Hasta La Gadget!

We heard back in December that Amazon would be releasing a slew of pilot episodes for the company’s original series initiative in order to compete with Netflix. It turns out that there are 14 pilot episodes in total, and all of them are available now for streaming for free. Amazon will be accepting viewer feedback to narrow the pack down to just a handful of shows.

We’ve already heard about a couple of them in the past, one being a Zombieland original series, as well as a geek-oriented comedy called Betas. Both pilots of these shows are available now, as well as 12 other shows split between the comedy genre and children’s variety. The six children’s shows include Annebots, Creative Galaxy, Positively Ozitively, Sara Solves It, Teeny Tiny Dogs, and Tumbleaf.

As for the remaining comedies not already mentioned, there’s Alpha House, Browsers, Dark Minions, Onion News Empire, Supanatural, and Those Who Can’t. You can watch all 14 episodes right now, but you’ll need an Amazon Prime account if you don’t have one already. You’ll get free two-day shipping, as well as access to Amazon Instant Video.

As for how many shows Amazon wants to begin producing, it seems that the company’s goal is to get half of the 14 shows currently available ordered up for a full season of about 13 episodes each. However, there’s no set number that Amazon has decided on, and it could turn out that even less than seven shows end up getting picked, so be sure to submit your feedback if you want to see the episodes you like continue on.

Amazon releases all 14 original series pilots for free is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Forget music halls — Twitter thinks morning TV talk shows are where it’s at for product announcements. It used The Today Show last year to unveil a profile page redesign, and we now know it will rely on Good Morning America this Thursday to unveil something… “big.” But what does that cryptic clue mean? While logic would suggest Twitter Music given its semi-official status, we could also see TV in expanded tweets or something entirely unexpected. We’ll keep our eyes (and possibly ears) open.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Good Morning America (Twitter)

The Roku 3 is the official must-have device for cord-cutters. It’s the one set-top box you need if you’re getting your media from the internet.

Facebook has just partnered up with Rovi Corporation to bring more detailed information regarding the movies, TV shows, and celebrities to its social network. This new partnership will give application developers the option to incorporate Rovi’s services into their apps, so that they can provide seamless integration between their apps and the entertainment database provided by Rovi to create a more “connected experience for consumers”.

Another one of Rovi’s features, Rovi IDs, can also be linked to Facebook Page IDs, so Rovi subscribers can connect to Facebook content when they’re looking up their shows or movies. This new partnership will increase the social aspect of media entertainment. Ime Archibong, Manager of Platform Partnerships at Facebook, says that in the next couple of years, social interaction with movies, TV shows and other forms of entertainment will “grow immensely”.

This new partnership will also help Facebook achieve one of its main goals; ad revenue. Facebook will be able to utilized targeted advertisements by evaluating its users use of Rovi’s entertainment database. Generating revenue is a main driver for Facebook’s way of doing things. In the past, Facebook had also tried to tempt game developers to create games for the social network in order to attract more gamers to its service. It also launched a program where users could message celebrities for a fee.

Rovi offers many, valuable services, including, entertainment data, content protection, industry standard networking, and media management technology for digital entertainment devices and services. While Rovi may not be well known, its services are highly coveted. Last year, Google licensed Rovi’s interactive program guide patent portfolio for set-top boxes, online platforms and mobile platforms. Google used its services to enhance its Fiber TV services.

[via The Next Web]

Facebook brings Rovi’s entertainment info database to your profile is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Now that Twitter has very tentatively launched Music integration, Bloomberg is reporting its next media target is TV. According to unnamed sources, Twitter is “close” to cutting deals to integrate video clips into the timeline, and sell advertising next to them. As we’ve seen with the new Cards it revealed earlier this month, bringing in more content about what users are discussing is key to its new strategy, and short TV clips fits into that idea perfectly. The report claims the first deal could be struck as soon as next month, with the possibility of other networks following afterward. Also playing into the strategy is its purchase of Bluefin Labs in February. Bluefin’s focus is tracking how much users talk about particular TV shows, and Twitter claimed at the time that it sought to “create innovative new ad products and consumer experiences in the exciting intersection of Twitter and TV.” Think that fits?

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Source: Bloomberg