Hasta La Gadget!

When we last checked in with Sandvine’s stat trackers, Netflix reigned supreme in online video traffic at home, especially downstream. It’s still sitting pretty several months later, Sandvine tells AllThingsD. Quite possibly helped by the House of Cards debut, Netflix kept a healthy lead at 32.3 percent of downstream use on wired networks this past March. That’s no mean feat when some of its competition took big strides forward — YouTube jumped up to 17.1 percent, and Hulu likely rode sweeps season to get 2.4 percent.

In mobile, it’s a different story. Netflix use on cellular almost doubled to 4 percent, but YouTube kept an uncontested lead at 27.3 percent of downstream use. It’s not hard to see why after looking at other video formats people prefer on the road: raw HTTP video (19.2 percent) and Facebook (8.6 percent) were the next-closest, which suggests that many still grab snack-sized videos on their phones instead of full movies or TV shows. We don’t expect the status quo to budge much in the near future, whether it’s on mobile or a fixed-line. Without major initiatives from veterans or the arrival of a new upstart, it isn’t clear just what would rock the boat.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Google, Facebook

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Via: AllThingsD

Source: Sandvine

Netflix scored a big coup with its semi-exclusive Disney deal late last year, but the newly expanded content didn’t reach everybody in one shot — just ask the British and Irish, who’ve been left high and dry so far. To viewers’ relief, the companies have mended that gap with immediate availability of Disney and Disney-Pixar movies in Ireland and the UK. The initial mix includes not-quite-recent movies like Wall-E as well as back-catalog classics like The Aristocats; the months ahead will see Netflix’ selection catch up slightly by introducing the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie, among other titles. Combined with the upcoming additions of some DreamWorks and Marvel movies, the Disney pact should hopefully keep the kids (and, we’ll admit, ourselves) entertained just as the summer is about to start.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Source: Netflix (1), (2)

The concept of a movie launching online alongside its theatrical debut isn’t new; we’ve seen a few (usually independent) movies reach iTunes that way, for example. Streaming service arrivals are still rare, however, and Vimeo On Demand just boosted its street cred with plans to carry Some Girl(s) on June 28th, the same day that the movie gets a wider theatrical release. Vimeo will be the exclusive online home of the Adam Brody and Kristen Bell picture, and production house Leeden Media takes a populist bent in explaining why: as with Bell’s return to Veronica Mars, it wants to cut out the usual in-between distributors. We’re sure that Vimeo’s tinier-than-usual 10 percent revenue cut and relatively uncrowded marketplace play a part, too. There’s no guarantee that other notable movies will follow suit, but it’s an important coup for an online service that’s not even two months old.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Via: PaidContent

Source: Some Girl(s)

While there are signs HTC’s fortunes might turn a corner through the launch of the One, few would doubt that its finances could use some streamlining. The company has just outlined one of the ways it will be pinching pennies: it’s closing its Watch movie stores in Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden by May 31st, with some Italians reporting a shutdown on the 15th. As the company explains to us in a statement (after the break), it’s concentrating on supporting Watch in those regions with the “highest engagement” while dropping those with “less application traffic” — in short, markets with poor performance get the boot. HTC stresses that Watch isn’t going away, however, and it’s delivering a steady stream of content. We’re glad to hear that the company is sharpening its focus rather than cutting the cord. Still, that won’t be much consolation to movie-loving Europeans and Scandinavians.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, HTC

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Source: Telefonino.net (translated)

YouTube just keeps adding quality content. Last week it was comedy, and this week it’s bulking up on its sporting chops with a Major League Baseball partnership. Always among the most tech-savvy of major sports leagues, MLB has beefed up the offerings on its YouTube channel to include highlights from every game of 2013 (two days after they’ve occurred), and a vast archive of full games from as far back as 1952. Plus, should you reside outside the US, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, you’ll get to watch two live games every day during the regular season for free. So, seamheads, head on over to the MLB.com YouTube channel — your digital field of dreams awaits.

Filed under: Internet, HD, Google

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Source: YouTube (Google+), MLB.com (YouTube)