CBS announced yesterday that it would likely offer programming from premium cabler Showtime via a streaming service for viewers who do not pay for TV subscriptions. The move follows the launch of a service for the CBS broadcast network and news of HBO’s standalone service. Meanwhile, CBS News is expected to announce a video streaming service today. CBSN will reportedly be distributed via broadband as an effort to attract viewers who are increasingly turning to social media and mobile devices for their news. Continue reading CBS to Offer Showtime and CBS News as Streaming Services

Microsoft Band is a new wrist-worn device that works with an online service called Microsoft Health. The service will analyze personal health and exercise data collected by the band and other devices. The display on the black rubber bracelet will show text messages from a cell phone, Facebook alerts, and barcodes that allow people to pay for things with a swipe of their wrist. The device will track heart rate, sleep quality, and calories burned using optical sensors rather than less accurate audio sensors. Continue reading Microsoft Band Joins the Health and Fitness Wearable Market

Kris Sanchez, one of the top 100 influencers on Twitter, makes $500,000 a year from sponsored links alone. Social Reactor, a company that matches social influencers like Sanchez with advertisers, supplies galleries and sites that Sanchez links to in his tweets. With this model, he is paid per click that those pages receive. Branded deals with companies such as Ford and Paramount have been very lucrative for the 23-year old. He also makes money through mobile apps. Continue reading Social Influencer Makes More Than $500K a Year via Twitter

With social media, fans have the opportunity to play an important role in the creative process of producing TV shows and YouTube series. At Variety’s Entertainment and Technology Summit earlier this week, the executive producers of the TV shows “Arrow” and “Awkward,” along with the duo behind the online video series “Smosh,” discussed the way they balance taking input from fans while sticking to their own artistic vision, casting decisions, plot twists and more. Continue reading Social Media Provides Helpful Feedback for Show Producers

Twitter has traditionally relied upon other apps to help make its service more accessible. However, after it largely cut third-party access to the Twitter API, many developers were put off. Today the social media company is hosting its first developer conference in four years. Twitter is expected to announce Fabric, a suite of tools aimed at making programming easier. Rather than focusing on apps that build on Twitter, executives will speak more generally about app development.

Continue reading Fabric: Twitter to Introduce New Suite of Development Tools

The CNNgo app for tablets and desktops may just be what the future of television will look like. The app opens automatically to a live feed of the current show airing on CNN, and along the bottom, viewers can browse video, text, tweets, and photos related to the live programming. Another menu shows segments about different topics from the past couple of hours or days. The app abandons the traditional linear and often problematic model of consuming television news. Continue reading CNN App Combines VOD and Live TV on One Second Screen

Tumblr is teaming with TV shows to explore new ways to reach audiences. NBC’s “The Voice,” Fox’s “MasterChef” and AMC’s “Halt and Catch Fire” are among the programs using Tumblr for second screen engagement. Networks are posting preview clips and sharing recipes on Tumblr. “The Voice” has incorporated animated illustrations from Tumblr artists onto its set, and has invited Tumblr bloggers backstage. Yahoo is hoping that integration with TV will help grow Tumblr and justify its $1.1 billion price tag. Continue reading Yahoo’s Tumblr Teams Up with TV Shows for Fan Engagement

One of France’s largest banks, Group BPCE, is teaming up with Twitter to let their customers transfer money to friends or charities via tweets. Payments will be managed by the bank’s S-Money service that allows transfers via text messages and uses credit-card security standards. Twitter users can also now listen to select iTunes and SoundCloud tracks via a new audio feature launched last week. Users can listen to music while reading tweets, and even buy tracks directly from the iTunes store. Continue reading Twitter Launches Money Transfers and Access to Music Tracks

This year’s edition of Interbrand’s “Best Global Brands” report places Apple in the No. 1 spot as the world’s most valuable brand for the second year in a row. Apple and No. 2 brand Google knocked Coca-Cola to the No. 3 spot last year. The top three positions are the same for 2014. The report, which provides a ranking of the top 100 valuable global brands, list a growing number of technology brands. Microsoft, Samsung and IBM are listed in the top 10, while Intel, Cisco, Amazon, Oracle and HP are in the top 20. Continue reading Report: Apple and Google Battle for Top Spot in Global Brands

According to the latest rankings from Product Hunt, an app that tracks what digital products are trending, teenagers are migrating from traditional social media outlets and spending more time with apps that help with productivity. Rather than spending most of their time on Twitter and Facebook (and its recently acquired WhatsApp messaging app), teens are turning to apps that involve photo sharing, streaming music, and productivity services related to areas such as to-do lists, online classes and résumé tutorials. Continue reading Products Teens Love: Facebook and Twitter Should Take Note

Social network Twitter filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday, seeking to bring more transparency to government surveillance. Twitter wants the government to ease restrictions on what tech companies can publicly disclose about the government’s national security-related requests for user data. The company alleges that these restrictions violate the company’s First Amendment rights. This is the latest in a series of battles over online national surveillance. Continue reading Twitter Sues U.S. Government Over Surveillance Disclosures

Cisco announced last week that the Internet requires a greater amount of control, and companies will work with governments to make that happen. Cisco and its partners have been developing the “Intercloud,” a proposed network designed to enable the next generation of standardized cloud applications by offering high performance, improved security and more control. The network intends to help companies comply with regulations involving the data that moves within their borders. Continue reading Cisco’s Intercloud and the Argument for More Internet Control

Twitter is investing $10 million in MIT’s Media Lab for research purposes. The company will also provide researchers with the archives of every public tweet, along with the real-time feed. The researchers will attempt to understand how information spreads on social media platforms like Twitter. MIT will use the investment over a five-year period to build tools involving data visualization and mobile apps. This is the first investment that Twitter has made for academic research. Continue reading Twitter Helps MIT Study Spread of Information via Social Media

Facing new competition in the mobile payment space, including the recently unveiled Apple Pay, eBay announced yesterday that it plans to spin off its PayPal business into a separate publicly traded company in late 2015. This is an about face by the online retailer, which had defended keeping the companies together after investor Carl Icahn aggressively pushed for a separation. EBay now says that a split will provide both companies with better competitive positions and allow them to focus on strategy. Continue reading Course Reversal: eBay Plans to Spin Off PayPal Biz Next Year

ABC relaunched its streaming WATCH ABC app last week with new features that allow viewers to multitask on social networks while they are watching shows. Big data showed that only a small amount of people using their mobile devices while watching TV are actually discussing the shows online or interacting with anything related to the shows. Facebook and Twitter integration in the update is designed to make it easier for viewers to check social media and share their favorite scenes and episodes. Continue reading ABC Reimagines Second Screen With its WATCH App Update