Former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden addressed the crowd at SXSW in Austin, Texas yesterday via videoconference from Moscow. Speaking on NSA leaks and data security, Snowden urged tech firms to adopt better encryption methods to help protect users from government surveillance. He also shared privacy tips for citizens, such as encrypting your hard drive, implementing browser plug-ins that prevent online tracking, and using online network Tor, that promises anonymity. Read More »

TV startup Aereo has temporarily shut down its service in Denver and Salt Lake City. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit refused to overturn a preliminary injunction granted by a Utah District Court judge that prohibits Aereo from operating in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. Aereo is issuing full refunds for this month to customers in the two cities. Despite the setback, Aereo continues its expansion with a recent launch in Austin, Texas one week before the SXSW conference. Read More »

Disney has signed a multiyear deal with Shanghai Media Group that will have writers in the U.S. collaborate with Chinese writers and filmmakers to develop Disney-branded movies that incorporate Chinese themes. The partnership will also expand training opportunities between the creative teams of both countries. Meanwhile, film producer Robert Simonds is forming a new movie studio that intends to meet the growing needs of China and self-distribute the types of films that have been displaced by summer blockbusters. Read More »

Leichtman Research Group conducted its 11th annual HDTV-focused consumer survey and learned that the majority of respondents have not heard of 4K/Ultra HD, suggesting the industry may need to educate consumers in order to foster adoption of the technology. According to LRG, only 30 percent of adults have heard of 4K, while only about one-third of that group has actually seen a 4K TV. Additionally, strong interest in purchasing a 4K set was not evident in the findings. Read More »

Samsung launched a free radio-streaming service in the U.S. last week, which aims to attract customers for its Galaxy-branded smartphones while taking on the likes of Pandora, Spotify and Apple. The initially ad-free ”Milk Music” combines content licensed from Slacker Radio’s catalog of about 13 million songs with music obtained exclusively for Samsung. It differs from other services in that users do not need to log in or even register. The application can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Read More »

Great Britain struck a major deal with Germany at the CeBIT 2014 trade fair to co-develop a 5G Internet service fast enough to download a movie in less than a second. German and British universities will work together on the project. Speaking at the tech summit in Hannover, Germany, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that his country risks being left behind if it does not develop ultra-fast broadband. He also announced a major investment in a grant fund and research and development for the Internet of Things. Read More »

• Barely Keeping Up in TV’s New Golden Age
• Most Millennials Still Pay for TV: Study
• Netflix 2014 European Expansion: A Look Ahead
• Half of Broadcast TV Viewers are 54 and Older — Yikes
• FIFA Waits on 3D World Cup Plans
• Is IP Streaming Up to the Task for Live Large Scale TV Events?
• Facebook Has Suddenly Become a Massive Hub for Video
• Sprint Chairman Says He Wants to Buy T-Mobile
• Why Sprint’s Push for a T-Mobile Merger Will Likely Be in Vain
• Geeky Women Break Up the Bromance at South by Southwest
• From iMessage to Lightning Cables, Here’s How Apple Secures Your Digital Life
• PayPal is Rolling Out its New “Mobile First” Website Globally
• Marvel Adds Sound to its Digital Comics
• What Games Are: Patreonomics and “Supposed To Be”

The Entertainment Technology Center@USC will host “Eventually OpenStack” on Monday, March 17 in Santa Monica. The event, scheduled for 6:30-8:30 pm and open to all, will examine how open source and cloud technologies are impacting the media and entertainment industry. Presenters include Yahoo’s Sean Roberts (board director at The OpenStack Foundation), DigitalFilm Tree CTO Guillaume Aubuchon, and Steve Hallett of Symantec. For more information, contact Erik Weaver at ETC or visit the event’s registration page. Read More »

During his SXSW keynote in Austin, Texas yesterday, Google SVP of Android, Apps and Chrome, Sundar Pichai said that the company has sold “millions” of its $35 HDMI Chromecast devices since the product’s launch last summer. Pichai’s comments mark the first time anyone from Google has publicly addressed Chromecast sales. Pichai also told the crowd that Chromecast will be available for “many more countries” in the coming weeks, and Google will release an Android SDK for wearable devices. Read More »

Social photo- and video-sharing site Instagram has signed its first major advertising deal with an agency. Instagram is launching a paid ad program with Omnicom Media Group, which agreed to a year-long commitment of up to $100 million that will deliver ads from brands tied to Omnicom’s media and creative agencies. Instagram, which launched in October 2010, was acquired by Facebook in 2012. Today, Instagram says its 150 million active users upload 55 million photos daily. Read More »

A $99 device called InAIR from startup SeeSpace hopes to combine the best of your laptop, smartphone and TV all in one place by layering social media and Web content inline with the programs you are watching. Billed as “the world’s first augmented television,” the project exceeded its $100,000 goal on Kickstarter by nearly $78,000 a few days ago. InAIR plugs directly into the TV through its smart HDMI cable, connects to the set-top box, and pulls data from the movie or TV show currently airing. Read More »

Early pioneer of original online video content KoldCast TV announced last week that it is shutting down. KoldCast co-founder and CEO David S. Samuels said that the company has lost millions of dollars in its efforts to bring original serialized video to the Web. KoldCast’s production company, The Sixth Wall, will also close as the founders focus their energy on sister companies Dynamic Influence and Wild Spirit Studios, that offer production and consulting services for third parties. Read More »

• True Detective
• At SXSW the
• EA and Oculus
• Sharp’s New Q+ ‘Almost 4K’ TVs Arrive in Stores
• Indie Creators
• PC Shipments
• Windows Phone
• Samsung May Put an Augmented Reality Keyboard on Your Fingers
• The 3D Sound Mixing That Won “Gravity” its Oscar is Going to Show Up in a Lot More Films
• Complete Control of Your Radio Station from Anywhere
• Staging ‘Stalingrad’: Fedor Bondarchuk Commands a Russian War Epic in IMAX 3D
• 11 Bizarre Things Happened When 1.1 Million People Worked Together to Beat Pokemon
• MoMA Launches New Twitter Account to Get You Talking About Art
• When Everyone Says Your Tech Idea is Impossible, Here’s What You Do

• The Future of TV is Coming into Focus, and Looks Pretty Great
• Man Identified
• IDC Cuts 2014 Forecast for Global Tablet Shipments
• You’ll Soon Be
• The Sweet, Streaming Sound of Data
• Vimeo Relaunches On Demand Pay-for-Play Platform
• Social Media Buzz: ’300′ Sequel Raises a Huge Army of Social Followers
• At Disney, a Celebration That Was a Long Time Coming
• This Startup Wants to Revolutionize the Way We Read Stuff Online
• The Oculus Rift Will Work for Movies, Too. Eventually.
• Pebble Appstore Comes to Android, Alongside New Partner Apps from eBay, Evernote and TWC
• Mobile First? For Flickr Co-Founder’s Startup Findery, It’s Second
• Last Night I Ate a Computer-Generated Meal. It Was Fantastic.
• Watch the Trailer for Second Screen Feature Film ‘APP’

The SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Festival kicks off in Austin, Texas today. The interactive portion of the conference, now in its 21st year, has grown to hundreds of sessions. Privacy, security, wearable tech, the Internet of Things and 3D printing are expected to be hot topics. On Monday, the show will host a conversation between NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden (via videoconference) and Christopher Soghoian of the American Civil Liberties Union. Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, is also scheduled to speak. Read More »