During last week’s CES Unveiled event in New York, the newly named Consumer Technology Association (former Consumer Electronics Association) released its annual holiday purchase pattern study. According to Shawn DuBravac, CTA’s chief economist and senior research director, consumer electronics will have a strong showing this holiday season, but spending is expected to shift from high-end TVs to less expensive audio devices, mobile electronics and emerging technologies. The shift is expected to result in a drag on industry sales growth. Continue reading CTA Predicts Decline in CE Sales Growth This Holiday Season

Hulu is reportedly looking to make a deal with Time Warner that would value the video service at more than $5 billion and help bolster its efforts to compete with Netflix and Amazon. According to those familiar with the matter, Hulu is in talks with the media giant to become an equal stakeholder with Comcast, Disney and 21st Century Fox. “Such a deal would likely involve the current owners, who own one-third each, drawing down their stakes to 25 percent,” reports The Wall Street Journal. The talks, said to be in the early stages, are exploring ways for Hulu to expand content offerings as part of its long term strategy. Hulu has increased its spending on programming from $600 million last year to $1.5 billion this year.

ABC is said to be exploring a new approach to streaming original content online. Rather than launching a standalone subscription service similar to CBS All Access or NBCUniversal’s upcoming comedy offering Seeso, the network is reportedly planning to introduce new series exclusively through its WatchABC app. In addition to offering expanded original programming on an alternative platform, the Disney-owned network could also use the model as a means of trying out new concepts and talent that could eventually make their way to broadcast television. Continue reading ABC Developing Original Programming for Streaming Initiative

After a year in beta testing, YouTube Music is finally available for Android and iOS. The app — meant to compete with streaming music offerings such as Apple Music, Pandora, Rdio, Spotify and Tidal — emphasizes music videos and amateur recordings. YouTube’s catalog of 50 million songs does not mean a video for every song, since the collection mixes video, audio-only, fan covers, emerging indie artists and much more. Discovery continues to be the underlying focus, and each song is connected to an auto-generated station of related songs. YouTube Music also blends human and algorithmic curation, similar to Apple Music’s approach. Continue reading YouTube Music Aims Spotlight on Personalization, Discovery

CBS announced this week that the 28th season of “The Amazing Race” would feature social-media stars from Instagram, Vine, YouTube and podcasts. While the number of online followers for each contestant varies, they are responsible for a combined 72 million hits on social platforms. According to The Wall Street Journal, “the choice by ‘The Amazing Race’ producers to seek contestants with large followings online reflects the growing importance of social media: It’s no longer a back door to stardom, but a necessary tool to land a first interview. It’s also the latest example of how tech culture is spreading.”

Following announcements that Google is releasing its TensorFlow machine learning platform so developers can create their own artificial intelligence programs, and Nvidia has made a significant update to its Jetson TX1 supercomputer-on-a-chip, Microsoft is the latest with major AI news. The company has updated its Project Oxford suite of AI tools with powerful new features and programs designed to identify human emotions and voices, for example, that could make their way into the apps we use on a daily basis. Continue reading Microsoft Project Oxford Updates Could Bring AI to More Apps

Snapchat announced earlier this week that its recently added features and filters are beginning to pay off as snaps and videos in the popular new app are viewed more than six billion times per day. The new daily viewing figure is three times the number of views the app experienced in May. “To put that number in perspective, Facebook announced just this past week that the social network is handling over eight billion video views each day,” reports The Verge. “Facebook has recently placed extra focus on its video offerings, and that figure represents a two-times increase from April.” However, it is worth noting that Snapchat’s videos are just a few seconds in duration.

Yesterday we reported that “Singles Day” in China generated a staggering $5 billion in sales for e-commerce giant Alibaba during its first 90 minutes. The numbers are in for the day’s total sales, and Alibaba’s sites reportedly sold more than $14.3 billion worth of products, which represents a 57 percent increase over last year’s number. “To give you a sense of how big this sale is, the $14.3 billion figure is just 27 percent less than the $19.6 billion worth of goods that eBay sellers sold in July, August and September combined,” notes Re/code. “The number also dwarfs the $2 billion Americans spent on Cyber Monday desktop shopping in 2014.”

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which represents more than 2,200 technology companies, announced yesterday that its new name is the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Replacing “electronics” with “technology” is meant to address an evolving consumer tech industry and more accurately reflect the diverse member companies. The change will take place immediately. The new name and logo were introduced in New York City at CES Unveiled, a “sneak peek” event that provides highlights of what’s to come at January’s CES 2016, which is produced by the CTA. Continue reading CEA Announces New Name: Consumer Technology Association

The New York Attorney General’s office announced yesterday that fantasy-sports games FanDuel and DraftKings constitute illegal gambling and are therefore subject to criminal penalties if they do not shut down in New York. While a few other states have said fantasy sports constitute gambling, the “cease-and-desist order from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is the first time fantasy-sports operators have been formally accused of criminal activity,” reports The Wall Street Journal. The companies have five days to respond. According to Schneiderman, “it is clear that DraftKings and FanDuel are the leaders of a massive, multibillion-dollar scheme intended to evade the law and fleece sports fans across the country.”

“Singles Day” in China (November 11, or 11/11) was launched by Alibaba in 2009 with the intent that unmarried, single shoppers would go online and splurge on something nice for themselves. The event has since grown to become a major extravaganza. This year’s four-hour televised Singles Day’s Eve, for example, featured major Chinese celebs and movie stars. Daniel Craig even joined Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma, and Kevin Spacey made a video appearance as President Frank Underwood. “In the first 90 minutes after the Singles Day kickoff, at midnight in Beijing, Alibaba said it surpassed $5 billion in total sales,” notes Wired. “Seventy-four percent of those were from mobile phones.”

Internet customers in New York City can now sign up for Time Warner Cable’s streaming TV trial. According to Engadget, “customers can get access to the TWC TV app on a variety of devices without adding a [cable] box or having a tech come out. During the trial, testers will get a free Roku 3 player, and the cheapest plan (with channels like ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and TBS among the 20+ included) starts at just $10 per month on a 12 month contract.” A second package including Showtime and Starz is available for $20, while a premium $50 package adds Disney, ESPN and others. For now, the trial is only available for TWC customers in NYC.

Google announced yesterday that it would offer its new TensorFlow machine-learning system to outside programmers as open-source code. According to Google, TensorFlow is up to five times faster at training machine-learning models and more flexible than the company’s earlier offering. “Its previous system, DistBelief, developed in 2011, was tailored for building neural networks, the building blocks of deep learning, and for use on Google’s own network of data centers,” explains The New York Times. Google claims that the new TensorFlow software, a more general tool, will have the ability to run on an individual smartphone or across an array of data center computers.

Facebook will soon incorporate its facial recognition tech, currently used to help users tag their friends in photos, into its popular messaging app, Messenger. The goal is to prompt users to increase sharing via Messenger, especially within groups. Messenger “will now look at your photos, identify who is in them, and encourage you to share those photos with those friends,” notes Re/code. “Facebook is building lots of artificial intelligence, and it’s starting to get more aggressive about integrating that technology into actual consumer products.” The facial recognition tech has already been folded into its photo storage app, Moments, and the company is also testing a virtual assistant.

University of Cambridge scientists have developed a new lithium-air (Li-air) battery design that could be the first practical alternative to the lithium-ion battery common in CE devices. The scientists discovered a workaround to the limitations of earlier iterations by engineering a lithium iodide and water-based electrolyte that is light and porous. The result is a design that “is 90 percent more efficient than conventional Li-ion batteries and capable of over 2,000 recharge cycles (compared to Li-ion’s several hundred),” reports Digital Trends. However, the new battery requires pure oxygen, and has a risk of exploding while charging. Still, the team remains confident, and consumer Li-air batteries could be a decade away (it took 20 years to triple the capacity of Lithium-ion batteries).