Hasta La Gadget!

Samsung’s desire for deep integration of TV services was painstakingly obvious when it unveiled the Galaxy S 4’s WatchON feature. However, that may prove to be just the tip of the televisual iceberg: it’s buying MOVL, the developer of Samsung’s own SwipeIt media sharing as well as the MOVL Connect Platform and KontrolTV. We don’t know exactly how the two sides will mesh, but MOVL expects to merge its connected TV savvy with the “scale and innovation” of its new overseer, according to a company statement at TechCrunch. The only safe prediction is that existing support for generic Google TVs and iOS will likely take a back seat.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: TechCrunch

YouTube held a Brandcast event in New York today for advertisers during which it was revealed that Dreamworks has acquired YouTube network AwesomenessTV, something that the video service says is one of its networks with the most subscribers. During the event, it was also revealed by Neilsen that YouTube trumps all cable networks in the 18 to 34 age range.

In addition to the acquisition announcement that was made at the Brandcast, some information on YouTube’s audience was provided by Nielsen, which revealed that the video service pulls in more viewers in the 18 to 34 age range than any cable network out there, something sure to catch the eye of more than a few advertisers. The aforementioned AwesomenessTV is one such network that helps bolster those numbers.

Perhaps it is for this reason that the ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment revealed plans to buy media from 32 channels on YouTube. Specifically, it has made plans to purchase family-friendly content, though additional information wasn’t provided, such as which content that represents or when the purchase will take place.

The Alliance for Family Entertainment, more commonly called the AFE, is composed of almost 40 advertisers across the nation, all of which, when combined, represent 37-percent of all money spent on TV advertisements in the United States. What all of this boils down to, says YouTube, is the so-called Generation C, which is composed of an audience fully entrenched in social media and content creation, influencing billions of dollars in consumer spending.

[via YouTube Blogspot]

YouTube reaches more young viewers than any cable network, says Nielsen is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

DreamWorks has officially acquired the teen-centric YouTube channel, AwesomenessTV. AwesomenessTV is touted to be one of the most subscribed to channels for teens, having over 14 million subscribers, 55,000 channels, and 800 million total views so far. DreamWorks acquisition of AwesomenessTV is the first major acquisition of a YouTube channel by a big media company, and it will help boost DreamWorks’s online presence.

DreamWorks acquihired AwesomenessTV for the price of $33 million, a figure that could rise all the way up to $117 million by 2015 if AwesomenessTV CEO and Founder Brian Robbins is able to hit his earnings targets in both 2014 and 2015. While DreamWorks gained AwesomenessTV, its main goal was to bring Robbins onto its team. Robbins will continue to operate the Awesommeness TV channel, but he will also be taking on an executive role at DreamWorks, where he will be producing a dedicated digital family channel for the company.

Robbins will have access to all of DreamWorks’s resources and IPs to produce the channel. According to Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks CEO, Robbins is a perfect match to build the company’s online presence and also its digital family channel because he “has an extraordinary track record in creating family content both for traditional and new platforms”. Robbins responded by saying that it’s an incredible opportunity to have access to DreamWorks’s resources and that he “can’t wait to get started.”

Robbins created AwesomenessTV last June, investing $3.5 million into the channel, most of which came from investors like MK Capital and DreamWorks. The channel was, as AllThingsD puts it, the next-generation of Nickelodeon because it targeted the young viewers of YouTube’s demographic. YouTube’s Global Head of Content, Robert Kyncl, stated that in a short amount of time, Robbins “built AwesomenessTV into a powerful, next-generation, audience network on YouTube.” Many speculate that this may be the start of an “incredible evolution of online entertainment.”

[via AllThingsD]

DreamWorks deals industry’s first major acquisition of a YouTube Channel is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Facebook and Parse have announced that they’re joining teams, effectively, as the social networking giant acquires the company known for backend infrastructure for mobile apps. As a selection of notes from developers has appeared in comments and forums surrounding the acquisition suggesting they’d leave Parse in fear of Facebook, Parse CEO suggests the opposite has been happening. Noting the service’s growth rate has increased by more than 9.4 times its normal rate, Parse CEO Ilya Suhkar has made a case for Facebook’s influence as wholly positive.

Parse developer user base sits at around 60,000 at the moment, and heads at both Facebook and Parse has been adamant thus far about making sure they know the full extent of Facebook’s influence in the near future. A statement has been released making it relatively clear that Facebook has no intent on changing the way that Parse-developed app data is used. Parse competitors are using this situation as an opportunity to drain the company of disloyal developers.

One example of a competing service looking to capitalize on the Facebook acquisition of Parse is StackMob. This company has created a set of import tools made to make the move between Parse and themselves as simple as possible, and Parse developers have suggested they’ve been contacted by other services since the announcement as well.

“Q: Will my Parse app be affected in any way? No.
Q: Will Parse apps have to use Facebook functionality? No.
Q: Will Parse honor my contract? Yes, of course.” – Ilya Sukhar, Parse CEO

In the acquisition of Parse, Facebook has claimed it will bring several next-generation tools to the fold, making Parse’s draw more powerful under the rule of the social network. Advertisement-selling features will be added for developers to make use of, and new Facebook login tools will be made much easier to work with, of course. Parse developers will also be able to work with Facebook’s Open Graph for mobile as well.

[via TechCrunch]

Parse Facebook deal sees developer boost in face of naysayers is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at natural language technology startup Wavii have confirmed the rumor that they’d been acquired by Google. This deal will have Google growing their efforts to allow users speak to their software and hardware in an more natural way, relying less on pre-set command lines and suggestions. This exchange has the entire Wavii team joining Google in what appears to be a completely well-recieved transaction.

With Google bringing Wavii onboard, the Wavii team has made it clear that their current services will be shut down and folded in to the big G. This situation will have no employees axed, it would appear, and Google’s services across the board lighting up with new technology in the near future.

As mentioned by TechCrunch, this deal is being seen by some analysts as slightly reactionary after Yahoo purchased the language summarization group Summly earlier this year. Have a peek at SlashGear’s report on the Summly acquisition now or forever hold your peace.

“You probably know us best for our app that takes the deluge of information streaming across the web and condenses it into fast, fun updates. While we won’t continue to offer this particular service, we’ll be using our natural language research at Google in ways that may be useful to millions of people around the world.

To all of our loyal Wavii users, we owe you a big thanks for all of your feedback and involvement throughout this journey. We look forward to taking our technology to the next level and delighting you with what we come up with next!” – Aoun

Above you’re reading the official Wavii announcement on the purchase as written by the team’s CEO Adrian Aoun. Stay tuned as the inception of this group makes Google become more understanding of the words you speak and type!

Wavii Google acquisition official in natural language bid is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.