WWDC Keynote: Netflix coming to iPhone this summer…for free!
Since its launch on the iPad, Netflix has been one of the top 10 most downloaded apps in Apple’s App Store, revealed Netflix CEO Reed Hastings today during the WWDC Keynote. It’s also the #1 downloaded entertainment app. Because of its success on the iPad, Netflix for the iPhone will be released this summer. And for free!
Before Hastings stepped up to center stage, Steve Jobs told the crowd that Netflix was one app consistently requested. In April, Apple and Netflix announced the streaming video service would be coming to the iPad. This news upset many iPhone users who had been anxiously waiting for Netflix on their phones. Now their wish has been fulfilled. Will you be watching Netflix from the comfort of your iPhone this summer?
Photo courtesy of Engadget’s Live Blog
Yahoo! following the Opt-Out trend with “Updates” expansion
Last week, Yahoo! announced it will begin expanding its Facebook-like news feed it calls Updates. Updates allow you to share information about your activities such as comments and ratings you leave on Yahoo!-based sites; Flickr and Picasa public photos; blog posts on Blogger, Tumbler and the like; music preferences on Pandora and Last.fm; YouTube activities; tweets from your Twitter account; Yelp reviews; and information from a handful of other sites like Goodreads.
“You Both Follow” – Coming soon to a Twitter timeline near you?
Twitter is under way testing a new feature it calls “You Both Follow”. One of the site’s engineers, Nick Kallen, tweeted recently that the feature has been rolled out to 10% of users.
Presumably, the feature will work much like Facebook’s “Mutual Friends” where you can see the people you have in common with any other Tweeters. As the name suggests, it matches who you’re both following, not who is following you.
What the "You Both Follow" feature might look like.
Rumor: Hulu Coming to XBox Live
Pre-E3 rumors are flying around the internet like crazy. One of our favorites comes from Hulu and Microsoft. According to sources at GearLive, Microsoft plans to reveal Hulu as one of its new Xbox LIVE services. Unlike Netflix, Hulu has maintained a no-devices policy meaning that you can only watch Hulu directly on your computer. There are ways around this, such as using intermediary software like PlayOn, but there are no Hulu-approved alternatives.
So far, there appear to be two downsides to this partnership. First, according to 1UP, while Microsoft already has the necessary software to implement a Hulu interface on the Xbox360, getting rights to Hulu programming hasn’t been negotiated fully. Also, it appears viewers will have to fork over a subscription fee for the service in addition to their Xbox LIVE Gold fee. It’s unclear how much the subscription will cost and how Microsoft will go about charging for it.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo begins mid-June. Hopefully, Microsoft proves this rumor to be true.
Sources:
- Exclusive: Hulu coming to Xbox Live at E3 [GearLive]
- Hulu on Xbox 360 Exists, but Tied Up by Rights Issues [1UP]
Review: TidySongs Fixes Your iTunes Collection
TidySongs (Cloudbrain, LLC) is an organizational tool for your iTunes music collection. It uses data already associated with your songs to look up and identify any incorrect or missing information. As long as the song contains at least one correctly spelled word from the artist and song fields, TidySongs attempts to correct any mistakes in the artist name, song title, album title, track number, release year, genre and even add artwork if it’s missing.
TidySongs returns a confidence number (the “99%” seen above) that let’s you know how accurate it thinks the returned information is. A number of 99% means the information is most likely correct, whereas a number of under 10% means the guess is most likely incorrect. Manually changing or adding to any of the information could lead to a better search result.
Facebook Privacy Settings You Might Not Know About
Facebook’s privacy settings have been a topic of heated debate recently. The social networking site is being heavily criticized for its seemingly blatant disregard for its users’ privacy by making security settings “Opt-Out” rather than “Opt-In” as well as being incredibly difficult and convoluted to find and change to a more preferable setup. If you’ve been reluctant to delete your Facebook account but still want things more secure, you are well aware Facebook does not keep all security and privacy information in one easy-to-find location. So if you want to change anything, you’ve got a lot of clicking to do.
Most of the articles and blog posts floating around right now talk about what steps you need to take to change your Privacy and Application Settings, opting out of Instant Personalization (or you can have Al Franken take you through the steps), and even permanently delete your account. but I’ve yet to see an article discussing the Account Settings portion of your profile. So get ready for yet another round of clicking to protect your privacy…
Netflix on Linux: Why This is Advantageous for Everyone
I recently installed the Linux distribution Fedora 12 on my desktop and was curious if Netflix would play on my setup. As you might have guessed, it doesn’t. While searching around for a fix, I came across a 20-page thread on Netflix’s community forum hashing out the issue. After sifting through the OS flame wars, it became apparent the only reason Netflix Instant Watch isn’t available for Linux users is Microsoft.
Get your game on ~ New Releases this Week
It’s been a pretty quiet week for new game releases. Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Conviction tops the list for big names, but there’s also been a Dark Void remake, Grand Theft Auto IV episode release and a few independent titles making an appearance.
Check out all the fun that awaits!
Week in Review: Gaming News
Here are a few of the latest tidbits traveling around the gaming community. There was certainly a lot more going on this week, but I found these to be particularly interesting or fun. Enjoy!
- Dr. Horrible goes 8-bit! I had to put this first since it’s just…well…awesome. Doctor Octoroc turned Joss Whedon’s short into what he refers to as “an interpretation of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog as a theoretical Nintendo game.” Even though you can’t actually play it, it is made of pure awesome and everyone should watch it.
- Kid racks up a $1400 bill on Farmville. While Zynga games are free to play, they do offer in-game items and boosts for real money. Apparently, it is possible to spend $1400 in one month on all these digital wares as one UK 12-year-old proved after spending all of his savings then stealing his mother’s credit card. Scary.
- DRM troubles still abound at Ubisoft. After more than 2 weeks post-release, Ubisoft’s Settlers 7 gamers are still having problems accessing the DRM servers. Because of Ubisoft’s always-online requirement, this means players can’t play if they can’t connect to the DRM server. Hopefully, these issues will make Ubisoft and other game publishers rethink this DRM strategy.
- PlayStation 3 not-so-smooth mandatory update. Sony required PS3 owners to install a firmware update that increased security and removed the option to install an alternate OS. However, as The Escapist reports, some consoles are not getting by unscathed.
Hulu Streaming Its Way Into Netflix’s Market Share?
After announcing in a New York Times article that Hulu has been profitable for two quarters, Jason Kilar, the company’s CEO also admitted they are “open to subscriptions as a complement to an ad-supported model.” He stated, “Our mission is to help people discover the world’s premium content…” And if bringing a subscription option to the the currently free service helps accomplish that goal, it is something the company seems willing to do.
The article also went on to say that Hulu’s interest in moving toward a subscription service “is coming under increasing pressure from the companies that supply its content.” According to ComScore, the article states, “monthly video streams have more than tripled in a year.” Kilar also indicated that by summer 2010, revenues could hit $100 million, the revenue for the whole of 2009. Hulu’s suppliers want to start earning more money as the service becomes more popular and pushing for a subscription service on top of the ad-based service Hulu already offers, is another way to do just that. Read more…
