Great news for those who can’t get enough of the Crawley family—Amazon cut a deal with PBS that will bring the British period drama to Prime Instant Video exclusively. So later this year, Netflix will lose Downton. Which is exactly what Lord Grantham has grappled with in the series. More »
Just as it had promised, Netflix today released its original series House of Cards to its many, many subscribers. There’s more good news, however, as the the streaming giant’s giving those without the necessary account credentials a chance to see what the show is all about, giving non-paid users access to the very first episode at no cost. Meanwhile, those who shell out the monthly fee will be able to catch all 13 episodes of House of Cards in one go, with Netflix obviously taking a different approach than what we’re accustomed to seeing in new series from the likes of HBO or Showtime. Naturally, should folks like what they see from Kevin Spacey, Kate Mara and the rest of the cast, they’ll have to sign up for the service in order to keep up with the story — which, we’d say, is exactly what Netflix wishes for. Have some time to spare? Then hit that source link below to watch the House of Cards premiere (that’s assuming you haven’t done so already, of course).
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Via: AllThingsD
Source: Netflix
Clear your weekend plans, folks. Netflix’s newest original series, House of Cards, is now available to watch. All 13 episodes are live on the Netflix website and can be viewed for free with a Netflix subscription. Each episode is roughly 50 minutes long, giving you almost 11 hours of pure political drama.
This actually isn’t the first original series that Netflix has released. The streaming service launched Lilyhammer a year ago, and the company has plans to release two more original series, a reboot of Arrested Development and Hemlock Grove from Eli Roth, both of which are planned to be released this year.
House of Cards stars Kevin Spacey who plays a “ruthless and cunning” Congressman in Washington. Spacey is an Oscar award winner and starred in numerous blockbusters over the years, including Superman Returns, Pay It Forward, American Beauty, Se7en, and The Usual Suspects. The 13-episode House of Cards series was also produced by David Fincher, who directed a few episodes as well. He’s known for directing Fight Club, Se7en, and The Social Network.
While it’s not Netflix’s first-ever original series, it was no doubt the most difficult that Netflix has done thus far, working with a budget of $100 million throughout the 13 episodes. However, this won’t be the last original series for Netflix. The company plans to pump out at least five new shows per year to outdo HBO.
Netflix House of Cards original series now available is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Blockbuster hasn’t had much success shifting from physical rentals to digital, even under Dish’s wing. Nonetheless, it’s betting that the umpteenth time’s the charm with a relaunch of its Blockbuster On Demand streaming movie service. The revamp ticks many of the checkboxes for a modern by-the-title rental store with 1080p and 5.1-channel surround sound as well as apps for 2012 Samsung Smart TVs, Android and Roku 2 boxes. However, there’s a number of curious choices, and we don’t just mean the omission of a subscription model. It’s missing an iOS app, emphasizes apps for desktop viewing and leaves no way to watch HD video on anything but a TV — our mobile and PC screens have advanced in the past several years, Blockbuster. Idiosyncrasies notwithstanding, the rebirth presents more of a unified front than the one-time giant has offered in the past.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Via: Android Police
Source: Blockbuster On Demand
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.
Netflix has some pretty ambitious goals ahead of them. They’re constantly adding new content to their back catalog, and are always on the lookout for more. Plus, they have their first original series, House of Cards, premiering soon, with another original series, Arrested Development, coming later. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, says that they want to launch at least five new original shows a year in order to compete with HBO.
GQ posted up a profile of the company, where they talked with Sarandos about the future of Netflix and where its headed. Sarandos has $300 million in his budget that’s set aside for original content, which has already brought in three new original projects: House of Cards, Hemlock Grove, and Arrested Development.
What’s perhaps the most interesting thing that Sarandos said during the interview, was that the goal of Netflix “is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us.” Sarandos says that Netflix is able to pump out original content in a more timely manner since they commit to a full season of a new show, rather than create a pilot and see where it goes from there, a concept that’s rare in the television business.
Netflix’s hefty goal of beating out HBO means that we should be seeing a lot of great stuff from the streaming service this year and beyond, and all that really remains is to see if Netflix customers buy into the new original content, but as long as Netflix doesn’t pull another Quikster, we think they’ll be fine.
[via GQ]
Netflix planning at least five new shows a year to outdo HBO is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
It looks like YouTube is wanting to attract more content producers to its platform, as well as make a couple extra bucks on the side, because according to AdAge, the video-streaming site is planning to offer paid subscriptions for individual channels to its users starting sometime in the spring.
YouTube is said to have contacted a “small group” of content producers on YouTube, asking them to create paid channels that will cost anywhere between $1 and $5 a month, which isn’t too expensive at all, when you consider that this is just for one YouTube channel, the cost can add up, resulting in spending up to $20 per month for just four channels.
In addition to charging for content via channels, YouTube is also considering charging for content libraries and access to live events — their own version of pay-per-view in a way. Other than that, though, nobody’s sure what channels YouTube is making deals with, but AdAge says that they’ve been contacting highly-popular channels about the new system.
YouTube knows that its users probably won’t enjoy the fact that they’ll have to start paying for the content that they’ve been watching for free, but it’s said that YouTube is recommending the channels to take in consideration of how their audience reacts to the new system. Then again, since more and more people are cutting cable, paying for a few subscriptions on YouTube will still end up being cheaper in the long run.
[via AdAge]
YouTube rumored to launch paid content this spring is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
What’s better than free music? Lots of stuff, probably — but it’s still on the top of our list. Rdio is hoping to get you hooked into its vowel-agnostic music streaming ways with the promise of “up to six months of free music” without ads or credit card numbers. The deal adds a number of countries to the list (of which the US is already a member) — including the UK, Australia, Canada, France and Spain. There are 15 in total (again, already including the US). Germany and Brazil are sadly still excluded from the free music party. While the offering is ad-free, each month does include a limited number of plays (though Rdio’s not giving an exact number at the moment), which will count down on your page. More info on the offering can be found after the break.
Rdio Launches Free Music Streaming in Nearly All Countries Where Rdio is Available
Rdio, (www.rdio.com), the streaming music service from the co-creator of Skype, is now offering music lovers up to six months of free music on the Web in nearly all countries where Rdio is available1. New Rdio listeners can sign up and activate free streaming at rdio.com, with no credit card required, then dive right into Rdio’s library of over 18 million songs.
This new offer is specifically designed to appeal to people with ears and hearts. Free streaming is available through the Web or Rdio’s desktop apps for Mac and Windows, and allows listeners to:
● Choose from over 18 million songs, without ads
● Listen free on the web for up to six months, depending on how many songs you stream
● See and hear what your favorite artists are listening to
● Discover new music by following friends and tastemakers
● Create, curate, and collaborate on playlists
● Share your life soundtrack in real time on Facebook and Twitter
A meter at the top of user profile pages lets people know how much free music they have remaining each month. It’s easy to upgrade any time to one of Rdio’s subscription plans for unlimited streams and access to Rdio’s acclaimed mobile apps. US plan options include:
● Rdio Web: $4.99 a month. Unlimited Web streaming.
● Rdio Unlimited: $9.99 a month. Unlimited Web and mobile streaming, as well as wireless syncing to listen offline.2
Music fans can sign up for free Rdio streaming right now at www.rdio.com.
Nokia launched its free, ad-free, Lumia-exclusive, and pretty sweet streaming music service “Nokia Music” in September of last year, and now it’s upping the ante with a moderately priced paid version that comes with all the fixin’s. More »
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