Reports indicate that an issue with Apple’s App Store was causing problems for its users this week. According to CNET, “Marco Arment, the creator of Instapaper, reported…that he was ‘deluged’ earlier this week by users who had downloaded Instapaper 4.2.3 and found that upon opening it, the application ‘crashed immediately.'”
The issue continued to plague users even after uninstalling and reinstalling the app. Arment also suggested that he’d heard of other app developers having similar issues.
“Arment found that the problem was due to what he said was a corrupt update Apple distributed through its App Store. According to Arment, the update he sent over worked just fine, so he quickly complained to Apple about the issue. Within a couple of hours, a new, reliable update was distributed and the problem was addressed,” reports CNET.
“I haven’t yet received a response from App Review, so I don’t know whether the fix was because I made noise, or simply because time passed, which may, for instance, expire a cache with the bad data,” Arment wrote in a blog post. “The only fix for people with bad copies, once good copies are being served again by the App Store, is to delete and reinstall the app.”
TechCrunch reports that Apple is aware of the problem and has been working to resolve it. “The short of it is that corrupt app store binaries, and possibly some problem related to Apple’s FairPlay DRM, is at the root of these mysterious crashes,” notes the post.
Apple issued an update late last night: “We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded. The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again.”
In a related report from International Business Times, Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab has reported an app named “Find and Call,” which it suggests is the first case of malware to enter Apple’s App Store. Reportedly also found in the Android Google Play store, the malware “steals your phonebook details and sends spam SMS messages to all your contacts, claiming to be from you,” explains the article.
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) announced this week it would purchase cloud-streaming game provider Gaikai Inc. for approximately $380 million.
“Through the acquisition, SCE will establish a new cloud service, ensuring that it continues to provide users with truly innovative and immersive interactive entertainment experiences,” states the press release.
ReadWriteWeb suggests that the acquisition “could completely reshape the way Sony interacts with the lucrative gaming market.” The Gaikai network could allow users to access games without the need for a dedicated high-end game console.
“Users of the free, ad-supported Gaikai service can play top-of-the-line video games on pretty much any Web-enabled device — including desktop browsers, Internet TVs, tablets and smartphones,” notes the post. “Gaikai promises to deliver a low-latency experience in gameplay even on platforms not necessarily built for gaming.”
While Sony may be looking to expand possibilities in gaming content delivery, implications of the deal go beyond such an endeavor.
“Cloud streaming services such as Gaikai and remote desktop service Splashtop are fast becoming popular ways to deliver digital content across the Internet,” indicates ReadWriteWeb. “Sony’s acquisition of Gaikai clearly validates cloud streaming as a delivery method.”
According to a Facebook post from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, subscribers to the video streaming site viewed more than 1 billion hours of video last month, marking a new record for the company.
“Congrats to Ted Sarandos, and his amazing content licensing team,” wrote Hastings. “Netflix monthly viewing exceeded 1 billion hours for the first time ever in June. When ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Arrested Development’ debut, we’ll blow these records away. Keep going, Ted, we need even more!”
Netflix is still working to repair the damage done last year after splitting off its DVD-by-mail service. This new milestone may be the result of those efforts.
“Netflix ended the first quarter with more than 26 million subscribers worldwide, which was a new high for the company and more than 1.5 million above the number it had in the fourth quarter of last year,” reports TechCrunch. “More importantly, its subscribers are engaged and watching a ton of video on the service.”
After Hastings’ announcement, the company’s stock rose 6.2 percent, its largest gain since May 23, reports Bloomberg. In total, Netflix stock has risen 4 percent in 2012 so far.
Tech journalist Larry Magid comments on the current transition of physical to digital media (notably books, CDs, DVDs) and its potential impact from consumer and cultural perspectives.
He notes that a lack of shelves housing our physical media may take away a viewable history of our hobbies, interests and education.
“The loss of this visible manifestation of who we are may be of little consequence to most people, but it’s a loss worth noting,” he writes, adding that books, CDs and DVDs are becoming endangered species that will eventually become expensive luxury items.
Magid points out that this is not necessarily all bad, citing the multiple conveniences of e-books and digital storage of music and movies.
However, he makes an exception regarding his record collection: “I do have a soft spot for LPs. Some say they have a warmer sound, but what I mostly like about LPs is the covers and the ritual of carefully placing them on the turntable and lovingly returning them to their sleeves. And there is nothing like flipping through those old album covers for a trip down memory lane.”
“I do think there will come a time when we won’t easily be able judge a friend by his book covers, but somehow society will endure,” Magid concludes. “Maybe we’ll have to settle for talking to people to find out what interests them or, perhaps, someone will create ‘an app for that.'”
Sam Biddle offers a compelling commentary via Gizmodo that questions several of the announcements made during the recent Google I/O event, suggesting the company “revealed an unsettling lack of human understanding.”
“We’ve had privacy concerns before, but could it be more? Could it be that Google just doesn’t get real people?” asks Biddle.
The keynote featured some interesting products including the Glass wearable computer, smartphone system Google Now, the Nexus Q social media streamer, and new Google+ parties.
“But underneath each of these feats of technology you could see a hollow, lurching weirdness that makes you wonder: Who will use any of this stuff besides the actors in Google’s promo videos?” he asks.
Google is indeed ambitious and its motives seem genuine in its efforts to make our lives better through technology.
However, Biddle questions whether Google, despite its intentions, is effectively focusing on today’s average consumers: “There isn’t any lack of effort or innovation here, but rather a gaping disconnect between the way data geeks and the rest of us see the world.”
“After attaining unlikely success as an open platform, Twitter is demanding that third-party apps show Twitter’s stream the way the company wants them to,” reports ReadWriteWeb.
“You need to be able to see expanded Tweets,” wrote Michael Sippey, Twitter product manager, explaining that those features make Twitter “more engaging and easier to use… These are the features that make Twitter Twitter.”
However, will the company risk destroying the culture that has grown up around it by squeezing too hard on third-party developers?
“Twitter works because people who love the service have built a culture on top of it,” notes the post. “They use what makes them happy.”
“In the past, people who weren’t happy with Twitter’s native offering were able to build something they liked better. If Twitter breaks that ability, the nature of the relationships built on its network will change. Features aren’t what ‘make Twitter Twitter.’ People are.”
Facebook is branching out to new areas such as e-commerce by exploring its own network for potential acquisitions.
The social network has more than 900 million users, a number that hasn’t escaped developers. Millions of apps such as social game maker Zynga got their start on Facebook.
“But as recent acquisitions of mobile apps Instagram and Karma show, Facebook is considering snapping up companies on its own platform — turning it into a potential competitor for other app developers,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
“How does it take advantage of commercial opportunities in its own ecosystem, without scaring off software developers?” asks the article.
Facebook is particularly interested in new approaches to monetizing its mobile site, although some analysts warn that acquiring companies that build on its platform could be a strategic error.
“I sure hope Facebook stays a platform and allows developers like us to be successful,” explains Hjalmar Windbladh, founder of gift-giving app Wrapp. “If you jeopardize that, your time as a platform has passed.”
“So far this year, Facebook has made 11 acquisitions, shelling out more than $1.5 billion for deals for which it has publicly disclosed terms, up from just $68 million last year,” notes WSJ. “The company has a lot more money to spend after raising $6.8 billion in its IPO in May, giving it about $11 billion in cash plus access to a $5 billion credit line.”
Online marketing firm Monetate reports that for the first time tablets are outpacing smartphones in the amount of traffic they drive to e-commerce sites.
“In the first quarter of 2012, tablet traffic to commerce sites hit 6.52 percent, overtaking smartphones (5.35 percent),” reports GigaOM. “In the last year, tablets’ traffic increased 348 percent while smartphones visits grew by 117 percent over the same period. Almost all of the traffic (95 percent) was from the iPad, said Monetate.”
The increasing popularity of tablets is also impacting the PC, which saw its traffic to e-commerce sites drop four percent in one quarter.
“Tablets are at an inflection point, where its coming into its own as a primary Internet portal,” explains Monetate CMO Kurt Heinemann. “It’s only going to grow at this point.”
“Monetate found that tablets converted visits into purchases at a rate of 3.23 percent, not far behind the PC at 3.51 percent and well ahead of smartphones at 1.39 percent,” notes the post. “Tablet users view an average of 11.07 pages per session, compared to 12.05 page views for PC users and 7.18 pages for smartphone users. And tablet owners add items to their cart at a rate of 9.66 percent, compared to 10.2 percent for PC users and 4.25 percent for smartphone users.”
In a related story from TechCrunch, NPD predicts tablet shipments will grow from 121 million today to 416 million by 2017, “when they will overtake notebooks to become the most popular mobile PC device, driven by a drop in costs and a rise in features. Overall mobile PC shipments will reach 809 million units by 2017, from 347 million today.”
This rise in tablets is also expected to lead to a decline in notebooks. “One takeaway from this: although Apple with its iPad line of tablets has dominated the tablet world in market and mindshare up to now, the space is far from penetrated, and that means that companies like Microsoft, Google and others still have a lot to play for,” suggests TechCrunch.
The era of passive television viewing is about to end as mobile computing continues to dismantle the traditional silos of media consumption.
We are no longer reliant on magazines for articles or the radio for music. “Content can be consumed and interacted with across multiple platforms of varying form,” notes ReadWriteWeb.
The greatest change in this regard is set to take place with TV. “The future is not in the hands of network television conglomerates, reality stars or video-streaming services,” suggests the post. “It is in the hands of the developers.”
Although meaningful change has yet to emerge from attempts to create Internet-connected TVs, this is about to transform as companies develop smarter applications to connect TVs, smartphones and tablets. The article cites Apple and Google as potential game-changers.
“When Google announced the Nexus Q last week at its Google I/O conference, it was with a wink toward the developers in the audience,” suggests the post. “Without directly saying so, Google expects developers to hack the device. They might turn the Q into a device that automates home utilities, or creates dynamic media experiences that connect smartphones and tablets to the television.”
Additionally, Brightcove recently released updates to its App Cloud platform that will help developers create dual-screen iOS apps that connect to Apple TV through AirPlay.
This solution “enables media publishers to develop rich content apps for the iPhone and iPad that simultaneously control content, data and information presented on an HDTV while displaying synchronized content on the iPad or iPhone,” according to the company’s announcement.
Mozilla’s open mobile project known as “Boot to Gecko” has been officially named Firefox OS.
According to Engadget, “Firefox OS will be positioned as a low-priced, entry-level alternative to leading mobile operating systems.”
“Industry support is growing behind Mozilla’s plans to launch a new fully open mobile ecosystem based on HTML5,” notes the company press release. “The operating system, which Mozilla today confirmed will use its Firefox brand, will power the launch of smartphones built entirely to open Web standards, where all of the device’s capabilities can be developed as HTML5 applications.”
Firefox OS continues to win over carriers “including Deutsche Telekom, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and Telenor,” reports Engadget. ZTE and TCL Communication Technology have already signed on to make phones based on the HTML5-powered operating system.
“The first Firefox OS powered devices are expected to launch commercially in Brazil in early 2013 through Telefonica’s commercial brand, Vivo,” explains the press release.
“The push toward HTML5 as a broader mobile platform comes at a time when some early advocates seem to be moving away from mobile Web applications out of frustration with their performance,” adds AllThingsD in a related article. “But Mozilla is doubling down on the Web. The named reference to Mozilla’s biggest brand is purposeful. Much as the Firefox browser targeted Internet Explorer, so Firefox OS is a major project meant to disrupt the existing smartphone leaders.”
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino Jr. yesterday ordered Twitter to turn over the tweets of an Occupy Wall Street protestor for use against him in a criminal trial.
“The Constitution gives you the right to post, but as numerous people have learned, there are still consequences for your public posts,” wrote Judge Sciarrino. “What you give to the public belongs to the public. What you keep to yourself belongs only to you.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has subpoenaed more than three months worth of tweets in its case against protestor Malcom Harris.
“Twitter had moved to quash the request from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, arguing that like email, Twitter users have a reasonable expectation of privacy under the fourth amendment,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “The judge disagreed, saying ‘if you post a tweet, just like if you scream it out the window, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.’”
“We are disappointed in the judge’s decision and are considering our options,” Twitter spokeswoman Carolyn Penner explained via email. “Twitter’s Terms of Service have long made it absolutely clear that its users own their content. We continue to have a steadfast commitment to our users and their rights.”
Bob Lambert forwarded this interesting commentary by Tom Foremski of ZDNet regarding how every company today is becoming a media company, based largely on the trend of constantly publishing via a multitude of channels.
“Every company needs to be able to talk and listen, and to master our two-way media technologies and publication platforms,” writes Foremski.
He cites Cisco as a pioneer in this area, a company that was leveraging RSS feeds, blogs, and top journalists as early as 2005.
Foremski notes that early in this process Cisco experienced significant traffic numbers: “It was greater than the combined traffic to several of the top industry trade publications. Wow! I thought: what happens when Cisco starts to cut back on the tens of millions of dollars it spends in advertising with these publications?”
The company just celebrated the one year anniversary of its online publication, “the network,” that employs a team of leading editors and journalists.
What makes its approach unique, perhaps, is that Cisco is more concerned with who is sharing the content, and not necessarily the total numbers. They are targeting the key decision makers who commonly control budgets.
“If you can reach a key decision maker like that, you can probably do the same for their counterparts in other organizations, too,” adds Foremski. “Buying millions of dollars in network equipment and other IT systems, will easily pay for the cost of producing a unit of media content.”
He suggests that quality of content is not an issue, but “the network” needs to improve distribution and promotion. But like other companies, Cisco is still learning how to become a media company.
Comedian Louis C.K. announced last week that he had sold 100,000 tickets for his upcoming tour directly to his fans in less than two days via his website.
The comedian, who has been successfully experimenting with distributing his content and stage performances online, decided to bypass major retailers such as Ticketmaster and StubHub because of the 40 percent mark-up often added to the final cost of tickets, reports Digital Trends.
“Tickets across the board, everywhere, are 45 dollars. That’s what you’ll actually pay,” wrote C.K. “In every case, that will be less than anyone has actually paid to see me (after ticket charges) in about two years and in most cases it’s about half of what you paid last year.”
“The benefit for me is that I won’t get angry emails from anyone who paid a ton of money to see me due to circumstances out of my control. That makes me VERY happy,” he adds. “The 45 dollars also includes sales tax, which I’m paying for you. So I’m making more or less depending on the state.”
In a related report, TechCrunch notes that C.K. has also taken steps to thwart scalpers. “You’ll see that if you try to sell the ticket anywhere for anything above the original price, we have the right to cancel your ticket (and refund your money),” writes the comedian. “This is something I intend to enforce. There are some other rules you may find annoying but they are meant to prevent someone who has no intention of seeing the show from buying the ticket and just flipping it for twice the price from a thousand miles away.”
C.K. kick-started direct online distribution in December with the successful release of his performance “Live at the Beacon Theater” for $5 via his website. Other performers such as Jim Gaffigan and Aziz Ansari have since been following his lead.
The MPEG Industry Forum announced last week that after 10 years it will merge with the Open IPTV Forum.
According to an email sent from the MPEGIF officers: “We have ‘declared victory’ and the activities of the MPEG Industry Forum are now being wound up. By the end of this month all remaining assets will be put into the hands of the Open IPTV Forum where you can access these through http://www.oipf.tv/mpegif.”
The group was first initiated in June 2000 in an effort to develop alternatives to MPEG-2. “Our task was to educate and evangelize an emerging standards based solution that became known as MPEG-4 Part 10, aka AVC, aka H.264,” notes the email.
“Our efforts drove in many directions including many informational events — the MPEG IF Master Class series — and, crucially, a series of important interoperability test rounds combined with some very active tech-lists (that will now be closed on July 1st),” reads the email. “Slowly but surely H.264 gained mind share and then market share and today is clearly the dominant codec of choice replacing MPEG-2 around the world. Hence the declaration of victory.”
Los Angeles is placing a new focus on technology and entrepreneurship, according to Investor’s Business Daily.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last week “announced a new business council with 25 local entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and business leaders,” notes the article. “His Council on Innovation and Industry aims to attract investors and spur the tech scene in the City of Angels.”
“The announcement comes four days after the local beach towns of Venice and Santa Monica hosted Silicon Beach Fest, a tech celebration featuring local start-ups, panels, workshops and mixers, with about 2,000 in attendance over two days,” reports IBD.
“Relative to Northern California we are undercapitalized,” says Zack Zalon, managing partner at business incubator Elevator Labs. “L.A. is an incredibly rich market of opportunity. It has a boundless creativity that exceeds anything I’ve seen in Silicon Valley, New York or Seattle.”
Creativity — especially in regards to online digital media content — has been largely fueled by the major entertainment studios, but until now the area has been hampered by a shortage of VC funding and a supporting community.
L.A. is experiencing a surge in support for start-ups from business incubators (or accelerators), the availability of facilities that start-ups can use to invent and work, and new programs at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles that “help students and graduates with business ideas and research,” says the article.
Investors are beginning to take note of the changes and VC funding is on the rise. ETCentric staffer Phil Lelyveld also notes that L.A. has a reinvigorated networking, crowd education, and social scene.
Reports indicate that an issue with Apple’s App Store was causing problems for its users this week. According to CNET, “Marco Arment, the creator of Instapaper, reported…that he was ‘deluged’ earlier this week by users who had downloaded Instapaper 4.2.3 and found that upon opening it, the application ‘crashed immediately.'”
