Amazon recently released multiple new Kindle Fire tablets with various screen sizes, display resolutions and hardware capabilities.
To ensure a rich app experience and protect against fragmentation, Amazon has added a new tool called “device targeting” that allows developers to build multiple versions of their apps for various devices.
“Developers could simply try to manage the variances from within a single application so that their software automatically works in the proper combination of resolution and screen size, but Amazon is now supporting the ability to create apps specific to the different hardware combinations,” GigaOM explains.
Amazon says the new device targeting support offers better search relevancy for your app, reduced customer confusion and device-specific feature optimization.
“From a consumer standpoint, this should improve the Amazon Appstore for Android experience, and not just on Amazon’s Kindle Fire,” suggests the post. “Any Android device that has the Appstore loaded will benefit, which could in turn lead to more app sales for developers along with additional app revenues for Amazon.”
Fifteen months ago, Specific Media purchased MySpace, with Justin Timberlake taking an ownership stake in the flailing social network.
Following months of relative quiet — with the only major news being a new Panasonic partnership announced at CES 2012 — the new Myspace (now fashioned with lower case ‘s’) has finally been revealed in a Vimeo post.
Timberlake tweeted a link to a video that gives a sneak preview at the new service. Included in the Mashable post, the video makes the new Myspace look “clean and attractive.”
It shows a new login using Facebook or Twitter that allows users to bring photos or other information from the other networks. Status updates feature large photos with comments showing up below.
“There is a large music component to the service, which includes a way to browse albums, find popular songs and artists and more,” the post explains, noting that it is still uncertain whether Myspace is “building its own music service or if it has partnered with a provider such as Spotify, Rdio or Rhapsody.”
“The biggest question I have about the new Myspace is whether or not the brand is worth anything,” writes Christina Warren for Mashable. “I’ve argued in the past that the biggest asset of Myspace is also its biggest liability. What the new owners will have to do — celebrity investor or not — is prove to users why this Myspace is worth a user’s time.”
California has the largest state population and one of the lowest rates of voter registration in the country. More than 25 percent of California’s eligible voters are not registered, according to the California Voter Foundation.
In an effort to change this for the November presidential election, the state has launched online voting registration.
“Under the new system, which saw 3,000 Californians use it in its first 12 hours of existence, an online system matches a state identity card or driver’s license with date of birth and the last four digits of a Social Security number,” explains Ars Technica. “Once a voter’s identity has been confirmed, she or he can click a button to authorize the digital signature that the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles already has.”
The online approach takes mailboxes out of the equation and significantly reduces registration time.
“We’re hoping that this new system will encourage more young people to get registered,” says Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation. “This is going to make the process more accessible to more people.’’
Lab126 is where Amazon’s Kindle e-reader and Kindle Fire tablets were designed. A year ago, there were 500 Lab126 employees listed on LinkedIn, a number that has since increased to 937.
The research and design center could soon be getting a new influx of workers if the new 500,000 square-foot complex that Amazon has leased in Silicon Valley is any indication.
The online retail giant recently leased an office complex in Sunnyvale, California, which is expected to accommodate more than 2,500 employees. Amazon also applied for a permit to develop the interior of one of the buildings.
“Lab126’s expansion suggests Amazon is stepping up efforts to design more mobile devices, increasing competition with Apple, the maker of the iPhone and iPad,” reports Reuters.
“If you can bump up staffing 40 or 50 percent, the question is what’s it for?” notes Scott Tilghman, an analyst at Caris & Company. “Part of it could be tied to on-going evolution of the Kindle line of devices.”
“Between 10 percent and 15 percent of all user reviews on social media sites will be paid for by companies selling the products,” CNET reports, per new research from Gartner.
“With over half of the Internet’s population on social networks, organizations are scrambling for new ways to build bigger follower bases, generate more hits on videos, garner more positive reviews than their competitors, and solicit ‘likes’ on their Facebook pages,” notes Jenny Sussin, senior research analyst at Gartner.
“Many marketers have turned to paying for positive reviews with cash, coupons, and promotions… in order to pique site visitors’ interests in the hope of increasing sales, customer loyalty, and customer advocacy through social-media ‘word of mouth’ campaigns,” she adds.
The research firm says this practice could be costly for brands in the near future, suggesting the Federal Trade Commission will pursue lawsuits against companies who pay for social media reviews.
Already, Cornell University researchers have created a solution that is 90 percent effective. The group developed software to detect fake reviews, “easily beating the average person, who identifies a fake review only half the time,” the article states.
When Magnify.net launched in 2007, it offered “digital publishers the opportunity to offer their own video channels populated by video from the video aggregators, user-generated or not,” reports TechCrunch. Since then, it has faced economic hardships and competition from the likes of Brightcove, Ooyala and YouTube.
“Many sites can’t afford their own studio, or to hire a video production and camera team,” explains the post. “Instead, Magnify gives them the opportunity to offer curated video experiences, along with providing them with the tech to upload and share videos, create playlists, offer commenting, reviewing, content controls, analytics, and monetization options.”
Now the company has teamed up with AOL to take advantage of a library of almost 420,000 videos.
“In the end solutions like Magnify are only valuable if they can help your site offer quality video that people actually want to watch,” suggests TechCrunch. Here’s where the AOL partnership is key, offering more diversified sources of video for Magnify, which currently powers more than 90,000 video channels for publishers and brands.
“We’re always looking for new ways to gain additional exposure for our content and drive advertiser value, and this partnership helps us deliver on that mission,” explains AOL, “and we’re also big believers in the power of curation, which makes Magnify’s approach to online video a natural fit for us. We see this as an important step in the evolution of how publishers and audiences will engage with online video.”
The amount of video uploaded to the Internet has increased exponentially in recent years. “Video curators, which have become critical to discovering, organizing, and contextualizing content, will play an increasingly important role,” the post states.
As Web video viewing increases, it would make sense to see a shift in ad dollars from traditional TV to Internet video. “Go where your customers have gone,” Google chairman Eric Schmidt told advertisers earlier this year.
But TV advertisers haven’t made the switch and, “it doesn’t look like [TV ad spending] is going anywhere,” AllThingsD writes.
“Year in, year out, advertisers have been dumping around $70 billion into TV, and the Web video guys really haven’t captured any of it,” the article states. “The growth they have seen comes mostly from ad dollars moved out of other Web properties.”
The post includes a chart created by an investment banker Terry Kawaja and entrepreneur Dave Morgan. It shows that the amount spent on advertising is expected to increase in the coming years, both in television and online video. But measured as a percentage of the total, the money spent on online advertisements will actually decrease.
Big tech players like Apple and Google are expected to shake up the TV industry with new distribution methods.
“But that’s different from disrupting the TV ad business,” the article notes, adding, “if those guys get in, the ones likely to lose out are the existing TV distributors, like Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Then again, any TV Of The Future still needs to get delivered to your home via pipe, and the pipe guys can’t be budged…”
Aereo provides broadcast TV over the Web to consumers in New York City via the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Roku box. With plans to move into other cities, the company says it will also offer programming that doesn’t just come from local TV stations and will soon start streaming to PCs and laptops.
CEO Chet Kanojia explained that deals have been made with content owners to provide additional programming to Aereo users for an additional fee. But who exactly?
“There’s no way Kanojia is working with any network affiliated with any of the four major broadcasters,” reports Peter Kafka for AllThingsD. “They are suing his company for copyright violation, because it distributes their over-the-air programming without paying for it. So that rules out anything from News Corp., Disney, Comcast or CBS.”
It also seems unlikely that Aereo would want to sell all-or-nothing bundles from cable programming giants like Viacom or Discovery, the article suggests.
“More likely would be deals with programmers that don’t have full cable distribution in the U.S. I could imagine a theoretical deal with someone like Bloomberg TV, for instance, or Al Jazeera English,” writes Kafka. “Asked to provide additional clarification, Aereo PR head Virginia Lam writes: ‘We have had conversations with a variety of content providers, including some cable networks.'”
Top Internet companies have come together to form The Internet Association, a lobbying group and trade association created to provide a unified voice in Washington, DC.
The group has three primary goals: protecting Internet freedom, fostering innovation and economic growth, and empowering users.
The 14 members of the association include Amazon, AOL, eBay, Expedia, Facebook, Google, IAC, LinkedIn, Monster Worldwide, Rackspace, Salesforce.com, TripAdvisor, Yahoo and Zynga.
“The Internet is the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, with an unparalleled record of job creation and innovation across all sectors,” says Michael Beckerman, president and CEO of The Internet Association.
“It is the Internet’s decentralized and open model that has unleashed unprecedented entrepreneurialism, creativity and innovation,” he adds. “Policymakers must understand that the preservation of that freedom is essential to the vitality of the Internet itself and the resulting economic prosperity.”
The Wi-Fi Alliance has introduced a new specification for wireless multimedia streaming called Miracast that allows devices to transmit content without a wireless router.
Miracast uses the Alliance’s Wi-Fi Direct standard for enabling peer-to-peer ad-hoc wireless connections. This allows devices to communicate directly without access to Wi-Fi or much, if any configuration.
“Speed-wise, Miracast is based on 802.11, so connections will be limited to the slowest device in the network,” ExtremeTech reports. “Good news for content owners too: Miracast has built in content protection, using wireless versions of the same security measures used in HDMI and DisplayPort.”
Intel and Apple already have their own technology — Wireless Display (WiDi) and Airplay — for wireless multimedia streaming.
“Miracast may have the advantage here where others have failed: it is not a proprietary solution unlike AirPlay, and that it seems to be targeted towards portable devices as it is far more power efficient — one of WiDi’s biggest downfalls,” the article suggests.
Intel has already updated its WiDi pages to include support for Miracast, which “likely indicates that the industry is ready to settle on a single specification,” notes the article.
Many consumer products are already compatible with the standard. By 2016, an estimated 1.5+ billion devices will be Miracast-enabled, according to an iSuppli analyst.
In a taped interview recorded for the 3D Entertainment Summit this week in Hollywood, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said producers need to offset consumers’ doubt in 3D by creating “exceptional” 3D movies that are worth the more expensive ticket.
Katzenberg described 2012 as a “spectacular year” for worldwide box office, “after a phase in which auds seemed to doubt 3D’s legitimacy and consistency,” reports Variety.
“Some people tried to capitalize on the gimmick of 3D rather than giving a quality experience and trying to deliver something exceptional to audiences, and the audience really snapped back on us,” he said. “But I think the trend is growing and we’re starting to earn back trust and respect from the audience.”
Katzenberg said the rate of ticket sales strongly reflects how critical responses to a 3D film influence moviegoer’s choices.
As for 3D in the home: “There still isn’t much to watch,” he said. “Making that incremental investment, people want to know that there’s use and value in that. Sports has been pretty good, but it’s still pretty limited in 3D product you can get on a TV set.”
Mobile payments have yet to see major traction. In fact, only one percent of mobile consumers in the UK have ever used a mobile handset to pay at a retail store, according to a new report from Deloitte.
However, mobile devices are still being used in stores and have increased retail sales.
“In the U.S. Deloitte says that using apps and mobile websites while shopping accounted for a 5 percent bump in retail sales, equating to $159 billion in in-store sales,” TechCrunch writes, noting this percentage increase was also seen in the UK but for lower dollar value.
“Fueled by the rise in apps and mobile websites catering to shoppers, as well as smartphone ubiquity, Deloitte forecasts that the impact of smartphones on retail in the U.S. will rise to 17-21 percent — working out to $628 million – $782 million in sales by 2016,” the article continues.
The report found that 46 percent of smartphone owners used their devices to research products before visiting the store or while they were shopping.
This research influences purchases and, “as Deloitte points out, this is a call to retailers to sort out better mobile experiences for their users, even if they are not directly linked to making purchases, and only to carry more information about the products,” TechCrunch reports.
Electronics purchases are most affected by mobile usage, while mobile has little effect on convenience stores and supermarkets.
As for mobile payments, Deloitte says, “until more contactless technology gets adopted at the retail end, this is bound to remain on the sidelines.”
“Looking to the future, all computing will become wireless computing, with an ever-increasing demand for faster wireless communication,” Intel CTO Justin Rattner said in a statement.
To address this trend, Intel has worked to develop WiGig, a multi-gigabit wireless docking technology that provides speeds of up to 7Gbps, ten times as fast as current Wi-Fi networks.
Intel demonstrated the technology at its annual Intel Developers Forum, claiming “WiGig is on track to becoming the most important next-generation multi-gigabit wireless technology,” Computerworld reports.
WiGig is based on the IEEE 802.11n standard and “operates in the unlicensed 60GHz frequency band, which has more spectrum available than the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands used by existing Wi-Fi products,” the article explains. “This allows wider channels that support faster transmission speeds.”
The specification also supports Wi-Fi over 60GHz and a wide range of applications. It enables wireless connectivity using HDMI and display extensions, which could allow laptops to connect to TVs to stream video.
“The technology is nearly ready, and with chips from multiple WiGig member companies already in production and certification ready for mid-2013, I would expect a real explosion in the number of WiGig devices coming to market soon,” said Ali Sadri, chairman of the WiGig Alliance.
Online ads will be getting a whole new look thanks to the cinemagraph, an animated gif that “repeatedly replays as a short piece of short video created from dozens of still shots layered on top of each other,” reports Business Insider.
“The innovation with a cinemagraph is that most of the image remains still, and only a piece of it moves. The result is a gif of much higher quality, within which is a subtle, often haunting piece of movement,” notes the article.
First coined by graphic designer Kevin Burg and photographer Jamie Beck, cinemagraphs have had strong traction on social media sites like Twitter and Tumblr as users have taken to sharing their favorites.
Tumblr has even created a new service for advertisers called Tumblr Radar that helps advertisers promote cinemagraphs.
The BI post includes a selection of stunning ads — from the likes of Coca-Cola, Tiffany & Co., Bloomingdale’s and Diesel — that effectively use cinemagraphs.
Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix, recently denounced staggered international release windows as “an open invitation to widespread copyright infringement online,” Variety reports.
Sarandos notes the pay window for Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games” is scheduled at intervals across eight months.
“It begins in Latin America on August 18, when ‘Hunger’ is released day and date with VOD and DVD because of the region’s underdeveloped homevid market,” explains the article. “Three months later, ‘Hunger’ comes to Canada, followed a month after that in the U.K. and 90 days after that in the U.S.”
“The U.S. will actually have the slowest access to ‘The Hunger Games’ in a subscription model online, which I think is incredibly dangerous for distributors in terms of having this global platform, and global knowledge of when things are available, and regionalized availability dates,” Sarandos suggests. “I think it will only encourage piracy in a way that is going to only grow.”
Netflix has access to “The Hunger Games” through Epix, which also has a deal with Amazon Prime.
“I do think the gap of time between DVD, VOD and pay TV is getting increasingly frustrating for consumers,” Sarandos adds. “That’s why I will pay more to accelerate it like we did in Latin America. They were more receptive to the deal because their DVD market is almost nonexistent.”
