Google announced that its new Creator Space studio, part of its Soho offices in London, will provide YouTube partners with the facilities and equipment to make their video content look more professional and sophisticated.
“It is amazing to think that some of the most successful creators on the platform, with millions of views, use little more than their bedrooms, a webcam and any props they can lay their hands on to produce compelling videos and build a global fanbase,” says Sara Mormino, director of YouTube Content Operations and Next Lab.
“But many of our partners are ready to take their channels to the next level by using the latest equipment and editing techniques as well as tapping into the valuable advice from other experts and YouTube stars,” she adds.
The Creator Space will feature two studios (including green screen), audio booths, professional lighting rigs, fully staffed editing suites, a control room and HD cameras. Additionally, the studio plans to offer workshops, training, collaborative programs and more.
“Our partners from all over Europe, Middle East and Africa will be able to book time in the space to create and collaborate with other creators, learn new techniques, as well as gaining access to state-of-the-art audio visual equipment, to help them generate great new content for their channels,” says Mormino.
The YouTube Next Lab team, charged with the development of channels and creators on YouTube, will run the London studio, which is expected to open in the coming weeks.
The post includes a video report on the YouTube Creator Camp. You can also check out the promotional video for the Creator Space studio on YouTube.
While Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey invested in Instagram before its acquisition by Facebook, his company is now playing hardball with the popular social network.
“Twitter has blocked Instagram from using its API to find new friends to follow on the photo-sharing service,” reports Business Insider. “The news comes after Instagram announced on its blog that it hit 80 million users.”
The move marks the second time Twitter has blocked API access to a social network, after it recently ended its two-and-a-half-year partnership with LinkedIn by no longer allowing users to publish tweets to their LinkedIn profiles.
The “Find Your Friends” feature on Twitter has been removed, a helpful feature that enabled users to follow the same people they follow on Twitter via Instagram. However, the “Tweet Photo” feature is still available.
“We’ve learned that the feature is missing due to API restrictions from Twitter’s end, restrictions that possibly came about over concerns about Instagram’s scale and its strain on data pulls,” notes TechCrunch in a related post. “Many social apps like The Fancy and Foursquare still have access to this part of the Twitter API — it seems very likely that Instagram was the largest developer using the Twitter Friend Graph.”
“Twitter’s agenda here isn’t at all clear, but one possibility is that it wants to control the photos experience on its platform (and preclude Facebook from doing the same),” notes TechCrunch. “Selectively limiting API access by company is definitely strange behavior in an ecosystem that thrives on API symbiosis. Imagine if Google just decided to shut off Google Maps access to apps randomly?”
Apple is reportedly considering a new move into social media with a possible strategic investment in Twitter.
“While Apple has been hugely successful in selling phones and tablets, it has little traction in social networking, which has become a major engine of activity on the Web and on mobile devices,” notes The New York Times.
“Social media are increasingly influencing how people spend their time and money — an important consideration for Apple, which also sells applications, games, music and movies,” notes the article.
According to unnamed sources who claim to be briefed on the matter, “Apple has considered an investment in the hundreds of millions of dollars, one that could value Twitter at more than $10 billion, up from an $8.4 billion valuation last year,” details NYT.
A Twitter partnership could prove valuable for Apple, amidst growing competition with companies such as Google and Facebook, which already have a strong footing in the social sphere.
Strengthening the ties between Apple and Twitter would come during an era of significant uncertainty in the mobile market. “Battle lines that seemed clear just a year ago are rapidly blurring as companies push into new areas of the market and clash with former allies,” explains the article.
“Those guys are a great partner,” said Twitter CEO Dick Costolo of Apple. “We think of them as a company that our company looks up to.”
“Apple doesn’t have to own a social network,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, at a recent tech conference. “But does Apple need to be social? Yes.”
Apple’s latest version of OS X, Mountain Lion, launched last week with a significant AirPlay Mirroring update.
“Don’t look now, but Apple just created a formidable cord-cutting platform,” suggests Wired. “The new operating system can change the way we watch video in the living room, and might even compel some users to finally cancel their cable and satellite services.”
According to the article, video that’s available online can now easily be watched on an HDTV with a Mac running Mountain Lion and a $100 Apple TV.
The mirroring feature available with Mountain Lion, “uses the same basic tech found in iOS devices: Your computer wirelessly transmits whatever is playing on your Mac desktop to your Apple TV, which then shoots this mirrored content to your HDTV via an HDMI cable,” explains Wired. “Display settings are automatically determined by your Mac, so you don’t have to adjust the resolution over and over again, hoping to find the perfect recipe for optimal TV watching.”
“AirPlay for Mountain Lion is a great method for beaming any desktop content straight to your HDTV, and this includes streaming video from Web pages, computer games, and, yes, even illegal videos collected from BitTorrent,” notes the article. “And if the greater tech industry takes more bold steps toward changing how video is delivered, the future is going to be rough for cable and satellite providers. Something has to give.”
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) has proposed an amendment to the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 that would alter the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).
The VPPA was authored in 1988 after a list of video rentals by Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork was published in a newspaper. As currently written, the VPPA requires written consumer consent (or a police warrant) in order for video history information to be shared.
The newly proposed amendment would allow for Netflix video viewing histories to be shared automatically on Facebook.
“Netflix has spent nearly $400,000 lobbying Congress this year,” reports Digital Trends. “Part of that money was spent on changing the VPPA, and the rest went toward Net neutrality and other Web-related issues. Netflix eventually wants to allow users to be able to stream videos through their Facebook accounts.”
Additionally, Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) has proposed an amendment to remove Section 701 of CSA2012 that “provides companies with the explicit right to monitor private user communications and engage in countermeasures,” according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to begin debate on the Cybersecurity Act this week.
New software upgrades to Dish Network’s controversial AutoHop DVR feature may bolster its legality and help position the company against the lawsuit brought on by broadcasters NBC, CBS and Fox.
“Dish has been quietly tweaking the functionality inside its multi-room DVR, dubbed the Hopper, which allows subscribers to skip over commercials in primetime broadcast series one day after being recorded on the device’s hard drive,” reports Variety.
Subscribers can now select which channels to record rather than to have all four major networks recorded automatically. They can now delete recordings at any time. And, most importantly, the default to skip ads is set to “no.”
“While the changes may seem minor, they seem to represent a calculated strategy on Dish’s behalf to shift responsibility to viewers for the recording and ad-skipping rather than let them passively receive these features,” notes the article.
Shifting that responsibility could become a key component in assessing the legality of AutoHop, since a similar 2006 case has been cited as a possible precedent.
When content creators sued Cablevision regarding its remote-storage DVR, “the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the legality in a decision that hinged on the degree to which the viewer had control over the technology.”
NBC has released additional details regarding its planned 3,500-plus hours of online summer Olympics coverage.
The Gold Zone video channel will automatically transfer viewers from a final in one sport to a live moment in another, with text commentary for each event.
NBC Olympics will work with Google+, Shazam, Instagram, Tumblr and GetGlue as social media partners. As previously reported, the network has announced deals with Facebook, Twitter, Adobe and YouTube.
NBCOlympics.com “will also include live streams of the Olympic content on four NBCU cable channels, rewinds of all the event coverage, news, highlights and athlete profiles,” reports Broadcasting & Cable.
“It will also feature multiple streams for certain sports, such as gymnastics or track and field that would allow the user to choose a stream dedicated to the long jump or javelin.”
Two apps developed by Adobe will provide digital coverage. The TV Everywhere app NBC Olympics Live Extra will feature live streams of all 32 sports for authenticated subscribers. Another, the NBC Olympics app, is offered to everyone, including those without a multichannel subscription.
“It has much less video content but includes groundbreaking ‘Primetime Companion’ features,” notes the article. “This will offer a variety of social media tools on Facebook and Twitter as well as trivia, polls, slideshows, videos and athlete bios that are synchronized to the live primetime coverage on NBC.”
We should expect to see an unprecedented amount of crossover between online social media and television broadcast coverage when the Olympics begin on Friday.
HBO has clarified that it is “not in discussions” with Netflix regarding a potential partnership.
The denial contradicts a statement from Reed Hastings, who had hinted that the companies may be ready to work together.
“HBO rushed to pour cold water on the possibilities that the Netflix CEO raised in a letter to shareholders, making it clear it had no intentions of making a deal with Hastings, who often singles out HBO as a chief competitor,” reports Reuters.
HBO offers original programming to its subscribers through the on-demand service HBO Go. Earlier this year, the channel opted not to sell DVDs of its shows to Netflix at the wholesale price it offers to retail operations.
“While we compete for content and viewing time with HBO, it is also possible we will find opportunities to work together — just as we do with other networks,” Hastings and CFO David Wells wrote in their letter.
Hastings told analysts the HBO reference was merely meant to highlight that “we’re just another network, and then when you have multiple networks, they often find ways of working together.”
The latest version of Apple OS X, Mountain Lion, just hit the App Store for $19.99.
“Of course, this round is download-only, so if you want to get your grubby paws on the desktop version of AirPlay Monitoring, Messages, Share Sheets and the rest of those 200+ features, this is the only way to do it,” comments Engadget.
Notable new features include: full iCloud integration, an all new Messages app (replacing iChat), the Notification Center, Facebook integration, Gatekeeper (for safer downloading), system updater Power Nap, and a faster Safari browser.
“People are going to love the new features in Mountain Lion and how easy it is to download and install from the Mac App Store,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of Worldwide Marketing. “With iCloud integration, Mountain Lion is even easier to set up, and your important information stays up to date across all your devices so you can keep editing documents, taking notes, creating reminders, and continue conversations whether you started on a Mac, iPhone or iPad.”
“Does Mountain Lion justify its $20 price tag? Yes. Of course it does. If you’re an OS X user with a reasonably new piece of hardware, stop what you’re doing and upgrade now. There are 200 features here — odds are you’re going to discover a couple you like,” notes Engadget in its extensive review.
“In our time with the new operating system, we experienced no major issues; just rare hiccups that can are likely to be fixed in a system update. Heck, even the installation went smoothly. Apple devotees will find a lot to like amid the long list of tweaks and new features.”
Trapit’s personalized Web search is now available for the iPad. Trapit launched in 2011 as a way for Internet users to customize Web searches in a Pandora-like style. Its free iPad version makes the most of touch interface design and personalization.
“Trapit was spun out of the same DARPA-funded project that spawned Siri, and uses the same AI technology, just applied to search discovery rather than a virtual personal assistant,” reports Digital Trends.
The review suggests that while Trapit works as a novelty as a browser app, it “really makes sense” for tablets and stands out based on its personalization and superior sources.
Trapit differentiates itself from other apps such as Flipboard and Zite that use social media to customize news feeds, by recognizing that users do not necessarily want to read what their Facebook friends are interested in.
As users read stories on Trapit, they can choose to save, share, or thumbs up/thumbs down the stories. This allows Trapit to personalize news based on the interests of the user rather than the interests of their friends. Additionally, Trapit pulls content from 120,000 sources (more than Google News).
Overall, the review notes a positive step for mobile search and personalization for tablets. “You’re kept within the Trapit app the entire time; links, video, photos, sharing — nothing will pop you out of the Trapit experience — a nice, fluid approach,” comments Digital Trends.
Thursday will be an important day for Facebook, when the company releases its first earnings numbers since going public.
“The stakes could not be higher,” suggests The New York Times. “Facebook made its initial public offering in May with an eye-poppingly high valuation, but its share price has stagnated since then. Advertising, largely in the United States, accounts for the bulk of its revenue, and the company is under intense pressure to show that it is growing fast enough to justify its high value.”
“Since the public offering, Wall Street has tempered its expectations for Facebook’s advertising revenue, and shares closed Friday at $28.76, down from their initial price of $38,” notes the article.
Facebook’s greatest asset is the personal data it collects from its 900 million users. However, Google takes in about $40 billion in annual revenue from advertising — 10 times Facebook’s current advertising numbers.
“Advertisers need more proof that actual advertising on Facebook offers a return on investment,” explains eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson. “There is such disagreement over whether Facebook is the next big thing on the Internet or whether it’s going to fail miserably.”
The behavior-tracking Facebook Exchange and targeted banner advertisements on gaming site Zynga are among the social network’s latest efforts in this space.
“Orbitz, the travel company, is among the advertisers that are trying Facebook Exchange,” explains NYT. “If it sees a consumer looking for, say, a business hotel in New York, Orbitz can place an advertisement for New York hotels on that user’s Facebook page, with the hope that the user will return to the travel site and make the booking.”
In its Q2 2012 earnings report, Netflix reports that its subscriber base for domestic streaming is 23.94 million, up from the 23.41 million it reported for Q1.
As continues to be the trend, numbers are going up for streaming services and down for physical DVD rentals.
This is true for Netflix, which “added more than 530,000 domestic streaming subscribers in the quarter but reported a decline of 850,000 subscribers to its domestic DVD service,” according to CNET.
“While that means the total number of Netflix’s net U.S. subscriptions shrunk by 320,000, the company still managed to increase the number of U.S. subscribers by 420,000,” explains the article. “The difference between subscriptions and subscribers is that ‘unique subscribers’ counts people and not the types of accounts. So, for example, if people dropped their DVD subscription they might have remained as a streaming customer and weren’t counted among the ‘net new subscription additions.'”
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has suggested that DVD subscriptions would drop. He’s right, of course, but “what’s shocking is that customers aren’t moving over to streaming at the same pace they’re dropping their DVD subscriptions,” notes the article.
According to CNET: “Netflix reported a profit of $6 million, or 11 cents per share, for the second quarter on revenue of $889 million,” marking a 91 percent decrease in profit from last year’s $68 million earnings.
“We have yet to see Hulu Plus or Amazon Prime Instant Video gain meaningful traction relative to our viewing hours, but as we continue to build a domestic profit stream they are likely to increase their efforts to gain viewing share,” says Hastings. “Redbox Instant by Verizon, once they launch, will face a big challenge to break into the top 3 of subscription streaming services.”
Coinstar subsidiary Redbox is finally getting closer to making its streaming service a reality.
“In February the DVD vending company announced a partnership with Verizon that would finally usher the Walmart staple into the 21st century,” and provide a streaming option for customers, reports Engadget.
According to the press release: “The venture’s services will offer all of the convenience, simplicity and value of Redbox new release DVD and Blu-ray Disc rentals combined with a new content-rich video on-demand streaming and download service from Verizon.”
Sources indicate that “Redbox Instant by Verizon” will enter an internal alpha this week, meaning it will begin to test out and fine-tune the service. A beta program is expected in the coming months before the service goes live sometime later this year.
“For consumers eager to have an alternative to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and HBO Go, the news is bittersweet in its hurry-up-and-wait nature,” notes Fast Company in a related post. “Redbox Instant will be a subscription-based service, as executives at both Coinstar and Verizon have indicated, but the company will still not provide any insight into subscription rates, studio content, or how the physical and digital parts of the service will be combined.”
The joint venture will be managed by newly appointed CEO Shawn Strickland, who formerly served as a vice president for Verizon FiOS.
Expanding upon its eCrime Unit founded in December 2011, California Attorney General Kamala Harris has announced the creation of the Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit.
“The Privacy Unit will police the privacy practices of individuals and organizations to hold accountable those who misuse technology to invade the privacy of others,” explained Harris in a statement.
“The creation of the Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit reflects growing concern among regulators at both a state and federal level that privacy in the information age hasn’t been adequately addressed,” reports InformationWeek.
“A series of online privacy controversies such as Google’s bypass of privacy controls in Apple’s Safari browser earlier this year and Apple’s compilation of unprotected location data on iPhones last year have piqued the interest of lawmakers,” adds the article.
The department aims to protect consumers by enforcing laws of online privacy, identity theft and data breaches — in addition to non-tech issues related to health, financial privacy and government records.
“Harris was responsible for working with Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, and RIM to form an agreement earlier this year that requires app developers to include privacy policies in an effort to promote transparency,” reports The Verge.
“The Attorney General’s office will meet with these companies soon to ensure their compliance with the California’s Online Privacy Protection Act, and has said that the state will sue companies and developers who don’t take the policy seriously,” notes the post.
Just how leery is the American public when it comes to information they read online?
A new study from Harris Interactive found that 98 percent of Americans do not trust information located on the Internet.
According to the survey of 1,900 respondents, 94 percent believe “bad things can happen as a result of acting on inaccurate information online.”
The top reasons for distrusting online content: too many ads (59 percent), outdated information (56 percent), self-promotional information (53 percent) and unfamiliar forums (45 percent).
“The 94 percent who worried that ‘bad things’ could happen were mostly concerned about wasting their time (67 percent),” notes Mashable. “Other fears included getting a computer virus (63 percent), losing money (51 percent), risk of fraud (51 percent) and damaging their credibility (36 percent).”
Google announced that its new Creator Space studio, part of its Soho offices in London, will provide YouTube partners with the facilities and equipment to make their video content look more professional and sophisticated.
