Hasta La Gadget!

We’re still a few months away from the debut of Netflix’s new series House of Cards, but the streaming company has posted a trailer on its service and on YouTube giving us an early peek. You can check it out after the break, or head to the Netflix site and see the new page it’s whipped up to promote the show that’s accessible whether or not you subscribe to the service. That’s also where it plans to add behind the scenes content, reviews and other promo material as the February 1st launch approaches. The trailer is brief, but the style and everything we can see of star Kevin Spacey as Congressman Francis Underwood has the feel of a high quality production. This path is already well worn by AMC, HBO, Showtime and others trying pump up value by adding exclusive new shows (Lilyhammer also aired on Norwegian TV) on top of existing catalog movie offerings. We’ll see if the critics and subscribers put it on a par with shows like Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Dexter or Breaking Bad, and how viewers react to Netflix’s strategy of making all the episodes available at once.

Continue reading Netflix original series House of Cards gets its first trailer (video)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Netflix original series House of Cards gets its first trailer (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Netflix, YouTube, Netflix Blog  | Email this | Comments

The drama surrounding Netflix is at a fever pitch. The company, despite stabilizing a bit and seeing its streaming grow, is trying to fend off Carl Icahn, one of the most tech-hungry activist investors out there.

If you haven’t been following the drama, you should know that Carl Icahn recently invested enough cash to take a nearly 10 percent stake in Netflix. Worried that Icahn might have something up his sleeve – you know, like acquiring enough Netflix shares to take control over the company – the streaming provider initiated a poison pill.

That poison pill forces would-be investors to pay an inordinate amount of cash to acquire any more than 10 percent of the company. That results in less desire to investors to buy up shares and thus safeguard Netflix from the possibility of being taken over by an Icahn-like buyer.

Of course, there are always two sides to the story. On one hand, Icahn looks like a mean investor that wants to take control over Netflix without any concern for its future vision and shareholders. To critics, Icahn looks like he’s ready to score a big profit without thinking seriously about Netflix or the service it provides.

However, those in the Icahn camp don’t agree. Icahn believes that Netflix is suffering through some serious issues and to believe that it can continue on this same path without some help is nonsense. Icahn doesn’t want to hurt Netflix; he wants to find ways to help the company. And by doing so, he might make a few bucks.

So, who is right? On one hand, we have a company that is scared to death of Icahn and the power he wields. On the other, we have a man in Carl Icahn that has made a living out of acquiring companies and trying in some way to fix them. Surely they can’t both be right.

“There’s only one party here that’s right”

And they aren’t. The fact is, there is only one party here that is right. And that party is Netflix.

Looking back at Icahn’s history, it’s hard to see why Netflix would truly trust him. Remember back in 2010 when Icahn decided that Take-Two Interactive, creators of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, needed his help? He caused major issues among investors and the board and saw to it that three directors were unseated. He replaced them with his own cronies, including his son.

Icahn has also been a massive thorn in the side at Yahoo. For years, he called on Jerry Yang to be ousted, and thought that the company was being run ineffectively. Under the guise of trying to do what was right, Icahn made Yahoo look worse. And it’s entirely possible that many shareholders sold off Yahoo stock because of it.

Like it or not, Icahn hasn’t become a billionaire by finding really healthy companies and finding ways help them. Over the last several years, especially, Icahn has preyed on companies that need help. And before long, he’s in some way involved in a spat with management.

Does that mean that Icahn is bad guy? Not a chance. Does it mean that he doesn’t know what he’s doing? No. But it does mean that Icahn might be more trouble for Netflix than he’s worth. And to not acknowledge that would be a mistake.

Should Carl Icahn Really Scare Netflix? Yep. is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We did it folks – we made it through another election, which means that we finally get a break from those endless political ads. It won’t be long before those ads are playing all over the place again, so savor the moment while you can. We found out today that President Obama set Twitter records with that a tweet that was shared more 600,000 times, and Apple was hit with a hefty fine in a case over patents related to FaceTime. Foxconn is saying that it’s still having issues keeping up with iPhone 5 production, and Pixar has named a new building after Steve Jobs.

We had a couple of quarterly reports land this afternoon, with both Activision and Qualcomm looking great as they charge into Q4 2012. Apple executive Eddy Cue has joined Ferrari’s board of directors, while AT&T is putting up a whopping $14 billion to boost its LTE and U-Verse services. There were rumors of an iPad Mini 2 with Retina Display floating around today, and ZTE was spotted teasing a new Windows Phone 8 device with a massive 5.9-inch screen.

Gearbox has squashed a nasty exploit in Borderlands 2 with a new patch, and we learned that Kim Dotcom’s new website has been killed before it even got off the ground. AT&T has revealed off-contract pricing for the Nokia Lumia 920 and 820, and Time Warner Cable is trying to lure new customers in by giving away free Xbox 360s. We got to see Nintendo President Satoru Iwata unbox the Wii U, found out which features will be on the Wii U from launch day, and were even told that the Wii U will allow for 12 user accounts per console.

Verizon is waiving voice and text fees for those who were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, and Microsoft has released its SkyDrive app for Windows Phone 8. A new Sandvine report gives us an idea of just how popular Netflix is in North America, and Yahoo has hired a former National Geographic photographer to head up Flickr. A*STAR has revealed a new hybrid disk drive that’s only 5mm-thick, and DC Comics are now available digitally through iOS, Kindle, and NOOK devices.

Finally tonight, Don Reisinger asks if Apple actually helps its competitors, we take a closer look at Qualcomm Halo, and Chris Davis gives us his review of the Phillips hue lightbulb. That does it for tonight’s edition of the Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: November 7, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Amazon Prime’s trifecta of two-day shipping, instant media streaming and monthly Kindle book rentals just became a little more consumer friendly at a slightly higher price. As a Hacking Netflix reader recently noticed, Amazon is now inviting users to buy into Prime for $7.99 a month, bringing the service in line with Hulu and Netflix’s monthly pricing schemes. The price of skipping the yearly fee is its own cost, however — subscribers who stick with Prime for a full year will pay $16.88 over the annual plan. Paying for all 12-months ahead of time is still an option, of course, scoring long-term buyers a 20 percent discount at checkout. Good deal? Sure. Even better if you’re trying to save on shipping this holiday season.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Amazon

Amazon Prime flaunts a monthly price tag, now offers streaming and two day shipping for $7.99 per month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 04:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hacking Netflix  |  Amazon  | Email this | Comments

No one’s perfect, obviously, and we all make mistakes at some point no matter how dumb or illogical they seem. Netflix just made one themselves on a recent SEC filing, and it was caught this morning. However, it wasn’t just a simple misspelling or a missing comma. The typo was fairly significant and completely shocked investors.

All SEC filings are crucial for investors, but this particular filing was especially important, because investors wanted to know how Netflix’s finances were doing as the company began to expand to other countries — specifically if Netflix was spending more than it could afford on the expansion. Netflix reported last week that its new services in Latin America, the UK, and Ireland “have contributed to a 14% increase in [Netflix’s] content expenses in the International segment.” However, the increase was actually 348%.

Netflix claimed it as “a typographical error” and changed “14%” to “348%,” which actually showed up twice in the report at 14%. Obviously, a 348% increase is an insane jump from 14%, and worst of all, investors were specifically focused on that figure, so seeing a change to 348% probably wasn’t what they wanted to see.

This certainly adds insult to injury for Netflix, who expected to add seven million streaming subscribers in the US during 2012 at first, but recently lowered that number down to five million last week. It’s not said what investors might do, but Vasily Karasyov from Susquehanna Financial Group said that “it’s fair for investors to wonder” whether or not Netflix has gone too deep in growing its international market.

[via Deadline]

Netflix makes unfortunate typo error in SEC filing is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.