Twitter today made the latest push in its bid to cozy up to Madison Avenue and the world of big-budget advertising, by tapping more into the kind of mainstream mediums where advertisers like to spend their money. Today the big focus is TV and your living room. In New York, the company announced Twitter Amplify, a way of bringing real-time video into the site, with initial partners including the… → Read More
PlaySquare, a startup founded by a team of Emmy-winning children’s television producers interested in bringing “touchable TV” to the iPad, has found a new home and partner in their efforts thanks to an investment from Curious Pictures. The NYC-based production company, known for popular children’s programming like Disney’s “Little Einsteins,” Nick Jr.’s “Team Umizoomi,” HBO’s “A Little Curious,”… → Read More
Remember that FiOS home Media Server Verizon was talking about a year ago? Well, the company is finally starting to make things official, with an announcement and product details revealed today at CES. Launch date and pricing info still remain elusive, however. → Read More
Most TV commercials are poorly targeted and show things you’d never buy. But not for long. Gracenote‘s new ad replacement system combines viewing habits with personal info to show you more relevant commercials. Gracenote will demo it at CES and start trials in 2013. The rev-share is still in talks, but higher CPMs could enlarge the $70 billion TV ad market and give Gracenote and partners a nice… → Read More
Verizon updated its FiOS Mobile application for iPad, which now streams 75 channels of live TV. Unlike some of the mobile experiences Verizon has released in the past, the new application doesn’t require you to install software on your Mac or PC to act as the intermediary – instead, everything streams directly from the Verizon router in your home. → Read More
You might be familiar with the concept of the television being used to “babysit” kids. Back in my childhood days, my parents plopped me down in front of “Dukes Of Hazzard” and thanks to them, I really love the color orange. Go figure. The days of this television management style are over and I’m seeing trends towards more interactive entertainment thanks to the iPad and other mobile devices. The… → Read More
Editor’s note: Somrat Niyogi is the CEO of Miso.
Every time I turn on the TV, I see Twitter. Hashtags and Twitter handles are on TV shows. There are dedicated pages to world events like the Olympic Games. Even entertainment news reporting has been transformed because the general population can get in touch with what’s happening in the lives of celebrities instantaneously. → Read More
Editor’s note: Matt Cohler is a General Partner at Benchmark Capital. He’s responsible for identifying investment opportunities in Internet-related companies in addition to working closely with companies across the firm’s portfolio. You can follow him on Twitter here.
The global advertising market is big. Half a trillion dollars big in 2012. In the tech world we tend to think of the… → Read More
Here’s one reason why Apple may not be producing a television with its name blazoned on it in the near term: it doesn’t look like people have, so far, shown that much interested in them yet. According to a new report out from consumer researchers GfK, connected TV televisions are faring much better in markets like China, Brazil and India compared to the U.S., UK and other developed markets — with… → Read More
Online video — helped along by the rise of tablets, better broadband and a flood of content from YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and many others — has seen a huge rise in usage in the last few years; and while PCs remain the most common way to consume it, thanks to consoles like the Xbox, even TV screens are becoming popular for online video consumption.
According to a new study out from NPD… → Read More
What do you get when a team of Emmy winning children’s TV producers are introduced to the iPad? You get a company that has a whole new vision for the future of television. That company, PlaySquare, is working on something they’re calling “touchable TV.” It’s the idea that the child shouldn’t just be watching television, they should be interacting with it. And it’s not a second screen experience… → Read More
BSkyB, the UK-based, News Corp-controlled pay-TV provider, today posted record profits for the year, rising 14 percent to £1.2 billion ($1.9 billion) in the 12 months that ended June 30. Full-year revenues were £6.8 billion ($10.4 billion), a rise of three percent on 2011. Earnings per share were also up: they are now at 50.8 pence ($0.79), a rise of 22 percent.
While BSkyB has built its… → Read More
Two years after it was meant to go live, and with a list of backers that includes the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Arqiva, BT and TalkTalk, YouView today finally crashed the UK TV party. Available by the end of July with a selection of major retailers, the service is based around an all-in-one set-top box that you can use without a subscription, which includes 100 digital TV and radio channels… → Read More
It’s hard to find a live morning show or sports event coverage on TV these days that doesn’t feature tweets or Facebook comments from viewers. For most programs, though, getting those messages on air is actually more difficult than it seems and often involves custom software and expensive hardware. Vidpresso, which officially launches today, offers TV stations a far easier solution. All they need… → Read More
For anyone who’s loved to watch Twitter reactions or a liveblog of a big event on TV, this will probably come as no surprise. For advertisers and broadcasters who haven’t figured out how to capitalize on this, you are missing a trick: we are fast becoming a culture of people who love to use devices like smartphones and tablets while watching television.
According to the latest study from… → Read More
Verizon will be rolling out a new Media Server product for its FiOS customers late next year, which will be a single hardware device that will eventually eliminate the need for a set-top box altogether. The server will be capable of streaming HD TV to all devices in the home, including the TV, of course, but also gaming systems, mobile devices and tablets like the iPad. Although the company has… → Read More
As everyone knows, Facebook schooled the web last week, and expanded its territorial ambitions to the world of media. Launching with partners in print, music, and video, Facebook’s latest update pushes toward a world where consumption’s default has been switched to sharing, and social discovery sits not on the periphery of the media experience, but permeates it.
Zuckerberg presents this… → Read More
One of our own, Bre Pettis, will appear on the Colbert Report tomorrow night to talk about 3D printing, his handsome glasses, and new Makerbots. This is some seriously exciting news in that it proves that the geeks will inherit the earth. → Read More
Short version: Unbeatable value for the price. If you’re looking for a decent TV with a good picture and low price the LD450 is the one for you. No internet, no Skype but a 42” 1080p LCD television for $630? Sure! → Read More
Sources at Samsung revealed that they are looking at TV’s that incorporate Google’s Android OS in them. I’m not so sure I want a TV that is quite that intelligent. → Read More
Turns out that initial estimates on the number of 3D TVs to be sold this year were a little conservative. Revised estimates put the numbers as high as 2.5 million units this year, despite a lack of content and other channel issues. → Read More
Interestingly enough, the official Samsung firmware for several different models is based off the Linux kernel. This opens up a whole world of possibilities, particularly since many users feel that the current firmware is broken. The major problem is that the media player functionality is very basic, and missing key file types needed to make it useful. → Read More
Well, TV manufacturers are definitely embracing 3D for the home. Obviously it’s going to require the networks to jump in too, as evidenced by Sony and CBS building the “Sony 3D Experience” in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. → Read More
I don’t watch a lot of television programming, and I’m not particularly patient with the way “Big Media” treats me, the consumer. I really wanted to like Flash Forward, but it’s pretty clear that the show is more interested in hitting that 100 episodes mark to earn syndication than it is in delivering an interesting, gripping story. So I gave up on that, and on a lark decided to try Fringe, to… → Read More
Lest you think Microsoft isn’t serious about Windows 7, get this: on November 8th the company will be sponsoring a big commercial-free Family Guy special on Fox.
According to AdAge.com, “The Microsoft-sponsored variety show, whose working title is ‘Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show,’ is a mix of live-action ‘Family Guy’ musical performances, animated shorts… → Read More
It’s hard to get much attention at major conferences and it seems that Hi Tech Systems has figured out a way to make a bit of a stir. They created a steampunk console that uses their own products inside a case that looks like it belongs in H.G. Well’s sex toy drawer. → Read More
You may recall that exactly one week ago, your old buddy Doug got all bonered up about NFL Network and Comcast finally reaching an amicable agreement. In particular, it was starting to sound like Comcast subscribers would not only get NFL network at no extra charge, but that we’d also get the very-excellent Red Zone Channel for free as well. I mentioned that it “seems way too good to be true” and… → Read More
Which will be worse, the impending shift to all-digital TV or the impending pole shift that’ll wipe out most, if not all, life on Earth as we know it? Both are coming soon and both are causing people to panic, although the TV one is causing more panic thanks to the nonsensical commercials, non-stop news coverage, and the thought of not being able to watch TV. → Read More
Return to cookie mountain indeed, because a new programmed called Television for iPhone is now available and offers “50 shows from 30 channels” on demand. It’s not live TV – that would be hard – but it’s basically rehashed content CNN, CBS, and Comedy Central. Sadly, most of it isn’t the good stuff (Comedy Central – Standup Highlights, NBC –… → Read More
A little personal information about me: I’ve never seen a single episode of Lost. I understand it’s quite popular, though. A co-worker of mine at a previous place of employment was so adamant that I join the Lost-watchers club that she leant me the first season and then asked me every day what I thought of the show. After a month of not even taking the first disc out of the sleeve, I returned… → Read More
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