Paramount has announced this week that it will begin releasing 10 feature films with Silverlight-enhanced features for Windows Phone 7 devices, starting with the launch of ‘School of Rock.’
The other 9 movies will be available in the U.S, Canada and some international markets by the end of the year.
Each movie “app” will have the full film, a menu, bonus features and Web-connected content.
The next Paramount Silverlight Enhanced Movies for Windows Phone are ‘Zoolander,’ ‘Waiting for Superman’ and ‘GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.’
“Through our relationship with Microsoft, we’re able to provide consumers new, enhanced ways to enjoy movies from anywhere on Windows Phone 7,” adde Geremie Camara, Vice President Product Development for Paramount Digital Entertainment, in the press release. “Using Silverlight technology and adding interactive and social networking features, our enhanced movie apps transform the movie viewing experience into a true entertainment experience.”
Enhanced movie apps will have ‘Scene It?’ pop-up trivia, the ability to cut custom clips, and “Movie Info,” giving consumers a chance to identify actors, music, places and objects in the movie.
Result for: networking features
According to a source speaking to TC, Facebook is currently working on a smartphone, one that they hope will rival Android and iOS devices.
Facebook is developing the mobile OS and UI, then working with a third-party to build the actual hardware.
The source says it has become apparent to the social networking giant that iOS and Android are becoming very powerful platforms, and that Facebook’s official apps may not be enough to stay competitive.
Joe Hewitt and Matthew Papakipos, two of Facebook’s highest-level employees, are said to be working on the project, which would deeply integrate the many social networking features of the site into user’s contacts lists.
Hewitt was on the original team that created Firefox and was on the team working on “Parakey” before Facebook purchased it in 2007. Parakey was supposed to be a “Web-based OS.” He has also created Facebook’s “mobile” and “touch” versions, and the native iPhone apps.
Papkipos was working on the Google Chrome OS until he jumped ship to Facebook this year.
From this point on, everything else is speculation but it should be interesting to see if this “Facebook Phone” comes to fruition, and when.
Result for: networking features
In October 2009, billionaires Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the creators of the Kazaa P2P client as well as Skype, announced that they had developed and financed the unlimited music subscription service Rdio, and the company has now made the service available to all.
Separating the service from others like Rhapsody is the fact that Rdio allows users to listen from anywhere in “the cloud,” including through their phones, instead of needing to download DRM-laced music locally.
Furthermore, Rdio has many social networking features connected to Facebook and Twitter. Rdio uses subscriber’s online social networks to recommend songs, as well. If a bunch of your friends like a certain artist, Rdio will likely recommend it to you.
Rdio has over seven million tracks available from the major labels and thousands of indies.
The service charges $10 per month for unlimited access to music on a computer or your smartphone. For $5, you can get browser-only access.
Rdio is available on BlackBerrys, Android devices and the Apple iPhone.
