloads, while popular with very young people, isn’t showing any signs of popularity with even middle aged consumers.
According to ABI Research principal analyst Steve Wilson that’s likely a result of inherent flaws with the process. He says “The lack of wide video download popularity in all but the youngest group can very likely be attributed to inconsistencies in the process, a result of the industry’s immaturity.”
Fall Out Boy to introduce first “interactive CD booklet” for iPhone
Perhaps the biggest loss in the transition from physical media to downloaded music is the extras packaged with CDs. Just as the transition from records to cassette tapes and CDs meant the end of some types of content that didn’t work in the smaller medium, the movement to CD means the elimination of much of it entirely. Some people who miss this extra content would like to see someone find a replacement.
The band Fall Out Boy and their label, Island Records, think they’ve come up with something that fits the bill. They’ve updated the idea of liner notes and produced an iPhone application that will be offered through the iTunes App Store prior to the release of their new album, “Folie a Deux,” due to be available on December 16.
The application will include a web-like interface that provides interactive liner notes including photos and lyrics from the upcoming album as well as past releases. And of course there will also be links to buy their music from iTunes. The band will also be able to provide future updates like social networking features to keep fans in touch with the band and even help them find each other via the iPhone 3G’s built in GPS.
But don’t expect this kind of application to suddenly appear for every artist, or even the majority. “We can’t do for everybody what we’re doing for Fall Out Boy,” said Island Def Jam senior VP of new media and commerce Christian Jorg. “This is an artist we think has the right target demo, we know the iPhone is successful with that demo and has great capabilities, and we’d like to put a product out there that speaks to that demo.”
