Just three days before the Super Bowl, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shut down more than 300 websites that illegally live stream sports telecasts and allegedly sell counterfeit sports merchandise.
Sixteen of the sites reportedly provided links to pirated versions of live and PPV events for the NFL, NBA, NHL and World Wrestling Entertainment.
“Sports fans may be tempted by illegal streaming websites, but in the end, it is they who pay the price,” explained Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “These websites and their operators deprive sports leagues and networks of legitimate revenue, forcing spectators and viewers to bear the cost of this piracy down the line.”
“The sweeping crackdown, part of an effort dubbed ‘Operation Fake Sweep’ that launched in October, was coordinated with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations team,” reports POLITICO Pro.
A similar operation shut down the domains of 10 sites prior to last year’s Super Bowl, but some of the sites reappeared using new Web addresses.
Based on Internet interviews with 7,000 participants, Centris Research suggests that 21 percent of pay TV subscribers plan to make changes in their current services.
About 10 percent say they want to reduce their monthly bills, 8 percent plan to switch providers and 3 percent plan to cancel their service.
The availability of Internet-based video streaming services is steering the decisions of only 10 percent of those who plan changes.
“It is Centris’ view that defending market share will become increasingly difficult for pay TV providers with increased levels of competition and new over-the-top viewing options,” said Centris president Bill Beaumont. “Enhanced pricing and bundling strategies, as well as effective use of elasticity programs, will need to be deployed to successfully compete.”
Asus plans to unveil a redesigned PadFone tablet and phone combo later this month at Mobile World Congress in Spain.
The new device “is essentially a 10.1-inch tablet that has a slot for a 4.3-inch Asus smartphone to plug into it,” explains Digital Trends. “The processor, which is rumored to be a new Qualcomm Snapdragon S4, and other components all come from the phone.”
It will run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and will have the option of connecting to the Asus Transformer Prime keyboard dock.
“The real question here is how cheap it’s all going to be,” suggests the post. “The PadFone is already somewhat expensive since you have to buy the phone and the tablet to really make use of it. If the phone costs $200-$300 (and hopefully it has LTE), then we can’t imagine people wanting to pay more than $100-$150 for the dock.”
We may soon see a 7-inch Linux-based slate built around open-source software, possibly making it a viable alternative for developers and users who want something different than proprietary software.
“Announced by leading KDE hacker Aaron Seigo on his blog, it’s called the Spark, and it uses the community-driven spin-off of MeeGo called Mer as its OS, with KDE’s cool Plasma Active user interface over the top,” reports Digital Trends.
It’s expected to sell for about $260 and feature a 1Ghz ARM processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory.
“It’s obviously not for everyone, but if you want an open device loaded with free software, that’s yours to do whatever you like with, then it’s likely to be exactly what you’re after,” suggests the post. “The Spark’s bootloader isn’t locked, so you’re free to install any alternative operating system and any apps too.”
Harris Interactive reports that nearly 60 percent of mobile users will be looking to their phones while they watch the Super Bowl this weekend.
Second screen usage is expected to increase, as 80 percent of those surveyed said they would use their mobile devices more than or as much as they did during last year’s game.
“The results suggest that the two-screen viewing phenomenon could undercut the multimillion TV campaigns advertisers are rolling out for the big game,” reports MediaPost.
“Per the survey, people who plan to use their phones during the game are twice as likely to do so during commercial breaks as opposed to game play.”
Pepsi, Subway, GoDaddy.com and Chevrolet will offer apps tailored to the game, including related content, social sharing, contests and more.
“Shazam has said that nearly a third of Super Bowl spots will allow viewers to unlock special content and offers during commercials by using the Shazam app,” adds the article.
Ray William Johnson is YouTube’s biggest star. Five million viewers watch his show twice a week.
“Known as RayWJ, the 30-year-old has morphed into an idol of the teen set at home and abroad by ranting about others’ viral YouTube videos on subjects ranging from a hippopotamus defecating to people who staple the heads of co-workers,” explains the Wall Street Journal.
YouTube often attracts more viewers than traditional TV networks these days. According to comScore, the video site draws more than 780 million unique visitors every month. Of course, the audience is “fragmented among 30,000 channels and millions of videos,” points out WSJ.
“This is a microcosm of what’s going on in the overall media landscape. We’re moving from a scaled mass media to a more hyper-local, niche media,” explains David Cohen of media-buying agency Universal McCann.
RayWJ’s 1.5 billion views reportedly earn him an estimated $1 million a year from YouTube’s Partner Program. He also sells his own merchandise and mobile apps.
“A Google spokeswoman says that ‘several hundred’ of its partners made more than $100,000 in 2011, up 80 percent from the ‘couple of hundred’ partners who made more than that in 2010,” reports WSJ, suggesting this may be the start of a larger shift in media consumption.
Sony announced on Wednesday that video game exec Kazuo Hirai will become the company’s new president and CEO.
Hirai, credited with the turnaround of Sony’s PlayStation business, was selected in a rare unanimous vote by the Sony board “in a bid to regain some of [Sony’s] magic,” reports The New York Times.
Howard Stringer, chief exec of Sony since 2005, will become chairman of the board on April 1, the company explained in a statement.
“As challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position,” Hirai said in a statement. “The path we must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses.”
The article points out that Hirai is taking the helm at a difficult moment in history as the company faces the global economic crisis, a Japanese recession, disrupted production due to recent natural disasters and a rapidly evolving consumer electronics industry.
Recently appointed Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has already pulled the plug on 10 of the company’s under-performing mobile apps.
According to a recent company blog post, Yahoo will stop developing and supporting the following apps: 1) Yahoo! Meme (iPad and iPhone); 2) Yahoo! Mim (iPad); 3) Yahoo! Answers (Android); 4) Yahoo! AppSpot (Android and iPhone); 5) Yahoo! Deals (iPhone); 6) Yahoo! Finance (BlackBerry); 7) Yahoo! Movies (Android); 8) Yahoo! News (Android); 9) Yahoo! Shopping (iPhone) and 10) Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search (iPad and iPhone).
“As you can see, the list is a mix of some of Yahoo’s more popular online brands and some services it created especially for mobile users, but all have one thing in common: they weren’t being used much by consumers,” reports paidContent. “In the words of Yahoo itself, it is removing the apps as part of its effort ‘to continuously measure and scrutinize what’s working and what isn’t’ as part of a new ‘mobile first’ strategy.”
Technology in the decommissioned apps will be repurposed in some of the more successful apps that remain available, as Thompson continues to focus on the company’s culture of innovation.
“Thompson still has a very big task ahead, though, to convince an increasingly more distracted consumer base that this slightly tired Internet brand is one worth watching for the future,” comments paidContent.
A consortium of Vancouver-based production, tech and media companies recently launched a service called RenderCloud.
“Vancouver is revving up its computing horsepower to allow Hollywood studios to more speedily render data-intensive animation and special effects in the cloud,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Vancouver is also hoping its ultrafast RenderCloud server will allow the west-coast city, already enjoying the advantages of close proximity to Los Angeles, [to] compete with emerging global production centers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.”
The local server farm will allow studios to render in the cloud and enable work-sharing on projects. Clients will pay on an as-needed cost-per-day basis with an option of subleasing their resources to other studios.
The project is led by Vancouver Studio Group, Great Northern Way Campus, Scalar Decisions and BC Film and Media. RenderCloud includes more than 600 servers, with plans to grow to 1,500 by this summer.
The service is designed for large-scale production of 3D, animation and special effects for film, TV and games.
“The Internet now has 555 million websites, up from just 255 million at the end of 2010,” reports Digital Trends.
According to Web monitoring service Pingdom, 300 million sites were created in the last year alone.
Additional stats: there are currently 2.1 billion Internet users worldwide, 45 percent of users are under 25, North America leads with most citizens online at 73.3 percent penetration (although Asia has more total numbers), Facebook has more than 800 million users and there are 100 active Twitter users.
“With 39 percent market share, Internet Explorer remains the most popular browser in the world,” explains the post. “Chrome is now second, with 28 percent. And Firefox is a close third, at 25 percent. Safari only accounts for 6 percent of the browser market.”
The Pingdom report offers a thorough breakdown of Internet stats for 2011, including some helpful pie charts.
According to the GSMA, worldwide association of mobile operators and related companies, more than half of the devices launched at CES were Internet connected.
“GSMA calculated that more than 90 percent of TVs at CES, 70 percent of automotive devices, 44 percent of healthcare devices and 30 percent of cameras were connected,” reports ReadWriteWeb.
The association predicts 24 billion connected devices by 2020, up from 9 billion today. Automobile connectivity is expected to be an emerging product category.
It also estimates that connected devices will become a $1.2 trillion market by 2020.
“At this year’s CES, more than 40 percent of the connected devices announced were gadgets such as laptops and smartphones. The rest were non-gadgets, such as those in the ‘home lifestyle’ category, which, according to the GSMA, made up 30 percent of the connected devices at CES. The products in the home lifestyle category included connected TVs, smart refrigerators and Internet-connected washers and dryers.”
GSMA has labeled this trend “The Connected Life,” defining it as “a world where all technology devices intelligently connect.”
The ReadWriteWeb post features several interesting charts and infographics from GSMA.
UK-based Juniper Research is forecasting that sales of ultrabooks will increase at three times the rate of tablets over the next five years.
“However, tablet volume will remain higher, with 253 million expected to be shipped in 2016, compared with 178 million ultrabooks,” reports MediaPost.
Ultrabook was a major buzzword at CES in Las Vegas, where a number of compelling new models debuted.
Intel, a major proponent of the sleek lightweight laptops, expects more than 75 new ultrabooks to launch in 2012, including models with 14- and 15-inch screens.
“Samsung, Lenovo, Acer and Vizio are among the manufacturers that have jumped on the ultrabook bandwagon,” explains the post. “Among other findings, the study said Windows 8 will play a key role in driving ultrabook adoption, with extended battery life, an always-on connection and other features coming with an updated version of Microsoft’s operating system.”
Google announced that beginning on March 1st, the company will combine data about users’ activities on most of their sites and services including YouTube, Android, Gmail and the search engine. This aggregated user profile is designed for “a simpler, more intuitive Google experience,” according to the company.
While this might lead to new services, it will also create a detailed picture to better tailor ads. There will be no way to opt out unless users are not logged in.
GigaOM writes that the new policy “seems to have highlighted for many a crucial question: Is Google having all of that info about you — including Web searches, Google Analytics data from your website, even location information — a good thing?”
This sharing may be problematic for some. As GigaOM points out, “for those who want to ‘compartmentalize’ their lives, with some services reserved for personal use and others for business or public use, the pooling of information is a very real threat.”
This new policy is a break with Google’s previous privacy position. Analysts say that Google is responding to Apple and Facebook which have more unified ecosystems. Still, this new approach will invite antitrust scrutiny as Google is the dominant online search engine.
Google has already faced the Federal Trade Commission over privacy issues and recently received heavy criticism about its personalized G+ results in searches.
The co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, Rep. Edward Markey, said: “It is imperative that users will be able to decide whether they want their information shared across the spectrum of Google’s offerings.”
In the wake of CES, analysts continue to report on emerging trends such as smartphones, tablets and connected TVs.
“However, in the content creation industry, the big trends heading into 2012 are more esoteric — concepts that will impact consumers without them ever knowing, or caring, much about them,” reports SMPTE Newswatch.
“That’s because, as SMPTE President Peter Ludé suggests, all the amazing new ways for consumers to download, display, and manipulate content more sharply in the home or on handheld devices are beside the point unless content creators keep developing newer/better ways to make, format, and distribute that content for all those platforms in the first place.”
SMPTE Newswatch offers this compelling report on the key trends expected to have an impact on content creators in 2012. The report comes from a recent discussion with SMPTE’s Ludé, who also serves as SVP of Engineering at Sony Electronics, and Wendy Aylsworth, SMPTE Executive VP and Senior VP of Technology at Warner Bros. Technical Operations.
The article addresses the following areas: 4K, high frame rates, 3D, processing power, storage, streamlining standards and more.
In 1963, six years before “Sesame Street,” Jim Henson produced a short film called “Robot.”
Originally produced for business seminars, AT&T recently made the lost film available online.
“The short tells an archetypal man and machine story,” reports Forrest Wickman for Slate. “Still, it’s unexpected to see a robot imagined in 1963 not just as a possible weapon of war or spaceship pilot but as a means for ‘digesting vast oceans of information.'”
It’s interesting to speculate whether the film reveals Henson’s own thinking about smart machines. Nevertheless, it does showcase his talent creating an entertaining personality, an ability that would later serve him well.
“I’m struck not only by the robot’s campy resemblance to the tin-can creations of movies like ‘Forbidden Planet,’ but also by its hilariously open disdain for humans,” writes Wickman, “which reminds me above all of Flight of the Conchords’ much more recent ‘The Humans Are Dead.'”
