In a potential landmark case, Twitter was ordered by Manhattan Criminal
Court Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino 73 days ago to turn over three month’s
of tweets from Malcolm Harris. Accounts under contention are related to
two of Harris’s profiles on the microblogging site are @destructuremal and @getsworse.
Amazon, like its competitor Netflix, has been making some moves to increase the amount of exclusive, original content under its brand. Today it took one more step in that direction with the news that Amazon Studios will be launching its first self-commissioned digital comic, a version of the Blackburn Burrow Civil War story. The first copy is now free in the Kindle store.
Originally a screenplay from Jay Levy from December 2010, the story is also being used by Amazon to try something else: more crowdsourced creation. The company says that the idea to launch the digital comic comes out of its own community feedback, which is so essential to Amazon’s whole business model in the form of user reviews, and is now being introduced around the work coming out of Amazon Studios. The project, it says, will be used to continue to gather additional feedback to decide whether it should then develop the Levy screenplay into a full motion picture, which would also be developed by Amazon Studios.
This means that Amazon will be able to test how many people will put their money where their mouths are when it comes to consuming the stuff they say they would like to consume. (And it also helps it drum up some PR for the brand, giving them a headstart on the whole franchise opportunity.)
The news comes at the same time that Amazon is rolling out a series of new tablets and e-readers under its Kindle brand (including the Kindle Fire HD, which we reviewed yesterday). This is the first time that the Fire tablets will be making their way outside of the U.S., although it looks like the Blackburn Burrow content will for now only be in English.
It also comes at a relatively high water time for digital comics, which have been given a big boost from the rise in popularity of tablets. In July, digital comic book aggregator and storefront ComiXology said it had surpassed 75 million downloads.
Amazon Studios is commissioning the Blackburn Burrow digital comic, which will be released in installations over the next four months, from 12 Gauge Comics. 12 Gauge is working with Ron Marz (a big name in comics, penning the copy for titles like Green Lantern and Batman/Aliens) and Matthew Dow Smith (the big-name illustrator behind Doctor Who, X-Men Icons, and more) to “shape the story and look” of the comic.
And it looks like it will be the beginning of a longer-term testing format for Amazon. “Beyond entertaining lots of comic fans, we see value in digital comics as a new way to test screenplays and learn more about fan engagement,” Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios, said in a statement.
Like other projects that come out of Amazon Studios, the company is going to keep the crowdsourced element strong it continues to produce the series. With each new issue of Blackburn Burrow, Amazon will release a poll to let readers give more feedback and comments on the work.
Full release below.
Amazon Studios Turns Supernatural Horror Tale “Blackburn Burrow” into Digital Comic to Test Story with Audiences
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep. 12, 2012– (NASDAQ: AMZN) — Amazon Studios, the original content arm of Amazon.com, Inc., is introducing an all-new digital comic book today – Blackburn Burrow, a story set in Civil War America where supernatural horrors are infesting a small Appalachian town in Northern Georgia. Blackburn Burrow first came to Amazon Studios in the form of a feature film screenplay from writer Jay Levy. Community feedback, gathered from Amazon Studios’ crowdsourcing model, triggered the idea for the popular project to be adapted into a digital comic that would be shared with audiences for feedback and tested for viability as a major motion picture.The Blackburn Burrow digital comic looks and reads like a traditional book and is available for free through a variety of sites and platforms including top digital comic provider Graphicly, as well as AmazonStudios.com, Amazon Studios Facebook page and the Kindle Store. For more information on how to get the comic, visit www.amazonstudios.com or search for Blackburn Burrow in the Kindle Store.
Amazon Studios’ Blackburn Burrow digital comic book is produced by 12 Gauge Comics, which teamed with renowned comics writer Ron Marz (Silver Surfer, Green Lantern, Marvel vs. DC, Batman/Aliens) and veteran illustrator Matthew Dow Smith (Doctor Who, X-Men Icons, Mirror’s Edge, Day of Judgment) to shape the story and look of the comic.
“This is a very exciting new venture for Amazon Studios. Beyond entertaining lots of comic fans, we see value in digital comics as a new way to test screenplays and learn more about fan engagement,” said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. “The 12 Gauge team has done beautiful work on the Blackburn Burrow digital comic and we are thrilled to share it with audiences to see how they react to the story of Blackburn Burrow.”
Like movie and episodic series projects that exist within Amazon Studios, the public will have the opportunity to provide feedback and direction on Blackburn Burrow as the story continues to unfold. The entire Blackburn Burrow comic will be released over a period of four months with new issues coming out every four weeks. Each release will be accompanied by a poll (www.blackburnburrowsurvey.com) related to content in that issue that encourages readers to give feedback and provide comments.
About Blackburn Burrow
In Blackburn Burrow, Mister is a legendary fighter rumored to take on the strange and supernatural. When a Union general requests his help in investigating the disappearance of a group of his soldiers from a small town in the South, Mister initially declines, refusing to get involved in the politics between the North and the South. Mister’s interest, however, is piqued when the last contact with these soldiers referenced the walking dead and a man Mister has been tracking all his life, the man who brought him into this world. Mister teams with Merrin, a young female survivor, to stop an ancient uprising and discover the family secret that connects his past to the small town of Blackburn Burrow.
About Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios is Amazon’s content development division that uses audience feedback to develop great, original entertainment customers will love. Since its launch in November 2010, more than 10,000 movie scripts and 1,800 series pilot scripts have been submitted to Amazon Studios. Currently, 17 film projects and nine series are in development. For more information about Amazon Studios, visit http://studios.amazon.com.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support and dual-antennas/MIMO for 40% faster throughput than other tablets, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine—and it is available in two display sizes—7” and 8.9”. The all-new Kindle Fire features a faster processor for 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.
Nettops and media-center PCs in many ways hang on opposite sides of the same saddle. MediawavePC’s new MW6110 “Ultra Small Media Player” tightens the straps between these two types of machines, and adds an extra satchel with it. The 7.87 x 7.28 x 1.57-inch form gives it a discreet footprint, and supports Intel’s Core i3- i5- and i7 chips. You can also add-in up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM, along with 1TB of storage. Connection-wise, you’re well looked after with 6 USB ports, HDMI, LAN, plus Audio in / out and WiFi. So, plenty of scope to configure to suit your needs — you’ll just need the $499 base price to get started.
Continue reading MediawavePC’s MW6110 is a multipurpose Intel Core i7-supporting media player
Filed under: Desktops, Home Entertainment, HD
MediawavePC’s MW6110 is a multipurpose Intel Core i7-supporting media player originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
If you like your data local, but crave remote access, you’ve now got options like Synology’s new DiskStation DS413j — a network-attached storage (NAS) server for your own private cloud. The feature-packed box has four drive bays for a total of 16TB storage, and you can mix and match HDDs of different sizes without losing the comfort of RAID. Along with what you’d expect from NAS, its media server will stream content to your console or TV via DLNA or UPnP and push tunes to your stereo, with iOS and Android apps for couch DJing. The server will sync your files across computers if you wish, and give you access to all that data on the move via the internet or mobile apps. And, if you need more files, you can download directly using your favorite protocols — it’ll even automate them if you trust RSS feeds to make recommendations. All this can be yours for around $380, depending on the retailer, but don’t forget to budget for drives to fill those empty bays.
Gallery: Synology DiskStation DS413j
Continue reading Synology launches DiskStation DS413j NAS server for your own private cloud
Filed under: Storage, Networking
Synology launches DiskStation DS413j NAS server for your own private cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 04:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Another development in the UK market for e-readers, tablets and e-books as Amazon and Barnes & Noble move closer to launching more of their services and devices in the UK and Europe: the retail giant Tesco has purchased Mobcast, a digital bookseller co-founded by pulp fiction writer Andy McNab. Tesco tells TechCrunch that the price of the acquisition is $7.2 million.
Tesco notes that Mobcast has a catalog of some 130,000 books, but the main idea behind this acquisition for Tesco, already one of the biggest booksellers in the UK, will be to give Tesco its own digital book distribution platform, including cloud-based storage for the books. “They provide excellent end-to-end service, from injecting the material from publishers all the way to retail to customers,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch.
One of the big benefits of Mobcast, which first entered the market in 2007, is that it is available across all major mobile platforms. Tesco also already sells the Kindle from Amazon among its wide range of other consumer electronics.
The deal comes on the heels of Tesco buying movie and TV streaming service blinkbox in 2011 and Internet radio service WE7 in June 2012.
“We want our customers to have the widest choice in digital entertainment. We are already one of the UK’s largest booksellers and Mobcast will help us offer even more choice for the large and growing number of customers who want to buy and enjoy books on their digital devices whenever and wherever they want,” said Michael Comish, CEO Tesco Digital Entertainment, in a statement announcing the deal.
Mobcast co-founder and CEO Tony Lynch (understandably, given how huge Tesco is) points to how this will give Mobcast much wider exposure in the UK market: “We are delighted the products that Mobcast has developed will now be used to introduce the joys of eBook reading to more book lovers in the UK,” he said.
Given that the site was co-founded by bestselling author McNab, it seems like a perfect fit for Tesco, a purveyor of mainstream titles. McNab highlights the cloud-portability element of the deal: “As an author I always thought the ability to carry your library around and read on all your personal devices would be a huge benefit to all. We have developed a product that makes this possible, and being acquired by Tesco ensures that this original vision will be available to as many people as possible.”
What’s not clear is how this deal will affect existing business for Mobcast, which works with operators like Singtel, Everything Everywhere (T-Mobile and Orange in the UK) and Nokia to power e-bookstores.
Nor is it clear yet when Tesco will integrate all of its current catalog on to the Mobcast site, and whether the platform will be used for more than just books. Or whether the acquisition will mean that Tesco will pre-load the app on to devices that it sells, rather than simply using it as a part of its already-extensive e-commerce operation, which includes online ordering and delivery of groceries, electronics, and much more, which it uses to complement a massive, Walmart-style physical operation.
We are asking Tesco and Mobcast about these details and will update as we learn more.
More than a decade ago, I decided to learn how to touch type. I didn’t use any tools or special programs, I just placed my hands on the keyboard and tried to find the right keys without looking at it. It took some time, but these days my hands flutter across a keyboard very quickly indeed, but I can see the reason for a keyboard like the Smartype.
Smartype includes a full-color LCD screen, that reminds me of some of electronic typewriters, that shows you what your are typing. If you’re not a touch-typist, it stops you from constantly glancing at the screen and back to the keyboard. The creators claim that the Smartype keyboard will even make touch-typists more productive. That seems somewhat counterintuitive to me, but maybe the visual cue will help.
The display on the Smartype keyboard promises also to run widgets including minimal versions of Twitter and Facebook so that you can share things without even having to open a full-fledged app on your tablet, smartphone or browser. You’ll also be able to run other handy apps like a PC status bar or e-mail and calendar notification apps. Unfortunately, though, the Smartype is only planned for Windows computers at this point, and it doesn’t have a numeric keypad either.
The Smartype will be available for pre-order soon, but no official price has been announced. For now, you can register your interest over on their website.
[via The Verge]
Here’s one reason why Apple may not be producing a television with its name blazoned on it in the near term: it doesn’t look like people have, so far, shown that much interested in them yet. According to a new report out from consumer researchers GfK, connected TV televisions are faring much better in markets like China, Brazil and India compared to the U.S., UK and other developed markets — with China commanding the highest usage at 44% and the UK and U.S. leading more advanced markets with just 11% penetration.
GfK puts it down to consumers in the latter category stuck in an “analog” mindset — although consumers in the latter markets are also big users of other ways of getting the same experience without forking out for a pricey connected TV set.
On top of set-top boxes from pay-TV providers, there are consoles like the Xbox, Roku, and PlayStation that also provide on-demand and connected services to users through their TV sets. And devices like tablets and PCs, which are more suited to interactivity, are also proving to be among the fastest-growing devices for video viewing. And there is of course the increasing multiscreen trend, in which users use at least two devices at the same time to provide a simultaneous lean-back/lean-forward experience.
And there is also the issue of price. A smart TV can cost upwards of $200 or more than a more basic set, and that might not even give you a significantly better screen than a less expensive make.
The supremacy of China in the connected TV category comes on the heels of a report last week from NPD that noted that China — or those in urban centers at least — watch the most online video content, across the most devices, of any other regional group of consumers.
Users don’t care much about getting their Twitter fix right on the screen. GfK found that there seems to be little demand at the moment for the kinds of bells and whistles that a lot of connected TVs are offering. Only 28% of respondents thought interactivity made programs more interesting. Only 25% thought tweeting and other commenting formats make the experience more interesting.
“Our findings suggest that broadcasters need to integrate their social elements far more engagingly into the fabric of the programme, to encourage viewers to interact,” writes Richard Preedy, Research Director at GfK. This particular study took into account a total of 7,000 interviews from Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, UK, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, USA, China, India and South Korea — 500 in each country except Belgium, where it collected 1,000,
On the other hand, services that helped users find more info on programs fared much better: 33% more viewers searched for information on the shows they are watching than use social networks to share the experience with friends, GfK writes.
Smart TVs go where PCs do not? It seems that smart TVs are faring much better in markets where PC penetration is lower: as they do with their mobiles, users in these markets as a result look to their TVs to fulfill some of the functions that might have otherwise been relegated to the PC: 75% of Chinese smart-TV owners used their TVs’ fancy interactive features in past month; in Western markets the average number was less than half, GfK said.
That also seems to translate into buying intention, too: among U.S. and UK consumers, less than one-third (29%; 26% respectively) said they would look for Internet-enabled TVs in the future. In China and India the numbers were respectively 64% and 61%.
Now also could be the time to strike while the iron is hot: just as Apple effectively created a whole new market for smartphones that were largely the terrain of very early adopters and business users before the iPhone, it could could do the same for televisions. GfK notes that sales of smart TVs in the six biggest European economies were up by 31% in the first half of this year.
It could be newer features that may get users in these markets more interested in smart TVs: 67% of respondents said they were interested in touch and gesture control; and 43% want to control their TVs with something other than a remote, such as a smartphone. Yes, these functions are already here and getting more popular all the time; the question is whether users will look to their TV sets or other gadgets to provide them longer term.
If you needed any “official” proof from Amazon that their upcoming event was about to introduce a new generation of media tablets, this is it – the Kindle Fire has been announced as “sold out.” This announcement comes just one week before the company is set to host an event in which they’ll more than likely release a new bit of hardware – at least one tablet with the ability to work with Android media of all types, we’re seeing now. The Kindle Fire was launched in September of 2011 and has since been the #1 best selling product on Amazon – and it’s time for a refresh.
Not only has the Fire been the top selling item on Amazon for almost an entire year, but the top 10 products on Amazon have been Kindle devices and content, as well. This device is a 7-inch tablet with an IPS TFT display at 1024 x 600 pixel resolution running Android with a special Amazon-made user interface over the top. Users have been working with 8GB of memory built-in, wi-fi connectivity, and otherwise cloud storage managed content for many months.
The Amazon Kindle Fire is now officially sold out on Amazon.com if you’re thinking of buying it straight from the source, but it’s certainly still out on the market in used condition. Those of you waiting for the next generation tablet from Amazon will have to wait just a few more days – the big event comes down on the 6th of September – and we’ll be there to let you in on the full experience. What will the next generation of Amazon tablet action be?
We’re expecting something closer to what Google has up for sale in the Nexus 7. Expect a slightly more powerful processor, higher definition display, and a more aesthetically unique situation in the chassis. This next Amazon tablet will likely be attempting to move into more of a unique range rather than replicating the BlackBerry PlayBook as the first generation did, both inside and out. Their unique look at Android will also more than likely be updated bringing on a more advanced appearance and interface. Stay tuned!
Kindle Fire sells out in anticipation of Amazon event is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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The late Chairman Mao Zedong, founding father of the People’s Republic of China and global revolutionary icon, is still revered in China though the country has taken a radical turn down the capitalist road since his passing in 1976. These 8 revised and reimagined Mao posters reference the Great Helmsman’s impressive pop culture presence to sell consumer goods and more to today’s well-washed & wealthy proletariat.
New research out from Google, working with market analysts Ipsos and Sterling Brands, puts some hard numbers behind the often-noticed trend of how people in the U.S. are using a combination of phones, tablets, computer and TVs to consume digital content.
While each of these has a significant place in our consumption today, their real power lies in how they are used together — in combination, 90% of all of our media consumption, or 4.4 hours per day, is happening across all four (which doesn’t leave much room for paper-based books and publications; or for radio). This not only has implications for how content is designed, but also for how companies like Google will continue to hedge their bets across all four screens.
The state of TV viewing perhaps illustrates consumer usage best of all: polling 1,611 people across 15,738 media interactions and nearly 8,000 hours of activity during Q2, the study found that users are watching TV on average for 43 minutes per day session — the most of any screen — but 77% of that time we are simultaneously using another device like a smartphone or tablet.
The study also found that although a lot of attention is being focused on smartphones and apps, this device is not only the smallest screen in our world, it’s also used for the shortest bursts, at 17 minutes per day session, compared to 30 minutes on tablets, 39 minutes on PCs and the 43 minutes watching TV.
But, while smartphones may have the shortest sessions be used the least overall, they are the most-used when it comes to on-boarding to a digital experience — or sequential device usage, as Google calls it. The research found that a majority of online tasks get initiated on a smartphone while being continued on another device — perhaps with a larger screen for easier use.
That effectively means that while your total content experience perhaps doesn’t need to be designed for a smartphone experience, at least the initial part of it should be, and that part should be integrated with how that content might be used on other devices — so, for example, watching a film first on a phone and then finishing it on a TV, or starting a shopping experience on a phone and finishing it on a PC.
The survey also found that smartphones are the most common sidekick device used simultaneously with other screens. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that smartphones are small and in many ways complement the services we get on PCs, televisions and tablets, not just with apps but also with voice and text services.
So what are the implications for a company like Google?
Since the bulk of its revenue, despite all its other activities, still comes from ads alongside search, if Google eats its own dogfood, I think we’re likely to see more and more integration with how it lets users search on one device and then continue that experience on another, as well as joined up search experiences across third-party and Google’s own internet properties — both courtesy of their Google accounts.
Given that Google will have advertising following users along the way, it also implies Google continuing to make sure that it has a role to play across all of the screens. Whether it does so as a software-only player, or also through an increasing role in the hardware itself, remains to be seen, although products like Google’s new tablet with Asus, and its new ownership of Motorola Mobility, seem to point in the latter direction.
The full research findings are available here and embedded below.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
