Hasta La Gadget!

Google’s long-awaited offering of Google Play Movies and Music on Google TV may have answered a longstanding demand for streaming access from some viewers, but it still left many of those outside of the US turning to alternatives. The company is closing that open loop with plans to take the media strategy global. Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK will all get similar streaming video options on their Google TV hubs as of November 13th; while content will undoubtedly vary, the gesture once more puts the international stores on roughly the same level as their American counterpart. The only debate left likely centers on what movie to rent for celebrating the occasion.

Update: Google has made a new post suggesting that its earlier outline was a mistake: Australia and Canada aren’t part of the November 13th mix.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

Google Play Movies, Music reach Australia, Canada and parts of Europe on November 13th (update: Google scales it back) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we last checked in on one of Sandvine’s traffic studies, Netflix had just edged past BitTorrent as the largest source of internet traffic in North America while YouTube was still a small-timer. A year has made quite the difference. Netflix is up to 28.8 percent in a new study, while YouTube has moved up to second place with 13.1 percent and demands even more than ordinary web requests. Rivals like Hulu don’t register in the top 10, and YouTube is by far the ruler of mobile with nearly 31 percent of smartphone traffic headed its way. Overall usage is moving up rapidly, no matter what kind of network the continent uses — the typical North American chews up 659MB per month when mobile and a hefty 51GB through a landline. There’s little reason to dispute worries of the impact on bandwidth-strained internet providers, although we suspect most would disagree with Sandvine on what’s to be done. The company naturally sees the study as a chance for business with carriers wanting to curb usage or charge extra through its tools; a generation that grew up with internet access, however, would likely see it as a better excuse to roll out more capacity for all those streaming videos.

Filed under: Networking, Internet, HD

Sandvine: Netflix up to 29 percent of North American internet traffic, YouTube is fast on the rise originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 04:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CBS has been the lone Hulu refusenik among the biggest US broadcasters — even with rumors of licensing discussions underway at least two years ago, we’ve usually had to visit the network’s own site if we wanted a CSI fix without paying by the show. The deadlock is over at last now that CBS and Hulu have struck a deal. The agreement isn’t quite what we’d hope for, focusing almost exclusively on back catalog titles like Medium and Star Trek, although celebrity gossip junkies will like knowing that Entertaintment Tonight segments will be viewable the day they air on regular TV. We’ll have to wait until January 2013 for the selection to be ready — not to mention shell out for Hulu Plus to get full access — but there’s at least an end in sight to one of the longer content droughts in streaming video.

Continue reading CBS and Hulu make content deal, stream back catalog shows starting in January 2013

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

CBS and Hulu make content deal, stream back catalog shows starting in January 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As a profit-driven network, ITV has its work cut out in the online streaming world when the BBC’s iPlayer looms overhead. How do you compete with a cultural institution? Its solution these days is one of sheer choice: it’s launching a publicly available beta of its ITV Player refresh that offers TV show rentals. While viewers will have free, ad-backed viewing for the last month’s worth of programming, they’ll also have the choice of renting 30-day access to archived episodes at 49p (79 cents) each without the pesky commercials in between. Anyone who just can’t get enough Collision can spring for a 90-day rental of a whole series at a lower total price, and the broadcaster is even planning trials of streaming-first episode premieres — if only we were so forward-thinking in the US. We’d question the wisdom of anyone who really, truly needs an uninterrupted The Only Way is Essex, but at least those who want fodder for water cooler chats can blast through their pseudo-reality TV at a record pace.

Continue reading ITV Player revamp brings ad-free TV rentals, keeps the free catch-ups

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

ITV Player revamp brings ad-free TV rentals, keeps the free catch-ups originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trying to launch a concerted nonprofit video campaign can feel like tilting at windmills: you might have one moment of undivided attention from viewers before they’re off to watch cats and Nigerian pygmy goats. Google wants to make the most of that time through its YouTube Campaigns initiative. The strategy brings on-video overlays and channel sections that show viewers both a progress meter for the campaign as well as a handy links to explore and share what they’ve found. If all goes well, charities and like-minded organizations get more donations and YouTube views, while we in the general public are reminded that there’s more to life than K-pop videos. It certainly beats manning the phones for a celebrity fundraiser.

Filed under: Internet, Alt, Google

YouTube Campaigns lets nonprofits draw our interest without the telethons originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Oct 2012 06:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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