Microsoft officially unveiled its new Windows 8 operating system and Surface tablet to the public on Thursday.
During the New York City event, the company demonstrated the tile-based touch system on a collection of desktops, laptops and tablets from OEM partners.
“While Microsoft executives highlighted the differences between Windows 8 and Windows RT, a distinction in desperate need of clarification for consumers, the event unveiled no surprises or high-profile app announcements,” reports PCWorld. “‘More to come’ was an oft-repeated phrase.”
Users of Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $40.
The Surface tablet is available starting at $500 for the 32GB version. It will initially come with Windows RT, a stripped down version of Windows 8 that uses ARM processors and runs apps specifically designed for the new Windows UI. The company says versions of Surface that run on Windows 8 will be available at a later date.
“While much ado was made over how easy it is to navigate apps on Windows 8 machines, either using a touchscreen or trackpad, there were no new app announcements,” notes the post. “The online Windows Store, which is now open, is notably bereft of big-name apps like YouTube and Twitter.”
However, the store touts big numbers overall. When Apple’s App Store debuted in 2008 it had some 500 apps. Android Market (now Google Play) had about 2,300 apps a few months following its launch the same year. Earlier this week, the Windows Store opened with 7,873 apps available worldwide (88 percent of which are free).
Netflix has lowered its U.S. subscriber forecast for this year by more than a third. The company lowered its April prediction of 7 million new subscribers for 2012 down to 4.73-5.43 million.
The news knocked its share price down 16.3 percent in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
“Netflix has said that incremental domestic streaming subscribers are almost pure profit because its content costs are fixed,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
“But even taking the high end of Netflix’s new subscriber-guidance range, there will now be a shortfall of 1.57 million,” explains the article. “So multiplying that number by the roughly $96 those customers would have paid in a year ($7.99 a month) means gains to operating profit would be shaved by around $150 million.”
Netflix saw some international expansion with nearly two million new subscribers and says it lost fewer DVD customers than it had in the previous quarter. However, any loss in DVD subscribers is a significant problem in the minds of analysts.
“Those subscribers are four times more valuable than streaming subscribers in terms of their contribution to overall profit,” writes WSJ. “Netflix remains a grim picture for investors.”
Digital downloads, subscription streaming and video on demand grew from $1.3 billion in 2007 to $5.5 billion this year.
According to new research from Mintel, these digital formats will grow even faster over the next five years, resulting in a tenfold increase over 2007-2017.
DVDs are still alive in movie rentals. Mintel notes that nearly one-third of online consumers rented discs in the past 30 days.
“We’re not going to see DVDs disappear in the next five years. There will still be people who have DVD players and will still have DVDs within five years,” predicts Mintel analyst Billy Hulkower. “Unless you’re buying a DVD to buy a DVD, you could just buy the digital movie.”
Streaming services including Netflix and Amazon Instant Video are gaining in popularity. Mintel notes that one-quarter of respondents used online streaming over the past 30 days and 22 percent used video on demand.
“Once you start using a digital store for your purchasing, it’s sort of addictive to have that one-click access to content,” Hulkower says. “People are acclimated to immediate access to content. There’s a movie you want to see, you click a button and it’s there.”
Apple announced a new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display yesterday, expanding its high-end family of notebooks.
“At a time when PC sales are plateauing and profit margins for many manufacturers are shrinking in a race to build cheaper netbooks (such as Samsung’s $250, Web-only Chromebook), Apple is asserting its leadership position to build the state of the art in notebooks,” comments Apple Insider.
The new Retina display touts more than four million pixels. The company says the 13-inch MacBook Pro is the “second highest resolution notebook ever,” behind its 15-inch cousin.
“The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display has nearly 2 million more pixels than an HDTV,” notes the article. “The 15-inch model has over 3 million more.” The Retina display is now available in the two MacBook Pro models and the iPad.
More pixels to push means additional graphics processing, rewritten software, and changes to the operating system and third party apps. This translates to more cost.
“The result is an expensive system,” writes Apple Insider. “The cheapest 13-inch model starts at $1,699, compared to basic PC notebooks selling for $600 to $800, and 13-inch netbooks selling for as little as $250.”
Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook Pro has opted for solid state flash storage to increase booting and file copying speeds. Also featured: 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 processors, 8GB of 1600 MHz memory, dual Thunderbolt ports, HDMI video out and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics processor.
According to the press release, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is currently available through the Apple Online Store and its retail locations.
As anticipated, Apple unveiled a smaller version of its popular iPad at a product launch event in San Jose yesterday. The new iPad mini starts at $329 and features a screen about a third smaller than the original iPad.
“But Apple’s smaller tablet is priced well above Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle Fire HD and Google Inc.’s Nexus 7 — two tablets which are similar in size and some specs,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Those devices cost $199 or $249 depending on the amount of memory.”
The screen of the iPad mini measures 7.9-inches diagonally. The tablet, designed to fit comfortably in one hand, weighs about half as much as the original iPad.
“A dual-core Apple A5 processor powers the iPad mini, and the device sports fast 4G LTE speeds like the most recent iPads,” reports VentureBeat in a related post. “It features the same 1,024 by 768 screen resolution as the iPad 2, but given its smaller screen that resolution will look much sharper on the iPad mini.”
Apple is offering more variety in an effort to maintain dominance in the tablet wars. “Rivals are releasing a flood of tablets and phones powered by Google’s Android operating system and other software,” notes WSJ. And Microsoft is expected to release its Surface tablet running Windows 8 on Friday.
“Others have tried to make tablets smaller than the iPad and they have failed miserably,” says Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior VP for worldwide marketing.
“He gave a side-by-side product comparison between the iPad mini and Google’s Nexus 7, and claimed that the mini offers two-thirds more space to surf the Web when turned on its side,” explains the article. “A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.”
Versions of Apple’s new iPad mini, along with the company’s fourth-generation iPad, will be available the first week of November.
Apple made more product announcements than expected at yesterday’s event at the California Theater in San Jose.
“Between hardware and software, Apple announced at least six new products… seven if you include Apple Fusion Drive, and a whopping 23 new products if you include different models and build configurations,” reports VentureBeat.
The company unveiled new iBooks software, a 13-inch Retina display MacBook Pro (two build configurations), a Mac mini (three configurations), at least two sizes of iMacs, the fourth generation iPad (six main models), Apple Fusion Drive and the much-anticipated iPad mini (six models).
The new $500-$830 full-sized iPad features an A6X processor (which Apple claims will double CPU and graphics power), support for more wireless carriers (including Sprint), faster Wi-Fi and an HD camera on front for video calls.
Apple’s Fusion Drive, available in the latest iMac and Mac mini, is a hybrid hard drive that blends solid state storage with traditional hard drive tech. It will come with a 128GB SD and the option of a 1TB or 3TB HDD.
CEO Tim Cook notes that iOS 6 has hundreds of new features and, in the month since its release, has been downloaded to more than 200 million devices.
Apple by the numbers: The company sold its 100 millionth iPad a few weeks ago, the iPhone 5 has shattered records with 5 million units already sold and App Store customers have downloaded more than 35 billion apps.
“Meanwhile, users of Apple’s Mac and iOS devices have combined to share 125 million documents in the cloud; they’ve also shared more than 60 million photos using the new shared photo streams service,” reports Macworld in a related article. “And iMessage users are now exchanging 28,000 messages per second.”
Tablets and PCs running the new Windows 8 operating system will have access to video content via Hulu Plus, according to a post on the Hulu blog yesterday.
“Hulu announced that it will be launching its Windows 8 app on October 26, the same day that devices running the Microsoft operating system will finally become available,” reports TechCrunch.
The Hulu app will be tile-based, similar to the styling of Windows 8, and promises to make it simpler to discover and watch TV shows.
“When a user selects an episode, they’ll be treated with a menu of options, like ‘Play’ or ‘Queue,'” explains the post. “Users will also be able to ‘Pin’ shows” to their home screen, and “minimize shows they’re watching into a ‘Snap View’ and multitask, replicating the typical TV watching experience where they’re not watching TV and doing email instead.”
In related news, Engadget reports that Skype is also offering a new version optimized for Windows 8. Skype and Microsoft accounts will be linked so users who log in with their Microsoft ID will already be on Skype, and integration with the People Hub will list an individual’s Skype handle alongside other contact information.
“Just as you can pinch your Live Tiles to zoom out and make them easier to navigate, you can use semantic zoom to sift through a long list of contacts,” notes Engadget of the new functionality. “And, because Skype runs in the background, you can set up your Start Screen so that the Skype Live Tile shows notifications for things like missed calls.”
The free Skype app will be available in the Windows Store starting Friday. Microsoft will likely have more app announcements as it gets ready for this week’s release of Windows 8.
YesVideo converts physical media to digital and allows customers to share indexed footage via their Facebook Timelines. Customers can use the service to digitize old VHS tapes, 8mm, miniDV and photos — and publish to Timeline through a new feature that launched last week.
“You can submit your vintage videos at any of YesVideo’s at CVS/pharmacy, Walgreen’s, and Costco retail locations,” explains Digital Trends. The footage is then shipped to YesVideo where it is digitized and uploaded to the cloud for easy access.
“While YesVideo’s primary focus is its cloud hosting service, the company sends you a DVD copy, alongside the original media,” explains the post. Additionally, YesVideo indexes the video content algorithmically and breaks it into chapters. This offers users the ability to share more manageable clips.
“YesVideo digitizes over 1.5 million videos per year, and with its indexing feature, turns that into approximately somewhere between 75 million and 150 million clips a year,” notes the post.
The company is also planning an open API in order for third-party developers to create new tools.
“This idea that you have all your home videos and access to your extended family’s old home videos and you sit down and log into your Google TV for instance or your Roku box and voila, you’ve got your home videos that you can share with your family or on your mobile device,” says CEO Michael Chang.
The next generation 4K HDTVs will be known as “Ultra High-Definition” or simply “Ultra HD,” according to a decision made Thursday by the Consumer Electronics Association’s Board of Industry Leaders.
The first Ultra HD models are slated to go on sale this fall and are expected to be a major theme at January’s CES in Las Vegas. LG launched its $20,000 84-inch Ultra HD model in September, followed by Sony with its competing 84-inch model for $5,000 more.
“Earlier this year, the CEA Ultra HD Working Group was formed to discuss how best to define and educate consumers about this new technology,” reports Broadcasting & Cable. “The organization also undertook extensive consumer research on the best way to explain to consumers the new technology and its value.”
To meet the requirements of Ultra HD status, products such as TVs, monitors and projectors need to feature at least eight million active pixels.
“Displays will also have an aspect ratio of 16×9 and must have at least one digital input capable of carrying and presenting native 4K format video at 3,840 x 2,160 resolution,” notes the post.
“Ultra HD is the next natural step forward in display technologies, offering consumers an incredibly immersive viewing experience with outstanding new levels of picture quality,” says Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. “This new terminology and the recommended attributes will help consumers navigate the marketplace to find the TV that best meets their needs.”
The Isis consortium has announced that its mobile-payment service using smartphones with NFC chips will launch Monday in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas. The test launch was originally scheduled for the summer.
The consortium includes wireless carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. Isis confirmed via an email statement that 20 Isis-ready phones would be available by the end of 2012 to use the network.
T-Mobile USA Mobile Commerce is offering the Isis Mobile Wallet application through the Google Play online store. AT&T will provide five phones: the Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X, Samsung Exhilarate, LG Espace and Samsung Rugby Pro. The other carriers have yet to announce specific models.
“Isis previously confirmed a number of retailers, gas stations and transit providers that will be equipped to handle the NFC payments,” reports Computerworld. “The NFC phones also contain special security, known as a ‘secure element’ inside, which protects a customer’s credit card information.”
“There has been a debate between banks and other parties to mobile commerce as to whether the secure element should remain in the phone — either on a SIM card or embedded in the phone’s core — or be should located in the cloud,” notes the article.
While broadcasters continue to challenge the legality of Aereo, the TV-over-Internet service is expanding its availability.
“Aereo is still limited to residents of New York City, but it’s now available on additional devices including Windows computers and on a wider selection of Web browsers including Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer,” reports USA Today. “Before, access was restricted to selected Apple devices such as the iPhone and the iPad, as well as the Roku streaming set-top box.”
The company is expected to launch in additional markets in a few more months and may be available on Android devices by the end of this year.
“Aereo lets customers capture over-the-air broadcasts from 29 local channels for viewing on devices, with subscriptions starting at $8 a month,” explains the article. “Aereo has created a dime-sized TV antenna and crams hundreds and perhaps thousands of them into dishwasher-size boxes located at the company’s offices in Brooklyn. A customer who watches or records a show is temporarily assigned an antenna, which picks up the show and streams it over the Internet.”
Networks including Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC filed a copyright infringement lawsuit claiming Aereo illegally copies and retransmits their content, but Aereo believes that assigning individual antennas to customers makes it legal.
A federal judge denied broadcasters a preliminary injunction to stop Aereo in July. However, the case is still pending.
Approximately 20 percent of televisions shipped in North America are Internet-connected TVs, a penetration rate significantly lagging behind Asia and Europe, according to NPD DisplaySearch.
While Smart TV shipments are actually up 15 percent worldwide this year, adoption in North America has been slower.
“North American households consume the highest levels of Internet video, averaging over 30GB per household every month (according to Cisco), yet they don’t seem attracted to connected TVs,” explains NPD’s Paul Gray. “We find that North America leads by far in paid on-demand services, which tend to be tied to set-top boxes.”
“Smart TV shipments are tightly linked to content consumption habits,” reports Home Media Magazine. “For consumers in China, there is plenty of free content on the Internet and few structured services. This favors TVs with built-in browsers. Furthermore, Chinese consumers consider a TV to be a prestigious purchase and are prepared to invest more in them.”
“Terrestrial broadcasters’ repurposed content aggregators are beginning to dominate in Western Europe,” notes the article. “These broadcasters have no interest in hardware, so connected TVs are flourishing with open standards such as HbbTV rapidly gaining acceptance and evolving with new features.”
An estimated 43 million open Internet access smart TVs are expected to ship in 2012, a number predicted to grow to 95 million in 2016.
According to new Nielsen data, more than 75 percent of U.S. homes now have HDTVs, marking a 14 percent increase over 2011. Additionally, 40 percent of homes have more than one HD set.
There are 115 million U.S. homes with televisions. However, the data also shows that a surprising amount of viewing is not HD quality.
Despite 61 percent of primetime viewing experienced on an HD set in May, only 25 percent of cable primetime and 29 percent of English-language broadcast primetime occurred in “true HD” — when an HD set is connected to an HD signal and HD channels are being viewed.
“The Nielsen study was based on usage of 17 networks — five English-language broadcast networks and 12 ad supported cable networks — in May 2012,” reports Broadcasting & Cable. “As expected, sports and entertainment genres are more likely to be viewed in HD than news and kids programming,”
“Some analysts believe consumers are still confused about HDTV — that just buying an HDTV set means getting HDTV-quality programming,” notes MediaPost in a related report.
Newsweek editor-in-chief Tina Brown has announced that the 80-year-old publication will abandon its print magazine at the end of December. Starting next year it will be offered exclusively online and as a mobile app.
“Founded in 1933, Newsweek’s ‘turn of the page,’ as Brown calls it, comes just two years after its merger with Web-only outlet The Daily Beast,” reports Digital Trends. The December 31 issue will be the magazine’s final physical edition in the U.S.
“The publication will be renamed Newsweek Global, with a single edition created for the world market,” explains the post. “Like The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, the majority of Newsweek Global’s content will only be available with a paid subscription, though select content will still be accessible for free on The Daily Beast.”
Newsweek has reportedly been losing $40 million a year. The digital transition is expected to include staff reductions and streamlining of business operations.
“Currently, 39 percent of Americans say they get their news from an online source, according to a Pew Research Center study released last month. In our judgment, we have reached a tipping point at which we can most efficiently and effectively reach our readers in all-digital format,” notes Brown. “This was not the case just two years ago. It will increasingly be the case in the years ahead.”
“This decision is not about the quality of the brand or the journalism — that is as powerful as ever,” contends Brown. “It is about the challenging economics of print publishing and distribution.”
Boxee has announced its second Boxee TV, a smaller and more traditionally-shaped set-top box that offers unlimited cloud DVR storage for broadcast TV shows and the ability to view recordings across multiple devices.
In addition to the $14.99/month DVR service, the new $99 box offers standard online video services such as Netflix and Vudu.
A simple rectangular design will replace the angular cube of the original $199 Boxee Box, suggesting the company is targeting mainstream consumers with convenience and lower price point.
“Instead of worrying about DVR space, you can record entire TV series and have them accessible at the touch of a button,” notes VentureBeat. “Boxee will be buying up huge swaths of Amazon S3 storage to store the recorded video data, which will retain the same HD resolution and 5.1 surround sound audio from its broadcast.”
“Having a DVR that stores recordings in the cloud feels similar to the move from film to digital cameras,” explained Boxee CEO Avner Ronen in an interview.
“Film cameras limited the number of photos you could capture, which made you think twice before taking a photo,” he said. “It’s the same with existing DVRs. The limited space and knowing that stuff will get deleted impacts your decisions about what to record in the first place.”
Boxee TV will be available next month. The DVR service will launch in the top eight TV markets, including New York and Los Angeles — with plans to expand next year.
