As Yahoo’s global online ad revenue is forecast to drop by 14 percent this year, and scrutiny of the embattled Internet company’s leadership continues, Starboard Value has initiated a shareholder revolt. Yesterday, in a letter to investors, the activist hedge fund introduced nine candidates to run for the Yahoo board (including Starboard chief exec Jeffrey Smith). Starboard, which holds a 1.7 percent stake in Yahoo, has called into question the leadership of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and is looking to oust the company’s current board. Starboard hopes that such pressure will encourage the sale of Yahoo’s core businesses. Continue reading Starboard Suggests Replacements for Yahoo Board Members

The 30th edition of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) set a record for event attendance, with more than 27,000 game industry professionals at last week’s conference in San Francisco’s Moscone Center. One of the major draws this year was the debut of the Virtual Reality Developers Conference (VRDC), an event dedicated to the creation of new video games, entertainment and technology around virtual and augmented reality (AR), which was held alongside GDC 2016. VRDC brought greater focus to the nascent field of virtual reality development. Continue reading GDC 2016 Tops Attendance Record, Celebrates Past & Future

In another step toward taking on measurement leader Nielsen, comScore (which merged earlier this year with Rentrak) is tapping new metrics from Adobe Systems to measure video consumption across multiple screens, including televisions and mobile devices. “By using Adobe services,” reports Variety, “comScore will be able to help marketers understand the number of video starts involved with a piece of content; average time spent watching; and rate of ad engagement. Content companies, meanwhile, will be able to use the insights to forecast how different kinds of video performs across platforms and particular audience segments.” Continue reading ComScore Working with Adobe to Measure Video Consumption

The FBI asked to postpone a hearing scheduled for today regarding the Apple encryption case. The Justice Department may no longer need the tech company’s help in opening an iPhone used by gunman Syed Rizwan Farook in the San Bernardino shootings. A third party has reportedly come forward with a technique to help unlock the phone, which is currently being tested. Judge Sheri Pym of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted the Justice Department’s motion to postpone. The government is required to provide an update to the court by April 5. Continue reading FBI Tests Method to Unlock iPhone, Cancels Today’s Hearing

According to a post on its Help & Customer Service page, Amazon is instructing its Kindle customers to update software “by March 22, 2016, in order to continue to download Kindle books from the Cloud, access the Kindle Store, and use other Kindle services on their device.” Those who miss the update will need to manually install the latest software update. The post provides a chart detailing the software versions needed for specific Kindle models and step-by-step instructions for the update process. The chart indicates that the following models do not require an update: Paperwhite 6th Generation (2013), Kindle 7th Generation (2014), Voyage 7th Generation (2014) and Paperwhite 7th Generation (2015). Continue reading Amazon Tells Kindle Customers to Update Software by Today

Apple is expected to unveil a new version of its iPhone 5s today during an event at the company’s Cupertino headquarters. According to The Wall Street Journal, the new phone “will include an upgraded processor, improved camera and capability to use Apple Pay.” The company is also expected to launch a new 9.7-inch iPad, which will likely follow the design and features of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro that debuted in November. “It’ll be the iPad Pro in every way except two: it won’t be quite so gargantuan, and it won’t be so expensive,” suggests Wired. To watch the keynote live online at 10:00 am PDT, visit the Apple event page. Continue reading Apple is Expected to Introduce its New iPhone and iPad Today

In recent months, many Twitter users have expressed concern regarding news that the social platform’s 140-character limit was going to be lifted. Jack Dorsey, co-founder and chief executive of Twitter, announced on Friday (Twitter’s 10th birthday) that the company now plans to keep tweets at their original 140 characters. Dorsey’s announcement “is likely to calm the hard-core base of Twitter supporters who have been vocally resistant to any major changes to the network, home to more than 320 million regular users,” reports The New York Times. Continue reading Twitter Chief Explains Tweet Cap Will Remain 140 Characters

At the Game Developers Conference, Sony announced that its anticipated PlayStation VR headset would cost $399 when it is released in October (a $499 launch bundle will be available for preorder beginning Tuesday). The headset connects with Sony’s PlayStation 4 console and features a 5.7-inch screen and multiple sensors that enable 360-degree head tracking. Sony hopes its PlayStation VR — which Tom’s Guide awarded Best of Show — will help bring virtual reality to the mainstream. While competitors such as Oculus Rift and HTC Vive will be available sooner, they require powerful PCs to run their software. Continue reading GDC 2016: Sony PlayStation VR to Launch in October for $399

Tony Christopher, president and CEO of Landmark Entertainment Group, is currently developing a Virtual Worlds Fair. The project started with a discussion with Steven Spielberg 20 years ago, and is currently moving forward with funding from Chinese backers. The fair will feature four key areas: Dataland, an entertainment and education VR experience for children; Intencity, for branded VR experiences; Passportal, to virtually experience the wonders of different countries; and the Tower of Humanity, to celebrate the planet through virtual experiences. Continue reading GDC 2016: Creating Virtual Worlds for Companies and Brands

During an investor day in New York on Tuesday, CBS chairman and CEO Les Moonves unveiled the network’s five-year business plan, which intends to ramp up business online and overseas, and cash in on retransmission fees in order to increase overall revenue by $3.75 billion. To help achieve its goal, the company plans to reach 8 million subscribers for its OTT services — CBS All Access and Showtime streaming — and add another 4 million subs for its skinny bundle packages. Sources also indicate that CBS has expressed interest in adding Starz to its cable portfolio. Continue reading CBS Five-Year Plan Looks to Expand OTT and Skinny Bundles

During the “Storytellers of eSports” panel at this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, creative execs and journalists for Twitch, Yahoo Sports, Team Liquid and 1UP Studios discussed how they cover eSports, and how their approaches differ from coverage of traditional sports. The challenge for writers is to bring life to a sport in which the players barely move, but their hand and body twitches translate into incredible feats within the game. The stories are more about eSports personalities, and less about the actual gameplay, than traditional sports. Continue reading GDC 2016: Reporters Face Unique Challenges Covering eSports

Cognitive scientist, programmer, game developer, and senior technical designer for Riot Games and Radial Games Dr. Kimberly Voll took a packed house at the Game Developers Conference into the brain on VR, hailing the tremendous opportunities and flashing potential hazards this new medium presents. As someone who “engineers awesome experiences through understanding humans better, frequently in VR,” Voll’s latest project is “Fantastic Contraption,” a VR update to the popular 2008 building game, that will be shipping with the HTC Vive in April. Continue reading GDC 2016: Your Brain on VR, The Psychology of Doing VR Right

Varun Nair of Two Big Ears Ltd. and Jean-Pascal (JP) Beaudoin of Headspace Studio gave an excellent primer on “Audio for Cinematic VR” at this week’s GDC VR Developers Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Beaudoin started by making two overarching points: the sense of presence in VR is proportional to the amount of immersion, and it is important to understand the Field of Audition (FoA – the sound space). The session also addressed three key types of sound space designs: diegetic audio, acousmatic audio and non-diegetic audio. Continue reading Cinematic VR Audio Discussed at Game Developers Conference

The SXSW Festival kicked off in Austin on Friday and runs until March 20. VentureBeat has identified five trends at the fest expected to have a significant impact on how brands and consumers interact in the near future. Virtual reality is at the forefront with panels “on tap to discuss everything from Cinematic VR, virtual football, and VR storytelling to city planning using social VR.” SXSW will also focus on the shift from social media to social messaging, the growth of artificial intelligence and emotive robotics, connected wearables and IoT-based devices, and the sharing activity known as “dark social,” which addresses “the culmination of referrals and sharing of content that originates from instant messages, emails containing links,” and the rise of “platforms such as Snapchat, WeChat, and WhatsApp.” Continue reading VR, Messaging, AI, IoT and Dark Social Lead Charge at SXSW

Startups are hoping their mobile apps will make a major splash at this year’s SXSW Festival. Anchor, for example, is an audio app that serves as an audio message board that allows users to publish recorded “waves” to interact with the masses. Other hopefuls include Nom, a livestreaming food app and MeWe, which enables users to send disappearing, encrypted messages to friends. However, not all buzz-generating apps continue their trajectory post SXSW. “Last year was Meerkat’s moment, but the live video app fell out of vogue soon after the party in Austin ended, partially as a result of Twitter’s acquisition of its competitor Periscope,” reports Bloomberg. Continue reading Mobile App Startups Compete for Attention at SXSW Festival