Apple spin-off Apperian is hosting private-label iOS app stores for Cisco, Procter & Gamble, Estee Lauder and others.
Smarter Technology reports: “Apple’s over-the-air protocol enables any enterprise to bypass iTunes and create its own private-label application store, with complete IT control of provisioning, with Apple spin-off Apperian Inc. providing the necessary cloud-based hosting services.”
Apperian was spun off with Apple’s blessing in 2009. One year later, Apple’s over-the-air protocol became available.
Apperian CEO David Patrick says the service will also be adding Android apps in the future.
Spotify has finally launched its U.S. service — and similar to its widely popular European version, users can listen free to any track, on demand.
Users can opt for ad-supported free listening, a $5 Premium ad-free service, or a $10 Unlimited service that allows users to store music offline and use Spotify on mobile devices (the iPhone app is now available). Users can also share their playlists or subscribe to those of other users.
Spotify has a reputation for fast, almost instantaneous playback and a catalog containing millions of songs. It will also scan a user’s iTunes library for access to personal tracks in the Spotify app.
Although the Wired review suggests “Spotify is just cloud music done right,” it also points out some minor flaws: “Spotify’s recommendation engine, and its radio selections (supposedly Pandora-like auto-playlists) are pitiful. And there is also no sign of an iPad native version, over a year after the tablet’s launch.”
“Video Time Machine” is an entertaining and informative 99-cent iOS app from Original Victories, Inc. (compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad).
The app chronicles more than a century of compiled movies, commercials, TV broadcasts, and other moving images (the iTunes Preview description reads: “Watch over 10,000 hand-picked videos from 1860 to 2011”).
A simple interface enables users to select a year and then browse categories, including: news, games, sports clips, ads, movies, TV, and music.
For those more interested in entertainment surfing than a specific year or category, the app features a “random” button.
According to the Engadget post (which includes a video demo), all of the cataloged videos are available via YouTube, but the Video Time Machine “isn’t designed to simply mimic it; rather, the program’s meant to act more as a history lesson, giving us a unique opportunity to witness a slice of life.”
Nickelodeon is testing an interesting means of leveraging social networking this week by delivering SpongeBob SquarePants’ next adventure solely on Twitter.
SpongeBob will star in “The Ice Race Cometh: A Twitter-Tale,” a storyline that will unfold Tuesday through Friday in bites of 140 characters or less.
The tweeted project includes images to accompany the messages and will serve as a prequel to a new SpongeBob TV episode that premieres on Friday, July 15.
Twitter’s service terms do not allow children to have their own accounts, but Nickelodeon believes there is a significant overlap between tweeters and those who watch the series.
“SpongeBob’s fan base is so broad that about a third of its audience is adults, so we wanted to extend the show’s magic to new places like Twitter so those fans can experience it,” said Roland Poindexter, senior VP of animation and current series, Nickelodeon. “SpongeBob is already a big deal in the social media space, with 25 million Facebook fans, and we hope his Twitter debut will drum up some extra excitement for all the people who love him and the show.”
Clear Channel announced it is staging what is being billed as the biggest live music festival event in radio history.
The iHeartRadio Music Festival is slated for September 23-24 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The event will be streamed live on iHeartRadio.com, the new iHeartRadio app, and Clear Channel websites.
Hosted by Ryan Seacrest, the current lineup includes Sting, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Bruno Mars, Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj, Jane’s Addiction and more. Additional acts will be added in the coming months.
The new app, which will be ready for download in time for the festival, will offer access to 750 Clear Channel stations and customization utilizing technology from the recent acquisition of Thumbplay Music.
The iHeartRadio app plans to take on Pandora, “promising access to more songs, content, and more control, plus the ability to create playlists, and no commercials through the end of the year.”
Acer has announced that the new Gateway NV and ID series laptops will provide one-touch access to social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Social networking hot keys will activate integrated widgets that enable activities such as status updates, message posting, uploading media and more.
However, some laptop makers — including HP and Dell — suggest that hot buttons could potentially overwhelm users, and prove to be an unnecessary feature when software could easily do the job (in some cases, such keys are even being removed from business laptops).
Computer users spend on average one out of every six minutes of online time on social networks, according to comScore.
Onkyo has announced a $599 Blu-ray player with THX certification and 3D capability (available in August).
The DLNA 1.5 certified player also handles WMA, MP3 and DivX HD files.
The BD-SP809 offers streaming service access through Netflix, VUDU, Blockbuster On Demand and Film Fresh.
Network connection is via the Ethernet port since there is no indication of Wi-Fi connectivity.
The player offers 1080p upscaling and features two outputs for simultaneously connecting a 3D TV and a 1080p projector.
Onkyo may face stiff competition from other 3D Blu-ray players that have Wi-Fi connectivity and expanded access to streaming services such as Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant, Crackle and Pandora.
Electronista reports that Microsoft is considering a subscription video service to be branded under the Zune name.
The rumored service is expected to be separate from the live Xbox TV service recently announced at June’s E3 Expo.
The Zune service may be modeled much like the current pay-per-title store and compete with the likes of Netflix.
It would “most likely” offer videos to stream on Windows Phone 7 smartphones and Windows PCs.
“Whether or not it would follow the traditional month-to-month plan, integrate with the Zune Pass, or bolt on to an Xbox Live Gold subscription wasn’t as evident.”
In what appears to be a slight departure in strategy, Netflix announced it is offering an unlimited DVD rental plan for those who want to avoid streaming content.
Subscribers can now pay $7.99 per month for unlimited DVD rentals under the new offering.
Prior to this plan, Netflix subscribers had a choice of “$4.99 a month for one DVD out at a time (up to two a month) or $9.99 a month for one DVD out at a time with access to Netflix Instant.”
This model may surprise some, considering CEO Reed Hastings has been touting streaming delivery of late, highlighting the fact that subscribers were accessing more streaming content than physical media for the first time in his company’s history.
It may also be surprising to some since the streaming service recently became the largest source of Internet traffic and the company is planning to produce exclusive online content.
Nearly a quarter of Generation Y viewers are now opting for Internet-connected TVs over broadcast.
A new survey from Knowledge Networks indicates viewers 13 to 31 are more likely to cut the cord than other generations.
Of this demographic, 44 percent still watch regular prime-time broadcasts, compared with 66 percent of baby boomers.
It is interesting to note that Generation Y also uses DVRs significantly less than Gen Xers.
Multichannel News asks: “Will the younger generation at some point subscribe to ‘real’ TV? Or do their current media-consumption habits point toward an eventual decline of traditional television viewing?”
Georgia Tech researchers have developed an energy-harvesting device that can collect power from various sources including radio and television transmitters, cell phone networks and satellite communications systems.
“We are using an ultra-wideband antenna that lets us exploit a variety of signals in different frequency ranges, giving us greatly increased power-gathering capability,” explains Manos Tentzeris of Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
The device has the ability to capture energy from a range of banks, convert the energy from AC to DC power, and then subsequently store it in capacitors and batteries.
The team hopes that the device could provide a new means of powering networks of wireless sensors, microprocessors and communications chips.
BBC News reports that police in the UK are planning to use new laser scanners at the location of serious motor vehicle accidents to create 3D images of the sites and, in turn, clear the roads more quickly for other motorists.
It is expected that the technology will save the time required to “painstakingly log everything at the scene” and will save the economy hundreds of thousands of pounds each year.
The 3D laser technology uses a special tripod-mounted scanner that records a 360-degree image of the crash site down to a resolution of less than one millimeter. Each sweep takes about four minutes.
ETCentric contributor Phil Lelyveld comments: “This technology could be useful for location scouting for 3D shoots, as well as recording positions for later reshoots.”
Crescent Inc. recently demonstrated its new head-mounted VR system at Japan’s 3D & Virtual Reality Expo.
The Immersive Digital Entertainment VR system provides a full 360-degree virtual environment accessible through the head-mounted display in what Engadget describes as “like a Virtual Boy that your wear.”
The system uses Virtools real-time rendering technology, image analysis technology, and a Vicon motion capture system in order to capture users’ movements and the items they interact with in the VR space.
An array of HD motion capture cameras make the “virtual reality that much less virtual (and in turn, that much more reality).”
The post includes a video report featuring an interview with Takahiro Akiyama who worked on content development. He is CEO of 4D Brain and former visual effects art director for the film “Final Fantasy.”
For the future, Akiyama envisions a new form of entertainment that integrates biofeedback within such a VR system.
Virtual advertising is making its way into re-runs.
An episode of “How I Met Your Mother” (that originally ran on CBS in March 2007) recently aired in syndication featuring a magazine cover that mentions a new movie, “Zookeeper.”
The Kevin James comedy that appears in the four-year-old episode premieres today.
The digital ad is an example of “virtual advertising” that inserts messages into video that wasn’t originally there — not a new technology, but perhaps an interesting approach for repurposed content.
The article includes links to images before and after the digital insertion.
