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Heavy backlash against GoDaddy due to SOPA support
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet,
Action on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has stalled for the year, but those opposed to it are gearing up to target those in support of the controversial legislation—particularly GoDaddy.
A Reddit user is calling on those with GoDaddy domains to move them elsewhere on Dec. 29; Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh has already pledged to make the move.
"We will move our 1,000 domains off @godaddy unless you drop support of SOPA. We love you guys, but #SOPA-is-cancer to the Free Web," Huh tweeted.
SOPA would expand the ability of the Justice Department to go after sites overseas that specialize in fake goods like counterfeit purses or prescription drugs. According to the bill's sponsor, Rep. Lamar Smith, the Justice Department would have to get a court order against an infringing site, and if granted, could request that the site be blocked. Search engines like Google would then have to remove links to those sites.
Click to continue reading Heavy backlash against GoDaddy due to SOPA support
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Cablevision next to get HBO Go
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Home Entertainment, Internet,
Days after Time Warner Cable announced they'd be getting HBO Go, Cablevision announced yesterday that it too had secured an agreement to offer its customers access to HBO GO streaming content.
The cable provider said customers should have access to TV shows and movies from HBO and its sister network Cinemax in the next few months.
"Given the success and popularity of our own Optimum App, we know our customers want the flexibility to watch the programming they receive as part of their cable television service in new ways, on a variety of devices, so we are very pleased to have reached agreement to offer HBO GO and MAX GO to our digital cable customers," John Trierweiler, executive vice president of product management," said in a statement.
HBO GO is accessible online via HBOGo.com and via the Roku set-top box, but subscribers can also watch on mobile devices, including the iPad, iPhone, and Android devices.
Click to continue reading Cablevision next to get HBO Go
Google's latest Internet Easter egg has a holiday theme. Even if you're living in a warmer climate, the search engine giant is making it snow.
Typing "let it snow" into Google.com will return the normal search engine results for YouTube videos of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra singing the classic song. But then, a few snowflakes will start falling from the top of the screen until all the search results are obscured by a digital blizzard.
Once the page is completely full of snow, you can "draw" on the screen with your mouse. Clicking the "defrost" button will bring up the search results once again, but snowflakes will continue to fall in the background.
To see the snowy results, don't put quote marks around the phrase. The trick does not appear to work on mobile devices; nothing fancy from an iPhone 4 running iOS 5 (Update: One reader reported that it works on her iPad. Others, however, are having difficulties in particular browsers, like IE9.)
Click to continue reading Latest Google Easter Egg: Let it Snow
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Watch a bright comet head for the sun
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cameras, Internet, Science,
Soon after Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy discovered a comet in an automated search program using a telescope equipped with a CCD detector on Nov. 27, it became clear that he had found something special.
Follow-up observations determined that the comet belonged to the Kreutz group of sungrazing comets, so called because members of this comet family—which all travel in similar orbits—pass extremely close to the Sun. The brightest Kreutz comets, such as the great comets of 1066, 1843, 1882, and 1965, have been among the most spectacular comets on record. The Kreutz group is believed to be the remnants of what was once a single, larger comet that has progressively fragmented over the past couple thousand years.
Although Lovejoy's comet—now officially known as C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy)—is not expected to rival the greatest Kreutz comets, it’s the first sungrazer to be found by a ground-based observer in over 40 years, and it should put on an impressive show online. It’s now visible in the images of several spaceborne observatories that monitor our star—the twin STEREO spacecraft and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)—and should brighten as it makes what’s likely a suicidal run at the Sun.
Click to continue reading Watch a bright comet head for the sun
TeleNav shows off HTML5-powered GPS app
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: GPS, Internet, Software,
TeleNav, the GPS software company, has unveiled a browser-based HTML5 app that will deliver voice-enabled, turn-by-turn GPS navigation on almost any mobile device—and that other sites can call up with a single line of code.
The concept behind the app is similar to that of Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader: You input the URL and then run TeleNav from within a browser, without installing a native app first. An added benefit: TeleNav can continuously update the service over time whenever it wants, without inconveniencing consumers with periodic software updates.
In an e-mail to us, Mary Beth Lowell, TeleNav's associate director of public relations, confirmed that the HTML5-based app will tap into each device's GPS chip. The combination puts it several leagues ahead of Google Maps, which provides directions without voice prompts, meaning you can also use it in a car while behind the wheel, since you don't have to look at the screen for the next step.
"For example, if I'm in a travel app and I'm looking at my hotel address, I could click on the address and get full voice-guided TBT [turn-by-turn] directions to the hotel," Lowell said. "I wouldn't need to be a TeleNav customer or even download an app."
Click to continue reading TeleNav shows off HTML5-powered GPS app
Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theater video experiment is a huge hit
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Internet,
Days after comedian Louis C.K. launched his content and distribution experiment, the results are in, and it appears that he may have inadvertently kicked off a new era of celebrity-controlled Internet content.
On Dec. 10, C.K. offered his one-hour "Live at the Beacon Theater" show for streaming or download for $5, free of any digital rights management (DRM). The move received a lot of attention via traditional and social media, but the main question on everyone's mind was: How will a show delivered directly from a niche comedian do when offered without the marketing muscle and distribution controls of a major company like HBO or Comedy Central?
According to data posted on C.K.'s Web site, the experiment pulled in a $200,000 profit.
"I directed this video myself and the production of the video cost around $170,000…The development of the website was around $32,000…The show went on sale at noon on Saturday, December 10th," he wrote. "12 hours later, we had over 50,000 purchases and had earned $250,000, breaking even on the cost of production and website. As of [December 13, 2011], we've sold over 110,000 copies for a total of over $500,000. Minus some money for PayPal charges etc, I have a profit around $200,000…"
Click to continue reading Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theater video experiment is a huge hit
The Internet radio market got another shot of disruption today as Spotify announced its new Spotify Radio, a music-streaming app that will function just like a normal radio station, with the added ability to skip songs you don't like.
During this week's LeWeb tech conference in Paris, which was live-streamed online, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek took to the stage to announce the launch of the new app. Outlining the merits of Spotify Radio, Ek said, "It's kind of like Pandora, but with unlimited skipping and unlimited stations... We think people will love playing around it and we'd love to see what developers will do on top of that."
To get started, users simply click the new "Start Artist Radio" at the top of an artist page and the app will automatically create a radio station and continue to insert new music based on its "intelligent recommendation engine."
Click to continue reading Spotify Radio set to take on Pandora
Spotify launches its own app ecosystem in attempt to become a music platform
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Music, Software,
Spotify has opened its network up to developers, turning the music service into a music platform.
"We're launching truly integrated apps inside Spotify from the best and brightest," Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek said during a New York press event. "We really believe they'll deliver unique experiences tailored to you and your music tastes."
Third-party developers will be able to build HTML5 apps that access Spotify's music library via a JavaScript API. Spotify is "opening our platform in a way that lets you curate the apps you want and make Spotify yours," Ek said.
All app developers are invited to submit apps to Spotify "but we will approve the apps because we think the core here is the user experience," Ek said.
At this point, there are also no monetization possibilities; all apps will be free.
Amazon is following up its Black Friday deals week with Cyber Monday Deals Week. All week long Amazon will be featuring soem killer deals in its Cyber Monday section, and we're already seeing some nice discounts, particularly on video games and consumer electronics. Be sure to check it out if you've stull got some shopping to do!
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| Amazon Cyber Monday sales
November shoppers spend 15% more, and Black Friday surges by 26%
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hot Deals, Internet,
You've heard the numbers in aggregate for Black Friday weekend, but what about the month of November in general? Or Black Friday itself? Just how does this year stack up against the same period of time last year, especially given the lowered sales expectations and overall retail optimism as of late?
Here's a spoiler: Online retailers don't have anything to worry about so far.
"Despite some analysts' predictions that the flurry of brick-and-mortar retailers opening their doors early for Black Friday would pull dollars from online retail, we still saw a banner day for e-commerce with more than $800 million in spending," said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni, in a statement. "With brick-and-mortar retail also reporting strong gains on Black Friday, it's clear that the heavy promotional activity had a positive impact on both channels."
According to comScore's figures, online shopping is up 15 percent between November 1–25, 2011 versus the same time period last year. That's an increase from approximately $11 billion in spending to $12.7 billion, helped out in part by an 18-percent increase for online spending on Thanksgiving Day and a 26-percent increase in online spending on Black Friday itself.
Click to continue reading November shoppers spend 15% more, and Black Friday surges by 26%
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