BBC Sport connected TV app launches on UK TiVos, brings BBC News along

BBC Sport connected TV app launches on UK TiVos, brings BBC News along
As a part of the BBC's run up to this year's Olympics, it is bringing new approaches to broadcast technology in a number of ways including 3D, online streaming, multiple HD channels and now, connected TV apps. Today it's launching a BBC Sports app for connected TVs that bring in new interactive features via the BBC Red Button which will first appear on Virgin Media's TiVo platform, along with a port of its BBC News app. First up for the interactive treatment? F1 racing, starting with the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend. In the app viewers can access live coverage of the race, highlights from previous races, and multifeed coverage of the race including in-car cameras and driver trackers. There's a video demo and press release embedded after the break (viewable in the UK only), and the Sports app is expected to hit more devices before the Olympics starts, although it's unclear which ones.

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BBC Sport connected TV app launches on UK TiVos, brings BBC News along originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/11/bbc-sport-connected-tv-app-launches-on-uk-...

With Springpad 3.0, My Notebook is Smarter Than I Am. And Prettier Too.

My first reaction to Pinterest was that it felt like the internet with all the words sucked out of it, and that’s basically how I still feel. But you can’t deny that the visual organization has some real appeal, and that’s part of why I’m excited about the latest from Charlestown-based Springpad, which launched its updated cloud-based smart note product, Springpad 3.0, complete with Android and iPhone apps today.

While the defining metaphor for Pinterest is the pinboard — visual, eye-catching, but cluttered — for Springpad, it’s the notebook. But Springpad 3.0 marries the intelligence of its smart note product with an eye-catching layout. “Pinterest meets Evernote,” if that helps you.

But it’s the “smart” part of the equation that really adds the value both for the user and for Springpad as a business. Say you have a notebook on movies you’d like to see and type in “Hunger Games.” Springpad doesn’t just capture that little note of text; it knows what you’re talking about so what goes into the notebook isn’t just the name, but all the information about the movie.

That’s also where Springpad hopes it can eventually generate revenue. If you’ve expressed an interest in watching The Hunger Games, that’s valuable information to Moviefone or Fandango, and therefore a potential revenue model for the company. But for now, Springpad is solely focused on perfecting the product and attracting users.

“As the world of infinite options creates more clutter and noise on the web, people are looking for new options to organize the stuff they care about,” said Jeff Chow, Springpad co-founder and CEO in a release. “The new Springpad takes valued information to a new level by offering a completely re-designed experience that couples the intuitive intelligence of our platform with the knowledge of our community.”

I was lucky enough to spend some time with the beta product, and created a mix of public and private boards. I put some work tasks in a private one, and in a public one I shared the next few books on my reading list. Sure enough, Springpad was smart enough to match them to Amazon data, even for some relatively obscure titles. I also created a notebook with some Boston companies I’ve written about. Many of them weren’t already in any of the databases that Springpad accesses, but you can search the web and then pull in relevant information, like location or an image from a website and then add tags.

I haven’t yet downloaded the mobile app, which will be a big determining factor for whether I make Springpad a part of my daily routine. But I’m encouraged that I can import my Delicious bookmarks, as I’m a social bookmarking addict who’d happily move to another platform. And I should mention that Springpad also lets you invite users to edit your notebooks, so groups can edit lists, curate content or even manage projects?

Springpad has over three million users, the company says, and has raised $7 million from Fairhaven Capital. It plans to raise a B round later this year. There’s a whole other article to be written about how Springpad allows you to curate memory, but for now I’ll just point to a previous post on that subject.

Depending on how users respond to the release of 3.0, Springpad could have the potential to be that consumer web company that Boston claims it desperately needs. So go give it a try, and if you do you’ll see I (wfrick) added a notebook on Boston startups, so if you know of any you think I should be writing about, or if you just want to contribute, go add them there!

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/2012/04/11/with-springpad-3-0-my-notebook-is-smarter-than...

In The Decline of City-Based Newspapers, MIT’s Center for Civic Media Works to Create Informed Communities

The founding fathers of the MIT Center for Civic Media — Henry Jenkins, Chris Csikszentmihályi and Mitchel Resnick — knew the media’s overall focus was skewed.

“The focus was, ‘How do we save newspapers?’” says Andrew Whitacre, the Center’s communications director. “No one was asking the predecessor question, ‘How do we make sure we have informed communities?’”

So, in a joint effort between the MIT Media Lab and the Institute’s Comparative Media Studies program, the team entered the Knight News Challenge to bring the Center for Civic Media to life. They won an initial four-year, $5-million grant from the Knight Foundation, who looked to the Center to “develop new technologies and practices to help newspapers as a greater number of Americans use the Internet as their primary news source,” according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

The Center officially opened in 2008, and began moving beyond the discussion of newspapers and into the “Information Age,” where Whitacre says they predicted “everything was going to be much more geographic-based than anyone imagined.” In the years to come, their prediction came true. “So much of these tools have been very localized,” Whitacre says, admitting they’re “very quickly filling this decline of city-based newspapers.”

The Center’s defined “civic media” as “any form of communication that strengthens the social bonds within a community or creates a strong sense of civic engagement among its residents.” Students, researchers and faculty members have then developed tools around that idea, such as Sourcemap, a social network built around supply chains, enabling collective engagement with where things come from and what they are made of.

Whitacre says the Center’s been working with different groups around MIT, including the new Open Documentary Lab and CSAIL. They’ve also teamed up with Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the Nieman Journalism Lab, as well as organizations outside the higher ed realm.

Projects like Lost in Boston: Realtime have helped the city’s halfway houses. “People are really dependent on good information to hold down jobs,” Whitacre says. The problem, however, is that people need to get to those jobs, and for those who don’t have smartphones, it’s hard to tell when their next bus might be coming. So, the Center’s helped install LED signs in several houses that flash when a bus is 15 minutes away, taking into account walking time.

The Center’s site reads, “Transforming civic knowledge into civic action is an essential part of democracy.” And through the projects they’re developing, the Center’s been able to help strengthen our democracy.

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/2012/04/11/in-the-decline-of-city-based-newspapers-mits-c...

James Cameron to create sparks with Robogeddon on Discovery Channel

James Cameron to create sparks with fighting robots, Robogeddon coming to Discovery Channel
Fresh off his return from the briny deep, James Cameron is set to create a television show for the Discovery Channel called Robogeddon. Similar to BattleBots and Robot Wars, the program will feature a competitive death match of sorts, where robots tear each other to shreds in pursuit of being the last machine standing. In addition to Cameron's participation, the show will also feature the stamp of Mark Burnett -- famous for such reality television titles as Survivor, Shark Tank and The Voice. It's also said that Donald Hutson, the two-time Super Heavyweight Champion of BattleBots, will be among the show's competitors. No date is set for when we'll see the sparks fly, but if you want to get in on the ground floor, might we suggest hitting your local scrapyard?

James Cameron to create sparks with Robogeddon on Discovery Channel originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 03:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/11/james-cameron-to-create-robogeddon/

Composite material brings metal-air batteries a step closer

As a society, we are now heavily dependent on good battery technology. Indeed, as climate change starts to bite and hydrocarbon fuels become more expensive, the demand for better batteries is just going to increase. But the current best technology is simply not going to keep pace. Commercial Lithium ion batteries are approaching their theoretical maximum energy storage density, which is lower than that of gasoline by a factor of about 60-70. In the meantime, we want electric cars like the Tesla—but lighter, with longer range and faster recharging times.

One solution to some of these problems may be metal-air batteries. These batteries have maximum energy densities approaching that of gasoline. Better than that, they should be simpler to construct and could even be made from cheaper materials. In other words, when viewed through rose-tinted glasses, metal-air batteries are better in every way.

The problem is that no one knows how to make one that meets all of these criteria. A group of chemists from Waterloo University in Canada may be heading in the right direction, though.

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from Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/04/composite-material-bring-metal-ai...

Apple to release Flashback removal software, working to take down botnet

Apple plans to release software that will detect and remove Flashback malware infections on the Mac, the company announced Tuesday. In a knowledge base link published late in the day, Apple explained that it's aware of the infection—which takes advantage of a previously unpatched Java vulnerability—saying that the software was coming, but no specific release date was given.

In addition to the Flashback detection software, Apple said that it's "working with ISPs worldwide" to disable the botnet's command and control (C&C) servers. Kaspersky researcher Kurt Baumgartner told Forbes earlier on Tuesday that "Apple is taking appropriate action by working with the larger Internet security community to shut down the Flashfake [also known as Flashback] C2 domains," and Apple's latest efforts seem to coincide with Baumgartner's statement.

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from Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/04/apple-to-release-flashback-removal-...

Comcast Xfinity TV iOS app adds integrated DVR manager so you don't miss Deadliest Catch

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Comcast's Xfinity TV app for iOS has seen more than a few updates since it launched back in 2010 that added support for video on-demand streaming anywhere, live TV in-home with additional hardware and made various tweaks to the UI. Despite all that, until today's update doing something as doublechecking what was scheduled for recording on your DVR required popping out of the app and signing into a different webpage. The new integrated DVR Manager can be seen above and confirms, yes, that Deadliest Catch is securely in our queue for this evening. We're not sure what's going to happen in the season eight premiere, but we suspect someone is going to worried about whether or not they're catching enough crabs on this trip.

Comcast Xfinity TV iOS app adds integrated DVR manager so you don't miss Deadliest Catch originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/10/comcast-xfinity-tv-ios-app-adds-integrated...

The cable industry isn’t stupid, right?

We’re rapidly moving to a future where cable broadband service will be the predominant choice for consumers who want fast access to the Internet, but in light of a study that predicts $200 bills by 2020  for the pay TV portion of cable, I have to wonder: Are the cable guys the idiots, or is it the consumer?

The NPD Group put out a survey Tuesday suggesting that pay TV rates could hit $200 by 2020 from an average rate of $86 per month now. The analysts at NPD credit rising content licensing fees and the average 6 percent rate increase that cable companies jam down users’ throats each year. Check out the expected rise in this graph.

The big threat to cable is broadband.

But the idea of paying $200 in eight years, or even $123 in 3 years seems like an insanity for most consumers. It also seems like an insanity for the cable companies to attempt given how rising cable costs amid grim economic times leads folks to cut the cord. But is demand for cable inelastic? The NPD report notes that 16 percent of U.S. households don’t have pay TV service. This means 84 percent do — a huge success for the industry. But can it last? From the NPD report:

“As pay-TV costs rise and consumers’ spending power stays flat, the traditional affiliate-fee business model for pay-TV companies appears to be unsustainable in the long term,” said Keith Nissen, research director for The NPD Group. “Much-needed structural changes to the pay-TV industry will not happen quickly or easily; however, the emerging competition between S-VOD and premium-TV suppliers might be the spark that ignites the necessary business-model transformation of the pay-TV industry.”

That business model transformation is already occurring, but the end result isn’t likely to be exactly the a la carte, pay-for-channels-you-want and watch-it-when-you-want model that many of us in the web world are hoping for. Instead, we’re witnessing the first steps towards the creation of a combined pay TV and broadband bundle that gives consumers most of the TV they want on-demand and encourages them to avoid going to the outside web.

Cable sees the threat, but consumers are missing the opportunity.

Those days of watching hours of Netflix together may soon end.

If done quickly, consumers, which are just discovering how pleasant (and economical) it can be to watch TV via broadband using over the top services such as Netflix or Hulu, will be lulled back into complacency and will still view their pay TV and broadband subscriptions as necessary. So far, research this week from the Leichtman Research Group notes that 79 percent of consumersare streaming Netflix to their TV, up from 65 percent in 2010, but in the last six months only .1 percent of survey respondents dropped cable because they found all the content they wanted online.

Today, a big reason why people don’t cut the cord is the lack of content, such as live sports programming as well as some people experiencing problems in getting broadcast content that should be free. This can be an issue with not being able to get the over the air signal clearly inside a home, or it can also be a result of the cable companies interfering with technology that can make it easier. And finally, consumers still want the convenience of one place to go for all their television. According to NPD, 59 percent of pay-TV subscribers preferred having one single provider for their pay-TV services, compared to 21 percent who desired multiple providers, and 21 percent who expressed no preference.

And only 20 percent told NPD they would consider going over the top if they could access their favorite shows online. This may be the case today, but if pay TV subs reach $200 or even $123 those sentiments may change. The lure of convenience may not be enough if the content is available and people can access it without going over some set broadband cap. And it appears that cable companies, especially Comcast are preparing for that future today.

Creating the TV walled garden.

TiVo, the original TV disrupter, said yesterday that it would offer Comcast’s Xfinity video-on-demand service via its boxes for users in San Francisco. A Comcast spokesman called the plan a pilot and confirmed that the Xfinity content watched via the TiVo wouldn’t count against a user’s broadband cap. Comcast is offering the same arguments that it made in deciding to exempt content streamed over the Xbox, namely that this content never leaves its private network to travel over the public Internet.

The FCC left that loophole open in its network neutrality ruling as I explained in a previous post, but as media watchdog Dwayne Winseck notes, public interest groups and the FCC may have a chance to stop the practice using the merger conditions associated with the Comcast NBC-U deal. But the political will to enforce those conditions and recognize the potential for creating a shadow Internet has to be in place at the FCC and in the government (or courts) in general.

So by offering the cap as a stick to prevent over the top streaming from disrupting its pay TV and the carrot of exempt television content from the Xfinity service, Comcast is well on its way to creating a safe haven inside its network to keep subscribers complacent and making the idea of leaving to grab content elsewhere a risky proposition: If you go over the cap too often, you get cut off. And if the fears of a cap don’t stop people, the cable industry is also tied pretty closely with content providers via ownership as Comcast owns NBC-U or via the relationships forged by access to their subscribers (see this awesome post from The Economist on why HBO isn’t going to abandon the cable guys and go over the top).

So the question for TV consumers is: Do you keep paying $86 today for access to a walled garden of really good content that will likely to continue to rise in cost? Or do you go outside the walled garden and scramble to get your regular shows while fighting the caps and agreements that will eventually make the world outside the walled garden inhospitable for a TV lover? And the bigger question is whether or not the FCC or anyone in Washington is watching this play out and plans to help the consumers by taking action? Otherwise $200 cable doesn’t make the cable guys stupid. It makes them brilliant.

Walled Garden image courtesy of Flickr user sportsilliterate.

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from GigaOM http://gigaom.com/broadband/the-cable-industry-isnt-stupid-right/?utm_source=...

20 TV Shows With the Most Social Media Buzz This Week [CHART]

Along with our weekly chart of television chatter, the folks at Trendrr have provided some fascinating social TV statistics.

In March, three-quarters of all social TV engagement stemmed from Twitter. Over 580,000 social interactions per day originated on broadcast television, and over 860,000 social interactions occurred per day on average on cable television.

CBS and NBC had the highest increase in broadcast social share — 5% from February. MTV was the top social cable network during March, with 10% cable social share. TruTV, which participated in the NCAA Tournament, came in second with 9% cable social share.

The data is compliments of our friends at Trendrr, who measure specific TV show activity (mentions, likes, checkins) across Twitter, Facebook, GetGlue and Miso. To see daily rankings, check out Trendrr.TV.


Image courtesy of iStockphoto, subjug

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/04/10/social-media-tv-chart-4-10/?utm_source=feedbur...