Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon announced today that its Instant Video streaming service has surpassed both Apple and Hulu in streaming video usage. Amazon cited a report from Qwilt, a company that tracks growth in online video usage. Assuming that the claim is correct, this would make Instant Video the third largest video site overall, behind YouTube and Netflix. The service offers an extensive catalog of content available only to Amazon Prime members at no additional cost to their Prime membership.

In the near future, we may see Instant Video rise even further. With last week’s launch of Amazon Fire TV set-top box, more people now have the chance to rent or purchase video content through Amazon. The set-top box will be the entry point for bringing those people into the fold, and Amazon offers enough content to make sure that it has something to suit everyones liking.

Amazon also continues to heavily invest in original content. Recently it ordered the second round of original shows, which have been able to generate a decent amount of buzz, but not more so than Netflix’s original shows. The company seems to be committing to making it big in this niche, and its taking it on from all fronts. How it continues to progress will certainly be interesting to watch.

Amazon Says Instant Video Has Surpassed Hulu And Apple , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Web, Amazon, hulu, Netflix,

JVC wants into the digital moviemaking business, and it’s kicking things off in style with a quartet of 4K camera prototypes that illustrate its cinematic ambitions. The highlight is the GW-GBLS1 (shown here), a gimbal-mounted Super 35mm camera…

Google’s Chromecast dongle wasn’t as “open” as it is today when it was first released late last year. The company was quick to plug a root exploit, which even killed apps that allowed streaming of local content. Since then the Chromecast SDK was opened up to all developers, and also later allowing streaming of local content via the dongle. At first, it didn’t support YouTube live streaming, neither through a desktop web browser or a mobile app. But now it does.

It appears that Google is slowly removing most of the restrictions it initially placed on the $35 dongle. Through a desktop web browser, users can beam YouTube live streams to the TV that Chromecast is connected to. For now the feature doesn’t seem to be working with mobile apps, its likely that this glitch may be fixed through an incremental app update. Google has also added the ability to play private YouTube videos through the dongle.

Though as yet it hasn’t updated the support page to show that this change really has been made, like it did for private videos. Nevertheless, YouTube live streaming is up and running, even if the support page hasn’t been updated yet. It is unclear when Google plans on releasing the Android app update which will also enable YouTube live streaming on mobile devices.

YouTube Live Streaming Now Supported By Chromecast , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Web, chromecast, Google, YouTube,

Mainstream media has been slow on the uptick in covering the U.S. government’s current investigation of ZunZuneo by
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy. If you are unfamiliar with the name,
it’s most likely because of the covert actions that led to the rise and fall of this enterprise. . .

The day many people might have been dreading is finally here. Its the end of an era as Windows XP meets its maker after 13 years. Windows XP happens to be one of the most popular OS iterations from Microsoft, so much so that even now nearly 30 percent of all PCs around the world are still running it. Since Microsoft will no longer offer support for XP, these users have to switch. Its relatively easy if you’re an individual user, but a massive headache if you’re a business with dozens of machines. Google offers a solution that sees it selling a lot more Chromebooks.

Until June 30, Google is offering $100 off of each managed device a company purchases through Chromebooks for Business. Moreover, it has even partnered with VMware and CItrix for additional offers, just for business users. Chromebooks are increasingly becoming popular due to their price and ability to run on low-end hardware. Since the OS is cloud based, it may not be a great option for businesses based in markets with unreliable internet.

However, Microsoft still has a major advantage. Its not easy to move people off the familiarity of Windows and Microsoft Office, which is one of the most widely used productivity suites. Chromebooks offer similar functionality, but diehard Office users might never be too compelled to switch.

As businesses rush to upgrade from Windows XP, the UK and Dutch governments have paid Microsoft millions to receive an extra year of support, provided that they upgrade to a newer Windows iteration within this extra year.

Google Leverages Windows XP Death To Sell More Chromebooks , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Computers, Chromebooks, Google, windows xp,