Hulu will unveil an original documentary series on August 17. “A Day in the Life” is produced by documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, and will be available exclusively on Hulu.
The half-hour show will follow the daily lives of celebrities, including business mogul Richard Branson and musician will.i.am.
Hulu is not the only online video site to venture into original programming. In March, Netflix announced an original series of its own: “House of Cards,” starring Kevin Spacey.
The series is Hulu’s largest and most ambitious original production, and will premiere as the service continues to court prospective buyers. Yahoo, Google, and Amazon are rumored to be potential bidders.
LG has announced a new 3D television that the Korean manufacturer says includes “flicker-free” technology designed to eliminate the headaches and dizziness sometimes associated with 3D sets.
The LW980S features a NANO Full LED backlit screen, a “magic motion” remote, TruMotion 400Hz refresh rate and conversion technology that makes 2D programs appear to be in 3D.
The LG sets will work with passive glasses that never need charging.
Pricing and availability of the 3D TVs, expected in 47- and 55-inch models, have yet to be announced.
Apple is rumored to be securing the rights to allow downloading of TV shows and movies in addition to previously announced music in a new service called iTunes Replay.
The service will allow users to access movies they purchased since January 1, 2009. Some content will only be available for download five times.
Streaming will be to Apple TV and most likely iOS mobile devices.
AppAdvice reports: “The name, iTunes Replay is currently being used internally, and is planned to be kept when Apple makes this public. You should expect this to go public in the coming weeks, as the necessary changes are being pushed to Apple’s servers at the moment.”
McAfee researchers say they have uncovered the biggest hacker attack ever, involving 72 governments and organizations around the world, including the U.S., Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, Canada and India — some dating back as far as 2006. Data compromised amounts to several petabytes of information.
The attack uses compromised remote access tools, or RATs, which allow system administrators to access systems from around the world and would allow an attacker to view and download confidential information. Some of those organizations and companies compromised still do not know it.
The attacker was not a hacker group but likely a “state actor” with very high skill levels (China is the “leading candidate”).
According to a blog post from Dmitri Alperovitch, McAfee’s VP Threat Research: “I am convinced that every company in every conceivable industry with significant size and valuable intellectual property and trade secrets has been compromised (or will be shortly), with the great majority of the victims rarely discovering the intrusion or its impact.”
CNET offers a largely positive hands-on review of Toshiba’s new glasses-free 3D laptop, the Qosmio F755.
A prototype of the 3D laptop was awarded CNET’s “Best of CES” award in January and Toshiba wasted little time bringing the concept to market (the post includes a video review of the prototype from CES 2011).
The $1,699 Qosmio F755 will be available in the U.S. starting August 16.
Toshiba’s new laptop “has a 15-inch 1080p display that uses special eye-tracking software to track the viewer’s head movement and adjust the stereoscopic image accordingly, via the built-in Webcam.”
Features include an Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU, 6GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GT540M, a 750GB hard drive and a Blu-ray-RW drive.
According to CNET: “Blu-ray content in 3D looked excellent, but took a resolution hit. Like a 3D TV, it requires a few moments to orient your eyes, especially if you’re not used to watching 3D content. But the eye-tracking allowed for a reasonable amount of freedom of movement, and the 3D effect worked from an off-axis side view.”
Comcast announced it will air special programming for its In Demand Xfinity 3D subscribers that features the final landing of NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis.
The 45-minute special, that also follows astronaut training in Houston and features 3D footage from space, is scheduled to air this Friday (August 5).
The footage was captured by Vertical Ascent Productions with a Panasonic 3D A-1 camera. The July 8 launch was recorded with unprecedented access, from just 500 feet away, and a Panasonic 3D A-1 was also on board the shuttle to capture the space footage.
The 3D special is part of In Demand’s “In Deep” series. Other In Demand affiliates will have access to the special.
Two new tablet devices aimed at children under the age of 10 will hit the market this month, providing parents with the option of no longer having to share their iPads.
Educational toy maker LeapFrog began accepting pre-orders last month for its new LeapPad (available August 15) — a $99, 5-inch device including 2GB of storage and a video recorder. Designed for 4- to 9-year-olds, the LeapPad features a touch screen and big buttons for little hands.
Additionally, Amazon is now taking pre-orders for a 7-inch Android-based touchpad called the Vinci, available later this month starting at $389. The Vinci tablet features a protective soft-cornered chassis, 512MB of RAM and a 3MP camera.
Neither tablet includes Wi-Fi functionality, so parents won’t need to be concerned regarding what their children might download.
While Apple has been working on the design elegance and overall quality of its iPhone, the existing business model with carrier partners has allowed the company to hide the true cost of the device in two-year contracts. Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 launch may change this model.
The company is rumored to be considering a $350 price point for an entry level unlocked iPhone.
T-GAAP reports: “The main purpose for such a device is to penetrate China and other regions which are not fond of subsidized programs. If Apple can deliver an unlocked iPhone starting at $350, the impact in China will be stunning, and send U.S. and European carriers scrambling.”
If this is the case, consumers would be able to purchase an iPhone from the Apple Store and select any prepaid plan of their choosing (such as an “all-you-can-eat $50 month-to-month T-Mobile or Cricket or Boost plan”).
Carriers would most likely push other phones, but it may be too late for that based on consumer demand. Their next move could be lower entry prices for the iPhone.
“Plan on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint offering two-year contract plans for the iPhone 5 starting at $149,” suggests T-GAAP. “Carriers wil be scrambling to protect a model that has done them so well for the past 15 years. However, Apple is about to pull it all apart with a single product launch.”
Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of the cable network MTV, which debuted at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981.
MTV launched modestly, originally accessible to a few thousand subscribers of a New Jersey cable system. Today, it is more of a lifestyle brand than a cable network, and reaches hundreds of millions of households worldwide.
The first music video aired on the new network was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles. Mashable reports: “The words were true. Almost overnight, the music video became one of the most important promotional and marketing vehicles for the music industry. Artists that best utilized the new format — Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince and Weird Al Yankovic — became not just stars, but icons. In short, video really did kill the radio star.”
Now the question has become, Did YouTube Kill the Music Video Channel? Mashable spoke to Shannon Connolly, VP of digital music strategy at MTV, about the evolution of the network and the impact that digital technologies have had on MTV. Connolly suggests that MTV has grown beyond the role of a music video jukebox to a new core competency involving curation.
Connolly added that the future of MTV is about creating multi-platform music experiences: “Everything is multi-platform. Every app, every partnership, we think ‘How is this going to extend from the tablet to the mobile to the connected TV.'”
The Mashable post includes a selection of videos that aired on MTV the day of its premiere.
Rovi Corporation filed suit against Hulu last week, claiming that the video site infringes on its patents for electronic program guides.
Santa Clara, California-based Rovi provides technology that powers streaming services from Blockbuster On Demand and Best Buy’s CinemaNow. The company also licenses its technology to others such as Apple, Microsoft and Comcast.
The digital entertainment solutions provider claims that Hulu’s infringement “presents significant and ongoing damages to Rovi’s business.” The company is seeking compensation for lost license revenue and treble damages.
As previously reported by ETCentric, Hulu has been offered for sale by its owners (Disney, News Corp., NBC Universal and Providence Equity).
Jell-O has unveiled a Twitter-powered billboard on the corner of West Broadway and Grand in New York City, enabling consumers to serve as active participants in the company’s advertising.
The billboard features an enormous distorted face that appears happy or sad depending on the number of positive or negative emoticons posted via Twitter.
It is essentially an outdoor physical version of Jell-O’s Pudding Face website, and is paired with a campaign that distributes coupons to cheer up random downcast Twitter users “whenever overall smileyness dips below 50 percent.”
The billboard, from ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, went up last week.
Renowned iOS developer Mike Lee announced on Monday a new venture called Appsterdam Legal Defense Team that will band together the small developers to fight against patent trolls.
Ars Technica reports: “The goal, aside from the obvious one of being free from frivolous patent lawsuits, is to become ‘the ants of East Texas, minding their business until someone invades their anthill.'”
Apple has licensed patents from Lodsys, which it says covers third party developers — but the infringement claims against iOS developers are continuing.
The result is uncertainty that could imperil these smaller developers and the developer community generally, not only for Apple but for Android and other platforms.
“This is bigger than just Apple platforms,” explains Lee. “Apple has the luxury and history of moving very slowly — they accepted a 60 day discovery, for example. Dozens of app makers could be destroyed by then. There is also good chance Apple can’t actually sue Lodsys, since Apple is under contract by Intellectual Ventures and IV probably snuck indemnity in there.”
“We’re going after Lodsys for sure, but understand the ultimate target is Intellectual Ventures,” Lee added. “They are the Mordor to these trolls.”
Researchers at UC Berkeley have found that digital music service Spotify is using a cache cookie method with ETags that still tracks when a user has ‘Private Browsing Mode’ enabled.
According to Digital Music News, the cookie technology “cannot be deleted, still tracks if the user blocks cookies, and even operates in browser stealth mode. In fact, if you try to delete this thing, the cookie dynamically regenerates.”
The cookie is powered by analytics platform Kissmetrics, which Digital Music News explains was also used by Hulu and others.
Spotify is reacting quickly, trying to head off a “Cookiegate” incident. “We take the privacy of our users incredibly seriously and are concerned by this report,” explained a Spotify spokeswoman. “As a result, we have taken immediate action in suspending our use of Kissmetrics whilst the situation is investigated.”
Google has purchased more than 1,000 patents from IBM, its most recent step in what the Los Angeles Times describes as “an arms race for patents.”
The acquisition is part of an effort to strengthen its intellectual-property portfolio and avoid legal assault.
It may also bolster the legal buffer surrounding its Android mobile OS court showdown with Oracle set for October.
Google has some 700 patents (mostly for search engine technology) while its competitors, especially those in the mobile industry, have thousands.
“Patents are instruments of war. Companies are acquiring patents to both defend their market share and to countersue competitors,” suggests technology patent valuation specialist Alexander Poltorak, chief executive of General Patent Corp. “Google neglected patents for many years because it did not realize that they were essential business tools. It can no longer neglect them.”
A U.S. District judge in Los Angeles issued a preliminary injunction against Zediva, favoring the Motion Picture Association of America in its copyright infringement lawsuit.
Dan Robbins, senior VP for the MPAA, calls the decision a great victory for workers in the film and television industry.
Zediva streams recently released DVDs to customers and claims it is no different than a brick-and-mortar rental service but operates over the Internet.
Judge John Walter concluded that Zediva violates the “transmit” clause of the Copyright Act. Zediva will appeal the decision.
