News Archive for 07/01/16

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Netflix to stream video

01/16, 6:25pm

Netflix to start streaming movie service

Faced with an increasingly competitive digital movie market, Netflix has announced its intentions to start direct Internet delivery that will compete with Apple's iTunes Music Store. Rather than offer paid downloads like Amazon's Unbox or the Xbox Live Video Marketplace, existing Netflix subscribers will be able to stream certain videos for free, according to Electronista. Next to the standard "Add" buttons will be "Play," which will start a feature as soon as it finishes buffering in the custom Netflix viewer software. Roughly 1,000 movies and television shows are expected to be offered when the service launches, coming from companies such as NBC, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers. While the service will require a Windows PC with Internet Explorer installed, Netflix hopes to expand to other platforms -- possibly the Mac -- as time progresses.

Universal, iPod sales

01/16, 4:25pm

Universal still seeking cut of iPod sales?

Universal Music Group is likely still hoping to cut a deal with Apple for a slice of its iPod profits, according to one report. Universal's chief Doug Morris -- who believes his company should share in the funds collected not just from online music sales but also from the players themselves -- recently secured a portion of revenue from Microsoft's Zune sales. "As the largest music company, he's got an interesting hand of cards," said Gartner technology analyst Mike McGuire. "He's playing them pretty adamantly and pretty hard." Universal is preparing to re-negotiate its contract with Apple in May of this year, and could use its vast array of music from hit artists such as U2 and Mariah Carey to bargain with the Cupertino-based company.

Podquiz Maker for Windows

01/16, 11:25am

Podquiz Maker for Windows released

MediaClick today released Podquiz Maker, an application for Microsoft Windows systems that aims to increase usability for Apple's iPod devices. The software enables users to author, package, and deliver PodCourses as well as PodQuizzes to iPods. The interactive courses begin with instructional content that optionally includes links to active content such as video presentations. The instructional material is followed by a multiple-choice quiz that provides immediate feedback and a score. The packaged PodCourses use the iPod's support for basic HTML tags in the Notes Folder to drive the interactive functionality, according to MediaClick, and could create full multimedia courses or simple true/false quizzes. The application is available for $25, and requires Windows 98/NT/2000/XP.