Author: azeeadmin

Netflix is doubling down on interactive TV, according to a new report from Bloomberg this morning. The streaming service is planning to develop a number of projects that will allow viewers to control the storyline’s progress in a TV show or movie, including one in an upcoming episode of the dystopian sci-fi anthology series, “Black Mirror.”

According to the report, the choose-your-own-adventure episode will be a part of “Black Mirror’s” fifth season, which arrives in December.

This is not the first time Netflix has tried interactive TV, but it’s interesting that it’s now bringing its experiment to more high-profile, adult-orientated shows.

The company had first announced its plans to offer this sort of interactive storytelling last June, but at the time, it was focused on kids’ shows. The original lineup included  “Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale,” “Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile,” and “Stretch Armstrong: The Breakout.”

These are show in the Netflix user interface with a small icon of a game controller over the show’s thumbnail to indicate its interactive, playable nature.

In December 2017, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos told Bloomberg it was preparing an experimental show aimed at older audiences, after seeing how kids had responded to the format.

The forthcoming, controllable “Black Mirror” episode will be the first time Netflix has used this format in a live-action series – and it’s the first interactive show designed for adult viewers. It’s also the first of at least two confirmed live-action projects, says Bloomberg, noting also that Netflix is in the processing of negotiating the rights to others. Two of the projects are said to be adaptations of video games.

Interactive TV is still very much an experiment. It’s not clear that this is something adults will want in their viewing experience. In addition, the production of a branched narrative is far more timely and costly which can be prohibitive in scaling these projects beyond the occasional “special episode.”

But people may come to Netflix due to curiosity about the format.

Netflix’s isn’t the only company trying interactive TV. HBO’s Steven Soderbergh project Mosaic also dabbled in interactivity through a companion app for iOS and Apple TV.

Reached for comment about today’s report, a Netflix spokesperson sent TechCrunch the following response:

 

This is the HP Spectre Folio. Unveiled in an over-the-top press event in Manhattan today, that included such turns of phrase as “aluminum has become the gold standard,” the device is a convertible laptop with a leather case.

As HP put it at the event, “this isn’t a PC that’s wrapped in leather, it’s a PC that’s made of leather.” So, what does that mean, exactly? Rather than covering the standard aluminum or plastic, the cow skin serves as both the chassis and hinge. Weird, right?

Another quote from the event: “It makes you feel a certain way when you touch it. It makes you feel a certain way when you smell it.” Not a thing I expected to hear when I headed to the city for an HP event this morning.

Point is, HP embraced something called ““manucrafturing,” in the equally bizarre words of its press release.

The laptop has a 13.3 inch pen-enabled touch screen and an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor inside. There’s 16GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage. The battery should get up to 18 hours of life on a charge, according to the company — admittedly pretty solid.

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Pre-orders start today and the device is expected to start shipping before the end of the month. Pricing starts at $1,300 for the i5 version.

YouTube is expanding the ways advertisers can connect with their audience, thanks to an expansion to its TrueView in-stream ad format that will now push viewers to take actions when viewing ads beyond just a click. The company was already testing extensions that let advertisers add location elements or forms to their ads – to get viewers to sign up for a service or learn more via email. Chili’s tested this out to grow its loyalty program sign-ups, for example. Now, YouTube will add more extensions that let advertisers push other actions, like app downloads, travel booking, or buying movie tickets.

Early testers of these extensions included Vodafone, 20th Century Fox, Headspace, and Maybelline. Vodafone reported a 3.5% clickthrough rate, as a result, and a 2.3x incremental lift in ad recall, says YouTube.

With the new extensions, ads could become more useful to viewers who show interest. Instead of simply getting viewers excited about a new movie, for instance, viewers could be presented with an interface where they can browse nearby theaters and see when the movie is playing and where, then buy their ticket.

But this sort of ad is far more interruptive, too.

In that same movie showtime example, the ad takes over the full screen when the device is held vertically, YouTube notes. That does make it easy to click the showtimes and book a ticket, but some consumers may find this sort of takeover annoying.

Arguably, the ability to drive more than just an increase brand awareness is why advertisers would turn to a digital platform like YouTube in the first place. It makes sense that YouTube would expand the set of actions consumers can take on its ads to offer more than just a click that takes you to a company website. Whether YouTube viewers will actually stop in the middle of their video to buy tickets or download apps remains to be seen, of course.

The news was announced at Advertising Week on Monday, where YouTube also said that CPG advertisers will be able to measure their media using third-party market research firm IRI, in addition to Oracle Data Cloud and Nielsen Catalina Solutions (NCS).

 

 

YouTube is expanding the ways advertisers can connect with their audience, thanks to an expansion to its TrueView in-stream ad format that will now push viewers to take actions when viewing ads beyond just a click. The company was already testing extensions that let advertisers add location elements or forms to their ads – to get viewers to sign up for a service or learn more via email. Chili’s tested this out to grow its loyalty program sign-ups, for example. Now, YouTube will add more extensions that let advertisers push other actions, like app downloads, travel booking, or buying movie tickets.

Early testers of these extensions included Vodafone, 20th Century Fox, Headspace, and Maybelline. Vodafone reported a 3.5% clickthrough rate, as a result, and a 2.3x incremental lift in ad recall, says YouTube.

With the new extensions, ads could become more useful to viewers who show interest. Instead of simply getting viewers excited about a new movie, for instance, viewers could be presented with an interface where they can browse nearby theaters and see when the movie is playing and where, then buy their ticket.

But this sort of ad is far more interruptive, too.

In that same movie showtime example, the ad takes over the full screen when the device is held vertically, YouTube notes. That does make it easy to click the showtimes and book a ticket, but some consumers may find this sort of takeover annoying.

Arguably, the ability to drive more than just an increase brand awareness is why advertisers would turn to a digital platform like YouTube in the first place. It makes sense that YouTube would expand the set of actions consumers can take on its ads to offer more than just a click that takes you to a company website. Whether YouTube viewers will actually stop in the middle of their video to buy tickets or download apps remains to be seen, of course.

The news was announced at Advertising Week on Monday, where YouTube also said that CPG advertisers will be able to measure their media using third-party market research firm IRI, in addition to Oracle Data Cloud and Nielsen Catalina Solutions (NCS).

 

 

A patent suit between IBM and Groupon that has been underway for over two years has finally been settled. Today, the two companies announced that Groupon will pay IBM $57 million both to settle infringement claims, as well as to license e-commerce patents from IBM in the future. On IBM’s side, the company said it will “consider” offering Groupon products to employees as part of the company’s corporate benefits package.

“The license we have acquired to IBM’s patent portfolio will enable Groupon to continue to build amazing products for consumers and small businesses around the world. We look forward to sharing these products directly with IBM employees,” said Bill Roberts, Groupon vice president of Global Communications, in a statement.

The $57 million is a fair bit lower than the initial $83 million that IBM was initially awarded when it had won the case against Groupon in July, and significantly lower than the $167 million that it had originally asked for in damages.

Groupon had always argued that it wasn’t guilty because it believed the patents that were in question were too old, and so in July it had said it would consider appealing or applying for a lower sum (which it appears to have achieved).

The news puts to rest a case that has been ongoing since March 2016, when IBM filed a case against Groupon alleging that the daily deals site was violating four patents. IBM — one of the world’s biggest technology patent holders, with more than 45,000 now credited to it — is no stranger to litigating against other companies that it believes infringes on them, with other suits involving Twitter, Amazon, Expedia and more.

IBM made nearly $1.2 billion in intellectual property licensing and royalties in 2017 according to its annual report. Notably, this was down about 14 percent from 2016’s $1.4 billion, so it seems that the company might look to get more aggressive to bring back growth to that area.

“IBM invests over $5 billion annually in research and development,” said Dr. William Lafontaine, IBM’s general manager of intellectual property, in a statement. “This agreement further demonstrates the value of our intellectual property that results from this innovation. We’re pleased this matter has been resolved.”

Groupon has a market cap of about $2.2 billion and its stock is up by over three percent today, although overall has been on a downward trend for the last year, as the company continues to struggle to regain some of the momentum it had in its early days around deals for local goods, services and experiences.

A patent suit between IBM and Groupon that has been underway for over two years has finally been settled. Today, the two companies announced that Groupon will pay IBM $57 million both to settle infringement claims, as well as to license e-commerce patents from IBM in the future. On IBM’s side, the company said it will “consider” offering Groupon products to employees as part of the company’s corporate benefits package.

“The license we have acquired to IBM’s patent portfolio will enable Groupon to continue to build amazing products for consumers and small businesses around the world. We look forward to sharing these products directly with IBM employees,” said Bill Roberts, Groupon vice president of Global Communications, in a statement.

The $57 million is a fair bit lower than the initial $83 million that IBM was initially awarded when it had won the case against Groupon in July, and significantly lower than the $167 million that it had originally asked for in damages.

Groupon had always argued that it wasn’t guilty because it believed the patents that were in question were too old, and so in July it had said it would consider appealing or applying for a lower sum (which it appears to have achieved).

The news puts to rest a case that has been ongoing since March 2016, when IBM filed a case against Groupon alleging that the daily deals site was violating four patents. IBM — one of the world’s biggest technology patent holders, with more than 45,000 now credited to it — is no stranger to litigating against other companies that it believes infringes on them, with other suits involving Twitter, Amazon, Expedia and more.

IBM made nearly $1.2 billion in intellectual property licensing and royalties in 2017 according to its annual report. Notably, this was down about 14 percent from 2016’s $1.4 billion, so it seems that the company might look to get more aggressive to bring back growth to that area.

“IBM invests over $5 billion annually in research and development,” said Dr. William Lafontaine, IBM’s general manager of intellectual property, in a statement. “This agreement further demonstrates the value of our intellectual property that results from this innovation. We’re pleased this matter has been resolved.”

Groupon has a market cap of about $2.2 billion and its stock is up by over three percent today, although overall has been on a downward trend for the last year, as the company continues to struggle to regain some of the momentum it had in its early days around deals for local goods, services and experiences.

The HRP-5P is a humanoid robot from Japan’s Advanced Industrial Science and Technology institute that can perform common construction tasks including – as we see above – install drywall.

While HRP-5P – maybe we can call it Herb? – uses environmental measurement, object detection, and motion planning to perform various tasks. In this video we see it use small hooks to grab the wallboard and slide it off onto the floor. Then, with a bit of maneuvering, it’s able to place the board against the joists and drill them in place.

“By utilizing HRP-5P as a development platform of industry-academia collaboration, it is expected that research and development for practical use of humanoid robots in building construction sites and assembly of large structures such as aircraft and ships will be accelerated,” write the creators.

The researchers see the robot as a replacement for an aging population and a declining birthdate. “It is expected that many industries such as the construction industry will fall into serious manual shortages in the future, and it is urgent to solve this problem by robot technology,” the write. “Also, at work sites assembling very large structures such as building sites and assembling of aircraft / ships, workers are carrying out dangerous heavy work work, and it is desired to replace these tasks with robot technology. However, at the assembly site of these large structures, it is difficult to develop a work environment tailored to the robot, and the introduction of robots has not progressed.”

Considering there are 6 million contractors in the US alone, robots like this one could be a boon or a curse. What happens when we can easily replace humans in shipping, logistics, and construction? Let’s just hope Herb here needs a supervisor.

The HRP-5P is a humanoid robot from Japan’s Advanced Industrial Science and Technology institute that can perform common construction tasks including – as we see above – install drywall.

While HRP-5P – maybe we can call it Herb? – uses environmental measurement, object detection, and motion planning to perform various tasks. In this video we see it use small hooks to grab the wallboard and slide it off onto the floor. Then, with a bit of maneuvering, it’s able to place the board against the joists and drill them in place.

“By utilizing HRP-5P as a development platform of industry-academia collaboration, it is expected that research and development for practical use of humanoid robots in building construction sites and assembly of large structures such as aircraft and ships will be accelerated,” write the creators.

The researchers see the robot as a replacement for an aging population and a declining birthdate. “It is expected that many industries such as the construction industry will fall into serious manual shortages in the future, and it is urgent to solve this problem by robot technology,” the write. “Also, at work sites assembling very large structures such as building sites and assembling of aircraft / ships, workers are carrying out dangerous heavy work work, and it is desired to replace these tasks with robot technology. However, at the assembly site of these large structures, it is difficult to develop a work environment tailored to the robot, and the introduction of robots has not progressed.”

Considering there are 6 million contractors in the US alone, robots like this one could be a boon or a curse. What happens when we can easily replace humans in shipping, logistics, and construction? Let’s just hope Herb here needs a supervisor.

LG is announcing a new flagship this week. It’s called the V40 ThinQ. These things we know for sure. We also now know that the handset will sport a cinemagraph-style feature called Cine Shot. How? Because LG says so. Also, we had occasion to see the feature in action

If you’re a company like LG, there’s value in pre-announcing features, and Cineshot is right in the sweet spot, in that it’s interesting without giving too much of the phone away.

For those are uninitiated, cinegraphs are still images with pockets of looped motion. They essentially split the difference between a still and animated Gif. In the case of the V40, the phone merges still and video into one file. The user can then highlight the portion of the photo they want to add motion to by essentially painting it in with a finger. The feature also works with all three (!) of the phone’s rear-facing camera. 

It’s gimmicky — but it’s cool gimmicky. There’s a good chance it’s the sort of thing you’ll use twice out of the box and then never return to, but it’s an interesting and fun way for LG to help distinguish itself from the competition.

More info on the V40 later this week.

LG is announcing a new flagship this week. It’s called the V40 ThinQ. These things we know for sure. We also now know that the handset will sport a cinemagraph-style feature called Cine Shot. How? Because LG says so. Also, we had occasion to see the feature in action

If you’re a company like LG, there’s value in pre-announcing features, and Cineshot is right in the sweet spot, in that it’s interesting without giving too much of the phone away.

For those are uninitiated, cinegraphs are still images with pockets of looped motion. They essentially split the difference between a still and animated Gif. In the case of the V40, the phone merges still and video into one file. The user can then highlight the portion of the photo they want to add motion to by essentially painting it in with a finger. The feature also works with all three (!) of the phone’s rear-facing camera. 

It’s gimmicky — but it’s cool gimmicky. There’s a good chance it’s the sort of thing you’ll use twice out of the box and then never return to, but it’s an interesting and fun way for LG to help distinguish itself from the competition.

More info on the V40 later this week.