media

Membership in Amazon Prime, the subscription service that offers rapid shipping as well as streaming movies, now tops 10 million, according to a new report from Morningstar.

Amazon doesn't disclose subscription numbers for the service. But Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy arrived at the number using a survey of Amazon shoppers conducted by market-research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners last November. Hottovy, whose report was first covered by Business Intelligence, also wrote that Amazon Prime now accounts for about a third of Amazon's operating income.

As Geekwire reports, it's a particularly startling number given that just a … Read more

Facebook rolled out its big News Feed news yesterday. The result is more emphasis on photos and a "following" tab that will let users actually see all the updates from pages and people that they want to, instead of relying on Facebook's mysterious algorithm to deliver posts to their attention.

If this sounds a lot like the way Twitter works, that's not a coincidence. Twitter has a reputation as a breaking news source, a place to follow the commentary as it happens. The Facebook changes could put it in a similar position. All you would do is hit up the "following" tab to watch the information flow in from your favorite sources.… Read more

Pandora Media, the company behind the Web radio service, posted big fourth-quarter revenue gains as advertising revenue jumped 51 percent from the year-ago period.

At the same time, the company's losses widened 78 percent to $14.6 million.

"Pandora has been hiring top talent in local radio markets to further increase our share of the $15 billion radio ad market," Pandora Chief Executive Joe Kennedy said in a statement. "We are now effectively the largest radio station in almost every major market and begin fiscal year 2014 with extraordinary momentum."

Separately, Kennedy announced that he'… Read more

The social media analytics company PeopleBrowsr won a victory against Twitter in court today.

Federal District Court Judge Edward Chen ruled that the case was to remain in San Francisco Superior Court. While this doesn't seem like a big deal, it is actually quite significant because it means that PeopleBrowsr's service won't be shuttered during litigation.

The lawsuit between the two companies is complicated, but it basically boils down to Twitter restricting access to its tweets and data -- which PeopleBrowsr needs for its service.

According to PeopleBrowsr, it paid Twitter $1 million a year for the … Read more

You've played that "no phones at dinner" game and lost. You can't bear ignoring your messages. Well, this bit of bling could be your new best friend.

LinkMe is a digital bracelet that displays the messages, Facebook updates, and tweets that you need most.

Billed as a world first on its Kickstarter page, LinkMe will "display the messages and alerts you choose, making your entire social life available to you with just a glance at your wrist." … Read more

Maybe it's not as streamlined as Apple's AirPlay, but Samsung's AllShare system is an often-overlooked feature that lets you wirelessly beam content like music, videos, and photos among your devices at a moment's notice.

So, you find a video you shot on your phone, tap a few buttons, and voila -- there it is on your TV screen.

Though AllShare lets you share media among your phone, TV, computer, and tablet, its most practical use can be harnessed by those who own both a Galaxy smartphone (like an S2 or S3), and a Samsung Smart TV. … Read more

There are two kinds of TVs in the world: smart and dumb. The smart ones have Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming-service apps built right in. The dumb ones, well, they need a little help.

Arguably the best help you can get comes in the form of a Roku box, which brings pretty much every streaming service known to man (except, annoyingly, YouTube) to your TV.

Today only, and while supplies last, 1SaleADay has the refurbished Roku 2 XS for $64.99 shipped. The same model sells new for $99.99.

This is the premium Roku model, the one with every … Read more

The increasingly popular TuneIn streaming-radio service today gets a new feature that helps users better customize their listening experience. Dubbed TuneIn Live, the feature is available now both on the TuneIn Web site and in the updated iPad app.

On TuneIn's homepage, TuneIn Live can be found via a small Edit button atop the featured-content tiles. This button lets you pick up to eight different interests -- anything from Top 40 to Hip Hop to News -- to use as filters for recommendations. Once your interests are marked, the tiles update to show only stations that you might like.… Read more

This is an update of a deal I posted about a year ago.

Much as I love my TiVo, I despise the monthly subscription fees that go along with it. It can literally cost you a couple hundred bucks per year. As Dr. Smith would say, "Oh, the pain!" (Don't get the reference? Ask your parents. If they watched cheesy 60s sci-fi, that is.)

A much cheaper option over the long haul: Ceton's InfiniTV 4 products, which can turn a Windows PC into a pretty sweet DVR.

For a limited time, Newegg has Ceton InfiniTV 4 USB for $169.99 shipped. … Read more