Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Tribe's Internet Reader II - Media news

Haven't got time to read up on the Internet? Don't worry, Melissa has been doing your homework. Our second Internet Reader below, with a focus on media news.

Twitter used to predict box office hits
Micro-blogging service Twitter can be used to predict the future
box-office takings of blockbuster films, according to researchers at
Hewlett Packard. An algorithm was created to figure out how many
people attend an opening weekend at a film by how often and how
quickly users tweeted about the film. The box office earnings were
accurately predicted for The Crazies and Dear John by using this
method.

Why iAds Could Be Bigger Than iPads
Apple will soon provide an easy way for app developers to put
advertisements in their mobile apps and keep 60% of the revenue; it is
called the iAd. The reason iAd has a chance to change how users
interact with ads is simple: The fear and unknown of clicking on an ad
is gone. Apple is throwing its brand behind an entire ad network to
create the perception that if you trust Apple, you can trust these ads
too.

Netflix Signs Rental Delay Deals With Universal and Twentieth Century
Fox, Gets More Streaming Titles
Netflix has struck a deal with major film studios to delay the rental
of newly released movies for a 29-day period. With this deal, the
studios have nearly a full month where consumers can only purchase a
new DVD or blu-ray film rather than rent. In exchange for this delay,
Netflix has gained greater access to television series and films for
internet streaming.

Study Says Almost Half Of Americans Use Social Networks
A collection of statistical findings showing how technology is being
used by Americans. Approximately 78% of teens and 77% of 18 to
24-year-olds have personal profile pages. Nearly one in four Americans
has listened to audio from an iPod or other MP3 player connected to a
car stereo. For the first time, more Americans say the Internet is
"most essential" to their lives when given a choice along with
television, radio, and newspapers. Texting has become a daily activity
for nearly half of all mobile phone owners. Sixty-two percent of homes
with Internet access have wireless network set-ups in their homes.

Paramount Offers Seagate Buyers Preloaded Movies
Seagate will soon release a 500GB external hard drive that will be
preloaded with 21 full length movies for users. The drives will come
preloaded with the 2009 release "Star Trek" as a complimentary film,
and the remaining 20 films can be unlocked for a price of
$9.99-$14.99. It is not known yet how much of the hard drive will be
used with this content. As of now, the preloaded movies will only be
available to Windows users.

Thanks, Melissa!


3 comments:

Jackie said...

This is awesome. I'm really excited to see these Seagate hard drives with movies already on them.

Anonymous said...

I find the deal with Netflix to be very interesting, and definitely a good ploy, but I'm not sure it will really help DVD sales. In my opinion, it will more likely it will increase illegal downloads and lower renting sales.

M.Johnson said...

Very interesting information! But we definitely don't read an article to understand the expanse of social networking. Twitter, Facebook, blogging, LinkedIn. It's hard to do anything these days without hearing about at least one of these things.