Live Streaming: Felix Baumgartner Space Jump Sets YouTube Record

  • YouTube was able to provide 8 million simultaneous live streams of Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking leap from space.
  • It was record-breaking for YouTube also. “That number blows away YouTube’s previous peak of 500,000 concurrent streams, which it hit this summer during the Olympics, as well as last year during the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton,” reports AllThingsD.
  • “It doesn’t take much imagination to envision YouTube doing this kind of stuff, at this scale, on a regular basis,” notes the article. “Which would mean the Web finally has a chance to rival TV when it comes to serving up live events with huge audiences — one of TV’s last remaining advantages over the Internet.”
  • But it’s likely to be a slow shift. First of all, there aren’t many live events, aside from awards shows and significant sporting events, that millions of people want to watch at once. And in regards to those types of events, TV companies have those rights locked up for years to come.
  • In the meanwhile, YouTube will continue to live stream events small and large, hoping to build upon its recent successes.

Low-Cost Early Window Digital Release Sparks Hope for Home Video

  • Twentieth Century Fox’s “Prometheus” is performing well for home video, “as the studio’s vigorous promotion of a lower-cost, purchase-only early window sparked a notable number of first-time digital buyers and previous renters to own the sci-fi thriller for $14.99,” reports Variety.
  • The three-week online presale of the film did not deter others from purchasing it in physical form. Sales of Blu-ray were still significant in its first days on the market.
  • “But the statistic Fox finds most encouraging — as should all studios amid the evaporating disc market — is the uptick in digital purchases by first-time downloaders and habitual renters, who would normally watch for roughly $5.99 per title,” notes the article.
  • “Data from Fox’s three largest providers shows that some 30 percent of ‘Prometheus’ download customers were either newbies (about 17 percent) or previous renters,” according to Variety.
  • “Prometheus” was made available via online retailers including iTunes, YouTube, Amazon and Google Play. Additionally, it was offered on gaming consoles and marks the first Fox title to be made available on UltraViolet.

New Logo, Site Redesign and Same-Day Delivery Unveiled by eBay

  • At a press conference last week in New York, eBay introduced “eBay Now,” a same-day delivery service, along with a new logo and website redesign featuring an improved search engine and item pages. According to TechCrunch, “it looks a lot like Pinterest.”
  • With eBay Now, customers can order from their mobile devices with selected partners, such as Toys R Us or Target.
  • Devin Wenig, president of eBay, said the company is more focused on mobile than ever. And it’s working: “eBay’s mobile apps have been downloaded more than 100 million times so far in 2012. For comparison, eBay has around 100 million active users,” writes TechCrunch.
  • “If it’s the product they want they should be able to get it anywhere, anytime,” says Wenig.
  • “Nowhere has mobile adoption been more stunning than in our business,” adds Richelle Parham, CMO of eBay North America. About 2 million items per week were sold through mobile apps in July.

Spreecast Signs Deal with Viacom to Launch Video Chats with TV Hosts

  • Social video platform Spreecast has announced a deal with Viacom that allows for the production of online video chats that let viewers interact with on-air hosts of Viacom-owned VH1 and Logo shows.
  • Spreecast founder Jeff Fluhr talked with Billboard.biz about ways the company hopes to monetize its service with new features.
  • “Fluhr says the features are likely to include letting webcasters charge admissions fees for exclusive events, with Spreecast taking a commission,” notes the article. “It’s also contemplating offering a premium tier of the service with more bells and whistles for video producers. And the company is talking with brand marketers about advertising on the site.”
  • Spreecast launched in November 2011 and has gained some traction with celebrities using the service to conduct live and interactive video chats with fans. Britney Spears, Anderson Cooper and Reese Witherspoon are among those who have used the service.
  • “The company raised $7 million in Series A financing in September from Meakem Becker Venture Capital, GGV Capital, MentorTech Ventures and others,” explains the article. “That’s in addition to earlier seed investments from heavy-hitters such as Gordon Crawford, a media and technology investor at Capital Research Global Investors, Edward W. Scott, Jr., co-founder of BEA Systems, and Frank Biondi, former Viacom CEO.”
  • Spreecast is one of a collection of emerging online video ventures attempting to interactively connect celebrities with fans. Others include Ustream, StageIt and Shindig. “But Spreecast’s most direct rival is Google, whose Hangout feature for the company’s Google+ social network offers a similar service,” suggests Billboard.biz.

BFI London Film Festival: Harvey Weinstein Declares War on Piracy

  • Producer Harvey Weinstein gave the keynote speech during the BFI London Film Festival, during which “the movie mogul pulled no punches when it came to the threat posed to moviemakers by piracy, particularly Internet piracy,” writes The Hollywood Reporter.
  • “I think we [as an industry] are being done a massive disservice by these companies,” Weinstein said of large companies like YouTube and others, “citing the fact that users can access nine clips of the movie ‘Chicago’ on YouTube and end up watching the whole thing for free,” reports THR.
  • “We need to rally filmmakers, content providers and musicians around the world,” Weinstein added, noting that those who work on movies are losing potential broadcast fees to video-sharing sites.
  • He applauded France for its efforts. “If an Internet company steals content, they shut it down,” Weinstein explained. “And let me tell you, Apple France, Yahoo France or Google France, none of them have gone out of business.”
  • Weinstein also spoke of the threat of consolidation among conglomerate-run U.S. networks.
  • “He warned of a time in the not-too-distant future whereby the 500-channel world we think offers diversity and choice actually is run by six companies,” explains the article.

Advertisers Say They Plan to Ignore Microsoft Do Not Track Plan

  • Microsoft’s much reported “Do Not Track” (DNT) plan for its forthcoming Internet Explorer 10 “will likely be ignored by the advertisers it is designed to curtail, an ad lobby group confirmed,” writes Business Insider.
  • A statement from the Digital Advertising Alliance, which represents some 5,000 major advertisers, said: “The DAA does not require companies to honor DNT signals fixed by the browser manufacturers.”
  • “The trade associations that lead the DAA do not believe that Microsoft’s IE10 browser settings are an appropriate standard for providing consumer choice,” explains the statement. “Machine-driven do not track does not represent user choice; it represents browser-manufacturer choice.”
  • “The DAA said that The Council of Better Business Bureaus had also promised not to sanction any company that ignored DNT,” reports Business Insider. “The statement is the second overt sign that Microsoft’s DNT signal will be widely ignored on the Web and that users who leave it on will be tracked against their will.”
  • The board of directors for the Association of National Advertisers described Microsoft’s actions as a “deliberate abuse of open standards” in a letter to CEO Steve Ballmer earlier this month.

Judge Rules that Google Book Scanning is Considered Fair Use

  • The Author’s Guild has experienced another setback in its battle against Google’s book-scanning project.
  • Last week, we reported that Google had settled with a group of major publishers. “Now a judge has ruled that the libraries who have provided Google with their books to scan are protected by copyright’s fair use doctrine,” reports Ars Technica.
  • “While the decision doesn’t guarantee that Google will win — that’s still to be decided in a separate lawsuit — the reasoning of this week’s decision bodes well for Google’s case,” notes the article.
  • Copyright scholar James Grimmelmann called Judge Harold Baer’s ruling a “near-complete victory” for the libraries.
  • The decision “makes the case seem so lopsided that it makes the appeal into an uphill battle,” he explains. “Perhaps together with the AAP [American Association of Publishers] settlement, this is a moment for a reevaluation of the Authors Guild’s suit against Google. My estimate of the likelihood of settlement just went up substantially.”

Defense Secretary Panetta Warns of Potential Cyberattack Threats

  • U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned last week of the possibility of a “cyber-Pearl Harbor,” suggesting the country is “increasingly vulnerable to foreign computer hackers who could dismantle the nation’s power grid, transportation system, financial networks and government,” reports The New York Times.
  • Panetta’s speech in New York City was a reaction to “increasing aggressiveness and technological advances by the nation’s adversaries, which officials identified as China, Russia, Iran and militant groups,” notes the article.
  • “An aggressor nation or extremist group could use these kinds of cyber tools to gain control of critical switches,” Panetta said. “They could derail passenger trains, or even more dangerous, derail passenger trains loaded with lethal chemicals. They could contaminate the water supply in major cities, or shut down the power grid across large parts of the country.”
  • While Pentagon officials say Panetta’s speech was not hyperbole, they also acknowledge that he’s pushing for new legislation on Capitol Hill.
  • “It would require new standards at critical private-sector infrastructure facilities — like power plants, water treatment facilities and gas pipelines — where a computer breach could cause significant casualties or economic damage,” explains NYT.
  • “If we detect an imminent threat of attack that will cause significant physical destruction in the United States or kill American citizens, we need to have the option to take action against those who would attack us, to defend this nation when directed by the president,” said Panetta.

Tech Giants Race to Compete on the Emerging Mobile Pay Frontier

  • It is estimated that by 2016, mobile payments could be a trillion-dollar industry, according to Fast Company. Currently, a mobile-payment race is emerging between tech giants Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon.
  • It surprised many when Apple didn’t include NFC technology in the iPhone 5. The closest Apple has come thus far with mobile payments is Passbook, which is more of a digital wallet.
  • As for Google, its Google Wallet has been out for a while with limited success. “But Google’s just made a very important move to expand Wallet in a new direction: Micropayments, online,” notes the article.
  • “Saying in a tweet that it had ‘started an experiment to help content creators bring high-quality content to the Web,’ Google launched a system that lets users buy Web content for a small fee of between $0.25 and $99,” according to Fast Company.
  • Also, Facebook’s offer of “in-app frictionless payments via carrier billing” hints at a potentially strong mobile payments future.
  • “Among the fighters in the Great Tech War, it’s Amazon that’s so far been the quietest in terms of mobile payments,” suggests the article. But there are rumors stirring about Amazon pursuing a low-fee mobile pay solution to compete with the likes of Square.

Amazon CEO Says Kindle Fire and Paperwhite Sales Earn No Profit

  • As Amazon launched its new Paperwhite e-reader and an associated book-lending scheme in the UK, Germany and France, CEO Jeff Bezos spoke on how the company makes no profit on hardware sales.
  • The Paperwhite is an e-ink powered device featuring a built-in light to put it in direct competition with Barnes & Noble’s Nook Glowlight and Kobo’s Glo.
  • “Amazon is seeking to distinguish its line-up by offering a subscription package that includes access to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library,” writes BBC News.
  • That would allow for users to borrow up to one book per month from a variety of both famous authors and ones publishing their works through Amazon’s publishing system.
  • It is consumption like this, of books and movies and TV, that Bezos is counting on. He “made clear that the devices’ success would depend on how many books and other media files were subsequently bought by their owners,” notes the article.
  • “We want to make money when people use our devices, not when people buy our devices,” he said.
  • Amazon also wants physical sales. The Lending Library will be tied to the Amazon Prime price, so will include free and fast delivery from physical objects in the Amazon warehouses.

Toys R Us Targets Young Viewers with New Video Streaming Business

  • Toys R Us has entered the video-streaming business with its toysrusmovies.com, “a new digital service for users to stream and download movies and television shows geared toward children,” writes CNN Money.
  • The prices are on par with Apple’s iTunes, with movies priced at $2.99 for a 24-hour rental and TV shows are $1.99 per episode.
  • “With this move, Toys R Us is wading into a crowded arena of competitors that include Netflix, Walmart Stores, Amazon and Apple — all of which are growing their online video presence,” explains the article.
  • According to Toys R Us spokeswoman Katie Reczek, the site’s family-friendly content will set it apart from these other services. Additionally, it won’t require a subscription, so the a la carte approach could be attractive to consumers.
  • Toys R Us Movies will offer more than 4,000 titles to start. It will also feature new movie releases on the same day the DVDs hit retail stores and TV shows will be available the day after they air, according to the article.
  • In addition, Toys R Us also announced that its tablet for children, the Tabeo, will launch October 21. A Toys R Us Movies app is in development for the device.

MVNO in a Box: Sprint Designs New Strategy in Selling Data Services

  • “Sprint thinks that hotels, rental car agencies, airlines, supermarkets and big box retail stores — pretty much any business with a loyalty card — would make excellent resellers of its 3G and WiMAX data service,” reports GigaOM.
  • For example, hotels could rent or lend 4G data modems to guests, while grocery stores could sell prepaid 3G cards. And “those data services could be linked directly to any loyalty program — for instance, for every megabyte you consume earn a frequent flyer mile or get 10 cents off your next purchase of frogurt,” notes the post.
  • “Sprint is inviting these companies to become mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) on its data networks, offering a compelling proposition to companies that normally wouldn’t have a clue how to run a wireless business: Sprint will deploy all of the infrastructure and manage the service, while its partners focus on their customers,” explains GigaOM.
  • This is all part of the new “MVNO in a box” platform that Sprint launched in July, but now Sprint is aiming at any company with a consumer base and a website.
  • Sprint is working with Telespree to support activation and management of subscriptions through its cloud-based wireless data platform.
  • “So far Sprint is making its WiMAX and CDMA networks available through the program, so its biggest impact may be regional,” suggests the post. “Once Sprint completes the rollout of its LTE network, though, it will probably start offering it up to its MVNO partners.”

The Potential of Tablets: Apple TV and AirPlay Spark Dual-Screen Apps

  • Dual-screen apps are changing how people interact with and consume content. “For developers this creates many new opportunities to provide better experiences for their users, but it requires thinking about dual-screen setups from the start as well as new tools,” writes Mashable.
  • Dual-screen apps have the potential to shake up the industry, as designers now need to think of Web tasks from a different perspective.
  • “Importantly, designers and developers need to shed the concept that TVs are for rendering video, and instead think about TVs as large monitors on which they can render applications, content and interactivity that’s supported by a touch-based tablet application,” suggests the article.
  • Apple’s AirPlay is taking the concept a step further by allowing iOS devices and PCs with OS X Mountain Lion to display mobile device screens onto a television — essentially creating “a wireless HDMI output to a TV.”
  • “With the existing Apple TV unit sales already outselling the Xbox in the most recent quarter, we can see a world that goes from approximately 5 million dual-screen-capable Apple TVs to potentially 15-20 million in the next couple of years, and eventually to 30-50 million as new and improved versions of the Apple TV companion device come to market,” notes the article.
  • Mashable explores how dual-screen apps could impact our lives in regards to house-hunting, car purchases, kids edutainment, classroom interaction, medical visuals, video consumption and more. “Virtually every application that exists on the Web and phones and tablets likely has a dual-screen use case.”

BBC Worldwide Launches First UltraViolet-Enabled Blu-ray/DVDs

  • Nearly one year after its U.S. launch, the UltraViolet digital locker system is getting a boost in the UK from BBC Worldwide.
  • “The BBC’s commercial wing is releasing four Blu-ray/DVD titles that are UltraViolet-enabled and is partnering with Warner-owned Flixster to allow users to redeem their copies,” reports Engadget.
  • The first four titles will be: “Doctor Who Series 7 Part One,” “Rollercoaster,” a new “Top Gear” special and “Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild.”
  • “We’re thrilled to be announcing our first UV-enabled DVDs and embrace this new era for home video — the UltraViolet era,” comments Claude London of BBC Worldwide Consumer Products. “We hope UV will empower consumers to build digital entertainment libraries and continue to enjoy BBC Worldwide releases either at home or on the move.”
  • UltraViolet was already live in the UK and will soon be introduced to Canada, Ireland and Australia.
  • “We’ll see how users like the signup process with its multiple logins, but a quick check of previous Blu-ray releases didn’t show any iTunes or Windows Media digital copies at all so at least they’ll appreciate the option,” suggests Engadget.

Copyright Alert System: ISPs Will Soon Monitor Illicit File Sharing

  • By year’s end, the nation’s major Internet service providers will put in place a six-strikes plan called the “Copyright Alert System.”
  • It’s “backed by the Obama administration and pushed by Hollywood and the major record labels to disrupt and possibly terminate Internet access for online copyright scofflaws,” reports Wired.
  • The plan involves AT&T, Cablevision Systems, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon. After four offenses by costumers, the plan calls for these companies to reduce Internet speeds and/or redirect a subscriber’s service to an ‘educational’ landing page about copyright infringement.
  • “The Internet companies may eliminate service altogether for repeat file-sharing offenders, although the plan does not directly call for such drastic action,” notes the article.
  • On the first offense, offenders will receive an e-mail alert from their ISP noting possible misuse. The second offense will result in an “educational message” about the legalities of online file sharing.
  • “On the third and fourth infractions, the subscriber will likely receive a pop-up notice ‘asking the subscriber to acknowledge receipt of the alert,’” writes Wired.
  • And after the fourth, as noted above, ‘mitigation measures’ may commence.