Roku adds live streaming of UFC matches |
- Roku adds live streaming of UFC matches
- YouTube localized content finally expands to Africa
- Blockbuster once again on brink of bankruptcy?
- RIM to offer BB Storm in China
- Apple preparing 24 million iPhone 4G units for ship
- Microsoft to pay VirnetX $200 million after settling suit
- YouTube celebrates 5th birthday, gets two billion views daily
- Rumored PSP2 handheld has exciting specs
- Injunction forces Pirate Bay down temporarily
| Roku adds live streaming of UFC matches Posted: 17 May 2010 10:31 PM PDT  Roku, the company behind the popular streaming set-top boxes of the same name, has struck a deal with the UFC this week, giving users a chance to stream all major UFC events for the foreseeable future. The set-top makers first hit the market in 2008 with the Netflix Player, which was created, as the name implies, to stream Netflix's "Watch Instantly" movie collection. Since then, Roku has updated to include Amazon VOD, Major League Baseball and more content. Roku adds that the UFC deal includes HD streaming, even for the PPV events. A subscription to UFC Vault is $60 for six months, or each individual fight costs $2. PPV events, which normally cost up to $45 though your cable box, will cost $45 through Roku as well. The first event available will be the May 29th championship fight between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans. Roku. A 3Mbps Internet connection is suggested.
      |
| YouTube localized content finally expands to Africa Posted: 17 May 2010 08:58 PM PDT  Google has announced today that YouTube has finally been expanded to Africa, marking the sixth (and likely, last) continent the popular video sharing site is available from, locally. The expansion coincides with the fifth anniversary of the site, and YouTube says the site now gets 2 billion views daily. More on that story here: YouTube celebrates 5th birthday, gets two billion views daily. Of course the site has been available to users in Africa since launch, but the continent has never had any localized content. Until today, 27 different countries have localized content, stretching five continents. South Africa will now have its own version of YouTube, which will launch full of content from South African providers, including educational content from universities. "All in all, we are pleased to be officially putting down roots in South Africa and look forward to working with South African users, partners and advertisers to make the YouTube community even bigger, even more diverse and even brighter than it is today," reads the blog.
    |
| Blockbuster once again on brink of bankruptcy? Posted: 17 May 2010 08:27 PM PDT  According to Dallas Business Journal, video rental giant Blockbuster is once again on the brink of bankruptcy, with their latest financial statement saying cash on hand and cash flow will only give the company 12 months at most. At that point, the company would not be able to pay off its debts, and Chapter 11 bankruptcy would become "an option." However, the company said it was just using cautionary language when bringing up the option of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and that shareholders should not be worried. At the very least, the company concedes it will need to close more stores as it will not meet the financial goals it hoped for 2010. "The operating environment continues to be challenging, but we have made significant progress during the past year in reducing costs," adds Jim Keyes, CEO. "We believe we will continue to have adequate liquidity during 2010 through efforts including divesting non-core international assets, significantly improving working capital, continuing to reduce operating costs, and improving credit terms. Since there are execution risks related to these objectives, we are simultaneously pursuing a recapitalization and are in discussions with bond holders and other parties to improve our liquidity."
    |
| RIM to offer BB Storm in China Posted: 17 May 2010 07:47 PM PDT  Research In Motion (RIM) has said it will begin selling the BlackBerry Storm via China Telecom, marking the first time the touchscreen device is available in the nation. The smartphone will be available in 16 of the country's 31 provinces in the near future, although no date or price was revealed. The move is seen as a way to compete with China Unicom, which is the current exclusive carrier of the Apple iPhone in the nation. The iPhone has seen such strong sales in China that Apple says sales have risen to over $1.3 billion. The Storm was widely criticized when it launched in the U.S. in 2008 for its awful screen design and software glitches, and RIM rushed to release the Storm 2 in 2009. RIM has made the older BlackBerry 8700 available to corporate customers in China since 2006. At least one analyst thinks RIM's sales in China will be light at first, as it tries to build brand recognition: "Expectations for the BlackBerry should be kept in check, they're coming from essentially zero market share. RIM is going to have to work very hard with their carrier partners to build the brand," says Matt Thornton, an analyst with Avian Securities, via BW.
    |
| Apple preparing 24 million iPhone 4G units for ship Posted: 17 May 2010 07:24 PM PDT  According to a new Digitimes report, Apple plans to ship 24 million iPhone 4G units by the end of the year, with their Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn ready to ship 4.5 million in June alone. While Apple may have giant expectations, 24 million seems over the top. Since 2007, the company has sold just over 50 million units, with three different iterations of the smartphone. Cnet proposes that the company may be planning a large price cut on the model, which would certainly help move units. Potentially, Apple is readying a CDMA-version of the phone, which would work on Verizon, the largest phone carrier in the nation. Confirming what Gizmodo revealed last month, Digitimes says the smartphone will have an ARM Cortex A8 processor and 512MB of memory, which is double that of the 3GS, and should give enough power to handle the multi-tasking functions of the iPhone 0S 4.0. Additionally, new to the iPhone 4G are a front-facing camera for video conferencing, a better standard camera (including larger lens and flash), a Micro-SIM slot (just like the iPad), 960x640 resolution, a second mic, metallic exterior (not plastic) and split side buttons for volume.
    |
| Microsoft to pay VirnetX $200 million after settling suit Posted: 17 May 2010 06:54 PM PDT  In March, software giant Microsoft was ordered to pay $106 million in damages to a communications company by a jury overseeing a patent infringement lawsuit. The company in question was VirnetX, which had claimed that the Microsoft had infringed on two patents held by the company. The patents in question cover methods for establishing Virtual Private Networks (VPN). Just two days later, VirnetX filed suit again, trying to get the jury to prove that more Microsoft products infringe on their patents, as well. Microsoft has now announced it has settled the case for $200 million, and will license the technology going forward. Both companies said they were satisfied with the resolution of the case.
    |
| YouTube celebrates 5th birthday, gets two billion views daily Posted: 17 May 2010 06:40 PM PDT  YouTube launched in May 2005 with a specific goal; to make it possible for users to easily upload and share videos with each other. The type of content wasn't particularly important, as long as the process was easy for the uploader and the viewer. Not long after it launched, YouTube built a multi-million community of users and became a well known brand. The site now exceeds over two billion views daily, which it points out is double the prime-time audience of all three major U.S. television networks combined. It has hosted all kinds of video content from homemade videos to coverage of social unrest, such as the Iranian election protests in 2009 that showed the power of social media to spread information. The website is currently blocked in China. More than 24 hours of video footage is currently uploaded to YouTube every single minute. YouTube has launched the YouTube FiveYear Channel, which includes the "My YouTube Story" project where users from all over the world describe how YouTube affected their lives. Users can submit videos here, and they may be selected for the My YouTube Story project. Some of YouTube's short history:
 YouTube is localized in 22 different countries in 24 different languages, and now receives 70 percent of all its video uploads from outside the United States. To date, the most popular video on YouTube is Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance", with over 200 million views.
    |
| Rumored PSP2 handheld has exciting specs Posted: 17 May 2010 06:35 PM PDT  Fans of the Sony PSP handheld have likely been disappointed by the lack of new innovation with the system over the past few years, including the flop that is the PSPGo. If VG247 is correct, however, the still unofficial PSP2 sequel should have some pretty exciting specs, and will hopefully boost Sony's lagging handheld sales. The site, citing British sources, says the console will not be revealed at the upcoming E3 event, but it will be launched this year, with a 2011 release date. The handheld has a touch-screen, but will keep physical buttons as well. It has two cameras, one forward-facing for video conferencing and the other, as standard, on the back. Sources add the console could be Wi-Fi and 3G supportive, which would be a first for the handheld series. UMD will likely be removed totally, just like on the PSPGo. Perhaps more importantly, the processor is "f***ing powerful" and will use a four-core Cell CPU.  View full-sized here
    |
| Injunction forces Pirate Bay down temporarily Posted: 17 May 2010 02:55 PM PDT  A preliminary injunction obtained by several major Hollywood studios against the Pirate Bay's provider has forced the infamous BitTorrent tracker offline temporarily while it attempts to carry out backup plans. CB3ROB Ltd. & Co. were prohibited from connecting the Pirate Bay website to the Internet by the Regional Court of Hamburg through the CyberBunker operator. CB3ROB Managing Director Sven Olaf Kamphuis decided to stop routing the Pirate Bay traffic until his lawyers have carefully read and reviewed the injunction he received. The Pirate Bay will not wait for the lawyers review however, and are already attempting to get the website back online. To get back online, the site only requires that another provider routes traffic for the Pirate Bay servers. At time of writing the site is still offline but is expected to be back online within a few hours. The Pirate Bay has kept backup and "Plan B" measures since it was targeted in a raid back in 2006.
    |
| You are subscribed to email updates from AfterDawn.com To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment