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Tag: Amazon

  • You Can Watch ‘Transparent’ for Free This Weekend

    If the new show Transparent just hit your radar because of its Golden Globes win and you’ve been itching to see what the fuss is about, this weekend offers you a chance.

    If you don’t have Amazon Prime, Transparent is off limits to you. This Saturday (1/24), for one day only, Amazon is going to let everyone stream the show – prime member or no. According to the company, this is a ‘celebration’ of the show’s massive success.

    “We’re incredibly proud of everyone involved in the making of Transparent—the team took a risk and it paid off,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. “Big kudos and congrats to Jill, Jeffrey, and all the cast and crew.”

    You have from Saturday at 12:01 am EST to 11:59 pm PST to stream all ten episodes of the first season.

    Amazon is also slashing the price of a year-long Amazon Prime membership this weekend – $72 in honor of the 72nd annual Golden Globes.

  • You Can Get Amazon Prime for Just $72 This Saturday

    You Can Get Amazon Prime for Just $72 This Saturday

    If you’ve been holding out on buying a subscription to Amazon Prime, the time has come. It’s probably not going to get much cheaper than it’ll be this Saturday (1/24).

    Amazon has announced that for one day only, new Prime members can sign up for $72. That’ll cover a year.

    You’ll be saving $27, as the service usually costs $99 per year.

    This promotional price is actually lower than the old Amazon Prime rate – $79 – which stood for years. Amazon increased the price of Prime last March, citing rising costs for fuel and transportation, as well as increased usage among Prime members.

    Prime’s perks include free two-day shipping, access to Prime Instant Video, the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, and free cloud photo storage. Amazon dangled another carrot last summer, adding a streaming music service to the package.

    Why is Amazon doing this and why $72? Apparently, it’s a celebration of Amazon Studios’ original series Transparent and its big win at the 72nd annual Golden Globes.

    As part of this ‘celebration’, you can also stream the entire first season of Transparent for free on Saturday – no Prime membership required.

    Image via Amazon

  • What’s on Amazon Prime but Not on Netflix? There’s a Page for That

    What’s on Amazon Prime but Not on Netflix? There’s a Page for That

    FYI

    Amazon has a dedicated page called Prime Member Exclusives: Not on Netflix that lists every movie and TV show you can stream via Amazon Prime Instant Video, but not on Netflix. So, if you have both services and are looking to find something new to watch that’s not on Netflix, there you go.

    The page is not exactly advertised and a similar function isn’t available on the Amazon Prime Instant Video app, but it’s there. Apparently, there are plenty of people who don’t know that this list exists. A post on reddit suggesting that “Amazon Prime Movies should have a category called ‘Not on Netflix’ for people who have both services” has quickly climbed to the front page in the past few hours. Of course, the top comment is someone linking to the exclusives page and saying It does.

    For people who have both services, it’s a pretty useful tool. As of right now, there are 307 titles to peruse.

    Most of the top picks are Amazon originals and HBO shows, as HBO content is one of the big advantages Amazon Prime Instant Video has over Netflix.

    So, there you go. A quick, easy way to see what Amazon Prime can offer you that Netflix can’t. Carry on.

  • Overstock.com Is Launching a Streaming Service

    Overstock.com Is Launching a Streaming Service

    Overstock.com, the large online retailer, is jumping into the video-on-demand arena.

    The site, which averages some 30 million visitors every month, is planning on launching a content service – TV shows and movies – this year.

    According to CEO Patrick Byrne, the service will come in two stages. The first, coming by mid-year, is the ability for Overstock users to purchase and rent titles. And by the end of the year, Overstock.com will offer a streaming service, complete with around 30,000 titles. Overstock won’t handle the licensing itself.

    From Variety:

    Byrne said the company is in the midst of setting a partnership with an outside company that already has rights to content from the major networks and studios though he would not disclose specifics. He said the initial service would have about 30,000 titles at the start, more weighted to film than TV at the start.

    In order to access said titles, you’ll have to be a subscriber to Overstock’s “Club O”, the company’s $20-per-month loyalty program. Using streaming video as an incentive for subscribing to an online retailer’s upper-tier program? Sounds familiar…

    “We will be a competitor to Amazon,” said Byrne. “We think our loyalty program is better than Amazon’s. We give you five to 25 percent back on what you spend. So we pay people back for their digital downloads.”

    So, when it Overstock getting into film production?

    Image via Overstock, Facebook

  • Amazon Is Going to Make Movies for Theatrical Release and Quick Debut on Prime

    Earlier this month, Amazon picked up its first-ever major award win, taking home a Golden Globe award for its original series Transparent. Is Amazon now shooting for Oscars?

    The company has announced plans to produce at least a dozen original films a year, starting this year. The movies will be created with theatrical release in mind, but will appear on Amazon Prime Instant Video four to eight weeks after their theatrical premiere.

    That’s a very quick window, considering it can take up to a year for films to make it from the big screen to the small screen.

    “We look forward to expanding our production efforts into feature films. Our goal is to create close to twelve movies a year with production starting later this year,” said Roy Price, Vice President, Amazon Studios. “Not only will we bring Prime Instant Video customers exciting, unique, and exclusive films soon after a movie’s theatrical run, but we hope this program will also benefit filmmakers, who too often struggle to mount fresh and daring stories that deserve an audience.”

    The guy Amazon has chosen to run the new initiative, Ted Hope, has experience in garnering acclaim for independent films. His production company, Good Machine, produced films like Eat Drink Man Woman, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and American Splendor.

    “Audiences already recognize that Amazon has raised the bar with productions in the episodic realm, tackling bold material in unique ways and collaborating with top talent, both established and emerging. To help carry the torch into the feature film world for such an innovative company is a tremendous opportunity and responsibility,” said Ted Hope, the new Head of Production for Amazon Original Movies. “Amazon Original Movies will be synonymous with films that amaze, excite, and move our fans, wherever customers watch. I am incredibly thrilled to be part of this.”

    Image via Amazon, YouTube

  • Here Are 13 New Pilots You Can Watch Now on Amazon

    Here Are 13 New Pilots You Can Watch Now on Amazon

    It’s time for another round of new pilots from Amazon Studios.

    The company has just made available 13 new pilots (seven for adults and six for kids). Here’s what’s now available via Amazon Instant Video:

    Cocked

    Created by Sam Baum (Lie to Me) and Sam Shaw (Manhattan – TV series), Cocked stars Sam Trammell (True Blood) as Richard Paxson, a family man and corporate lap dog who left his family in rural Virginia twenty years before and vowed never to go back. After some unfortunate circumstances, he is forced to leave the big city and return home to help his family’s gun business—one of the oldest in the country. But no good deed goes unpunished. Older brother Grady Paxson, played by Jason Lee (My Name is Earl), who’s a bachelor, playboy and gun aficionado, isn’t so happy to have him back, and Richard’s liberal wife and two opinionated teenage children are horrified by the world they have been thrown into. Hilarity, epic fights and emotional breakdowns ensue. Cocked also stars Brian Dennehy (The Good Wife) as Wade Paxson, Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad) as Hannah Paxson, and Dreama Walker (The Good Wife) as Tabby Paxson. The hour-long dark comedy pilot is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Skull Island), and Erwin Stoff (Unbroken), Shaw, and Baum are Executive Producers.

    Mad Dogs

    Mad Dogs is a dark comedy created by Cris Cole (The Bill), and Executive Produced by Cole, Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and Marney Hochman (Last Resort), Andy Harries (DCI Banks), Suzanne Mackie (All in Good Time), and Charles McDougall (The Mindy Project). Based on the hit UK series, Mad Dogs follows the twisted reunion of a group of underachieving forty-something friends—a mixture of single, married and recently divorced—who are all at different crossroads in their lives. Celebrating the early retirement of an old friend at his gorgeous Belize villa, grudges begin to emerge and secrets explode as their trip becomes a labyrinthine nightmare of lies, deception and murder. Mad Dogs is a twisted tale of friendship put to the ultimate test. As an inconceivable chain of events unfolds, cracks within the group widen before the friends realize that the only people they can trust are each other, the last people they want to be relying on. The pilot stars Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club) as Cobi, Billy Zane (Twin Peaks) as Milo, Romany Malco (Weeds) as Gus, Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) as Lex, and Ben Chaplin (World without End) as Joel. Mad Dogs is directed by McDougall and is being co-produced with Sony Pictures Television.

    The Man in the High Castle

    Based on Philip K. Dick’s Hugo Award-winning 1962 alternative history, The Man in the High Castle considers the question of what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. Some 20 years after that loss, the United States and much of the world has now been split between Japan and Germany, the major hegemonic states. But the tension between these two powers is mounting, and this stress is playing out in the western U.S. Through a collection of characters in various states of posing (spies, sellers of falsified goods, others with secret identities), The Man in the High Castle provides an intriguing tale about life and history as it relates to authentic and manufactured reality. The hour-long dramatic pilot stars Alexa Davalos (Mob City) as Juliana Crain, Luke Kleintank (Pretty Little Liars) as Joe Blake, Rupert Evans (The Village) as Frank Frink, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat Legacy) as Tagomi, Joel De La Fuente (Hemlock Grove) as Inspector Kido, Rufus Sewell (Eleventh Hour) as John Smith and DJ Qualls (Z Nation) as Ed McCarthy. The pilot is directed by David Semel (Madam Secretary, Heroes) and written by Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), both serving as Executive Producers. Also executive producing are Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker, with co-executive producer Jordan Sheehan of Scott Free Productions (The Good Wife, The Andromeda Strain), and Executive Producers Stewart Mackinnon and Christian Baute of Headline Pictures (The Invisible Woman). In addition, Isa Dick Hackett will executive produce and Kalen Egan will co-executive produce on behalf of Electric Shepherd (The Adjustment Bureau). Christopher Tricarico (May in the Summer) is also Executive Producer.

    Point of Honor

    At the start of the Civil War, a Virginia family, led by their West Point bred son, John Rhodes (played by Nathan Parsons, True Blood), makes the controversial decision to defend the South while freeing all of their slaves. At battle against his northern brethren and his best friend and brother-in-law Robert Sumner (played by Christopher O’Shea, Baby Daddy), John leaves his three strong-willed sisters at home to run the plantation that is now without a free labor source. The choice to protect the life they have always known and defend the moral high ground will pit the family against one another and test their strength, courage and love. An hour-long drama shot entirely on-location in historic Virginia, Point of Honor also stars Annabelle Stephenson (Revenge) as Kate Rhodes, Riley Voelkel (The Newsroom) as Lorelei Rhodes, Hanna Mangan Lawrence (Old School) as Estella Rhodes, Patrick Heusinger (Revolution) as Colonel Palmer Kane, Luke Benward (Ravenswood) as Garland Rhodes, Adrienne Warren (Black Box) as Abby, Lucien Laviscount (Waterloo Road) as Elijah, and James Harvey Ward (Low Winter Sun) as Cutler. The pilot is directed by Randall Wallace (Braveheart), written by Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Wallace, and Executive Produced by Cuse, Wallace and Barry Jossen (Sex and the City). Point of Honor is being co-produced with ABC Signature Studios.

    Half-hour shows:

    Down Dog

    Blessed with good looks, a winning smile, hippie parents and a Southern California upbringing, life has been relatively easy thus far for Logan Wood (played by Josh Casaubon, I Just Want My Pants Back). In his late 30′s, having coasted through romances with countless women and various random jobs, he now teaches yoga to the trophy wives, hot moms and aspiring celebrities of Santa Monica and Venice Beach. And he’s damn good at it. But when Logan and his current girlfriend, a successful and attractive older woman named Amanda (played by Paget Brewster, Criminal Minds) who happens to be the owner of the yoga studio, break up, life starts to get more complicated. Down Dog also stars Lyndsy Fonseca (How I Met Your Mother), Will Greenberg (Halt and Catch Fire), Andrea Savage (The Life and Times of Tim), Amir Talai (American Dad), Kris Kristofferson (Lone Star), and Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black). The pilot is written by Robin Schiff (Are You There, Chelsea?), produced by Bob Cooper (RFK) and Michael Fuchs (Death in the Modern Age), and directed by Bradley Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events).

    Salem Rogers

    In this half-hour comedy, Leslie Bibb (About a Boy) plays Salem Rogers, an overly confident, outrageously blunt, and hard-partying former supermodel who is forced to face her past and re-enter the real world after ten years in a posh rehab center. Intent on recreating her glamorous lifestyle and modeling success, she tracks down Agatha (played by Rachel Dratch, Saturday Night Live), her former assistant who has since built a career as an author of self-help books to help her win back the spotlight. Salem Rogers also stars Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Brad Morris (Playing House), Harry Hamlin (Mad Men), Toks Olagundoye (The Neighbors), Brad Morris (Cougar Town) and Scott Adsit (30 Rock). The pilot is written by newcomer Lindsey Stoddart, Executive Produced by Will Graham (The Onion News Network) and directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls). Salem Rogers was submitted as part of the studio’s online screenplay submission process.

    Docu-series:

    The New Yorker Presents

    America’s most award-winning magazine comes to life in this half hour docu-series pilot. The New Yorker Presents is a completely unique viewing experience that features Tony-Award winner Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) and actor Brett Gelman (Go On) in a short film based on a story by Simon Rich (Saturday Night Live) and directed by Emmy Award-winning director Troy Miller (Arrested Development); a poem by Matthew Dickman; a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) about biologist Tyrone Hayes based on a Rachel Aviv article; and an interview with famous performance artist, Marina Abramović, conducted by The New Yorker writer Ariel Levy. Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) is Executive Producer, joined by Dave Snyder (Death Row Stories) and Dawn Ostroff (The Fashion Fund). The pilot is co-produced by Condé Nast Entertainment and Jigsaw Productions.

    Amazon has also dropped six new kids pilots – Buddy: Tech Detective, Sara Solves It , The Stinky & Dirty Show, Niko and the Sword of Light, Table 58, and Just Add Magic.

    “We look forward to seeing our customers’ response to the year’s first pilot season,” said Roy Price, Vice President, Amazon Studios. “We’re thrilled about these projects and the great talent and passion behind them.”

    As always, user feedback will help Amazon determine which shows to greenlight for full series runs. So, if you want to see more of something, make sure you’re loud about it. You have four weeks.

    Image via Amazon Studios

  • Bosch, Amazon’s First Hour-Long Drama, Lands Feb 13

    Amazon’s first hour-long drama will hit Prime Instant Video on February 13.

    Bosch, based on bestselling author Michael Connelly’s books about LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch (City of Bones, The Concrete Blonde, and Echo Park), was greenlit back in March of last year after a successful pilot premiere.

    Bosch stars Titus Welliver (as Bosch), Jamie Hector, Amy Aquino, Lance Reddick. and Annie Wersching. It’s executive produced by Connelly, Eric Overmyer, and Henrik Bastin. Here’s Amazon’s official description:

    The series follows the relentless LAPD homicide detective as he pursues the killer of a 13-year-old boy while standing trial in federal court on accusations that he murdered a suspected killer in cold blood …

    Primarily based on elements from Connelly’s books City of Bones (2002), The Concrete Blonde (1994) and Echo Park (2006), Harry Bosch’s investigation takes on a life and death urgency when a killer who has confessed to the boy’s murder escapes custody and begins a murderous rampage across Los Angeles. Bosch and the killer are locked in a cat and mouse game, with the killer taunting Bosch as the investigation turns deeply personal. The case unearths Bosch’s buried past as well as entangling his ex-wife and 14-year-old daughter. The season takes the viewer through back streets and neighborhoods of Los Angeles rarely seen on-screen.

    “I am very pleased with season one,” Connelly says. “We have been extremely loyal to the character and city in the books. I think anybody who likes Harry Bosch on the page is going to like him on screen too. Titus Welliver is perfectly cast and viewers are going to be drawn to him whether they’ve read the books or not.”

    Bosch was greenlit at the same time as three other Amazon originals – another hour-long drama and two comedies. The two comedies, Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent, already debuted their first seasons. The latter just won a Golden Globe.

    The other drama greenlit alongside Bosch, Chris Carter’s The After, didn’t fare so well. The X-Files creator’s show was recently scrapped.

    Image via Amazon Studios, YouTube

  • Woody Allen Heads to Amazon for First-Ever TV Series

    Amazon Studios and Woody Allen have just announced a partnership that will see the acclaimed filmmaker write and direct his first-ever TV series.

    It doesn’t have a name at this point – it’s simply Untitled Woody Allen Project – but we do know that it’ll be a half-hour series and Amazon has already ordered a full series run.

    The series will debut sometime next year.

    “Woody Allen is a visionary creator who has made some of the greatest films of all-time, and it’s an honor to be working with him on his first television series,” said Roy Price, Vice President of Amazon Studios. “From Annie Hall to Blue Jasmine, Woody has been at the creative forefront of American cinema and we couldn’t be more excited to premiere his first TV series exclusively on Prime Instant Video next year.”

    “I don’t know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I’m not sure where to begin. My guess is that Roy Price will regret this,” said Woody Allen in a very Woody Allen response.

    The always critically-acclaimed but also controversial Allen is a big name for Amazon Studios, who is working hard to complete in the ever-crowded field of original streaming content. The company did score a big win on Sunday when its original series Transparent won best TV comedy at the Golden Globes.

    Image via David Shankbone, Wikimedia Commons

  • Transparent Wins a Golden Globe, Amazon’s First Major Award

    Over the past couple years, Netflix has consistently netted award show nominations (and some wins) for its original content like House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black. And though the Emmys, Golden Globes, and the like have smiled upon Netflix – they hadn’t yet shown any love for Amazon and its original Prime Instant Video offerings.

    Until Sunday night.

    The Amazon original Transparent had a huge night. Not only did the series win best TV series comedy or musical, but its star Jeffrey Tambor won best actor in a TV comedy as well.

    Sunday marked the first time Amazon was nominated for a major award. It beat out Netflix in the best TV series comedy category (Orange Is The New Black).

    The show, a half-hour “novelistic” series that explores the lives of a family and its transgender patriarch, saw “record-breaking” viewing, according to Amazon. A second season was ordered almost immediately after the first one premiered to both critical and user acclaim.

  • Amazon Apparently Working On Secret Startup Platform

    Amazon is reportedly working on some kind of new “platform for inventors”. Details about just what this might entail are far from plentiful, but there are some job listings Amazon has, which hint at the project.

    Re/code’s Jason Del Rey came across said listings, and spoke to some unidentified people about Amazon’s plans. He writes:

    But sources say it could be connected to a recent initiative Amazon has been pursuing. Amazon is attempting to build close relationships with young, promising hardware and electronics companies — think robotic toys, fitness and health gadgets — with the goal of convincing them to build their business using Amazon as the main sales channel.

    “They are trying to figure out how to engage with startups in new product categories in a more thoughtful way,” one source said, citing robots and wearables as the kind of products Amazon is targeting.

    One of the aforementioned Amazon job listings is for Senior Manager of Product Management, New Venture in Seattle. Its description says:

    Are you inspired by inventors who develop and launch new products? Do you want to build the world’s best end-to-end platform for startups? Do you see the opportunity to connect these entrepreneurs with Amazon’s hundreds of millions of customers?

    If you live for these kinds of challenges, we’ve got the job for you!

    As the Senior Manager of Product Management, you will define, build, and manage a new large-scale program to serve startups-as-customer. You will hire and lead a scrappy team of product managers and designers, and you will work in close partnership with software developers, business developers, and marketers to bring this new venture to life in a short amount of time. You will lead the creation of the product strategy and vision, including the definition and management of high quality product roadmaps. This is a highly visible role, and you will work with business and technical leaders across the company to realize this vision.

    The ideal candidate will be experienced in developing customer-facing products for PC and mobile platforms, and will have a portfolio of successful product launches. He/she will be an experienced people leader, adept at inspiring other product managers and designers to create world-class customer experiences. The candidate must be able to understand customer needs deeply and translate those needs into innovations that surprise and delight. The role requires excellent judgment, communications skills, and the ability to get stuff done in a fast-paced dynamic environment.

    Read Del Rey’s piece for some additional insight into things Amazon might have in mind with this.

    Amazon isn’t commenting on its plans.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Fire Phone Gets Even Cheaper, Somehow, for One-Day Promotion

    Amazon continues to find new and innovative ways to attempt to give away its safe-to-say-failed foray into the world of smartphones.

    The company is currently offering the Fire Phone, unlocked, for just $189. As you’re well aware, that’s cheaper than what most top-tier smartphones will run you if you agree to a two-year contract with a carrier.

    The price drop comes as part of Amazon’s daily deals, and will be available until 12am PST.

    This isn’t the first time Amazon has offered it up for a ridiculously low price. Back in November, the company ran a promotion for a $199 unlocked Fire Phone.

    And the phone is still just $0.99 with a two-year contract.

    So far, Amazon has sort of admitted it made a mistake with the smartphone.

    “We didn’t get the price right,” Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices David Limp said last year. “I think people come to expect a great value, and we sort of mismatched expectations. We thought we had it right. But we’re also willing to say, ‘we missed.’”

    But price wasn’t the only thing behind the Amazon Fire Phone’s abject failure. As a new report from Fast Company suggests, the device never really had a chance. As it turns out, nobody wanted an Amazon Fire Phone – and more importantly, nobody needed one.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon’s New Pilots Will Debut on January 15

    Amazon’s New Pilots Will Debut on January 15

    Amazon has just announced that its new season of pilots, which includes 13 new shows, will debut on January 15.

    The new set of hopefuls was first announced back in November.

    Here are the seven pilots you’ll be able to stream next week:

    Cocked

    Created by Sam Baum (Lie to Me) and Sam Shaw (Manhattan – TV series), Cocked stars Sam Trammell (True Blood) as Richard Paxson, a family man and corporate lap dog who left his family in rural Virginia twenty years before and vowed never to go back. After some unfortunate circumstances, he is forced to leave the big city and return home to help his family’s gun business—one of the oldest in the country. But no good deed goes unpunished. Older brother Grady Paxson, played by Jason Lee (My Name is Earl), who’s a bachelor, playboy and gun aficionado, isn’t so happy to have him back, and Richard’s liberal wife and two opinionated teenage children are horrified by the world they have been thrown into. Hilarity, epic fights and emotional breakdowns ensue. Cocked also stars Brian Dennehy (The Good Wife) as Wade Paxson, Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad) as Hannah Paxson, and Dreama Walker (The Good Wife) as Tabby Paxson. The hour-long dark comedy pilot is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Skull Island), and Erwin Stoff (Unbroken), Shaw, and Baum are Executive Producers.

    Mad Dogs

    Mad Dogs is a dark comedy created by Cris Cole (The Bill), and Executive Produced by Cole, Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and Marney Hochman (Last Resort), Andy Harries (DCI Banks), Suzanne Mackie (All in Good Time), and Charles McDougall (The Mindy Project). Based on the hit UK series, Mad Dogs follows the twisted reunion of a group of underachieving forty-something friends—a mixture of single, married and recently divorced—who are all at different crossroads in their lives. Celebrating the early retirement of an old friend at his gorgeous Belize villa, grudges begin to emerge and secrets explode as their trip becomes a labyrinthine nightmare of lies, deception and murder. Mad Dogs is a twisted tale of friendship put to the ultimate test. As an inconceivable chain of events unfolds, cracks within the group widen before the friends realize that the only people they can trust are each other, the last people they want to be relying on. The pilot stars Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club) as Cobi, Billy Zane (Twin Peaks) as Milo, Romany Malco (Weeds) as Gus, Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) as Lex, and Ben Chaplin (World without End) as Joel. Mad Dogs is directed by McDougall and is being co-produced with Sony Pictures Television.

    The Man in the High Castle

    Based on Philip K. Dick’s Hugo Award-winning 1962 alternative history, The Man in the High Castle considers the question of what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. Some 20 years after that loss, the United States and much of the world has now been split between Japan and Germany, the major hegemonic states. But the tension between these two powers is mounting, and this stress is playing out in the western U.S. Through a collection of characters in various states of posing (spies, sellers of falsified goods, others with secret identities), The Man in the High Castle provides an intriguing tale about life and history as it relates to authentic and manufactured reality. The hour-long dramatic pilot stars Alexa Davalos (Mob City) as Juliana Crain, Luke Kleintank (Pretty Little Liars) as Joe Blake, Rupert Evans (The Village) as Frank Frink, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat Legacy) as Tagomi, Joel De La Fuente (Hemlock Grove) as Inspector Kido, Rufus Sewell (Eleventh Hour) as John Smith and DJ Qualls (Z Nation) as Ed McCarthy. The pilot is directed by David Semel (Madam Secretary, Heroes) and written by Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), both serving as Executive Producers. Also executive producing are Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker, with co-executive producer Jordan Sheehan of Scott Free Productions (The Good Wife, The Andromeda Strain), and Executive Producers Stewart Mackinnon and Christian Baute of Headline Pictures (The Invisible Woman). In addition, Isa Dick Hackett will executive produce and Kalen Egan will co-executive produce on behalf of Electric Shepherd (The Adjustment Bureau). Christopher Tricarico (May in the Summer) is also Executive Producer.

    Point of Honor

    At the start of the Civil War, a Virginia family, led by their West Point bred son, John Rhodes (played by Nathan Parsons, True Blood), makes the controversial decision to defend the South while freeing all of their slaves. At battle against his northern brethren and his best friend and brother-in-law Robert Sumner (played by Christopher O’Shea, Baby Daddy), John leaves his three strong-willed sisters at home to run the plantation that is now without a free labor source. The choice to protect the life they have always known and defend the moral high ground will pit the family against one another and test their strength, courage and love. An hour-long drama shot entirely on-location in historic Virginia, Point of Honor also stars Annabelle Stephenson (Revenge) as Kate Rhodes, Riley Voelkel (The Newsroom) as Lorelei Rhodes, Hanna Mangan Lawrence (Old School) as Estella Rhodes, Patrick Heusinger (Revolution) as Colonel Palmer Kane, Luke Benward (Ravenswood) as Garland Rhodes, Adrienne Warren (Black Box) as Abby, Lucien Laviscount (Waterloo Road) as Elijah, and James Harvey Ward (Low Winter Sun) as Cutler. The pilot is directed by Randall Wallace (Braveheart), written by Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Wallace, and Executive Produced by Cuse, Wallace and Barry Jossen (Sex and the City). Point of Honor is being co-produced with ABC Signature Studios.

    Half-hour shows:

    Down Dog

    Blessed with good looks, a winning smile, hippie parents and a Southern California upbringing, life has been relatively easy thus far for Logan Wood (played by Josh Casaubon, I Just Want My Pants Back). In his late 30′s, having coasted through romances with countless women and various random jobs, he now teaches yoga to the trophy wives, hot moms and aspiring celebrities of Santa Monica and Venice Beach. And he’s damn good at it. But when Logan and his current girlfriend, a successful and attractive older woman named Amanda (played by Paget Brewster, Criminal Minds) who happens to be the owner of the yoga studio, break up, life starts to get more complicated. Down Dog also stars Lyndsy Fonseca (How I Met Your Mother), Will Greenberg (Halt and Catch Fire), Andrea Savage (The Life and Times of Tim), Amir Talai (American Dad), Kris Kristofferson (Lone Star), and Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black). The pilot is written by Robin Schiff (Are You There, Chelsea?), produced by Bob Cooper (RFK) and Michael Fuchs (Death in the Modern Age), and directed by Bradley Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events).

    Salem Rogers

    In this half-hour comedy, Leslie Bibb (About a Boy) plays Salem Rogers, an overly confident, outrageously blunt, and hard-partying former supermodel who is forced to face her past and re-enter the real world after ten years in a posh rehab center. Intent on recreating her glamorous lifestyle and modeling success, she tracks down Agatha (played by Rachel Dratch, Saturday Night Live), her former assistant who has since built a career as an author of self-help books to help her win back the spotlight. Salem Rogers also stars Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Brad Morris (Playing House), Harry Hamlin (Mad Men), Toks Olagundoye (The Neighbors), Brad Morris (Cougar Town) and Scott Adsit (30 Rock). The pilot is written by newcomer Lindsey Stoddart, Executive Produced by Will Graham (The Onion News Network) and directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls). Salem Rogers was submitted as part of the studio’s online screenplay submission process.

    Docu-series:

    The New Yorker Presents

    America’s most award-winning magazine comes to life in this half hour docu-series pilot. The New Yorker Presents is a completely unique viewing experience that features Tony-Award winner Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) and actor Brett Gelman (Go On) in a short film based on a story by Simon Rich (Saturday Night Live) and directed by Emmy Award-winning director Troy Miller (Arrested Development); a poem by Matthew Dickman; a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) about biologist Tyrone Hayes based on a Rachel Aviv article; and an interview with famous performance artist, Marina Abramović, conducted by The New Yorker writer Ariel Levy. Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) is Executive Producer, joined by Dave Snyder (Death Row Stories) and Dawn Ostroff (The Fashion Fund). The pilot is co-produced by Condé Nast Entertainment and Jigsaw Productions.

    Amazon will also premiere six new kids pilots at that time – Buddy: Tech Detective, Sara Solves It , The Stinky & Dirty Show, Niko and the Sword of Light, Table 58, and Just Add Magic.

    As always, only the strong will survive. Amazon will take feedback from viewers to help them determine which pilots should be given a full series order.

  • Amazon Sellers Sold Over 2 Billion Items In 2014

    Amazon Sellers Sold Over 2 Billion Items In 2014

    Amazon just announced that sellers reached a new record in 2014, selling over 2 billion items worldwide. The company is sharing a whole bunch of stats.

    For example, over 2 million sellers account for over 40% of the total units sold on Amazon. China and Hong Kong-based sellers saw significant international sales growth at 80% year-over-year.

    “It’s been a record-setting year for selling on Amazon. We’re seeing strong growth from sellers listing their items across our global marketplaces. In fact, there are now more than a billion offers for customers to browse from sellers who are listing items for sale outside their home country,” said Peter Faricy, VP for Amazon Marketplace. “The growth of mobile and the introduction of the Amazon Seller App have also been a big win for sellers this year. Sellers are constantly telling us they value the flexibility of managing their businesses on-the-go from their tablets and mobile devices.”

    Amazon also gave sellers access to some major real estate on the run up to Black Friday. Holiday deals offered by sellers grew over 250% year-over-year, while units sold by sellers offering holiday deals grew more than 400%.

    On Cyber Monday, over 16 million units were ordered worldwide from sellers on Amazon, and orders processed by businesses using Amazon Payments grew by more than 60%. Over 25% of Login and Pay with Amazon payments were made with mobile devices. Orders processed by businesses using Login and Pay with Amazon grew over 200%.

    Throughout the year, the number of sellers utilizing Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) grew over 65%. FBA units shipped worldwide grew by over 50% year-over-year during the 2014 holiday season. Sellers from over 100 different countries around the world fulfilled orders to customers in 185 countries using FBA. Product selection available through FBA on the Amazon India marketplace more than tripled year-over-year.

    Image via Stephen Woods, Flickr Creative Commons

  • Amazon Is Giving Away These Android Apps

    Last week, Amazon made $220 worth of Android apps available for free through the Amazon Appstore. Now, they’re giving away more apps, which will typically cost you.

    There are 33 paid apps available for today only, so act fast if any of the following titles sound appealing to you.

    Monopoly
    Angry Birds Star Wars
    Stack the States
    Fruit Ninja
    Riptide GP 2
    Kingdom Rush Frontiers
    Table Top Racing
    Sparkle 2 Evo
    Alarm Clock Xtreme
    Lyne
    Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink
    République
    AVG Antivirus PRO Android Security
    Pho.to Lab PRO
    Calculator Plus
    Thomas Was Alone
    Alice Trapped in Wonderland
    Food Diary and Calorie Tracker
    JEFIT Pro
    Townsmen Premium
    Might and Magic Clash of Heroes
    Patchworkz (Full)
    Garfield’s Escape
    Mini Piano
    Bills Reminder
    Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past
    Deep Sleep With Andrew Johnson
    Orrery
    BuildCalc
    Buttons and Scissors Pro
    Azkend 2: The World Beneath
    Xtralogic Remote Desktop Client
    Distant Suns: Unleash Your Inner Astronaut

    Earlier this month, there was some turbulence between Google and Amazon, which saw the Appstore removed from Android.

    Via MobileBurn

  • Amazon: Prime And Free Shipping Saved People Over $2 Billion Over The Holidays

    Amazon: Prime And Free Shipping Saved People Over $2 Billion Over The Holidays

    This has been Amazon’s 20th holiday shopping season, if you can believe that. The company announced that it also saw record growth for Amazon Prime memberships. Over 10 million new members tried Prime for the first time, and Amazon’s Prime and Free Shipping offerings saved customers over $2 billion in shipping fees this holiday season, according to the company.

    “We are excited to welcome more than ten million new members to Amazon Prime this holiday season, who benefited from unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on their holiday gifts. Prime members can also borrow more than 700,000 books, listen to one million songs and hundreds of playlists, save unlimited photos and watch tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes including the Golden Globe nominated show from Amazon Studios, Transparent,” said CEO Jeff Bezos. “We are working hard to make Prime even better and expanding the recently launched Prime Now to additional cities in 2015.”

    In case you missed it, Prime Now is a new delivery service, which the company launched in New York, enabling customers to get one-hour delivery. In terms of making Prime better, Amazon has certainly been focused on that a lot over the past year, frequently adding various perks.

    “Customers continue to save money shopping on Amazon,” said Jeff Wilke, Senior Vice President, Amazon.com. “This holiday season, Amazon shoppers saved billions through free shipping, and even more through our low prices. We are especially excited that 10 million new customers tried Amazon Prime for the first time.”

    Amazon shipped to 185 countries this holiday season. About 60% of customers used a mobile device, with more turning to mobile the closer to the holidays it got.

    Image via Amazon

  • It May Be A While Before Amazon Releases Another Fire Phone

    Back in June, Amazon finally unveiled its long-awaited smartphone, the Fire phone. While the actual unveiling was somewhat impressive, as it showed off some interesting features that we hadn’t seen on other phones, the reviews weren’t very kind once people actually got the device in their hands.

    It’s no secret that the Fire phone hasn’t been a hot seller, and the price has even been reduced to $199 without a contract.

    Some reviewers suggested that we not give up on Amazon, as it could likely make major improvements with future models. This was just the first run. They company does, after all, seem to be doing a lot better with its tablets. It might be a while before we see the next model of the Fire phone, however.

    VentureBeat reports that Amazon won’t release the next version of the device until 2016, but does indicate that one is in the works. Mark Sullivan writes:

    Amazon has been working on the phone for months, but, thrown back on its heels by the frighteningly poor sales of the first Fire phone, has “gone back to the drawing board” as one source puts it. Amazon is trying to figure out which features to put in the new phone that will make it a success.

    Just because we won’t see the next device for at least another year, doesn’t mean Amazon can’t continue to improve the one it’s already released. Software updates can go a long way toward making a device better in a variety of areas, and the company has already been at work on that.

    As reported last week, Amazon just pushed an update adding a number of features. Surely there will be more of these updates in the year to come.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Updates Fire Phone With A Bunch Of Features

    Amazon launched a software update for its Fire Phone, bringing a bunch of new features to the device, which it’s been having a pretty hard time selling.

    The Firefly feature will now translate text and identify famous artwork, not unlike Google Goggles. Specifically, it can translate to and from English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. As far as artwork, it recognizes over 2,000 famous paintings based on data from Wikipedia.

    The device is apparently now better for taking pictures thanks to the addition of “Best Shot,” which lets you see three versions of a photo to choose the best shot.

    You an enable or disable SMS/MMS messages. You ca mturn character counts and MMS on off.

    You can now choose from seven preloaded keyboard languages or from 49 additional keyboard languages, which are available to download.

    The device will now let you block unwanted phone numbers, as well as add custom ringtones, and view more info from your lock screen. From there, you can control music and configure your phone to wake up when a new notification arrives.

    There’s a new preloaded WPS Office app, which lets you write and edit documents.

    You can connect to a secure, corporate VPN using the native IPSec / L2TP VPN client, and sync calendars across Amazon devices registered to your Amazon account.

    Auto-scroll has been added for Kindle Books so you can read them in one continuous scroll.

    Finally, battery life is improved, and there are hundreds of bug fixes and UI improvements.

    None of this stuff is especially groundbreaking, and probably won’t go very far in helping Amazon sell more units immediately, but there’s no question that the company is going to have to keep adding features and making its devices more appealing. This is a start.

    As many of the negative reviews for the device suggested, the Fire phone could get better with future iterations.

    Via 9to5Google

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon FreeTime Unlimited Gets A Lot More Content

    Amazon announced the addition of some new content to its Amazon FreeTime Unlimited kids offering (previously known as Kindle FreeTime Unlimited).

    The service is available on Fire tablets, Amazon Fire TV, and Kindle e-readers. All in all, FreeTime Unlimited now has over 4,000 “common core aligned” books from National Geographic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Capstone Press, Lerner Publishing, Child’s World, Cherry Lake, Sleeping Bear Press and Starwalk Kids Media as well as over 400 “age-appropriate” apps and games, which don’t include in-app purchasing or advertisements. It also has thousands of movies and TV shows.

    Today’s announcement includes thousands of titles, including Princess Story Theater, Frozen Freefall, Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Roof Top Run, Dora’s Great Big World, Toca Boca’s Toca Cars, Toca Hair Salon Me, Sesame Street’s Monster at the End of This Book, Dr Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and over 100 other Oceanhouse media titles.

    “We’ve worked hard to bring the best kids content to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited. Millions of kids and parents are using FreeTime and we’re thrilled to add thousands of new titles in time for the holidays,” said Nate Glissmeyer, Director of Amazon Kids and Families. “Parents tell us they love the selection in FreeTime Unlimited since it gives kids the freedom to discover and pick their next adventure. And, with new additions from Nickelodeon, Disney, Oceanhouse Media, Sesame Street and more, we can’t wait to hear what parents and kids think.”

    “Amazon’s FreeTime Unlimited is a great platform for our content—kids can find their favorite Sesame Street characters and instantly access all the educational and fun titles they love in a kid-friendly FreeTime user interface,” said Scott Chambers, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Media at the Sesame Workshop. “We’re excited to bring more content to this platform and looking forward to continuing our work with Amazon.”

    Recently, Amazon launched its Fire HD Kids Edition, which comes with a free year of FreeTime Unlimited. This will likely be a popular Christmas gift this year.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Prime Now Brings One-Hour Delivery To NY

    Amazon Prime Now Brings One-Hour Delivery To NY

    Amazon announced the launch of a new delivery service called Prime Now. It’s launching in New York City (specifically select areas of Manhattan) for now, and offers one-hour delivery on items through a mobile app.

    Actually, Prime members will still have to pay $7.99 for one-hour (or less) delivery, but it also offers two-hour delivery for free. The Prime Now options are only available between the hours of 6AM and midnight (seven days a week). The app lets you track the courier’s location.

    We recently learned that Amazon was using bike messengers for package delivery. Well, that was for this:

    Prime Now is yet another perk for Amazon Prime members (these seem to be increasing by the week), and can be used on “tens of thousands” of items including things like paper towels, shampoo, books, toys and batteries.

    “There are times when you can’t make it to the store and other times when you simply don’t want to go. There are so many reasons to skip the trip and now Prime members in Manhattan can get the items they need delivered in an hour or less,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations. “We’ve long felt that Amazon Prime is the best deal in the history of shopping and now it has gotten even better. Prime members in Manhattan are going to love this service and we cannot wait to roll out Prime Now to additional cities in 2015.”

    Amazon is using its new Manhattan building as a hub for Prime Now orders, though only part of the building is being used for this.

    The Prime Now app is available on iOS and Android to Prime members. Users will be notified when the service becomes available in their area.

    In California, Amazon has also been testing taxi delivery, but it’s unclear if that’s directly related to Prime Now.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Extends Free Shipping Deadline for XMas Delivery

    Amazon Extends Free Shipping Deadline for XMas Delivery

    If you’re a procrastinating holiday shopper (and most of us are), you’ll be happy to know that Amazon has extended its deadline for free shipping to arrive before Christmas.

    You’ll need to place your order by December 19 to get your stuff by Dec 24. This gives customers an extra day as compared to last year.

    If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can push it all the way to Dec 22 and still have your order by Dec 24.

    And for folks living in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC, same-day shipping will allow you to place your order at 10am local time on Dec 24 and still have it delivered by that evening.

    Amazon is simply trying to match one of its biggest competitors this year. Walmart recently announced that it would guarantee Christmas Eve delivery for orders placed by Dec 19.

    This is simply a case of companies doing battle at the benefit of the customer. But beware, as Dec 19 will sneak up on you before you know it (it’s this Friday).

    Image via Stephen Woods, Flickr Creative Commons

  • HBO GO Finally Hits Amazon’s Fire TV

    Back in April, Amazon launched Fire TV, its streaming device for the connected living room. It was missing one key service however. It didn’t support HBO GO. While Amazon has since added HBO content to Prime Instant Video, those don’t include the latest episodes of all the shows.

    Today, Amazon announced that the device finally has the service.

    “Since launch we’ve increased the number of services available on Amazon Fire TV by more than 4x,” said Peter Larsen, Vice President of Amazon Devices. “We’re thrilled to add HBO GO, the most requested service, to Fire TV in time for the holidays. HBO has produced some of the most groundbreaking and award-winning TV shows and movies, and we are excited to bring this amazing content to our customers, all of which is accessible via voice search on your Fire TV remote.”

    “Given our longstanding relationship with Amazon, we’re delighted to bring HBO GO to Amazon’s Fire TV—offering our vast collection of award-winning TV series and movies to Fire TV users,” added Jeff Dallesandro, Vice President, Digital Domestic Network Distribution at HBO. “We’re thrilled to add this platform to the suite of HBO GO viewing options, offering our subscribers compelling new experiences like Amazon’s unified voice search.”

    Amazon is selling Fire TV for $79 through December 28. HBO GO will be available for the less expensive Amazon Fire TV Stick in the spring.

    Last month, HBO GO finally became available for Xbox One.

    Image via YouTube