Turn-by-turn direction app Waze has expanded its features to include real-time gas prices in a new update. Waze will also integrate discounts at participating locations.
Waze boasts 19 million users across iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Android, and Symbian phone platforms.
The app offers live traffic data and directions. “Crowdsourced entirely from its users, the data makes Waze a far more useful alternative to standalone GPS units,” reports VentureBeat.
By adding gas information to its features, Waze could potentially lure customers from cheap fuel apps such as Gas Buddy and Fuel Finder.
“Waze has also finally added the ability to use waypoints on your trips, allowing you to plot more than one location for a single journey,” notes the post. “The company also has brought its nifty voice control feature to Android phones with this latest update.”
SoundExchange, a nonprofit group that processes payments for online streams, reports it has now paid over $1 billion to artists and record companies since 2000.
Although SoundExchange represents a relatively small stream of revenue for most record companies, it is increasingly making an impact.
“The way the industry is going, it is about multiple revenue streams, not just one,” explains SoundExchange president Michael Huppe, adding that digital music streams can help record companies remain profitable as traditional sales decline.
“SoundExchange collects money from Sirius XM Radio, Pandora and other forms of Internet radio,” reports The New York Times. “For most labels and performing artists, this is the only money their recordings earn for radio play, since terrestrial radio pays only songwriters and music publishers. (‘On-demand’ digital services like Spotify and Rhapsody, which let users choose exactly what songs to listen to, generally pay record companies directly.)”
SoundExchange paid out only $15.6 million in 2004, but already reports payments of over $100 million for this year.
However, some Internet radio companies are not pleased. Sirius, for example, sued SoundExchange over the right to make direct deals with record companies for recording performance royalties. Last year, Sirius paid a total of $200 million in royalties.
In the last six months of 2011, authorities across the world submitted over 1,000 requests to remove search results or YouTube content.
Google’s Transparency Report describes the “alarming trend” as a disturbing attack against free speech.
Dorothy Chou, senior policy analyst for Google, explains that the trend is “alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect — Western democracies not typically associated with censorship.”
The most government requests come from the United States, United Kingdom and India. The report shows how many times each government “sought to censor search results, drop YouTube videos or look at user data in the second half of last year,” according to Engadget.
In its latest Transparency Report, Google reports complying with 65 percent of court orders and 47 percent of informal requests asking that content be removed.
When declining to remove content, Google often cites a EU law on eCommerce that states companies cannot remove content for which they are the host and not the producer.
After a string of violent attacks on teens stemming from the location-based flirting app Skout, Mobiledia questions if young users should be allowed to access location-based services.
Although Skout CEO Christian Wiklund believes Skout set up sufficient protection for its teen version of the app, Mobiledia argues that “letting strangers know where you are will always leave people vulnerable to violent outliers.”
The post differentiates between minimizing risk and eliminating risk, arguing that even if companies take precautionary measures such as banning sex offenders from sites, risk still exists for violent attacks based on location data.
The attacks come as Facebook mulls the option of opening its site to children under the age of 13.
Mobiledia suggests that even if sites improve security features, “parents may want to monitor or even outright forbid teenagers’ access to location tracking sites and features.”
But the post also suggests that there are options other than banning the sites for children, and that “educating them about how to navigate these potentially hazardous situations may start them off on a path to more sophisticated digital literacy.”
Digital Trends has acquired a 56-page document outlining Microsoft’s plans to introduce the Xbox 720 in late 2013. Although authenticity of the document has not been confirmed, the length and depth of the report suggests the briefing is not a hoax.
The document describes plans to sell the Xbox 720 for $299 during the 2013 holiday season. The device will feature improved Kinect capabilities including “an improved camera, support for up to four simultaneous players and improved, hardware-based player tracking technology,” explains the post.
The Xbox 720 will reportedly output content in true 1080p and full 3D, creating the possibility of 3D gaming and streaming video. Additionally, the console will supposedly function as a DVR with the ability to stream across multiple devices.
“That concept, more than anything, offers hope that this document is indeed legitimate, as that last feature sounds quite similar to the SmartGlass initiative that Microsoft outlined at [the recent] E3 conference,” adds Digital Trends.
The document also outlines plans to implement “props” in a fashion similar to the Wii. The props may possibly operate as controllers, and also pulse and shake as users “feel the experience,” according to the document.
Zynga’s social game “Draw Something” hopes to revive its success as a new interactive game show on CBS.
Variety reports that Sony Pictures Television, Ryan Seacrest Productions and Embassy Row are producing the show, which will allow viewers to interact with celebrities and their drawings from home.
“Teams of celebrities and everyday users will test their skills in front of a studio audience to earn money and big laughs,” explains Variety. “Viewers can also play along at home for a chance to win prizes and compete with the celebrities.”
A related TechCrunch post suggests that the move may represent a last-ditch effort from Zynga to spark interest in the app after a dramatic traffic decease following the acquisition of OMGPOP.
In an interview with Lost Remote, social TV graphics expert James Neufeld says one challenge facing the “Draw Something” television experience will be that the game “is based on timing and revealing the drawing as it was captured.” He suggests that it will be difficult “to maintain the sensation of the game’s real-time nature and render out the drawings in a way that is presentable in studio, or even harder, the audience at home.”
Despite the inherent risks involved in transitioning a social game to a television show, Neufeld maintains that “this is a huge step for social TV and participation TV.”
The U.S. government has partnered with private corporations to create ultra high-speed broadband networks. The program is called US Ignite and invites private developers to build applications to advance the economy.
A White House press release explains that it envisions the program as “a test-bed for designing and deploying next-generation applications to support national priorities areas such as education, healthcare, energy, and advanced manufacturing.”
“US Ignite will challenge students, start-ups, and industry leaders to create a new generation of applications and services that meet the needs of local communities while creating a broad range of job and investment opportunities,” adds the release.
The network will expand to 25 cities in the next five years, says the White House, and aims to advance network speeds to 1 gigabit-per-second. This represents speeds 100 times faster than today’s Internet.
“In the 1970s, many doubted there were uses for even 50 kilobit-per-second Internet,” explains Bob Metcalfe, who co-invented Ethernet. “But soon application explorers came up with remote login, file transfer, and email. Pioneers have since found new worlds in telephony, television, publishing, commerce and social interactivity. Today, while investing in gigabit generations of Internet, we are again sending out our application explorers.”
Editor-in-chief of Gamerlive.tv John Gaudiosi writes that in the wake of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all showcasing multiscreen experiences at E3, it is now more apparent than ever that software companies must take advantage of multiscreen gaming if they wish to succeed in the future.
Consumers are increasingly accessing games via consoles, PCs, tablets and smartphones. “According to new research from Newzoo, 22 percent of the 153 million gamers in the U.S. utilize all four screens,” writes Gaudiosi for CNN.
“Mobile devices will be the center of this convergence revolution,” suggests Kyu C. Lee, VP and head of mobile game publisher GAMEVIL USA. “Smartphones, tablets and smart TVs are the first devices that the new generation will adopt rather than old PCs or gaming consoles.”
President of GameStop Tony Bartel believes tablets will be complementary to the next generation of consoles: “While we believe consoles will still dominate the living room, tablets offer gamers the ability to interact with and expand the console experience. The portability factor of tablets is also extremely appealing to gamers, allowing them to extend their TV experience outside their living rooms through the cloud.”
Tablet gamers are slightly less mobile than today’s smartphone gamers, explains Gaudiosi, since they typically play games more in the home. “They also tend to purchase apps more and are made up of so-called ‘midcore’ gamers, versus the hardcore console players or the more casual smartphone gamers,” he writes.
DirecTV CEO Michael White spoke at the Reuters Global Media and Technology Summit this week and addressed the prospect of ad-skipping technology.
“According to White, DirecTV management is waiting to see the outcome of the legal battle between Dish Network and several major broadcast networks such as NBC, FOX and CBS,” reports Digital Trends. “Dependent on the court’s decision regarding legality of the technology, DirecTV could launch the ability to skip commercials soon in order to compete more effectively against Dish Network.”
DirecTV acquired ReplayTV in 2007 and would use this resource to allow users to skip commercials if this is determined to be a legal practice.
In the early 2000s, ReplayTV not only allowed users to skip commercials, but also enabled content sharing between users. For example, people could send HBO shows to other ReplayTV users who did not subscribe to HBO.
“White also mentioned that the company is working on the development of applications that allow consumers to use voice commands to replicate the actions of a simple remote control,” notes Digital Trends. “The company plans to launch this application on both the iOS and Android platforms. By design, the application will allow a consumer to change the channel by stating the name of the program.”
Facebook has expanded its WordPress connectivity by introducing one-click auto-publishing to share blog posts as links on Facebook. Users can also configure settings to auto-share everything they read.
The connectivity is significant because it allows Web authors to connect to Facebook without writing any code. According to TechCrunch, WordPress “powers 16.6 percent of the Web.”
New features also include integration with Facebook Timeline, Comments, Open Graph Protocol and more.
“Facebook’s Like button was a huge success from both a branding standpoint, and for getting people sharing more, but it still required webmasters to configure and insert code,” notes the post. “Considering Facebook said over a year ago that 2.5 million sites had integrated with it, making it even easier to build in social options could definitely boost its footprint”
Yahoo and CNBC have partnered to jointly create and distribute business oriented content across networks. Yahoo Finance and CNBC will co-brand original content on both Yahoo Finance and CNBC.com.
“Partnering with CNBC will allow Yahoo Finance to expand its offerings instantly and enhance its position as the most viewed and utilized finance site in the world,” explains Yahoo interim CEO Ross Levinsohn.
“With CNBC taking a central role on the biggest business news site in the world, we now have the ability to provide real-time news, analysis and information to a larger audience and offer unmatched advertising solutions for marketers looking for access across multiple platforms,” adds CNBC CEO Mark Hoffman.
Financial details of the multi-year deal have not been revealed.
“Together, the companies aim to reach an unduplicated online audience of more than 40 million U.S. viewers each month,” reports CNET.
On June 28, Verizon will release its new Share Everything plans which allow families to share minutes, messages, and data as a unit. Minutes and messages are unlimited, whereas families pick from tiers of data packages ranging from 1GB to 10GB.
The 1GB plan costs $50 and the 2GB plan is $60. From there the plans increase to 10GB in 2GB intervals. Each interval brings a price increase of $10.
Families will be required to pay activation fees: $40 for smartphones; $30 for basic phones; $20 for jetpacks, USBs, notebooks and netbooks; and $10 for tablets.
The plans support up to ten devices on one network and offer a free mobile hotspot feature.
“They feel a bit expensive, but the truth is these plans work out rather well with completely unlimited voice and texts for what will likely be lots of teenagers. Any parent knows this can be a life saver,” reports TechCrunch. “The bill goes up quickly, but that’s sometimes the price you pay for unlimited phone usage, big buckets of data and a free mobile hotspot feature.”
Amazon is expanding its Prime Instant Video service to include MGM titles. The licensing agreement will see “hundreds of classic movies and TV shows added to its Prime Instant Video catalog throughout 2012,” reports The Next Web.
The Prime Instant Video service is available to customers who pay for Amazon’s Prime two-day shipping service. The service allows users to watch streaming content on the Kindle Fire, Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and more.
“Amazon is really beginning to ramp up its media offering, having inked a deal with Paramount last month,” explains TNW. “Throw into the equation its Amazon Studios division, which seeks to develop fresh content based on user submissions (such as ‘Zombies vs. Gladiators’), the Internet giant is really beginning to cement itself in the VOD space and is a genuine rival to services such as Netflix.”
The post also notes that Google signed a deal with MGM earlier in the year, “which saw more than 600 titles added to YouTube and Google Play.”
Amazon has released its free Cloud Player app for Apple devices. This will allow iPhone and iPod touch users to access music stored in the Cloud Drive.
“This time, it’s a dedicated app, although it may mean re-purposing the music library you’ve already built up from Apple’s own collection,” notes Engadget. “You can’t buy tracks from within the app just yet, but at least your iTunes-bought AAC tracks are transferable.”
Users receive 5GB of free storage and can purchase plans for unlimited storage space.
“Customers using the Amazon Cloud Player App can stream, download, and manage their music in the cloud, eliminating the need to download files before playing them,” according to the Amazon press release. “With this new app, customers have full access to their Cloud Player music libraries and also can seamlessly add playlists that are currently on their iPhone or iPod touch.”
During Monday’s keynote at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference, the company announced that nine automakers will soon integrate its Siri virtual assistant into their vehicles.
“How Siri will be implemented — and in what way it would possibly override the existing voice control functionality on existing vehicles — weren’t disclosed, and considering everything that Apple announced, it’s no surprise that the consumer electronics manufacturer didn’t have time to delve into the details,” reports Wired.
The automakers include Audi, BMW, Chrysler, General Motors, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover and Toyota. Earlier this year, Mercedes announced Siri will be integrated into its A-Class models, scheduled to launch in Europe later this year.
“It’s also odd that Ford — a leader of in-car technology — wasn’t listed among the participating automakers, although it’s possibly that integrating with Sync by Microsoft may be a sticking point,” the post adds. “Also notable in its absence is Hyundai and KIA, the latter of which also has a deal with Microsoft to supply the underlying architecture of its UVO infotainment system”
