Hasta La Gadget!

Hoping to trade in your expensive cable or satellite plan for a nice, juicy melon ball of cottage cheese-like… we mean, a portable Hulu Plus subscription at $10 a month? Not so fast, my fine fingered friend, because Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has revealed that killing cable is not a part of the company’s evil plan, and he’s not entertaining any ideas to the contrary. Kilar told AllThingsD that the service is “broadcast-focused” and “complementary to your cable and satellite service” by design, which is a nice way of saying the incestuous relationships between cable companies, content providers and Hulu itself keep it from offering premium programming — at least, not at this sort of price.

Speaking of getting what you pay for, you may be surprised to hear Hulu Plus displays advertising even if you slap down currency every month, but the CEO said lengthy consumer research found that users were more willing to pay if the service were partially subsidized by ads. Think of them as tiny little brain tenderizers, and we’re sure you’ll be just fine.

Continue reading Hulu CEO: we’re ‘complementary’ to cable

Hulu CEO: we’re ‘complementary’ to cable originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scene: Impossibly mature high school “girls” mingling in front of a locker. Action!

Bitter Barbie: “What are you doing? Is that a new phone?”
Bland Barbie: “Yeah, I’m checking my Kin. I’ll just write on Hannah’s wall from here.”

End scene.

Yes, ABC’s new Pretty Little Liars show is the future of American television, where entertainment morphs into infotainment and bakes the minds of an entire generation into a lovely pie of corporate servitude. We blame TiVo. Oh, and just because Palm quit making creepy commercials doesn’t mean that they’ve given up on promoting its Pre to women. Looks like Roger McNamee was right about that backside mirror’s appeal. See what we mean in the PLL episode 3 embeds posted after the break.

[Thanks, Dave]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: Pretty Little Liars is TV’s newest home to egregious product placement (video)

Screen Grabs: Pretty Little Liars is TV’s newest home to egregious product placement (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Driving in California could get a little more annoying in the coming days. The Legislature of the state that brought you Brody Jenner and Spencer Pratt is now considering a bill which would allow the beginning of research into electronic license plates for vehicles. The new-fangled plates would look just like regular ones when a vehicle was in motion, but would flash awesome advertisements and other messages when stopped for more than four seconds. One San Francisco based startup, Smart Plate, is already hard at work on developing just such a device, but they’re not in production yet. The measure is seen largely as a money making scheme for California, which — like nearly everywhere else in the world — is heavily in debt after several years of hard partying and irresponsible shopping trips. Parties interested in advertising on the plates would apparently contact the California DMV directly (then wait in line for 12 to 14 hours before submitting their preliminary application for ad space). If approved, the DMV will be required to submit its research and findings to the Legislature by January of 2013. Here’s to the future!

California considers electronic ads on license plates, we consider never moving there originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well this can’t be tremendously surprising. Apparently American Beauty director Sam Mendes is in the process of putting together a series of commercials for Apple’s next iPhone, which according to a tipster is being referred to internally as the Mammoth / N90. Besides that tip (with a handful of juicy details), a trusted source has confirmed to us that the ads will feature at least one spot where a mother and daughter are having a video chat conversation using the new front-facing camera that’s been spied on the face of that iPhone floating around Vietnam and Northern California. Adding weight to this story, a cursory search on Twitter revealed that there’s at least one actress who is up for a role in the “f***ing apple commercial” in New York, and another fellow who is auditioning for spots in California. We don’t know much more than that, but we’re fairly confident that this confirms video chat is coming to the next iPhone, and that that said iPhone isn’t very far from our grasp. Remember folks, June 7th is just a kiss away.

Continue reading Confirmed: Apple’s next iPhone will have video chat, feature to be shown in ads directed by Sam Mendes

Confirmed: Apple’s next iPhone will have video chat, feature to be shown in ads directed by Sam Mendes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 May 2010 22:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh man, The Onion really outdid itself this time. Its latest tech parody takes on ad-supported phones from Google meant to drive down the device’s cost. Funny, because it’s true. Users won’t even remember a time when they didn’t have a second voice whispered in their ear.

P.S. The Yahoo dig at the end is classic.

Continue reading The Onion: Google ‘whisper ads’ detect keywords in phone calls (video)

The Onion: Google ‘whisper ads’ detect keywords in phone calls (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 03:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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