Tag: Entertainment

Google TV About To Get More Appealing to Consumers?

Google announced the launch of a preview of a Google TV add-on for the Android SDK, which means that Google TV devices will be Android compatible, with an upcoming update to Android Honeycomb. That also means that developers can create Android apps designed for the television experience, or simply optimize existing Android apps for the bigger screen.

Google TV hasn’t had the huge impact on consumer purchasing habits that Google may have liked so far, but this announcement is reminder that it’s really only just getting started. From the start, Google has been talking about the possibilities of Google TV with regards to Android, and only now will we really start to see some of this stuff come to fruition.

“While the add-on does not contain all features of Google TV, it enables developers to emulate Google TV and build apps using standard Android SDK tools,” says Google TV Product Manager Ambarish Kenghe. “It also provides new APIs for TV interaction, such as TV channel line-up. Google TV emulation is currently supported on Linux with KVM only, and we are working on support for other operating systems. We’re very happy that through KVM we’ve been able to create a fast Android emulator for TV.”

“Depending on the design and use case, an existing Android app may work well on Google TV as is, or it may require fixes,” Kenghe adds. “With the add-on you can test your apps to determine if they would be a good fit for TV and whether any tweaks are required. We are also publishing UI guidelines to help you with topics like optimizing for d-pad navigation, presenting information for 10-foot viewing, designing apps that work well across devices, etc. The guidelines include information on how certain UI elements on Google TV differ from other Android devices.”

If apps require features that aren’t available with Google TV, they won’t be shown in the Android Market on Google TV, according to Google. That means Google TV users won’t have to worry about downloading a bunch of stuff that’s not going to work for them, and developers don’t have to worry about their apps showing up in unusable forms, tarnishing their reputations.

As Google TV-based devices don’t come with touch screens (at least not yet), developers are going to have to seriously consider that potential set-back, as many are obviously used to designing for the touch experience.

“While the number of apps available on TV will initially be small, we expect that through this early release of the add-on you’ll be able to bring optimized TV apps into the ecosystem more quickly,” Google tells developers.

Google’s pending acquisition of Motorola Mobility could turn out to be a huge strategic move for Google TV, as the company already provides set-top boxes. Rumor has it that Eric Schmidt is also trying to win over TV studios, and Google’s name is being thrown around as a suitor for a possible Hulu acquisition.

The lack of TV studio support has been a major set back for Google TV. Such support could drastically change the shape of this platform’s future. That along with Android (which now comes with movie rentals [so does Youtube]) should be considered critical.

August 23, 2011
Farm Aid Streaming Live Online Thanks to Brightcove

Brightcove announced that it’s providing live streaming for Farm Aid today. Headliners of the show include regulars Dave Matthews, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson.

“Farm Aid joins a fast-growing list of organizations taking advantage of Brightcove’s live streaming capabilities, including the US State Department, Sundance Film Festival, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – an organization that delivered more than 2 million live video streams on the Brightcove Video Cloud platform during the two days of their annual general conference last April,” a Brightcove representative tells WebProNews.

We’re really seeing online video providers hook us up with some major concert events in realtime. It’s a pretty good era to be a music fan. Just last weekend, YouTube streamed Lollapalooza. A while back, they did Coachella.

Of course Farm Aid is about more than just music – hence its name. The organization/event has raised over $39 million to help family farms since 1985.

“We are proud to support Farm Aid’s mission and to be a part of this powerful benefit concert,” said Brightcove President and COO David Mendels. “The live streaming capabilities in our Video Cloud online video platform will enable Farm Aid to deliver a high quality user experience and reach viewers around the world to help raise awareness for this great cause.”

Carolyn Mugar, director of Farm Aid said, “From the artists’ gift of their performance to Brightcove’s generous sponsorship, to the donations from thousands, family farmers everywhere are offered hope and opportunity through the work of Farm Aid.”

Here’s the schedule via the Farm Aid site:

Between 1pm and 3
Willie Nelson welcomes everyone to Farm Aid!
Blackwood Quartet
John Trudell
Hearts of Darkness
Rebecca Pidgeon
Ray Price

Between 3 and 4
Robert Francis
Billy Joe Shaver

Between 4 and 6
Will Dailey & the Rivals
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
Jakob Dylan

Between 6 and 7:15
Jamey Johnson
Jason Mraz

Between 7:15 and 11-ish
Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds
John Mellencamp
Neil Young
Willie Nelson

The big draw as far as I’m concerned, is John Cougar. Mellencamp will no doubt draw from his impressive catalog of Cougar-era hits, and probably some later stuff. As you can see from the following Farm Aid performances from over the years, he still likes to please the fans. I actually had the pleasure of seeing him at Farm Aid in ’95, and he didn’t disappoint.

August 13, 2011
Boxee for iPad Released

Boxee announced today that it has released its long-awaited iPad app.

The app comes with the Boxee Media Manager, which allows it to stream videos from your PC to the iPad, as well as a “Watch Later” bookmarklet and firmware for the Boxee Box.

“We built the app to be useful for any iPad user, even those who have never heard of Boxee before, but it has the added benefit for current Boxee Box users that you can send video to your flat screen throught it (we’ll include this for Mac/PC users in the fall update),” says Boxee’s Avner Ronen on the Boxee blog .

The app automatically delivers videos shared by the user’s Facebook, Twitter, and Tumbler friends.

On the “Watch Later” feature, Ronen says, ” Each day, we’re bombarded by video from everywhere. Use the freshly re-designed bookmarklet to, umm… bookmark videos from the Internet and have them waiting for you on your iPad (and anywhere else you’ve got Boxee). Now you’ve got one place to queue YouTube videos, TED talks, FunnyOrDie videos, a TV Show you missed, or anything else you don’t have time to watch right away. It’s an easy way to create a video playlist for the commute, the bed, the couch or the bathroom (this is mainly for Idan, whose iPad we don’t touch).”

There is also a “Featured” feature, which highlights hand-picked content chosen by Boxee’s editorial staff. The screenshot above shows a “Junip” video, so they must have some good taste.

The app also lets you send videos to your TV if you have a Boxee Box. In addition to that, they’ve added an experimental feature taking advantage of AirPlay. You can hit the AirPlay button and see your Boxee Box as one of the target devices.

The app is available in the App Store.

August 9, 2011
Lollapalooza Streaming Live on YouTube: Today’s Schedule

As previously reported, YouTube streaming concerts from Lollapalooza all weekend, highlighting how YouTube has become just as good of a vehicle for live, high profile entertainment as it has for silly user generated cat videos.

The streaming actually started yesterday, with bands like: Coldplay, The Kills, Bright Eyes, Mountain Goats, Two Door Cinema Club, White Lies, and others. Today’s schedule looks like this (times are Central):

1:45 – J. Roddy Walston and the Business

2:15 – Walk the Moon

2:30 – Fitz and the Tantrums

3:00 – Black Lips

3:30 – Mayer Hawthorne and the County

4:00 – Death From Above 1979

4:30 – Big Audio Dynamite

5:30 – Local Natives

6:00 – Ween

7:30 – Beats Antique

8:00 – My Morning Jacket

I’ve seen Local Natives (at SXSW in Austin) and My Morning Jacket (here in Lexington) this year, and I can vouch for both being performances you don’t want to miss.

This won’t be the first time YouTube has streamed a My Morning Jacket Performance. When the band’s latest album Circuital came out, YouTube also streamed a live concert.

August 6, 2011
Netflix: Is It Worth the Price Increase?

Before last month, Netflix was loved and praised. Although it wasn’t perfect, it was still considered a great service for a really great price. This dynamic, however, changed when the company announced some major changes to its pricing structure last month.

In summary, the changes did away with the joint streaming and DVD subscription service and made each service its own at a rate of $7.99 apiece per month. For users that had the joint plan, they will have to pay 60 percent more if they want to keep the same services.

Have you decided to drop Netflix or at least part of the service? Let us know.

According to Bryan Gonzalez, the director of Social Media Labs at the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California, a lot of people are trying to determine whether or not they want to keep both the streaming and the DVD services. Other users have said that they are dropping the Netflix completely.

It seems clear that Netflix’s action was a step toward moving away from DVDs. Although video streaming is still a very young industry, the company didn’t want to get left behind like Blockbuster did. There was also an obvious financial motivation, because, as Gonzalez explained, the company would have to have a lot of cash in order to obtain all the high quality content that it wants distribute.

The user reaction to the news was quite loud, from what we could tell, but Netflix CEO Reed Hastings apparently thought otherwise. In the company’s recent earnings call, he said, “Believe it or not, the noise level was actually less than we expected, given a 60 percent price increase for some subscribers.”

Gonzalez told us that he thinks Hastings was trying to be optimistic about the situation. It is, however, worth noting that a recent report from The Diffusion Group found that even though 70 percent of users were disappointed by Netflix’s price hike, only 12-15 percent would actually cancel their services.

“The fact that there were so many Netflix users that were upset, kind of really proves to you how much Netflix is really loved, or at least used,” Gonzalez said. “Truth be told, Netflix is still a pretty good deal compared to all the other offerings out there.”

If users do decide to jump the Netflix ship, he pointed out that there were other alternatives for them such as Amazon Prime or pay per view models like Apple iTunes or Vudu, Walmart’s new streaming service.

“The positive news for consumers, and everyone, is that there are tons of options out there and maybe this will expose the market or the user to this great market of content,” he said.

Gonzalez believes that there are other players that could benefit from Netflix’s move as well. For instance, any company that is trying to figure out how to distribute content could take this as a learning experience. Additionally, he thinks that consumer electronics manufacturers who have TVs with built-in apps other than Netflix will have more streaming opportunities as a result.

“I think, ultimately, a lot of companies will benefit, not just because it will expose users to more options, but also, users will benefit because they’ll move outside of Netflix and see what else is out there,” he said.

From the entertainment side of the business, it’s no secret that the studios are struggling to establish a business model around streaming. As a result, Gonzalex believes they are pleased to see Netflix and other players experiment with revenue models because “high quality content does demand a certain price.”

August 5, 2011
Netflix Just Hitting A Million Members in Canada After Nearly a Year

After launching in Canada in September, Netflix has now announced that it has hit the million member mark in that country. Well, they’re just now announcing it anyway. It actually occurred in July, but still, that’s ten months.

Netflix says this exceeded its own expectations for growth, but it seems a little low to me. Of course, they haven’t offered the DVD-by-mail option in that country – the backbone of what the was founded upon to begin with – the thing that attracted so many people to the service in the first place, here in the U.S. The thing that is available as a separate plan (from streaming) now. It also launched in Canada with an even smaller catalog of streaming titles.

It also launched with a pair of PR blunders. First some of the extras the company had hired for a video gave interviews to the press, who thought they were actual customers. Netflix apologized for this. Steve Swasey, VP of corporate communications wrote:

I want to address an event held by Netflix in downtown Toronto yesterday as part of our launch of Netflix in Canada. The launch included the shooting of a corporate video with some hired extras, who, it turns out, were given improper direction to talk with the news media about their enthusiasm for the Netflix service. This was a mistake and was not intended to be part of our launch plan. Simply put: we blew it. We didn’t intend to mislead the media or the public, and we can understand why some have raised questions. We’re sorry that our misfire has given Canadians any reasons to doubt our authenticity or our sincerity.

Then, CEO Reed Hastings made some comments that didn’t sit too well with some people. He later apologized:

My Big American Foot is in my mouth. Yesterday, I made an awkward joke with a reporter in Toronto about Americans (like me) being self-absorbed relative to Netflix pricing in Canada. I was wrong to have made the joke, and I do not believe that one of the most philanthropically-minded nations in the world (America) is self-absorbed or full of self-absorbed people.

“We’re thrilled that Canadians have embraced Netflix so rapidly, and we’re equally proud to have welcomed one million members in such a short period,” said Hastings now says. “Our focus remains on building up the breadth and range of movies and TV shows to watch instantly, as well as constantly improving the experience, and we look forward to welcoming many more new members.”

@Netflix_CA
Netflix CanadaCongrats to Amanda Bell James of Flin Flon, Manitoba, for being our one-millionth Netflix member in Canada! Thank you to all our fans! 18 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

“I’m excited to be the millionth Canadian member,” said Amanda Bell James. “Netflix is something I enjoy with my family and I look forward to continue watching our favorite movies and TV shows via Netflix in the future.”

Netflix has 25 million members in the US and Canada combined. The company hit its first million in the U.S. in 2003.

A month ago, Netflix announced that later this year it will be launching in 43 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

August 5, 2011
Apple Rumor: Streaming Movie Rentals

Tired of hearing rumors about Apple products? I didn’t think so. The iPhone 5 isn’t the only Apple product (or potential product, I should say) getting some attention from the press. There is speculation going around that Apple may be looking to launch a Netflix competitor.

Before we get into the sources of such speculation, let’s just acknowledge that the concept itself makes a great deal of sense. Netflix has built a very solid brand for itself over the years, despite a bit of tarnishing in recent weeks, but it’s already getting competition from major web players like Amazon and Google. Apple, with its popular devices, operating systems, and iTunes store, as well as its existing competition with Amazon and Google seems like an ideal candidate for such a service. Let’s not forget about Apple TV and its rumored foray into actual televisions.

Jay Yarow at Business Insider reports on a note from Peter Misek at Jeffries, who says, “As part of Apple’s roll-out of cloud video services (and eventually an iTV), we believe Apple has unannounced deals with all/most of the studios/TV networks that are similar to the subscription streaming deal between Amazon and CBS.”

He also points out that Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer recently said that “some neat stuff is coming” for iTunes movies and TV content.

Meanwhile, AppDevice is running a story today called “Exclusive: Apple to Launch iTunes Replay in the COming Weeks,” which says the publication “has been told and was able to independently confirm that Apple is on the edge of finally launching a full fledged re-downloading and possibly streaming service named iTunes replay.”

This would reportedly include re-downloading and possibly streaming of not only music, but TV shows and movies.

Don’t forget that Google is now renting movies via the Android Market (not to mention YouTube) – the prime competitor to Apple’s App Store.

Either way, it looks like consumers are going to have more and more options for renting streaming movies from various devices, including the desktop, moving forward. Facebook movie rental appears to be on the rise as well.

August 3, 2011
Facebook Movie Rentals Concept Expanded Thanks To Paramount

More movies are available for rent directly through Facebook, using Facebook Credits. Why is this significant news? Because this time, the titles come from Paramount, indicating that more studios are eyeing this as a potential option for film distribution.

Warner Bros. was early to test the waters here. Months back, the company made The Dark Knight available for rent via the film’s official Facebook Page. It seemed to work well enough that they wanted to dip a few more toes into the water, as they then made a handful of other films available.

Now, while it may just be Jackass movies at this point, Paramount is clearly looking at this medium for making money from its films. Not a bad idea, considering that not only are a lot of people frustrated with recent Netflix price hikes, but Facebook has a commonly reported (though often disputed) 700 million users.

They’re charging 30 credits, or the equivalent of $2.99 for the first three Jackass films. They’re charging 40 credits (or $3.99) for the last two (Jackass 3 and Jackass 3.5). The prices seem a little on the high side to me, but there is a convenience factor.

Movies can be watched for up to 48 hours after the transaction.

Another interesting factor of Facebook as a movie rental vehicle is that studios can market the rentals directly to users through the news feed. They have the opportunity to push them to people who like the studio’s brand itself, but also through individual film titles. A whole lot of people on Facebook have “liked” a whole lot of films. Then there’s Facebook ads which can be very highly targeted.

July 30, 2011
Netflix Earnings Released

Netflix released its earnings report for the second quarter today, as well as a 75% year-over-year increase in subscribers, having added 1.8 million in the quarter. The company has 25.56 million subscribers globally.

As far as the financials, the company reported $789 million in revenue for the quarter, up 52% year-over-year.

“We are happy to report that Q2 was another great quarter for Netflix,” the company told investors in a letter. “Streaming is continuing to grow rapidly, and with the recently introduced price changes, we’ll be able to further increase the scope and quality of our streaming content. At the end of the quarter, Netflix had over 25 million global subscribers, up 70% from 15 million just one year ago.”

“We’ve spoken frequently of how we are directing savings generated from declining DVD demand into additional streaming content and marketing. During the quarter, we substantially increased sequential spending on streaming content as titles from our new content deals (discussed below) became available for streaming. At the same time, though, we maintained a disciplined approach to what content we license and at what price, spending somewhat less on streaming content than we budgeted for in the quarter. Also, DVD shipments came in even lower than forecasted, in part due to the popularity of our streaming only plan.”

Here’s the picture of what Netflix is expecting for the third quarter, in terms of the subscriber mix between streaming and DVD services. The recently announced price hike will obviously impact this.

Netflix’s results were apparently not up to shareholders’ standards, as stock is down in after hours trading.

July 25, 2011
Should Netflix Be Worried About Losing Customers?

During the first half of the year, things were looking really good for Netflix subscribers. The company made announcements like: “Miramax Content Deal,” “More MTV Content,” “Glee Available to Watch Instantly,” “More Anime Coming to Netflix,” “Marvel Content Coming to Netflix,” and “Netflix Launch on Android.” The company was making deals to bring users more streaming content, and making it available on more devices. It even announced forthcoming exclusive content with House of Cards, which would presumably be just the beginning.

Is Netflix headed in the right direction? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Their streaming catalog has certainly improved a great deal over the past year or so. No question. It’s got a long way to go to match their DVD catalog, but the company has certainly given people more reasons to use its streaming service.

In June, the announcements were things like: “New Look and Feel for the Netflix Website,” and “Temporary Removal of Sony Movies through StarzPlay.” In July, while the company did announce expansion into Latin America, came the big announcement of price changes, where members signed up for the popular unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs (one at a time) plan have to pay 60% more to keep the same service (which is actually turning into two separate plans).

Backing up to June, the Netflix redesign turned into a PR nightmare on its own. Though Steve Swasey, VP of Corporate Communications was quoted as saying, “We know the vast, vast majority of people like this,” regarding the design changes, it was clear by reading comments all over the web that if that was indeed the case, the vast, vast majority wasn’t speaking up nearly as much as those that loathed or even slightly disliked the design.

It didn’t take long for users to max out the comments section of Netflix’s original announcement, mostly with harsh criticism of the design changes. We ran several stories related to the design here at WebProNews and received hundreds more. The comments on the removal of Sony movies reached into the thousands as well, though many of them were simply more complaints about that redesign.

Just before Netflix announced the price hike, they did cave a little bit on some of the complaints about the design. They said they’d bring sortable lists back. Then they dropped the price bomb effectively smashing what little love that may have earned back from the users who were upset about that.

Of course when Netflix announced the price hike, the negative comments poured in again on Netflix’s blog, once again maxing out. Again, we got hundreds more on our own coverage. Any guesses as to how many comments their Facebook update about it got?

Just shy of 80,000.

Of course Netflix knew there would be plenty of backlash. According to CNET, they had extra customer service reps working when they announced it. “We knew what the reaction would be,” Swasey told the publication. “We are not surprised. We knew that there would be some people upset by the service and with the price being adjusted.”

Since then, Netflix has just been pushing on, likely hoping the fury would die down.

This past week, Netflix announced that its Android app could support more devices, as previously it had only supported a few. Now it supports 22. The reviews for the app are overwhelmingly positive. At the time of this writing, it has 32,072 five-star ratings and 6,921 four-star ratings. Only 4,882 gave it a one-star rating, and you have to wonder how many of those are just bitter about recent events. Some of them were simply rated low because of the app’s incompatibility with some devices.

NetflixAndroid abound! You can now instantly stream movies & TV shows from Netflix on-the-go using your HTC Evo 3D, Droid 3, Galaxy S, HTC Thunderbolt, or Motorola Atrix phone — plus many others that are now supported. Check it out in the Android Market http://bit.ly/nfxandroid, and more info on our blog: http://bit.ly/NfxAdrd 1 day ago · 1,482 likes · 1,765 comments

Of course if you look at the comments on Netflix’s announcement about this, you’ll quickly find more jabs at the company’s decision to raise prices. “Perhaps you should spend more time on keeping current services working instead of setting up new services,” said Mitch Snyder, commenting on the Netflix Facebook post.

In afternoon trading on the day before the price hike was announced, Netflix stock was priced at 290.15. At the time of this writing, though up from yesterday, is still down at 277.30.

Many users have said they’d quit the service. They were saying that before the price hikes even – just because of the redesign. Many more indicated they would do so after the price announcement. An outage last weekend probably didn’t help too much, though Netflix is crediting 3% of users’ bill for the inconvenience.

“Netflix’s July 12th price change announcement hammered the company’s consumer perception down below its competitors where it still remains today,” a representative for YouGov BrandIndex tells WebProNews. “Two weeks after the Netflix price structure notice on DVD rentals and streaming, the Los Gatos-based company saw its consumer perception with adults sink rapidly below competitors Redbox, DirecTV and even bottom-score dweller Blockbuster, which resides in widely-held negative opinion territory.”

“The brand which seems to have benefited the most appears to be kiosk-based rental chain Redbox, whose perception has moved from a virtual tie with DirecTV to pulling away to higher positive score numbers.”

What should Netflix do to help its brand perception? Tell us what you think.

July 24, 2011
Sin City 2 On the Way (More Machete Too)

Back when we attended SXSW in March, we had the pleasure of listening to filmmaker Robert Rodriguez talk about his experiences in bringing the Sin City graphic novels to the screen. We had hoped that he would give out some information about the long-rumored Sin City 2, but no dice.

That changed at Comic Con, however, as he announced that he’s planning sequels to not only Sin City, but also cult hit Machete.

In all honesty, it’s not really news that he was planning these, but it’s good to hear him bring them back up. It signals that there might actually still be hope that they’re moving forward. In fact, he is even reported to have said the script for Sin City 2 is being refined. He’s been working on it with Sin City creator Frank Miller.

Rodriguez evidently discussed Sin City 2 in a Facebook live chat. ScreenRant reports:

One name that Rodriguez mentioned during the FB chat as a possible returning player forSin City 2 was that of Hartigan, Bruce Willis’ cop-with-a-bum-ticker. There were rumblings from Miller quite awhile back about how he had written a story for Sin City 2 that involved Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) dealing with the aftermath of the events that occurred in “That Yellow Bastard” – the Hartigan storyline in the Sin City movie – but, if Willis does return, that might not be the case after all.

At SXSW, Rodriguez reminisced about seeing the script for Sin City in the early 90s, and recalled saying, “Whoever does that is going to screw that up.” He said that he was always a big fan of the Sin City visual style, and that he always knew he would “follow the visual” if he made a Sin City movie.

Later, Rodriguez found himself working with digital photography and 3D technology, with Spy Kids 3D in particular. “Spy kids 3D is why you all have to wear 3D glasses at the movies these days,” he laughed.

He discussed meeting Miller at a bar to show him some test shoots of actors using green screen and visual effects created with Photoshop. Miller was “blown away,” he said.

“I made it very easy for him,” he says, noting that artists often don’t want to get involved in all of the Hollywood stuff.

He just used the source material as the script. “No one got a screenplay credit on it,” he added.

It’s good to know that the two are working together again on the follow-up.

Rodriguez’s Spy Kids 4 comes out in August.

July 22, 2011
Comic Con: San Diego Gets Turned Into South Park

South Park, one of the few TV shows to get the TV on the web formula right, has a huge presence in San Diego this week for Comic Con. Despite being between seasons (or at least parts of a season), the South Park brand is making a big splash this week.

For one, it was recently reported that Comedy Central is celebrating the show’s 15th season by partnering with Walmart to get 1.5 million bags of “Cheesy Poofs” (the preferred snack to the Eric Cartman character in stores. They’re actually being manufactured by Frito Lay. Pretty interesting considering how controversial the show itself is.

At Comic Con, the South Park crew is going all out with a life-size replica of South Park Avenue with interactive stations, a photo booth, a museum, memorabilia, karaoke, costume and trivia contests, movie screenings, a “Big Wheel Fan Prix” race track, a school cafeteria, a confessional booth, and ticket giveaways to “The Book of Mormon,” the Broadway Musical from the show’s creators.

Today there was a parade that went through the streets of downtown San Diego, and tomorrow they are hosting outdoor screenings of the South Park movie and the show’s unaired pilot. The screenings will be followed by a Q&A with the production staff.

The costume contest is on Saturday, where fans will dress up as their favorite characters. That should produce some interesting photos.

There is also a free shuttle bus service being provided by the South Park school bus.

It’s a good time to be in San Diego if you’re a fan of the show, which recently took on Apple in a show about the revolutionary “Human CentiPad”:

Images courtesy of Twitters @colsblog and @GerardWayPhotos respectively.

July 21, 2011
Twilight at Comic Con Has Fans Camping Out All Week

Comic Con just kicked off in the Gas Light District of San Diego, as people have been camped out waiting to get into see the Twilight Panel. WebProNews happened to be in the neighborhood and thought we’d snap a few pictures.

Below you can see some of the campers.

In this video, anxious fans talk about how they have been camping out since Monday. One says she tried to start Sunday but they wouldn’t let her. One guy says he just wants to “smell Jacob.” (Presumably actor Taylor Lautner).

Cast and Crew of the upcoming entry to the Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1 appeared for a press conference where they discussed their experience so far at Comic Con, whether or not Breaking Dawn will end the franchise (they don’t know), and various experiences about working on the set and character commentary. Cinema Blend has a live blogged account of the panel.

It will be interesting to see if the next installment of Twilight can give the last record-breaking Harry Potter film a run for its money.

Fans who were first to the convention center hall where the panel was held were treated to breakfast.

No word yet on if that guy got to smell Jacob. The event just kicked off though. It’s still early.

July 21, 2011
Harry Potter Goes Google

Google announced today that it it is teaming up with Pottermore, JK Rowling’s new site, which will open up this fall to provide eBook services. The two are partnering to integrate Pottermore with various Google products and APIs.

The Harry Potter book series will launch in eBook form on Pottermore.com in October, and they’ll also become available through the Google eBooks platform. When users buy it, they will be able to keep it in their Google Books library in the cloud (as well as on other platforms).

“Pottermore will be the exclusive place to buy Harry Potter ebooks and digital audiobooks,” says Larissa Fontaine in New Business Development for Google Books. “You’ll be able to buy ebooks from the Pottermore Shop, push them to your Google Books library and store them alongside your other Google eBooks. Your other Google eBooks may be purchased from any of more than 250 independent booksellers or from Google directly.”

“Also under this agreement, Google Checkout will be the preferred third party payment platform for all purchases made on Pottermore.com,” says Fontaine. “When you visit the Pottermore Shop, you’ll be able to pay for your purchases using Google Checkout, in addition to using a debit or credit card.”

Pottermore will also take advantage of Google’s YouTube for global video broadcasts.

Google eBooks can be read on the web, and through apps for iOS and Android, as well as on over 80 e-readers. A new Google eBooks-integrated e-reader from iRiver is being sold at Target, Google announced a couple weeks ago. With this one, you can browse, buy and read Google eBooks with your e-reader through Wi-Fi, rather than downloading and transferring them from computer to e-reader with a cord with other devices.

July 20, 2011
Celebrities on Google+

Update: Here’s another list of celebrities on Google+.

As reported, Google is courting celebrities, trying to get them on Google+. CNN discussed some Google emails revealing such plan.

Celebrities have been key in driving Twitter use by fans, and there’s no reason to think it can’t have a similar impact on Google+. The service isn’t exactly overflowing with celebrities at this point, but there are a few, and that number will likely be growing soon.

Below are some celebs that are currently using Google+. Click any of the images to go to their profiles.

William Shatner

Google+” src=”https://img.ientry.com/webpronews/pictures/william-shatner-plus.jpg” title=”William Shatner on Google+” class=”aligncenter” width=”616″ height=”527″ />

50 Cent

Mark Zuckerberg

Ashton Kutcher

Mark Cuban

Alyssa Milano

Newt Gingrich

Snoop Dogg

Carmelo Anthony

Lance Armstrong

Chamillionaire

Dane Cook

Floyd Mayweather

Shannon Brown

Lloyd Banks

Wil Wheaton

Soulja Boy

Britney Spears

There are probably some more, and if you know of any, feel free to add them in the comments.

July 19, 2011
Netflix Gives Members 3% Credit To Make Up for Downtime

Sunday night, some Netflix users experienced an outage of the company’s streaming services. While this might happen from time to time, this particular time it sent many customers into a fury of outrage, because not only was it down for hours for some of them, but it came just on the heels of recently announced price hikes.

If you’re unfamiliar with that part of the story, Netflix announced last week that users who want to continue to get both the streaming service and the DVD-by-mail service (one at a time) would have to pay 60% more than they are currently paying for the same thing. Hard to believe not everybody was happy right?

In fact, a lot of members were already irate before that due to a recent redesign, though they announced a few tweaks in an attempt to appease members right before they dropped the pricing bomb.

Suffice it to say that many of the company’s customers have not been the happiest in recent weeks, and the outage of the streaming service at a time when most (who aren’t leaving the service entirely) are probably leaning toward dropping the DVD plan and just going with the streaming plan, just didn’t sit well.

As previously reported, customers let the company know on its Facebook page. Now, Netflix is offering a 3% credit for the next billing cycle to make up for the lost time. Last night, I got the following email in my inbox:

I don’t know if this is going to make all members feel better about the whole situation, including knowing that their entertainment experience is vulnerable to outages at any given time, but at least it’s something.

GigaOm’s Ryan Lawler points to a tweet indicating that Netflix has just hired former Reddit Chief Architect Jeremy Edberg, as its new “Lead Cloud Reliability Engineer”:

@jedberg
Jeremy EdbergHere for my first day at @netflix leading up the new cloud reliability team! Wanna come join me (we’re hiring)? 18 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto

As you can see from the tweet, they appear to be looking for some help for him as well, so that at least indicates that they’re serious about preventing such outages in the future. That’s going to be incredibly important if they’re trying to phase out DVDs, as the common thinking suggests that they are.

July 19, 2011
Netflix Streaming Experiences Difficulties

Netflix hasn’t been doing a lot to keep its members happy lately. First, they rolled out a drastic redesign, which got a lot of members riled up and threatening to leave the service. Some claimed to suffer from motion sickness. I didn’t have much of a problem with it, but the negative feedback poured all over the web.

Then, the company announced price hikes, which would see members having to pay 60% more to continue receiving both DVDs in the mail and the company’s streaming service. More said they were leaving Netflix, while most will probably just go with the streaming-only option.

Last night, that streaming service experienced a hiccup, however, reminding users about the benefits of the DVD format. After an outage, Netflix posted the following to its Facebook page”

NetflixFor those of you having difficulty streaming tonight, our apologies – we’re aware of the issue and working to fix it as quickly as possible. 11 hours ago · 2,872 likes · 4,907 comments

Naturally, the comments poured in. Here’s a sampling:

“Wow….glad I canceled.”

“With raised rates,they better improve service!”

“No worries, my account will be canceled in 2 months anyway.”

“and yet you want to raise out rates … Hulu Plus sounding better and better …”

“you should credit for the inconvenience”

“yeah, about time to quit this stuff…bad business”

One guy says, “Eat shit and die.”

A little excessive, perhaps. I don’t think it was even down that long, but you have to love the connection with fans that social media offers a company.

@Netflixhelps
NetflixThe streaming issues reported earlier today have been fixed. Again, our apologies – and thank you for your patience. 9 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

July 18, 2011
Cheap Trick Stage Collapses During Concert

During a Cheap Trick Concert at the Ottawa Bluesfest yesterday, the stage collapsed while the band was performing as severe weather hit.

“The stage blew down and collapsed. Everyone is shaken up but band and crew are all fine,” the band said in an update on their website.

They also posted the following before/after images:

Before

After

@cheaptrick
Cheap TrickJust posted: Severe weather hits stage at Ottowa Bluesfest http://www.cheaptrick.com/severe-weather-hits-stage-at-ottowa-bluesfest 13 hours ago via CTTools · powered by @socialditto

@jianghomeshi
jian ghomeshiA wind gust has toppled main stage at Ottawa Bluesfest. Cheap Trick was performing; no word of injuries yet. Fingers crossed. #bluesfest 15 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

@weatherchannel
The Weather ChannelRaw video: 60mph winds collapse stage during Cheap Trick concert, injuring 5 – http://t.co/e7KDiNC 1 hour ago via Tweet Button · powered by @socialditto

@MrTommyLand
Tommy LeeWHOA!!! stage collapses Cheap Trick guys are ok!! 5 injured!! http://t.co/hT1PabG 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto

The AP shared the following clip via YouTube:

Mobile phones have become major contributors to journalism. Likewise, sites like YouTube have become important source of timely video.

Apple is building a system to recognize concert events and shut down iPhones when they are trying to film a performance. There are other reasons why this move is controversial, but this event gives us something else to think about.

Sure, disaster doesn’t strike at concerts on a daily basis, but it does strike from time to time. Remember the Great White fire? The Dimebag Darrell shooting?

Thankfully, it appears this didn’t turn out to be as disastrous as these other events, though people were injured. The number and severity of injuries are unclear. The AP reported that at least one as “seriously” injured.

July 18, 2011
William Shatner Knocked Off of Google+ for Violating Terms

Though it seems to be up and running now, celebrity William Shatner had his Google+ profile removed temporarily. Apparently, he was “violating standards”.

It’s unclear what the problem was, but ast night, Shatner tweeted:

@WilliamShatner
William ShatnerMy Google+ account was flagged for violating standards. Saying hello to everyone apparently is against the rules maybe I should say goodbye? 8 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Google did say last week that it was shutting down brand pages ahead of its official release of them. The company is supposed to start letting some businesses launch such pages this week, but on an application-approval process basis only.

A few days ago, Shatner tweeted as he was trying to figure the new social network out:

@WilliamShatner
William Shatner@wilw This is me on G+ http://t.co/t6QYYaK I’ve added you to my circle. Now what do I do? My best, Bill 3 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Shatner has made no public posts to his Google+ profile, at least since it was back up. He has 1,108 people in Cirlces, and 1,224 more have him in their Circles.

Celebrity use has been huge for pushing Twitter’s momentum among the common folk. Remember when Oprah joined?

The whole Shatner thing could actually help Google+ gain some visibility in this regard. The man (obviously) has a lot of fans, and this incident has simply drawn attention to the face that he’s on. It also shows the public that celebrities are already embracing Google+ (he’s not the first), and will give them more reason to join too – for the same reason many joined Twitter.

So far, Google+ seems to be taking more time away from users’ Twitter use than their Facebook use, and given Twitter’s much lower user-count, and integration into various facets of every day life for many people (compared to Facebook), Twitter might feel the threat of this emerging social network quicker than Facebook.

During Google’s earnings call on Thursday, CEO Larry Page announced that Google+ had already surpassed 10 million users. I wonder what it’s up to now.

Hat tipd to Robin Wauters.

July 18, 2011
Spotify Launches in the U.S. After Years of Anticipation
Spotify, the music service that Europeans have had access to for years, while we Americans have only heard about how awesome it supposedly is, has finally come to the U.S.

The service has over 10 million users in Europe. It was originally launched in Sweden by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon as “a better, more convenient and legal alternative to music piracy.” The company claims that it is now the second single largest source of digital music revenue for record labels in Europe.

It comes in three packages: Free, Unlimited, and Premium. Free is on an invitation-only basis at this point, but comes with on-demand, buffer-free access to over 15 million songs. It has ads. The Unlimited option costs $4.99 a month, but is ad free on the computer. Premium is $9.99 a month, and all music can be listened to online or offline on a computer, phone, and various other devices. It also comes with enhanced sound quality and access to exclusive content, competitions, and special offers.

Here are the key features as run down by the company:
- Spotify gives you on-demand access (with no buffering) to a library of more than 15 million songs. What’s more, you can import the MP3s you already own with just one click, to create a mighty music player. And with Spotify, there’s no need to skip tracks you don’t like. Why? Because you choose the music in the first place.
- It’s super simple to create and manage all your playlists with Spotify – our users have made and shared over 250 million of them so far. You can also discover the most popular playlists on sites like www.sharemyplaylists.com and www.bbcify.com, or use clever sites like www.spotiseek.com to create playlists of new music based on your favorite artists.
- Music is made for sharing. Simply drag and drop music to your Spotify friends, or share with them via Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS. See your friends’ top tracks, artists and playlists via their Spotify profiles, subscribe to their playlists and drop tracks into their Spotify inbox. How very sociable.
- Take your music with you by installing Spotify on your cellphone or iPod Touch. Wirelessly sync your MP3 playlists to listen offline and subscribe to Spotify Premium to combine your own music with access to our catalogue of over 15 million tracks. It’s the perfect music player.
“We’re launching in partnership with some of the biggest and most pioneering brands in the world, who all want to help us spread the good word of Spotify,” says Ek on the company blog. “Our exclusive launch partners are Coca-Cola and Sprite, Chevrolet, Motorola, Reebok and Sonos. These brands will be launching innovative campaigns in partnership with Spotify in the coming weeks and months.”

“We believe that music is the most social thing there is and that’s why we’ve built the best social features into Spotify for easy sharing and the ultimate in music discovery,” he added. “Even if you aren’t a total music freak, chances are you have a friend who is and whose taste you admire. I’m looking forward to connecting with some of you guys in the US through Spotify and discovering some cool new tracks.”

@eldsjal
Daniel EkSpotify has landed in the U.S. Sign up to get your invite now – http://t.co/z4aBg1k via @spotify 58 minutes ago via Tweet Button · powered by @socialditto

@eldsjal
Daniel EkThe power of imagination makes us infinite. 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto

According to Spotify, over 1.6 million people are paying to subscribe to the service in 7 countries. The U.S. is the eighth country to get it. There are over 15% paying subscribers to active free users.
July 14, 2011
New Android Market with Movies and Books to Launch in Coming Weeks

Google announced that it is releasing a new version of the Android Market for Android 2.2 and higher. It will include books and movies.

Android Market movie rental was announced at Google I/O, the company’s developer event, but now it’s on the way. Google says it’s rolling out in the coming weeks around the world.

“In the U.S., you’ll be able to rent thousands of movies, starting at $1.99, right from Android Market on your phone,” says Product Manager Paul Montoy-Wilson on Google’s Mobile blog. “With the Videos app, available in Android Market, there’s no more waiting for downloads, syncing, or worrying about storage space. Simply sign into Android Market with your Google account, and you can rent movies from anywhere – the web, or your Android phone or tablet – and start watching instantly. You can also download movies to your device so they’re available for viewing when you don’t have an internet connection.”

“Also in the U.S., you can now purchase books from Android Market on your phone,” he adds. “Like movie rentals, books are linked to your Google account, so they’re instantly available across all of your devices – computer, phone, or tablet – without the need for wires or downloads.”

The announcement comes just as Netflix, the popular movie rental provider, announced price hikes sending customers into a fury. With the growing popularity of Android phones, the emergence of Android tablets, Google TV, and YouTube (which also now includes movie rentals), Google just might be able to grab a little piece of that Netflix pie. Of course they don’t offer DVDs so that’s not going to help those looking for a cheaper alternative to the Netflix streaming/DVD combo.

As far as Android tablets go, the company announced this week that a “near-future” release of Android Honeycomb will introduce a new screen compatibility mode to make apps that would otherwise have a hard time making the transition from the small phone screen to the larger tablet screen, more usable.

Users will not need to do anything special to update the Android Market. It will happen automatically. Those in the United States will be able to download the Videos app to rent movies and buy books.

July 13, 2011