streaming

Rdio announced today that it is offering the majority of its international customers the same deal that people get in the U.S.: six months of free music streaming.

The online music service lets users access its library of more than 18 million songs that come without ads or interruptions and can be listened to and shared across the Web, social networks, and mobile devices.

"The countries that will have free access to Rdio are the United States (where it's been free since October 2011), United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, … Read more

A few months after jumping in to the free music streaming sector, Nokia is getting ready to give its Lumia-only service a jump-start with a premium upgrade.

Nokia Music+, an upgrade to the free Mix Radio service that Nokia launched last September, will offer Lumia owners unlimited skips and unlimited downloads, the Finnish handset maker announced in a company blog post today. The service also will offer higher-quality streams, allowing downloads at eight times the existing quality.

The new service will also offer lyrics for users' mobile devices and a Web app for home use.

"Nokia Music is great … Read more

Making the most of your monthly subscription is much more than watching as many episodes of "The Walking Dead" in one night as possible. It's about effortlessly digging up the best available flicks, so that by the end of the month, you know you got your money's worth, and then some.

Sadly, there's no magic potion that will bring "Game of Thrones" to Netflix, but there are some best practices and little-known tools that will quickly transform you into a Netflix-watching maven.

1. Bookmark InstantWatcher Netflix's clunky content interface is hardly conducive … Read more

If you've ever thought seriously about cutting the cable-TV cord and saving yourself a big chunk of change every month, you've probably looked at PlayOn, a PC-based media server that lets you stream tons of TV content to just about any home and mobile device.

And if you love your Netflix and/or Hulu Plus subscriptions but don't always have an Internet connection for streaming their content, you need to know about PlayLater, which turns your PC into a DVR that can record those and other sources for later viewing.

All of which brings us to this … Read more

A new on-demand streaming video service called M-Go is coming to a TV or tablet near you and promises user-friendly features and UltraViolet support.

M-Go offers movies and TV shows on a "pay per play" or download (SD/HD) basis and will be available from January 2013 on televisions from Samsung (2012/2013 models), Vizio, and LG (coming later in April), plus Samsung tablets (now) and most Web browsers.

The service boasts content from most popular movie studios -- Paramount, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. -- with the exception of Disney, which just signed an exclusive deal with Netflix. … Read more

Time Warner Cable and Netflix are reportedly talking to each other about partnering on the streaming provider's content delivery network (CDN), but the cable provider isn't too pleased about the service.

Speaking to Multichannel in an interview published yesterday, a Time Warner Cable spokesperson criticized Netflix for only delivering its higher-quality high-definition service, Super HD, and 3D videos to customers whose cable providers have signed up with Netflix's Open Connect.

"While they call it Open Connect, Netflix is actually closing off access to some of its content while seeking unprecedented preferential treatment from ISPs," the … Read more

You can't turn around without hearing someone telling you how bad sodas are for your health. If only you could get the sensation of enjoying a cold cola without all the harmful side effects. Thank goodness for Soda Drinker Pro, a soda-drinking simulator for Mac and PC that is one of the most bizarre gaming creations in recent memory.

The experience of actually downloading Soda Drinker Pro feels a bit sketchy. You have to send in a contact form and cough up your e-mail to get the link. Then, you have to sit through a mysterious download that Google can't scan for viruses because it's too big. This goes against everything you were ever taught about downloading from the Internet. I threw caution to the wind and did it anyway.

I install Soda Drinker Pro and hit "play." I'm greeted with music that sounds like it was created on a 1985 Casio keyboard. I scramble to turn down the volume. Level 1 takes place on a beach, at least that's what it's supposed to be. The virtual environment looks like it came out of a Max Headroom fever dream.… Read more

After expanding their streaming video service to the iPhone and iPod touch devices just a month ago, Amazon announced yesterday that their Instant Video service is now available on the Nintendo Wii. Here's how to set up the new app on your Wii:

Step 1: Go to the Wii Shop Channel on your Internet-connected Wii.

Step 2: Download the Amazon Instant Video app.

Step 3: Launch the Amazon Instant Video app from your Wii.

Step 4: Select "Register Your Device" and make a note of the code that appears.

Step 5: Go to the Amazon Instant Video device registration page … Read more

The new MySpace has launched to the public, and Justin Timberlake, the site's co-owner, is helping build some interest in it.

When folks head over to MySpace today, they'll find that they can now register to join the site. Upon doing so, users will be able to freely stream Justin Timberlake's new single featuring Jay Z, "Suit & Tie."

Until now, the new MySpace had been available only to those invited to try it out.

MySpace has gone through a series of reinventions over the years as it watched its star rise in the social-networking … Read more