Thursday, 30 August 2012
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Monday, 6 August 2012
Legendary Entertainment Acquires Nerdist Industries
Legendary Entertainment — the company who along with Warner Bros. is behind Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy — announced that it has acquired Nerdist Industries. The timing of the deal is perfect — with the announcement coming just days before Comic Con.
Since 2008, the Nerdist brand has grown from a podcast to a multi-platform of pop culture. Founder Chris Hardwick was joined by current CEO Peter Levin in 2011, and the company is now comprised of website, YouTube channel, podcast network, e-newsletter, television footprint and live events.
Collectively, Nerdist Industries aggregates 15 million monthly viewers, readers and listeners.
Legendary Entertainment’s Chairman and CEO Thomas Tull was an early investor to Nerdist.
“We’ve been impressed with how Chris and Peter have harnessed the Nerdist platform to create and deliver high-quality, relevant content, and then develop one-on-one relationships with the fans we see as Legendary’s core psychographic,” said Tull.
Tuesday’s acquisition was announced by Legendary Entertainment COO Tim Connors, to whom Hardwick and Levin will report.
According to Connors, Legendary Entertainment will help Nerdist more aggressively “broaden their reach as an autonomous editorial brand, as well as pursue some exciting new ideas.”
Hardwick and Levin will continue in their current roles within Nerdist. However, the two will also take on the roles of Co-Presidents of Legendary’s digital business — Hardwick will serve as Co-President of digital content and Levin will be Co-President of digital strategy.
“The fact that we can retain the independent nature of the brand while working closely with the team at Legendary is an exciting next step in the evolution of the Nerdist Industries brand,” said Levin.
They will work closely with Legendary’s executive management team on event management and comics-related operations — which is no surprise, considering the Nerdist team is currently (and literally) sweating their way to Comic Con as part of their long-awaited Course of the Force, with lightsabers in hand.
Mapping the World With Money [PIC]
Time for a little Geography/Economy 101. This impressive world map defines each country using their currency. Study up because a pop quiz may follow.
The map, which took Reddit user The310Investigator 12 hours to make, quickly shot to the front page Monday morning.
You can purchase the moola map in various sizes on Zazzle.
Rumored iPhone 5 Photos Show Fully Assembled “Next iPhone”
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
The as-of-yet unreleased and, for all we know, fictional iPhone “5” has just been “confirmed” once again, appearing in its familiar form. The whole gang of rumors are here, long and sleek, 4-ish-inch screen, smaller, 19-pin connector, new speaker configuration and headphone jack and centered FaceTime camera.
Japanese website iLab posted high-resolution photos of what appears to be a fully assembled “next iPhone,” as well as some individual components, such as cameras, home buttons, etc.
The team at 9to5mac.com are quick to point out that they were the first to present pictures of what might or might not be the next iPhone. The iLab pictures, however, are the first we’ve seen of what could be a completely assembled “next iPhone” from front to back. These pictures are just another part of an on-going story of slow and consistent leaks, and though these pictures lend a bit of context, they don’t really bring any new information to the party.
With all the talk about what’s going on with the front and bottom of the device, it is good to see how the back could look. The pictures on iLab show a black device (we’ve also seen what could be parts for a white iPhone) with a dark, brushed metallic gray back. These photos, should they hold true, suggest that Apple isn’t moving very far from their glass-wrapped-in-metal designs of the iPhone 4 and 4S, a design they’ve apparently been circling over for many years.
It should go without saying, of course, that this entire design and every part we’ve seen could be completely wrong. After all, many assumed last year and even “confirmed” that the “iPhone 5” (which ended up being the iPhone 4S) would boast a tear-drop shape. What’s different about this year’s purported parts, however, is that no one seems to be disputing them or offering other suggestions. I’ve asked many times before, but if Tim Cook really is doubling down on secrecy, then why do we supposedly know so much about this device more than 2 months before it’s expected to release?
Now, rumors are nothing new to the smartphone game. In fact, many non-Apple devices are fondled, pictured and videotaped long before their carrier or manufacturer ever admit they exist. Apple, on the other hand, have always been notorious about keeping their devices hidden underneath thick cloaks of secrecy, save the most extreme example when the iPhone 4 was left at that bar that one time.
Personally, I think the phone portrayed in all of these photos is a great looking device and a natural evolution for the Apple smartphone. To be honest, I’m going to buy the thing no matter what, unless, of course, it looks like one of those garish “X”-centric Droid devices. There is some small part of me, however, that wishes the next iPhone will look nothing like these pictures, blowing us all away and leaving us utterly surprised. After all, part of the fun of owning Apple devices is having to wait until Apple themselves holds a press event to wow the world with their latest and greatest. Knowing what the latest and greatest will look like before its time is just like knowing he could see dead people before watching the film for the first time, and that is a disappointment I hope I never have to live through again.
Skrillex Drops the Bass While You Browse
Most of us have experienced the annoying interruption from web browsing to change a song (first world problems). Sure, it only takes five seconds — but when you’re focused, that could be five minutes spent getting back on track.
Luckily, Skrillex is here to help. Canadian TV station Aux.tv launched the Skrillex Machine, a new site that plays a constant stream of dubstep, placing the electronic artist into whatever web page you’re visiting. Basically, it turns your web browsing into wub browsing (sorry).
Be sure to keep your headphones in, unless your co-workers are cool with dropping the bass.
Study: 45 Million Americans Used Their Phones to Shop in June
Shopping on your mobile device is becoming simpler. As app developers continue to make the mobile shopping experience more seamless, consumers are eager to test out new apps and mobile shopping experiences.
A recent Nielsen survey showed 45 million American smartphone owners used an app from the Shopping/Commerce category in June 2012 — accessing shopping apps an average of more than 17 times during the month.
In June alone, shopping apps for eBay and Amazon attracted 13 million and 12 million unique users, respectively. Daily deals sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial aren’t far behind with more than 10 million Americans using those apps in June.
“Retailers are finding that consumers are willing to use smartphone apps to enhance their shopping experience, and this data shows usage of shopping apps is growing,” Don Kellogg, Director of Telecom Insights at Nielsen, said in the survey’s press release.
Another recent Nielsen survey, however, showed that mobile shoppers prefer retailers’ mobile websites to apps. Either way, the prevalence of mobile shoppers is increasing. While the iPad dominates mobile traffic, the iPhone and other mobile devices are not far behind.
YouTube App Will Not be Included in iOS 6
The YouTube app, a staple in iOS since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, will not be included in the next version of the operating system.
As of iOS 6 beta 4 — released to developers earlier today — the stand-alone YouTube app is no longer part of the default applications included with the iPhone and iPad.
In a statement to The Verge Apple indicated “Our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended, customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the App Store.”
In a statement, Google told Mashable, “We are working with Apple to ensure we have the best possible YouTube experience for iOS users.”
YouTube isn’t the only Google service to be decoupled form iOS 6. At WWDC in June, Apple announced that it was replacing Google Maps with an in-house mapping solution.
YouTube was also conspicuously absent from Apple’s “share sheets” included in OS X Mountain Lion. In place of YouTube, users can share videos directly to Vimeo.
Still, the removal of the stand alone YouTube app is striking — if only because of the historical semblance of the app itself. In 2007, the ability to watch YouTube videos on the iPhone was a revelation. In fact, it was the iPhone’s famous lack of Flash support that quickened YouTube’s conversion of its library from Flash-only to also support H.264.
The iPhone and iPad aren’t the only apple devices that support YouTube. Since June of 2007, Apple TV owners have been able to browse and watch YouTube clips directly on the big screen.
Apple TV has added support for more video providers over the years — most recently gaining Hulu Plus support — but we can’t help but think losing access to YouTube would negatively impact the device. At this time, it isn’t clear if Apple’s license for YouTube on iOS is different from its license for the Apple TV.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)