May 13
May 13
Starting this week, ABC will live-stream shows via its Watch ABC app for iOS. This comes less than two months after The New York Times reported that the broadcast network was crafting up such a service, and ABC’s live TV on the go is indeed a first for the television industry. The new functionality comes via a “live” button in the mobile app, and it will initially be limited to paid cable and satellite subscribers in the New York and Philadelphia areas. With Hearst Television on board as ABC’s first live-stream affiliate, the network says it will expand the service to six more cities by this summer.
While it could still be quite some time before this offering hits your zip code (or OS of choice), it provides plenty of incentive for other networks to catch up — and quickly. CBS and Fox currently offer episode streaming through their mobile apps, but live TV is a huge differentiator. Notably, Aereo announced the expansion of its own live-streaming service today, but that company is already embroiled in lawsuits with several networks over alleged copyright violations.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Via: Gizmodo
Source: The New York Times
May 09
Netflix for iOS gets new post-play features for uninterrupted series-watching
Posted in: Today's Chili
It’s just been a few weeks since Netflix for iOS was suited with a novel audio menu and episode selector, but the app has now already reached version 4.1. While this particular release isn’t as major as, say, v2.0, some of the post-play features that have rolled out on TV connected devices and PCs are trickling down to the mobile platforms. Namely, once an episode is over, the next one starts playing automatically without any intervention required (it requires a prompt to proceed after every other episode). In the case of movies, you can expect to see a new recommended selection once the credits roll, and Netflix also promises some other more minor improvements elsewhere in the app, including under the hood tweaks to its second screen experience. Finally, Netflix also announced today that it’s signed a multi-year deal for five Disney Junior and Disney XD shows: Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Tron: Uprising, Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, and JoJo’s Circus.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Mobile, Apple
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: App Store, Netflix Official Blog
Apr 30
Nielsen preparing ‘Digital Program Ratings’ pilot program to track streaming viewers
Posted in: Today's Chili 
According to the Wall Street Journal, Nielsen’s TV ratings are about to get some company, with a system that covers internet watchers. A “Nielsen Digital Program Ratings” pilot program will debut with participation from NBC, Fox, ABC, Univision, Discovery and A&E, tracking the viewership of streaming video they post on their websites. AOL (parent company of Engadget) is also reported to be participating, as the networks compare the data to their internal statistics before the ratings system gets a wider rollout. Of course, even the system they’re testing will only jump so far into the future — while it will track viewing on computers, it’s still leaving out phones and tablets. Networks want to track anywhere content is viewed — one of the issues we’ve been told they have with tech like Aereo or TWC TV — to sell ads against it, we’ll wait for more details to see if they’ll have any success extending the current model to other types of screens.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Wall Street Journal
Apr 17
Forget music halls — Twitter thinks morning TV talk shows are where it’s at for product announcements. It used The Today Show last year to unveil a profile page redesign, and we now know it will rely on Good Morning America this Thursday to unveil something… “big.” But what does that cryptic clue mean? While logic would suggest Twitter Music given its semi-official status, we could also see TV in expanded tweets or something entirely unexpected. We’ll keep our eyes (and possibly ears) open.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Good Morning America (Twitter)
Mar 19
ABC, or the channel with Dancing with the Stars and Shark Tank as most people know it as these days, is reportedly working on a mobile application that would deliver a live stream of its TV programming. If it turns out to be true and ABC does deliver an application that would live stream its TV programming, it would be the first US broadcaster to do so, making it automatically cooler than FOX, NBC and CBS.
The live-streaming application would allow its users to watch ABC anywhere they go as long as they have an Internet connection, which already makes it a better deal than the apps produced by cable TV companies as they only allow you to watch live-streaming broadcasts while connected to your home wireless network. ABC’s live-streaming app would only be available to subscribers, which means those of you who watch the channel over-the-air will be out of luck. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: New Apple TV to come next year?, Sony NEX-7n’s Rumored April Announced Postponed,
Mar 19
According to unidentified sources speaking with The New York Times‘ media desk, ABC is currently working on a mobile application to bring its broadcast programming to mobiles and tablets. Unlike CBS’ offering, which offers a select choice of programs 24 hours after airing on broadcast TV via its mobile app, ABC’s is said to sync up with existing cable and satellite providers to provide live TV on-the-go — a first in the television industry. Beyond just offering cable and satellite customers a way to extend their viewing options, the app is said to potentially extend the reach of ABC’s ad network at a crucial moment when traditional broadcast network ad revenues are being threatened by other mediums taking a piece of the pie.
It seems that ABC’s parent, the Walt Disney Company, is looking to forge its own digital path when it comes to TV, rather than waiting for its multi-company partnership with Hulu to right itself. Disney and its several partners are said to be in talks to buy each other out; meanwhile, Hulu is left without captain at the helm.
Filed under: Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Household, Tablets, HD
Source: The New York Times
Mar 19
ABC is reportedly planning an app that will let cable subscribers stream live network TV to a tablet or smartphone, the New York Times says. More »
Mar 11
The ABCs of a Camera’s Guts
Posted in: Today's Chili
What’s lovely about this alphabet made from camera parts by London graphic design student Stefan Abrahams is that it organizes a camera’s beautiful internals as carefully as one should frame a picture. Each letter has a camera part, you can see the viewfinder as ‘D’ and the shutter curtain as ‘R’. More »
Jan 17
We know in your workplace, computers are as important as the coffee machine. We conduct a lot of our business on computers, and when they go down, we’re often left either twiddling our thumbs or playing games on our smartphones while we wait for them to come back up again. When computers go down at news stations, it’s a different story since the news never stops.
Andrew Kozak is a weatherman from Tulsa, Oklahoma’s KTUL-TV who was experiencing issues with his computer just moments before his scheduled weather update. Instead of telling his fellow anchors he would be unable to give Tulsa and its surrounding cities the weather update they’ve been waiting for, he took matters into his own hands and gave them quite the unique weather forecast that we’re sure they won’t soon forget.
Kozak literally drew out the entire segment one pieces of paper, even going as far as drawing out the complete 8-day planner and even remembering to include the sponsor’s logo at the top-right of the forecast. After watching him deliver his forecast in a cool and calm manner, we can’t help but think he deserves some kind of raise after his amazing hand-crafted segment.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Our Galaxy Note 3 Text Got Ripped Off And Made Its Way To YouTube In New Splog Format, DeLorean Hovercraft Caught In The Wild In San Francisco, 
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