Hasta La Gadget!

VEVO has just launched a new service that will bring back the good old days of MTV (before it became a network filled with terrible reality TV shows). The new service is called VEVO TV, and it’s a 24-hour live music video streaming service. The stream will be composed of new artists, new songs, popular hits, various genres, live concerts and more. VEVO is becoming the Pandora of music videos, bringing viewers their favorite music videos while also exposing them to new material.

The new service will not be using an algorithm. The service has a designated team to help run it 24 hours a day. According to the VEVO’s Senior Vice President of Product and Technology, there will be a lot of heavy lifting occuring behind the scenes. The team has to keep track of the live feed by attaching “metadata” related to the content. Meaning they have to change and adjust information according to the content currently played so that users will be able to, for example, share the correct content to their social feeds and save the right content to their playlists.

VEVO TV is just a start of things to come. In the future, the service can expand to become multiple channels dedicated to a certain category. There could be a channel dedicated to only live music, another for new up-and-coming artists, and several for the various music genres like Rap, Country, Reggae, Pop, and more.

VEVO TV will not be limited to just the PC. Viewers will be able to access the live streaming service from a variety of devices like their Android, iOS, or Windows phones and tablets. The content will also be available through internet TV boxes like Roku, as well as game consoles. VEVO TV brings back the retro MTV, which used to be THE network for watching non-stop music videos.

[via TechCrunch]

Old school MTV gets reincarnated as VEVO TV is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Starz may have started out as a premium cable network that only offered older movies after they were available on the more popular pay channels such as HBO and Showtime. However, Starz is now a network that offers films before other premium pay channels get them and has some cool original series such as Spartacus and others. Starz has announced a new multiyear agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The agreement between the two companies will give Starz exclusive pay television rights to Sony Pictures theatrical releases through 2021. The two companies had an agreement in place previously that would expire in 2016. Starz has been getting movies from Sony Pictures first since 2005. Sony Pictures owns some of the biggest movie studios out there including Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics, TriStar, and Screen Gems.

The new agreement covers movie content for all Starz platforms including Encore networks in SD or HD, subscription video-on-demand services, and online streaming services. That means the films will be able to be offered on Starz Play and Encore Play. Encore will be landing some very good movies first during 2013.

Among the movies that will come to Starz and Encore this year are The Amazing Spider-Man, 21 Jump Street, Zero Dark Thirty, The Vow, Men In Black 3, and Resident Evil: Retribution. Starz also has the exclusive rights to Disney theatrical releases including Disney’s newly acquired Lucasfilm titles and movies from Marvel and Pixar through 2017.

[via Starz]

Starz announces multiyear deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Splashtop have announced the Configurable Shortcuts and Gamepad app for both iPads and high-powered Android tablets, this bringing a whole new chapter to PC gaming streaming in the mobile universe. Splashtop has been working as a remote desktop app for several years now, allowing both iOS and Android mobile devices view and work with desktop machines running Windows and Apple’s Mac OS X. Gamepad functionality takes on what the recently announced NVIDIA Project SHIELD hardware aims to do with virtualized streaming PC game playing on a mobile device and, instead of working with one piece of hardware, spreads it to a collection of tablets.

Another major difference between the NVIDIA solution and what Splashtop is offering up here is the price – while no pricing exists for Project SHIELD, we must assume they’ll be dropping one single price, one time. Here with the Splashtop Shortcuts and Gamepads app you’ll be paying $0.99 USD once and $9.99 USD a year for a subscription to the service. This app will be available for download starting on the 1st of February, 2013.

The primary use case for this app is being demonstrated in a set of games with pre-made profiles. You’ll have game profiles for World of Warcraft, Diablo III, and ProEvolution Soccer 2012 right out of the box, connecting you to the action with a series of controls on the surface of your tablet and connecting you to your PC wirelessly with ease. You’ll also be able to create customized virtual joy sticks and buttons galore for each game you want to play.

You’ll also be working with customized shortcuts of your own creation as well as mouse controls – with every version of Android 4.0 and up you’ve got built-in mouse functionality, mind you, and that’ll be working with Splashtop here as well. This app will be released with built-in productivity profiles for a series of applications like Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, web browsers of several different types, and Microsoft Office. Mac OS X and Windows 8 will also have their own unique profiles.

Have a peek at the demonstration video above and let us know if this seems like a solution you’ll be trying out this year. Also be sure to keep in mind that the $9.99 a year subscription is mandatory for all functionality in the Configurable Shortcuts and Gamepads app and that you’ll need to be using SplashTop 2 to make everything a reality.

Splashtop aims for Project SHEILD functionality with streaming PC gaming is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After many, many years of Metallica appearing on the opposite side of the music industry from the music pirates that exist across the earth, they’ve joined Spotify for music streaming their entire catalog. It’s time for every single Metallica album from Kill ‘Em All to Master of Puppets to be up and ready to listen to on Spotify for the whole world – even the pirates – to listen to. This was all announced this week at the Spotify conference that also saw a larger launch of the web broswer based Spotify environment.

This week Metallica’s own Lars Ulrich stepped on stage with no less than former Napster head Sean Parker, former enemies in both the public and in the courtroom. The big announcement this week was that not only was the former Napster head fully aboard with the Spotify universe, but that Metallica was aboard as well – and that they were no longer at war, as it were.

Speaking about the Napster situation back in 2000, Lars made it clear: “it was never about money, it was about control… you have to control all those elements around you in your bubble… and the control option was taken away.” Meanwhile Napster’s Sean Parker let it be known that they never wanted the situation to be about giving away music, but “free as in freedom, not free as in theft.”

In other words, the two heads here did indeed need the moderator that sat on stage with them at the Spotify press conference. That said, Metallica is indeed on Spotify now.

“Metallica has always tried to be in control of the way we present our music to our fans, which is why we’ve waited to see the way these online retailers and streaming services operate and gauge the overall fan experience before deciding to include our music. We now feel that Spotify not only has a proven track record, but is by far the best music streaming service. We are beyond psyched to unleash our music through their platform.” – Lars Ulrich

Have a peek at the timeline below to get more information on Spotify and the rest of the updates that are coming down today.

Metallica hits Spotify, Lars Ulrich speaks is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The more cynical among us would argue that allowing cellphones in-flight is only a guarantee of an even more unpleasant trip, at least for anyone wanting a distraction-free cabin. There must still be a few optimists: Boeing is promising that future production runs of the 747-8 and 777 will have the necessary support for in-flight cellphone use, live TV and internet access that comes through either headrest screens or WiFi. Aircraft with the upgrade should roll off the production lines before the end of 2013, and they’ll be following a slight change to the 787 later this year that makes the technology support a common option. Some of us may wind up reaching for the earplugs in countries where regulators approve in-air wireless, but there’s definite upsides for all but the biggest curmudgeons — Boeing’s moves could lead to more ubiquitous in-flight WiFi next year, on top of ready-made wireless media streaming due in 2014.

Continue reading Boeing 747-8, 777 to join 787 in support for in-flight cellphone use and WiFi, like it or not

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

Boeing 747-8, 777 to join 787 in support for in-flight cellphone use and WiFi, like it or not originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Sep 2012 02:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo  |  Tecca  | Email this | Comments