LG plans to launch a flexible e-paper display later this month in Europe.
“The 6-inch EPD (e-paper display) is the same size as the screen on the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader and many other e-book readers,” reports CNET. “It’s about a third thinner though, and because it’s made of plastic rather than glass, is only half the weight.”
Although it cannot be folded or rolled up, the display can reportedly bend up to 40 degrees. “That should make it more tactile for reading, as well as more durable when slung into a bag or pocket,” adds the article.
Maximum resolution of the display is 1,024 x 768 pixels. LG has yet to announce any ebook readers using the display, or whether the company plans to license the technology to others or develop its own reader.
“Earlier this week, Amazon announced the Kindle Touch would finally be coming to the UK at the end of April. It’s a touchscreen version that has so far been unavailable on these shores, and lets you flick through pages like leafing through a book,” according to CNET. “The prospect of a bendable Kindle sounds great to me. Much as I like my Sony Reader, it is a bit like reading off a piece of slate. Though LG’s screen could be used in advertising as well, just like 3D TVs are.”
According to South Korean business publication Maeil, LG will launch its first 55-inch OLED TV in May for about $8,000. The unit was originally slated for availability during the second half of 2012.
New OLED TVs from LG and Samsung drew a great deal of attention at CES in January.
If Maeil is correct, LG’s launch will beat competitor Samsung to market while capitalizing on the timing of the upcoming summer Olympic games.
“What TV manufacturers desperately need right now is a luxury product with some big-time margin,” suggests Digital Trends. “The price erosion that has taken place with TVs over the past few years has brought the public to expect bargain prices, even on top-tier plasma and edge-lit LED displays. In order to justify charging big-time bucks again, the performance margin needs to grow proportionately. OLED provides that opportunity.”
Smartphones have had a significant impact on Internet radio usage, which has increased more than 30 percent in the past year.
“The weekly usage of Internet radio (which includes both the online streams of terrestrial broadcasters and streams from pure-play streamers such as Pandora) has increased from 22 percent of Americans 12+ in 2011 to 29 percent in 2012,” Tom Webster of Edison Research wrote on his blog.
“This is a number that we are accustomed to seeing grow bit by bit each year, but this is the largest year-over-year increase we’ve seen since we began tracking this stat in 1998,” he added.
More specifics will be available when Edison and Arbitron release the 20th edition of “The Infinite Dial: Navigating Digital Platforms” in April.
“Smartphones have changed the game here from music as active entertainment choice to music as the quite literal soundtrack to your life,” says Webster.
“The market for night classes and online instruction in programming and Web construction, as well as for iPhone apps that teach, is booming,” reports The New York Times. “Those jumping on board say they are preparing for a future in which the Internet is the foundation for entertainment, education and nearly everything else.”
The article cites a number of interesting new start-ups such as Udacity, Treehouse and General Assembly (among others), that are hoping to meet this growing need.
“But at the center of the recent frenzy in this field is Codecademy, a start-up based in New York that walks site visitors through interactive lessons in various computing and Web languages, like JavaScript, and shows them how to write simple commands,” explains the article.
More than a million people have registered for Codecademy since it was first introduced last summer, and it got a big boost when Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his New Year’s resolution to use the service to learn code. The free site, which plans to earn revenue by connecting new programmers with recruiters and start-ups, has raised close to $3 million in financing.
“Inasmuch as you need to know how to read English, you need to have some understanding of the code that builds the Web,” said Sarah Henry, an investment manager from Pennsylvania who recently took several classes through New York-based Girl Develop It. “It is fundamental to the way the world is organized and the way people think about things these days.”
According to the new Mobile Games Trend Report from research firm Newzoo, “the number of Americans who play video games on their smartphone, tablet, or iPod Touch has surpassed 100 million,” reports VentureBeat.
The report indicates that 69 percent play games on their smartphones, 21 percent play on tablets, and 18 percent opt for the iPod Touch.
“The firm also estimates that 9 percent of total game spending last year was on mobile titles and says the free-to-play (F2P) business model is increasingly converting players into continuous payers,” explains the article. “F2P games already account for 90 percent of mobile game spending in the U.S., Newzoo says.”
VentureBeat suggests there is a potentially significant business opportunity in this space: “Although smartphones and tablets are often seen as ‘casual’ platforms, Newzoo says there is major opportunity for ‘core’ games to be offered as full titles or game extensions, as 62 percent of core gamers in the U.S. also play on mobile devices. Developers that can combine core genres with the games-as-a-service business model on mobile platforms will be the ones that reap the most benefit from what Newzoo is dubbing ‘mid-core’ games.”
A study from market research firm Distimo notes that News Corp.’s The Daily, The New York Times and The New Yorker magazine are currently the top titles on Apple’s Newsstand app.
According to the report, which tracked Apple’s App Store for iPad during February, the leading 100 publications account for more than $70,000 per day in the U.S.
“Apple launched Newsstand as part of iOS 5 in October, providing a way for users to view newspapers and magazines they’ve purchased or subscribed to,” reports CNET. “The app also doubles as its own storefront, where users can browse and purchase content, similar to Apple’s App Store, iBooks, and iTunes apps.”
Distimo also says that China has surpassed the U.S. in free app downloads, but the U.S. is the global leader in iPad app spending.
Dr. Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies, has published the results of an extensive shoot-out between the iPhone 4, iPad 2 and new iPad with a focus on display technology.
The article specifically provides “a combination of objective praise and critical analysis of the Retina Display on the new iPad.”
Soneira explains some interesting specs regarding the Retina Display, questions what level of resolution is really necessary for a consumer device, draws comparisons to other tablets such as the Nook and Kindle Fire, offers suggestions for improvement and addresses features including power consumption, camera capability, color saturation and accuracy, and more.
In his conclusion, Soneira writes: “…the new iPad’s picture quality, color accuracy, and gray scale are not only much better than any other Tablet or Smartphone, it’s also much better than most HDTVs, laptops, and monitors. In fact with some minor calibration tweaks the new iPad would qualify as a studio reference monitor. So we have also awarded the new iPad the Best Mobile Picture Quality Award, which was previously held by the original Motorola Droid.”
Hillcrest Labs says it has adapted its FreeSpace system to bring gesture recognition technology to Android and Windows 8 devices.
The company explains that the introduction of gyroscopes, accelerometers and other sensors has made phones viable candidates for Kinect-style movement recognition.
The FreeSpace motion engine is currently used in Roku set-top boxes and Smart TVs. Hillcrest Labs hopes to use the technology in phones and tablets by early next year.
According to SVP Chad Lucien, gesture recognition has wide potential. “In addition to being used in such obvious areas as gaming and augmented reality, sensors can detect when a phone is in a car, and can change the interface and aid indoor navigation by detecting where a phone has headed once it leaves GPS range,” he says.
“The Motion Picture Association of America released statistics today saying that Chinese theatrical revenue grew 35 percent to nearly $2 billion last year, making China the world’s third biggest film market behind the U.S. and Japan,” reports paidContent. “More quietly, though, a U.S.-based upstart VOD distributor, YOU On Demand, might be emerging as an even greater force for U.S. studio profits in China.”
YOU On Demand entered China under a 20-year exclusive contract from the government to run national VOD services.
The New York-based company, run by former professional wrestler Shane McMahon, drew attention last year when it signed Warner Bros. to the first VOD deal in China. Within the last month, the company announced agreements with Disney, Lionsgate and Magnolia Pictures. More studio partnerships are expected.
“YOU On Demand has been able to entice American studios with a ‘anything is better than nothing’ proposition, given the traditionally rampant piracy of U.S. video content in the region,” suggests the article. “Going forward, the company projects sizable revenue for its U.S. partners, who provide their video content on a revenue share basis under which they control a majority interest.”
Market research firm Penn Schoen Berland recently polled 750 social network users ages 13 to 49 regarding their interests in social media and entertainment.
According to THR, 90 percent of respondents “view social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook as a new form of entertainment, and more than half say social media sites are important tastemakers in determining what to watch and buy. Perhaps more surprising, 80 percent of television viewers visit Facebook while they watch.”
“The poll found that a majority of 18-to-34-year-olds believe using social media while watching a movie in a theater would add to their experience, and nearly half would be interested in going to theaters that allowed texting and Web surfing,” reports THR.
“Millennials want their public moviegoing experience to replicate their own private media experiences,” says pollster Jon Penn. “Having dedicated social-media-friendly seats, or even entire theaters, can make the moviegoing experience more relevant and enjoyable for them.”
Adobe is currently offering a free beta download of Photoshop CS6 for both Mac and Windows. The first major upgrade in two years, CS6 is expected to hit the market by June.
“Adobe says highlights of the next version of CS6 include an addition to its content-aware component called Patch, similar to Clone, where users can choose a sample area they want to patch and then blend pixels ‘for a stunning result,’” reports Digital Trends.
Adobe is emphasizing dramatic enhancements to speed and performance for the new release.
“The final product will come in two versions — the standard Photoshop CS6 and the more expensive Extended edition with its extra features,” explains the post. “The free beta version offers users the full Photoshop experience.”
The latest Android tablet from Acer is the quad-core Iconia Tab A510, which the company claims is its fastest tablet to date.
According to Acer, the upgraded processor offers “three times the graphics performance compared to previous generation processors.”
The A510 will include the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Additional features: 10.1-inch screen, 1280 x 800 resolution, 1080p video playback, Dolby Digital sound, 32GB memory and two cameras.
Pre-installed apps include Polaris Office 3.5, Evernote, Netflix, Kindle and Google Music.
Pre-orders for the $450 tablet began yesterday. “While there are no words yet on when the tablet will ship, the special edition models will celebrate and sponsor the upcoming 2012 Olympic games in London by featuring the five Olympic rings on the back of the tablet,” reports Digital Trends.
Spotify has added 12 new tools to its app approach to music streaming, including: TweetVine, Def Jam, Filtr, Digster, Classify, Hot or Not, Domino and more.
According to Digital Trends, Spotify “now has more than 10 million active users and over three million paying subscribers.”
“For all its faults (and it isn’t faultless), the service is capitalizing on its idea of being ‘the OS of music,’ and consumers are liking it,” indicates the post.
The majority of the new apps address music search and discovery, tour dates, new releases, curated playlists, other related data and social interaction. Digital Trends provides a brief description of each app.
Competition in this space has seen numerous changes of late, more of which is expected to play out this year. “We think there’s room to grow — and we think there’s room for multiple services,” Rdio CEO Drew Larner recently explained in an interview. “It’s inevitable we’re going to see a shakeout, probably in the next 12 to 16 months. There’s going to be some consolidation.”
Cameron Pace Group is focusing on 3D workflow and business models, and joining groups to rally support for their efforts. The Sports Video Group this week welcomed CPG as a platinum sponsor.
“When Cameron and Pace joined forces 12 years ago, their mission was to create a new entertainment experience for feature films,” reports SVG. “More recently, the mission of their company, which was formed last year, has expanded to include the non-theatrical broadcast world.”
CPG has been extending this mission to include sports broadcasting. The company supports “ESPN 3D and CBS Sports, with their 3D sports productions, including US Open tennis, The Masters golf, NBA All-Star Game, and MLB Home Run Derby.”
CPG’s sports production is centered on the company’s Shadow D technology, an integrated 2D/3D camera system that captures both 2D and 3D images at the same time.
“By combining the 2D and 3D deliverables, CPG hopes to push the ubiquity of 3D in all markets, whether feature film, episodic television, or sports broadcast,” explains SVG.
At the Adobe Digital Marketing Summit in Salt Lake City, Viacom unveiled a new ad service called Surround Sound.
The service will enable advertisers to reach audiences across every screen on which Viacom has a presence — from television and online video to premium displays, mobile or other digital platforms.
Surround Sound will be available for Viacom media networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Spike and VH1. It is powered by Adobe’s AudienceManager platform.
“With Surround Sound we’re able to extend those audience buys across all of our properties, find those individual unique audience segments — what we’re calling ‘pinpoint accuracy’ — to be able to serve them targeted and most relevant ad experiences,” explains Josh Cogswell, SVP of digital products at Viacom.
Surround Sound offers advertisers scalable media buys across nearly 100 million homes on-air, more than 80 million unique visitors online, and the mobile and email users the company reaches globally.
