Netflix

Amazon Prime licenses 'West Wing,' other Warner Bros. shows

Managers of Amazon's Prime video service just got their hands on the critically acclaimed "West Wing" as well as other shows from Warner Bros. Television.

Amazon said today that the licensing deal with Warner also includes such shows as "Dark Blue," "Fringe," Alcatraz," and "The Whole Truth."

An Amazon spokeswoman said that it will offer "West Wing" and "Fringe" exclusively to Prime customers through the summer, and that later they will be available for viewing to non Prime members on Amazon Instant video.

These shows, which … Read more

Netflix movie streaming takes back stage to TV

Netflix users' taste for movies versus TV are changing. According to data released by Nielsen today, users who were most likely to stream movies dropped by 6 percent from last year, while those who preferred streaming TV rose by 8 percent.

Still, overall, the video streaming service's users like to watch movies -- 47 percent of users are currently most likely to stream movies while 19 percent will stream TV. The remaining users watch both movies and TV equally.

Netflix seems to be paying attention to these numbers as it launches its own original content TV shows. In February, … Read more

Booyah for Ouya gaming console

The world is out for your wallet, but we'll never raise our prices. That's a Wednesday Update promise!

It's been a year since Netflix got itself in a mess with a bungled price-hike announcement, followed by the Qwikster embarrassment. I sat down with colleague Greg Sandoval to discuss his report on what went wrong at the once-beloved tech company. You can read his story and catch our full interview here: The inside story of Netflix's price-hike train wreck.

Games on Amazon's Kindle Fire will be adding achievements, leaderboards and the ability to save game progress … Read more

Is 'Netflix-for-magazines' app Next Issue worth the money?

I'm a magazine junkie. I grew up reading titles like Games, Omni, and Starlog, then moved on to every computer magazine I could get my hands on. (Show of hands: Who remembers Amiga World? PC/Computing?)

Eventually I started writing for them, and even went so far as to start my own magazine: Tap, a PalmPilot enthusiast rag that later became Handheld Computing. Good times.

Needless to say, it was with great interest that I learned of Next Issue, a Netflix-style magazine service that's now available for Android and iPad.

Although a growing number of magazines offer their … Read more

Netflix's lost year: The inside story of the price-hike train wreck

Reed Hastings stopped listening, and that's when the trouble started.

In the spring of 2011, Hastings, Netflix's widely admired chief executive, held a meeting with his management team and outlined his blueprint to jettison Netflix's DVD operations. Netflix managers would tell subscribers on July 12 that they planned to do away with a popular subscription that offered access to DVD rentals as well as unlimited on-demand streaming video for $10 per month. DVDs and streaming would be separated and each would cost subscribers $7.99 a month, or $15.98 for both, about a 60 percent hike. … Read more

Data isn't always the answer

"Big Data" promises to turn terabytes, petabytes, and exabytes (with, presumably, zettabytes and yottabytes to come) of what's often ambient digital detritus into useful results. That promise often seems to come with an implicit assumption; with enough data and the tools to crunch it, useful insights will follow. Insights that can be used to make businesses more efficient, tailor everything from medicine to advertising for individuals, and employ instrumentation and automation on larger and more complex physical systems than ever before.

For example, we're in the early days of what sometimes goes by the name of … Read more

Get a free two-month subscription to Hulu Plus

Looking to cut that pricey cable-TV cord? Want to catch up on TV episodes and series you missed during the regular season?

You need Hulu Plus. Why pay for Plus when regular old Hulu is free? Simple: the latter forces you to sit at your PC. If you want access to the service on your Roku box, game console, Android phone/tablet, iOS device, or whatever, you'll have to pony up for a Plus subscription.

Normally that costs $7.99 per month, but right now you can get Hulu Plus free for two months. (Note that if you're … Read more

Google Glass spurs battle for eyeballs

Friday's news roundup will have you eyeing Google's competition:

We've sung this tune before: Amazon is tinkering with creating its own smartphone. A recent Bloomberg report has the media buzzing again about the possibility, but we first heard this last year from an analyst. If true, would Amazon knock Windows from the No. 3 spot? I think we're just hungry for more choice.

Google wasn't the first company to tinker with a computerized headset for augmented-reality vision. With all the buzz on Google Glass, Olympus felt confident about sharing news on its Glass-like prototype. And … Read more

Netflix streaming tops 1 billion hours in month for first time

At this time last year, Netflix was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. A lot of investors and customers became scared that the online rental giant was falling apart just as things were getting good, but it was very arguable that much of the criticism was unneccesary fear.

In fact, Netflix has reached a new milestone as the Watch Instantly digital streaming service saw more than 1 billion hours streamed last month.

CEO Reed Hastings announced the good news via the following message posted to his Facebook page this week:

Congrats to Ted Sarandos, and his amazing content licensing … Read more