Hasta La Gadget!

To put it mildly, the OUYA console has had a better than expected funding run — the project is now past the $6 million mark, or six times what it originally needed. The team still wants a little something to end the last week of fundraising with a bang. It just unveiled a limited edition brown, brushed metal version of the console with a controller to match; all it takes is a $140 pledge during the final push to August 9th and you’ve got the Yves Behar-chosen color for yourself. The special run should arrive as part of the wider March 2013 launch. If the original silver hue will do just nicely, thank you very much, OUYA has struck another content deal and will launch Vevo’s music video hub side-by-side with the console. Click past the break for a peek at the controller, and consider a pledge on Kickstarter if you just can’t stand the thought of having the same console as everyone else.

Continue reading OUYA wrapping up funding with limited brown metal console, Vevo deal

Filed under: Gaming

OUYA wrapping up funding with limited brown metal console, Vevo deal originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The little media streamer company that could, Roku, has gained some powerful friends in its latest round of financing, with $45 million in funds coming from the likes of BSkyB, News Corp and another partner who would prefer to remain nameless at this time, as well as previous investors Menlo Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners. While we leave you to ponder which company might be that unidentified source, Roku is simply continuing on, earmarking the money for use in building brand awareness, expanding internationally and much, much more. Also, that MHL-connected Roku Streaming Stick introduced at CES? It hasn’t gone away and is still on track for launch later this year, with an eye towards providing a “Roku Inside” bundled experience for otherwise dumb flat-panel HDTVs.

Roku’s alignment with BSkyB (which reported a $10m stake in its earnings this morning, as well as the option to distribute its own branded Roku hardware) makes sense after the pay-TV giant launched Now TV recently with the hockey puck as one of its supported platforms, while CEO Anthony Wood tells us the fruitful partnership with News Corp had its root in the Fox News, Wall Street Journal Live and X-Factor channels it launched last year. Wood cites plans to make Roku “the TV distribution platform of the future”, and this fifth round of financing — larger than all previous rounds combined — may help push it in this direction, check out a few more details in the press release after the break.

Continue reading Roku picks up financing from BSkyB, News Corp and more, keeps eye on the premium streaming crown

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Roku picks up financing from BSkyB, News Corp and more, keeps eye on the premium streaming crown originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 02:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix recently let it drop that its users clocked in more than one billion hours of content-viewing in the month of June alone, although the big question for CEO Reed Hastings is how that relates to the company’s subscriber base. The results are in from its Q2 2012 earnings report, and it’s claiming 27.56 million streaming subscribers worldwide, up from 26 million last quarter. In the US alone that includes 23.94 million customers, after it reported 23.4 million in Q1, while DVD customers dropped by 850k to 9.24 million. While the number of new subscribers wasn’t as high as some had hoped, the good news is the company is finally back in the black, with $889 million in revenue providing $6 million in net income. On the flip side, a plan to launch service in an “additional attractive European market” in Q4 is expected to result in temporary losses, but we’ll find out more about those plans later in Q3.

One other issue that has been resolved is the search for a new Chief Marketing Officer resulting in the hiring of Kelly Bennett, formerly a marketing executive with Warner Bros. This morning Verizon and Redbox began to carefully pull back the cover on their competing offering, and Amazon has also been making significant waves in the space. However in response, Netflix says Amazon and Hulu Plus have yet to gain meaningful traction in relation to its viewing hours, and it expects Redbox Instant to face a “big challenge” to break into the existing top 3. Its current content deal with Epix will lose online exclusivity “shortly” although it will still offer those titles, we’ll see if any of the competition joins in. Their biggest competition however, is expected to come from efforts like Comcast’s new X1 and Sky’s Now TV, while for HBO, the possibility of cooperation is actually raised (again). We’ll see if that happens or if there are any more juicy details revealed on the investor call in a few minutes.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet

Netflix Q2 2012 earnings: 530,000 more US subscribers and a return to profitability originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The advent of movie support in iTunes for the Cloud was a boon to Apple TV owners as well as any iTunes user with a tendency to hop between devices — within the US, that is. Apple today swung the doors open and let Australia, Canada, the UK as well as 32 other countries and regions around the world get access to their movies whenever they’re signed in through iTunes or an iOS device. Not every studio is on the same page, as many American viewers will know all too well: it’s more likely that you’ll get re-download rights for a major studio title such as Lockout than an indie production, for example. Even with that limit in mind, there’s no doubt more than a few movie mavens glad to avoid shuffling and re-syncing that copy of Scott Pilgrim to watch it through to the end.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

iTunes in the Cloud movies find their way to Australia, Canada, the UK and 32 more countries originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NBC mentioned it would deliver two complementary mobile apps for its extensive London Olympics coverage and now they have arrived. Available for Android phones and tablets as well as the iPhone and iPad, they’re built on Adobe technology to deliver the information and live streaming video, as well as handle the TV Everywhere authentication with the cable providers that’s necessary to view all of the content. The NBC Olympics Live Companion is specifically designed to operate as a second screen for users to pull up stats and extra info on while they watch TV, and the NBC Olympics Live Extra app delivers video of every event streaming live to users wherever they are. It supports multiple camera angles, social features like the Facebook tie-ins NBC announced yesterday and users can even switch between the two apps at will.

Check after the break for a quick video preview of some of the technology at work, and if you’re planning to tune into the games, hit NBC’s Olympics site now to sign in and authenticate so once the Opening Ceremony kicks off, all you’ll have to do is press play.

Continue reading NBC’s 2012 London Olympics second screen and streaming apps for Android and iOS launch today

Filed under: Home Entertainment

NBC’s 2012 London Olympics second screen and streaming apps for Android and iOS launch today originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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