The $35 Chromecast dongle launched by Google in mid-2013 was one of the best products from the company last year, thanks to its affordable price and digital content streaming features. The device, officially available only in the U.S. for now, will hit international markets later this year, with Google already working on adapting the product for new markets. More →
Uncarrier CEO John Legere was Uninvited from AT&T’s big CES 2014 bash for developers on Monday when staff running the event threw him out after he crashed the party. Legere, who is known for publicly taunting AT&T on Twitter, on stage at events and when any other opportunities arise, says he attended AT&T’s CES party on Monday night only because he wanted to see the headlining act, Macklemore, perform. When people began to tweet pictures of themselves with Legere at the party, however, the event staff was made aware of his presence and they approached him. More →
Football fans who want to watch this year’s Super Bowl XLVIII online on their computers and mobile devices will be able to do so, Variety reports, as Fox Sports will offer online live streaming to this year’s football championship event. The free coverage will start on Sunday, February 2nd at 6:30 p.m. on foxsportsgo.com but also on the FoxSportsGo application for the iPhone and iPad, and will include the halftime show featuring Bruno Mars. More →
While Game of Thrones took home the official title of the most pirated TV show of 2013, the most pirated film of the past year was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, TorrentFreak reports. The first episode of The Hobbit saga was downloaded an estimated of 8.4 million times on BitTorrent networks from January 1st to mid-December 2013, according to the publication’s sources which include download statistics from public BitTorrent trackers. However, the numbers do not include data from online streaming sites and cyberlocker downloads. More →
Apple on Tuesday was awarded a patent for a head-mounted display that doesn’t really resemble Google’s smart Glass project whether we’re talking about design or features. Discovered by Patently Apple, the new patent describes an elaborated goggle system that may resemble ski of motorcycle goggles that come with specific entertainment features in mind, allowing the user to enjoy an immersive video watching or gaming experience in those instances where projecting a movie or a game on a bigger display isn’t an option. Instead, the device would project a virtual large screen in front of the user’s eyes, which would be available only to the person wearing the goggles. Oculus VR’s Oculus Rift is a popular gaming-related project that aims to bring virtual reality gaming action to players through a similar goggles system. Valve is also working on its own virtual reality solution for its Steam Machines. More →
Microsoft on Wednesday launched its Xbox Video service on the web at XboxVideo.com, allowing users to watch movies and TV shows in the browser, using the Silverlight plug-in. There are “more than 300,000 movies and TV episodes” to choose from, the company announced, and they can be watched on the Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows 8.1 tablets and PCs, but also on other operating systems, Macs included. A Windows Phone application for the service isn’t available at this time, but the company says it’s coming soon. More →
Google has its own streaming music service now that “Google Play Music All Access” is available, but the company may soon look to double down and launch a separate streaming service aimed at a younger crowd. The company recently released an update to its YouTube app for Android, and the new build was subsequently picked apart and examined by developers. According to Android Police, several references to a “Music Pass” service were found in the app’s code along with references to background music playback, offline playback and an ad-free listening experience. Several earlier reports have stated that Google’s YouTube plans to launch its own music streaming service, and it looks as though the service’s debut is fast approaching.
The Xbox Live Gold subscription is gaining a little bit more value on the Xbox One. Microsoft’s Albert Penello confirmed on Twitter that Xbox One owners will not be required to sign up for a subscription to Xbox Music in order to use the service. Much like Pandora, iTunes Radio, or any similar streaming service, Xbox Music will have a free, ad-supported option, matching up with Xbox Music’s current offerings on Windows 8.1 and music.xbox.com. This has not been the case on Xbox 360, which does require a paid subscription to access Xbox Music. Microsoft has yet to announce whether or not the free option will be migrating to the 360 as well. More →
The Digital Entertainment Group noted recently that even though American household spending on home entertainment was flat year-over-year in the third quarter, there were dramatic shifts between different categories. BGR sister site Deadline reports that sales of discs, digital movies and television programs declined by more than 7%, while rentals were up by more than 16%. Americans are rapidly turning from owners of content into renters of content. This is not necessarily great news for Hollywood, since selling a $40 disc is far more profitable in the short term than renting a movie on demand for $1.99. Yet in the long term, rental income could turn into a torrent if it keeps growing rapidly enough. More →
Although iTunes doesn’t let users stream video as Netflix and Hulu do, it’s still the favorite digital video platform in the United States. A new survey conducted by analytics firm ForeSee shows that Apple’s iTunes has the highest customer satisfaction out of any major video platform, followed very closely by HBO GO, Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. While this may seem counterintuitive since iTunes forces users to download the shows they watch onto their computers, ForeSee says that “users want fast page loads and are dissatisfied when error messages or playback issues occur,” which helps iTunes because it “bypasses… performance issues” normally associated with video streaming. ForeSee’s full press release follows below.
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In some ways, Sweden is the chilly laboratory of the global music industry. The local hero, Spotify, took over the country already at the end of 2011 as the cool animation by Digital Music News demonstrates. In 2009, streaming music was just 7% of music sales in Sweden. In 2013. streaming had exploded to 70% of the entire music industry sales. As the streaming revolution took off, something curious happened in Sweden: National music sales started growing robustly again, from $150 million in 2012 to nearly $170 million in 2013. More →
When Apple was engaged in long, protracted negotiations with record companies over terms for its iTunes Radio service, many assumed that the company was trying to get copyright owners to take less money per song play than competing Internet radio service Pandora. The Wall Street Journal reports that this is not the case, however, because Apple is paying out $0.13 per song play, or 1 cent more than what Pandora pays out. In addition to royalties paid per song played, Apple is also dishing out 15% of its advertising revenue over the first year of its contract and will bump that number up to 19% of advertising revenue in the second year of the deal. The Journal also says that Apple is also “offering music publishers more than twice as much in royalties than Pandora does,” so it seems that iTunes Radio has the potential to be much more lucrative for record companies going forward.
