Augmented reality in 2018 was “interesting, with projections being exceeded,” said NorthSouth Studios’ Bill Newell, who moderated a panel on the topic. He asked what AR experience stood out this year. IBM’s Elizabeth Kiehner, who reported on the new partnership between IBM’s Watson and Unity, was enthused over Legos’ AR app. “But I am more interested in AR as it pertains to enterprise,” she said, enumerating breakthroughs in AR for factory workers and healthcare, including surgery and cancer treatment. Continue reading CES Panel: Where the Augmented Reality Experience Is Going

AOL is planning to release 5 percent of its staff today, affecting about 500 employees. “CEO Tim Armstrong said that most of the cuts will come in its corporate units, while resources will be shifted more at mobile, video and data offerings going forward,” reports Recode. AOL, which was purchased last year by Verizon, recently added 1,500 employees from its ad deal with Microsoft and acquisition of Millennial Media. AOL’s current structure features its media unit (with properties such as Huffington Post and TechCrunch) and its platforms groups, which includes its advertising tech. “Armstrong said the layoffs are not related to current discussions AOL execs are having with Yahoo counterparts about integration between the two companies,” notes Recode. Continue reading AOL Layoffs Reflect New Emphasis on Mobile, Video and Data

Verizon announced it would acquire Yahoo’s core operating business in a $4.83 billion cash deal expected to close in the first quarter of next year. Yahoo will join Verizon’s growing stable of digital properties, including AOL, which it purchased last May for $4.4 billion. The deal should help Verizon ramp up its mobile efforts and combine AOL’s ad tech with Yahoo’s online sites and services. AOL chief Tim Armstrong and Verizon exec Marni Walden spearheaded the deal. “This culminates a rigorous, thorough process over many months, and yields a great outcome for the company,” wrote Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in a letter to her employees. Continue reading The Wait Is Over: Verizon Will Acquire Yahoo for $4.83 Billion

This fall, AOL plans to open up a new 13,412-square-foot studio on Broadway in downtown Manhattan, which will serve as the locale for “AOL BUILD,” its live interview and event series. The street-facing main stage, with seating for a live audience, will be equipped with 360-degree cameras to create live VR experiences. “BUILD” has an active live production unit, creating at least four hours of content per day with around 75 live events per month, for a total of 800 episodes since its inception. Continue reading ‘AOL BUILD’ Expands with Live VR Studio in Downtown NYC

Movie studios that use Facebook to promote upcoming films — such as “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which has 4.4 million likes on its Facebook movie page — have discovered a potent downside to the extra publicity. Pirates post links to copyright-infringing streams; spam includes chain letters, pornography, phishing, malware and hate speech. Illegal sites are harvesting personal data and running money scams and now targeting publications with embedded Facebook comments, including BuzzFeed, ESPN and Huffington Post. Continue reading Pre-Release Piracy Grows Across Facebook and Publications

Since Facebook rolled out Live to everyone in December, it’s quickly built momentum, distinguishing itself from YouTube and other video platforms, and building a massive audience. Although Facebook had to overcome a range of technical challenges to enable hundreds of thousands of phones to stream at the same time, it used its expertise and engineering capacity to do so. Now, Facebook is encouraging celebrities and broadcasters to create Live content, and is also working on a business model to share eventual revenues. Continue reading Facebook Live Partners with Broadcast, Aims to Share Profits

New media companies that attracted an entire demographic away from traditional television are making a counterintuitive move by producing TV programs, often in partnership with networks and other Hollywood players. BuzzFeed, Vice Media and Huffington Post are among the companies now inking deals with HBO, A+E Networks, Comcast’s Universal Studios and Hearst Television. One big reason why is that new media purveyors have to meet expectations of sky-high valuations, and TV is a more predictable revenue stream than online video. Continue reading New Media Companies Lured to TV by Revenue Opportunities

At last week’s Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, Google announced a new initiative to mix online video services with popular television content. Via Android TV Channels, Internet video app publishers have the ability to add linear channels of programming to Google’s Android TV platform on the same program grid used for broadcast TV networks. According to Google, the initial launch partners include AOL, Bloomberg, the Huffington Post, Pluto, TED, Vevo, the Weather Network, and European live streamer Zattoo. Continue reading Android TV Blends Online Video and Broadcast Programming

AOL and NBCUniversal have reached a licensing and distribution agreement that will allow the two companies to share and develop content. Shows from NBC, CNBC and Telemundo could start streaming via online video platform AOL On. NBCUniversal and AOL may also start developing original content together to be distributed on the platforms of both companies. The agreement means that advertisers will be able to reach consumers watching this shared content on television as well as mobile and desktop devices. Continue reading AOL and NBCUniversal Plan to Share Content Across Platforms

In an effort to create a more powerful second screen and social TV platform, i.TV has acquired the popular check-in service GetGlue. The i.TV app for iOS and Android is the most downloaded TV guide and discovery app with 15 million subscribers, and has been working to build up its backend. Now, with GetGlue’s more than 4.5 million users, the company plans on giving users a well-rounded platform on which they can get more recommendations for their entertainment. Continue reading TV App i.TV Acquires GetGlue for Powerful Social TV Platform

The Huffington Post has finally found a cable TV home for its eight-month-old Internet video channel, HuffPost Live. Starting in mid-May, HuffPost Live will air on Mark Cuban’s AXS TV (previously known as HDNet) daily from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Some of the online interactivity is expected to be emulated by showing online comments on the side of the TV screen, and an app will later encourage viewers to submit comments. Continue reading Online Video News Channel HuffPost Live Coming to Cable

Clay Christensen, the Harvard Business School professor who has helped shape the thinking around technological disruption, has been analyzing the media industry of late — a market he believes is undergoing a fundamental disruption. During a recent panel discussion at the Nieman Foundation, he warned that many existing media entities are still thinking of their business in the wrong way and are not changing quickly enough. Continue reading Clay Christensen Talks of Fundamental Disruption in Media

Healthcare is too expensive, stress is killing us and technology enables us to take better care of ourselves were the general themes of the CES Supersession “The Digital Health Revolution: Body, Mind and Soul.” Moderated by Arianna Huffington and anchored by Dr. Deepak Chopra, the panel included David Daly, CEO of Life Technologies; Sonny Vu, CEO of Misfit Wearables; and Dr. Reed Tuckson, executive VP and chief of medical affairs at UnitedHealth Group. Continue reading CES 2013: Technology Poised to Revolutionize Healthcare

HuffPost Live was voted the most innovative media product to emerge in 2012 by Mashable readers, beating out other contenders such as Dark Sky, Flipboard, Timehop and RebelMouse. HuffPost Live is a Web-only video news service that launched in mid-August. It provides twelve hours of live video every weekday. Could it be a new direction for the delivery and consumption of news? Continue reading Innovation: Will HuffPost Live Reinvent Cable News for the Web?