News Corp, Apple daily digital paper coming on December 9th?
News Corp and Apple’s rumored digital-only newspaper, dubbed “The Daily,” may be hitting tablets as soon as December 9th, say new sources.
The Daily will be available on the iPad at launch, exclusively, with an event planned for December 9th to launch the paper.
Both Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs will be in attendance.
So far, it seems like the newspaper will be a national paper with “tabloid sensibility with a broadsheet intelligence” that is more “fun” to read than traditional papers.
News Corp will hire 100 staff writers for the project, each of which is expect to cover breaking news and other “beats.”
The Daily will cost just $.99 per week.
Apple launches iOS 4.2
Apple has announced today that iOS 4.2 is now available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, adding a number of new features.
Perhaps more notably is the fact that iPad users will finally get multitasking.
“iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season,” added CEO Steve Jobs. “Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.”
All iOS device owners will now have multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay and AirPrint.
AirPlay allows for wireless streaming of music, videos and photos from any iOS device to the Apple TV.
AirPrint lets you wirelessly print photos, email, web pages, and documents from your iPad to any AirPrint-enabled printer.
Netflix starts streaming-only plan, raises price of other plans
Netflix has started their long-anticipated streaming-only plan in the U.S., while also raising the price of its other mixed media subscriptions.
Shares of the company have exploded $15 dollars today following the news, good for an 8 percent gain.
The streaming only plans will be $8 per month, giving users unlimited access to the company’s “Watch Instantly” catalog.
All other plans, those that include access to physical discs, as well, will see a price jump, however.
Those price jumps are immediate for new subscribers or will go into effect in January for current subs.
User with a $9 subscription (1-DVD-out) will see their subscription now cost $10. Prices for other plans are seeing similar increases.
Over the years, Netflix has spent close to $1 billion on putting together a streaming catalog that now encompasses 20,000 movies and TV shows.
Samsung Galaxy Tab sales hit 600,000
Samsung Electronics has already sold 600,000 units of the Galaxy Tab tablet, says The Korea Herald, in less than a month after launch.
The tablet is available in 30 countries.
In Samsung’s home country, Korea, SK Telecom has sold 30,000 units since launch last week.
“We believe tablet PCs will take over a bigger portion of the market next year,” adds Samsung’s mobile division head Shin Jong-kyun. “For this year, we’re projecting to sell up to 1 million units.”
Apple, the market leader, has sold 8 million iPad tablets since launch in April.
Samsung’s tablet runs on Android 2.2, has a 1GHz processor, a 7-inch multi-touch screen and dual cameras.
Apple, News Corp planning digital-only newspaper
The latest rumor making its rounds today is that News Corp and Apple are preparing to launch a digital-only newspaper, dubbed “The Daily.”
“The Daily” will stream to your iPad and other tablets for $.99 per week.
So far, it seems like the newspaper will be a national paper with “tabloid sensibility with a broadsheet intelligence” that is more “fun” to read than traditional papers.
News Corp will hire 100 staff writers for the project, each of which is expect to cover breaking news and other “beats.”
Initially, the beta will only be on the iPad, but a full launch is expected early next year, for all devices.
Apple is said to be searching for newspaper subscription plans that would work with iOS App Store, giving Apple a cut of each subscription, and the ad revenue.
iPad 2 coming in April, say analyst
Gleacher & Co analyst Brian Marshall has said today that he believes the upcoming iPad 2 will hit in April 2011, a year after the launch of the first-generation tablet.
Marshall basis the theory on “new manufacturing information.”
The new device will likely be available for multiple carriers, and include dual cameras, features that should help it outsell its predecessor.
Says Marshall: “I think April is the proper time-frame for an iPad 2. Since I’m projecting that Apple will release a CDMA iPhone in March, both will help to equalize Apple’s seasonality.”
The analyst noted that Apple has commissioned a few Taiwanese companies to “manufacture the iPad 2’s HDI (high density interconnect) boards in early February.”
Finally, Marshall says the new iPad may also have a standard mini-USB connection, instead of its proprietary port.
Mozilla’s revenue shot up in 2009
Mozilla has released their 2009 earnings statement this week, which shows explosive revenue growth for the company.
In 2008, Mozilla had $78 million in revenue, with sales surging to $104 million last year.
It is still unclear how exactly sales jumped so much, but the statement says “a majority of Mozilla revenue continues to be generated from the search functionality included in Mozilla’s Firefox product from organizations such as Google, Yahoo, Yandex, Amazon, eBay and a handful of others.”
One such example is how Google gives Mozilla a tiny piece of its search ad revenue as long as Mozilla makes Google the default search engine in the popular Firefox browser.
That deal will last through the end of 2011.
Expenses increased to $61 million in 2009.
140 million users worldwide actively use the Firefox browser.
Amazon to invest $100 million in LivingSocial
VB has posted today that giant e-tailer Amazon is set to invest $100 million in daily-deal site LivingSocial.
The “strategic investment” talks are underway, but there is nothing set in stone.
Daily-deal sites have boomed in the past year thanks mainly to the popularity of market leaders Groupon and Living Social.
All daily-deal sites offer discounts on products, services, activities, and meals from merchants, small and large.
Amazon currently has a foundation in the deals business, as it purchased Woot earlier this year.
Living Social raised money in March and April, but more investment would lead to a larger expansion into new cities and even new countries.
Just last month, Groupon was valued at over $3 billion.
Chinese woman retweets joke, gets one year in prison labor camp
Cheng Jianping, a 46-year-old woman from China has been sentenced to a full year of “Re-education Through Labor” after she retweeted a joke her fiance had posted.
Her soon-to-be husband tweeted the following:
Anti-Japanese demonstrations, smashing Japanese products, that was all done years ago by Guo Quan [an activist and expert on the Nanjing Massacre]. It’s no new trick. If you really wanted to kick it up a notch, you’d immediately fly to Shanghai to smash the Japanese Expo pavilion.
The tweet was in regards to China’s recent dispute with Japan over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Nationalists in China began smashing Japanese products in protest over the situation.
Jianping retweeted her fiance’s message and added the following words: “Charge, angry youth.”
Both Jianping and her fiance “disappeared” a week after the tweets went up, and the news came out this week that Jianping had been sentenced to one year of labor camp without trial, for “disturbing social order.” Her fiance was released without any charges.
Twitter is banned in China.
Vudu headed to PS3s next week
Sony has said this week that the popular VOD service Vudu will launch on PlayStation 3 consoles starting on November 23rd.
Via the PSN, Vudu will offer 1080p HD and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound streaming.
Vudu says the “PS3 will be the first and only system with dedicated gaming functionality to offer this service,” implying a partnership with the Xbox 360 isn’t in the cards, at least for now.
The streaming movie service currently has 4000 movies available in full HD, and new releases are available the same day as their Blu-ray and DVD counterparts.
Rentals cost $2 for 48 hours.
“PS3 is tailor-made for the high-quality, high-speed VUDU streaming experience,” adds Edward Lichty, general manager, VUDU. “Now with VUDU on PS3, we are able to deliver a completely immersive experience to those loyal to their entertainment system when they want, where they want.”
All new Vudu customers get a $6 credit for signing up.
