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Hulu Surpasses 1 Million Paying Subscribers



Hulu now has more than 1 million paying subscribers. The subscription streaming service, which is currently for sale, hit the mark at the end of the summer.

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar had previously predicted that the service would hit the milestone by the end of 2011. Three months ahead of schedule and with Netflix losing customers, it is looking like Hulu Plus will continue to convert its 40 million-plus free users into paying subscribers.

According to Reuters, Kilar plans to invest $375 million in content in 2011. The major subscription streaming companies — Amazon, Netflix and Hulu — are all in a race to sign as many content deals as possible in order to lure in and retain subscribers.

Like Netflix, Hulu Plus is available on the iPhone, iPad, select Android phones and a variety of set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and connected TVs. Its content library includes both current programming and catalog titles. Unlike Netflix, Hulu provides users access to many programs the day after they air on broadcast or cable TV.

The company also launched its service in Japan earlier this month.

[via VentureBeat]

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Facebook partners up to bring music, news and videos to your profile through Open Graph (video)


Facebook's f8 developer conference is going on today, and Andy Samberg Mark Zuckerberg has just revealed another part of his master plan for the social network. Open Graph will now integrate many of your favorite news and music services, including Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio and MOG onto your Facebook page with custom apps, and will also bring video from Vevo, Netflix, Hulu and many more. The media platform's already up and running, so you can see (and hear) the results of Mark's labor right now.

Update: Unfortunately for Facebook users in the US, Netflix has confirmed that its Facebook integration will only be available in Canada and Latin America initially, due to a US law that "creates some confusion over our ability to allow U.S. members to share what they watch." That doesn't apply to the music services, however, and you can get an idea how Spotify will work in the video after the break. Even TiVo's gotten in on the action, announcing new sharing buttons for its iPhone and iPad mobile apps, although there's no direct DVR integration mentioned yet.

Continue reading Facebook partners up to bring music, news and videos to your profile through Open Graph (video)

Facebook partners up to bring music, news and videos to your profile through Open Graph (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When & How You Should Update Your Mobile App



The Mobile App Trends Series is supported by Sourcebits, a leading product developer for mobile platforms. Sourcebits offers design and development services for iOS, Android, Mobile and Web platforms. Follow Sourcebits on Twitter for recent news and updates.

You’re done. After months of slaving away over Xcode or Eclipse, you have finally finished your mobile app and submitted it to the App Store or Android Market. Within minutes of releasing the app, you see reviewers complaining about a bug or requesting a new feature. Whoops.

Figuring out how and when to update a mobile app is a crucial part of the mobile app development process. Mobile apps are very different from traditional desktop software apps. Let’s look at some of the most common reasons to update an app and how to handle the inevitable “upgrade” question.


Update Stages


When it comes to software versioning, or assigning a version number to a certain piece of software as it exists in a unique state, the most common number scheme is to assign a major version number, like 1, followed by a point release for minor updates, and sometimes followed by a second-point release for a revision or bug fix.

In the software world, version numbers typically follow a major.minor.revision pattern. For example, the current version of Twitter for iPhone is 3.3.6. The “3″ indicates that it is the third major release. The second “3″ indicates that it is the third minor revision of that release and the “6″ indicates that it is the sixth revision, or bug fix, to that minor release.

These numbers indicate what type of update an app has received.

The Bug Fix

The most frequent types of app updates are bug fixes. Bug fixes are typically covered in “revision” or “bug fix” releases. Bug fixes don’t change the structure or feature set of an app. Instead, these updates make sure that the app is working as designed.

No matter how much beta or user testing a developer does before releasing an app, there are always going to be problems, bugs and issues that only show up after the app is used more broadly.

Bug fixes are a way to keep the integrity and structure of the app intact, while making sure that it doesn’t crash and performs more optimally.

Google‘s update policy with the Android Market allows developers to push out updates whenever they want. With Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, however, updates have to go through the same approval process as submitting an app to an app repository in the first place.

Apple has a policy in place with the App Store that allows developers to fast-track an important or crucial bug or security fix without having to wait as long as with a regular update. Still, these instances are reserved for situations in which an app is either crashing consistently or is potentially insecure.

Because it takes time for even bug fixes to get approved, many developers try to lump several updates and bug fixes together in one release. This limits the number of new downloads for the user and prevents the developer from having to wait through multiple approval queues.

Developers should triage bug fixes based on factors like how many users are affected (or how many have complained) and the severity of a problem.

Adding or Removing Features and Updating UI

Adding or removing features from an app is a more significant update than a bug fix. For example, when Facebook released version 3.5 of its iPhone app, it rolled in new privacy updates, refined the user interface and added the ability to share external links from within the app.

It’s common for developers to use designations like “.5″ as a major milestone for a release. In other words, a 3.5 update is often seen as more significant than the 3.1 update.

Adding and removing features is an important part of the app development process. When it comes time to add a feature, it’s important to look at the feedback you are getting from your users. If enough users are requesting a feature, it’s a good idea to look into what would be required to add that feature.

Just as important as adding features is removing functionality. It isn’t uncommon for developers to go into the app creation process with one feature in mind, only to find that users don’t like or use the feature, or that it doesn’t work as expected.

Sometimes, features have to be removed for performance, stability or even compliance reasons. When making the decision to remove a feature, keep in mind what impact removing that feature will have on your users. If a feature is causing undue strain, performance problems or it’s not being used, dropping it is often worthwhile.

Marco Arment’s popular Instapaper app for iPhone and iPad has undergone some significant changes over the years. Arment is not afraid to remove features that aren’t used by enough of his users or that cause undue server strain.


Major Updates


A major version number update indicates that the app has some significant changes to its features, UI or both. This is the big release for an application.

Earlier this week, Instagram released version 2.0 of its popular iPhone app. The new version added a significant number of new features, including live filters, tilt-shift in camera, higher resolution photos and enhanced filter options.


Major Update or a Whole New App?


The big question for lots of mobile developers is when to issue a major update — as in a new version number — and when to release a whole new app.

With traditional software, developers can charge for software and offer special upgrade pricing. For example, when I bought Adobe Creative Suite CS5.5, I was able to get a discount directly from Adobe because I owned an earlier version of Creative Suite.

Likewise, when my favorite lightweight image editor Acorn was updated to version 3.0, its developer was able to offer it as a whole new version and charge for it accordingly.

This isn’t the case with most mobile app stores. Apple doesn’t allow developers to offer upgrade app pricing. In other words, if I want to update my iPhone app to version 2.0, I have to either give everyone who purchased 1.0 or higher a free upgrade or release a brand new version of the app.

Both strategies have their pros and cons, and it’s important for developers who charge for their mobile apps to take both scenarios into account.

Pros and Cons of Releasing an App Update

  • Pro: Existing users will be happy that they don’t have to pay.
  • Pro: Promoting the app and the update won’t require changing any links to the App Store.
  • Con: The development costs for the new version need to come from brand new customers.
  • Con: Users are forced to update the app (unless they explicitly choose not to).

Pros and Cons of Releasing a New App

  • Pro: The developer can get paid for their work.
  • Pro: Users are not forced to upgrade the app. They can continue to use the old version indefinitely.
  • Con: Users might revolt or be disinterested in buying a new version.
  • Con: Migrating settings might be difficult or untenable.
  • Con: Promoting the app and letting new users know about the upgrade might be difficult.

Most mobile app developers do not release a new version of their app and instead update the existing version. However, some developers have managed to release a new version of the app and have done so successfully. Before selling to Twitter, Loren Brichter released Tweetie 2 for iPhone as a brand new app, and thus a paid upgrade. Some users did complain about the charge, but Brichter held his ground and the app was a massive success.

A common workaround that many developers have successfully used is to offer their app for free for a limited time, in order to allow existing users to upgrade for free, and then to start charging the usual sales price. Some developers also offer the app at a discount for the first few days both to promote a new release and as a gesture of good-will towards existing users.


In-App Purchase as an Update Tool


For developers of games and other types of extensible apps, a common upgrade approach is to release new level packs via in-app purchase.

PlayFirst, Inc’s Dash series of games frequently releases updates both to the main application, as well as additional level add-on packs. This is an easy way for the developer to extend the game without forcing customers to buy and download a new version.

Likewise, music apps and document and utility managers can offer add-ons that add support for new features.

Keep in mind, the in-app purchase approach doesn’t work with all apps. It’s a very different type of business model, but for game developers, can often be the best way to approach extending a game.


Your Thoughts


When do you update your apps? Are you in favor of releasing free major updates or releasing a brand new version of an app. Let us know.


Series Supported by Sourcebits

The Mobile App Trends Series is sponsored by Sourcebits, a leading developer of applications and games for all major mobile platforms. Sourcebits has engineered over 200 apps to date, with plenty more to come. Sourcebits offers design and development services for iPhone, Android and more. Please feel free to get in touch with us to find out how we can help your app stand apart in a crowded marketplace. Follow Sourcebits on Twitter and Facebook for recent news and updates.

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Nokia Creates Foursquare-Enabled Vending Machine [VIDEO]


Location-based technology and vending machines seem like a natural match, but Nokia is among the first, perhaps the first, to make the connection.

To celebrate Social Media Week, the mobile brand released the video above detailing how such a machine works: All you have to do is check in to the machine on Foursquare using the #NokiaConnects hashtag, share it to Twitter and then collect your prize. In essence, Nokia is giving you a treat for doing some of its social media marketing.

Fittingly enough, the idea seems to have evolved from a Foursquare-enabled billboard — which ran in Germany earlier this year — that dispensed dog food. Meanwhile, Nokia’s not the only brand trying to link vending machines and social media: Pepsi demoed a machine earlier this year that lets people send free drinks to their friends via texts.

What do you think of Nokia’s vending machine? Let us know in the comments.

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Founders of Airbnb, FourSquare, Dropbox & Quora To Speak at MIT’s Startup Bootcamp Tomorrow


It’s not often you can get the founders of Airbnb, FourSquare, Dropbox and Quora all under one roof. Tomorrow, however, they will be, along with six other highly successful entrepreneurs.

Startup Bootcamp, a free one-day event sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, kicks off tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the Institute’s Kresge Auditorium. Talks by startup founders will be happening throughout the day, with a lunch break from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. The specific schedule of speaker times will be posted in the morning.

Here’s who’ll be there, though –

  • Alex Polvi of Cloudkick, a company that provides cloud server and management tools
  • Paul English of Kayak, a tech company created by the co-founders of Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, focused on improving online travel
  • Nathan Blecharczyk of Airbnb, a community marketplace that connects people who have a place to spare with those who are looking for a place to stay
  • Naveen Selvadurai of FourSquare, a location-based mobile platform that allows users to “check-in” at various locations, sharing their location with friends while collecting points and virtual badges
  • Leah Culver of Convore, an app that gives users a quick way to instant message with groups of friends in real time
  • Drew Houston of Dropbox, a free service that lets people bring their photos, docs and videos anywhere and easily share them
  • Patrick Collison of Stripe, a company that’s making it easier to accept payments online
  • Adam D’Angelo of Quora, a continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited and organized by everyone who uses it
  • Anthony Volodkin of Hype Machine, a site that keeps track of what music bloggers are writing about
  • Andrew Sutherland of Quizlet, the largest flash cards and study games website with over six million free sets of flash cards
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Dish misses out on opportunity to cash in on Netflix missteps


Dish Network announced that it is beginning a streaming video and mail DVD rental service at a cheaper price than Netflix, but only for its own subscribers. Courtesy of its Blockbuster purchase in April, the company will offer 3,000 movies to stream to TV and 4,000 to the PC—a small selection compared to Netflix and Amazon VOD, but no doubt a blow aimed at the two competitors, albeit one that largely misses.

The new service is titled Blockbuster Movie Pass, and gives Dish customers access to both streamed video content and discs through a mail rental service. The company offers access to 100,000 movies between the two services, and starts at $10 a month for streaming access and one DVD rented at a time, with $15 and $20 per months premium versions.

Blockbuster president Michael Kelly noted at the press conference that he hopes the new services will bolster the 1,500 Blockbuster brick-and-mortar stores still remaining. Kelly said that because of the new video rental landscape (i.e. the low survival rate for other video rental services over the last few years), the company has signed up 500,000 new members over the last few months.

While the announcement is no doubt timed opportunistically around Netflix’s recent trips and falls with price and service changes, we can’t help but wonder why this service isn’t open to non-Dish customers (at least, the PC streaming and mail rentals). Retaining the enticement for customers to switch cable providers is one reason. But given that Netflix has stirred enough dissatisfaction among its subscriber ranks to lose one million of them by the end of this quarter, it would be smart of some service to step in and scoop them up.

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Comcast close to releasing AnyPlay box for in-home live TV streaming to tablets


Comcast has been talking about adding live TV streaming to its Xfinity TV tablet apps for a while, but now this screenshot of a product page from MacRumors indicates it could be launching very soon. It requires an AnyPlay box -- a Comcast brand name for the Motorola Televation cable TV-to-IPTV box shown off in June and previously a portable DVR concept from Panasonic -- that will allow viewing over the local network on compatible devices, including iPads, Android tablets and the like. There's also been recent rumors of Microsoft seeking a tie-in to bring live streams from Comcast to its Xbox 360, which could be eventually be enabled by a device and service like this. According to the page, it includes access to "most" channels, and can register up to ten tablets, but only allows for viewing on one at a time. Time Warner and Cablevision have already rolled out live TV streaming on their tablet apps, we'll see if this in-home Slingbox-approach can avoid their licensing issues.

Comcast close to releasing AnyPlay box for in-home live TV streaming to tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DISH Network Unveils Movie Streaming Service


New submitter therealobsideus tips news that DISH Network has seized upon the uncertainty surrounding Netflix by taking the opportunity to roll out a Blockbuster-branded service for streaming movies and TV shows as well as renting media through the mail. Quoting Mashable: "The service, Dish Network with BlockBuster Movie Pass, is not a direct Netflix competitor per se. Instead, it’s a $10 monthly add-on for existing Dish Network subscribers that will offer them access to DVD and Blu-ray — as well as video game — rentals by mail, along with access to streaming movies and TV shows. It will debut on Oct. 1 and be accompanied by a big advertising campaign. In other words, this is a mashup of BlockBuster’s existing mail and online services with Dish Network’s current video-on-demand service. For Dish Network subscribers, this is a great deal. But we’re scratching our heads to find the value for everyone else. Dish does say it has plans to offer services for non-Dish Network subscribers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Chrome Plugin Gives Instant Sentiment Analysis for Twitter Search Terms



Social media monitoring tool Viralheat has release a free Chrome plugin that adds sentiment analysis to Twitter.

The plugin, which is built with an open API that the startup released last month, adds a bar to the top of the Twitter website, showing aggregate sentiment analysis for the tweets displayed on the page. No account or sign-up process is necessary.

If you search for a term like “Obama,” for instance, you can get an idea of the real-time sentiment surrounding that term. Scrolling down the page includes more and more tweets in the sentiment.

“It really works well for products,” Viralheat CEO Raj Kadam says. “You can put in iPhone or Macbook Pro and quickly get a snapshot of how people feel about that particular product.”

The plugin is transparent about how it calculates aggregate sentiment. It adds a box to each individual tweet that measures its negativity or positivity. When you think it’s wrong, you can tell it so. You can also adjust thresholds for positive or negative sentiment. If you don’t want something classified as “positive” unless Viralheat is 90% sure, it’s easy to make that adjustment.

A version of the plugin for Firefox and Safari will come “pretty shortly.” The startup also sees an opportunity to develop similar plugins for Facebook, Google+ or even something like Yelp.

“We could add another dimension to reviews,” Kadam says.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Blueberry4Park

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