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Maria Gurova

The Public Costs of Private Distribution Strategies: Content Release Windows as Negativ... - 0 views

  • “copyright extremism” – a term he used to describe extended delays in content distribution, which often result in content reaching foreign markets months after it is released in the United States.
  • Essentially, “extremism” is another way of saying that piracy is more a business model problem than a policy problem. 
  • The strategy of windowing has long been practiced because it is believed to maximize revenue opportunities for a given film.  By giving successive distribution channels exclusive rights to the work, a film distributor aims to extract maximum revenues from licensees in each channel.
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  • Even if film distributors were to reject the conventional wisdom of windowing, those windows are jealously guarded by their respective sectors.  The theatrical exhibition window is particularly so
  • announced in September 2014 that they would distribute a sequel to the 2000 hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon simultaneously via Netflix and IMAX theaters worldwide, movie theater chains swiftly circled the wagons and announced a boycott of the Weinsteins’ film.
  • “value of ownership for the consumer” is a euphemism for “consumer willingness-to-pay.”  The longer a consumer must wait before they can watch a movie on their Netflix subscription, the likelier that consumer is to pay for a DVD
  • numerous industries have attempted to insulate themselves from disruption by persuading lawmakers to prescribe their exclusive industrial role in public laws, including auto dealers and beer distributors
  • windowing has been widely criticized as contributing to piracy, and “leaving money on the table.”  Empirical evidence bears that out.  Content producers are not unaware of this data; their calculus is that the revenues attributable to aggressive windowing (and avoiding friction with their distributors) exceed losses associated with piracy.
  • Windowing alienates consumers and arguably undermines respect for copyright in countries that receive content late
  • In the content distribution example, compensation might involve repayment for government resources expended on attributable piracy, perhaps based on a user-fee model that various government agencies already have.  If the windowed release distribution model generated more revenue than the costs it incurs, it would continue, taxpayers would be made whole, and the externality would be “internalized.”
Ekaterina Yanovskaya

China to launch home-grown OS in October as Windows replacement - Computerworld - 0 views

  • The operating system, which Xinhua did not name, will be initially offered on desktop PCs, with the plan to later extend it to smartphones
  • We hope to launch a Chinese-made desktop operating system by October supporting app stores
  • Earlier this year, China officials banned the use of Windows 8 on government computers
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    China to launch home-grown OS in October as Windows replacement
Maria Gurova

Imax's Richard Gelfond on Virtual Reality, Woody Allen and Reservations Over Netflix - ... - 0 views

  • Given Imax receipts typically account for about 10 percent of the average tentpole's box office, studios and top filmmakers frequently shift their release dates to land a big-screen berth
  • Looking forward, the company is making a big push into virtual reality, partnering with Google on a camera, and will launch its first VR space in Los Angeles this year. On the content front, Michael Bay is in talks to create original VR content for Imax
  • Any regrets about partnering with Netflix to release the low-grossing Crouching Tiger 2? I have no regrets about experimenting because, especially with the windows changing distribution patterns, with digital distribution and over‑the‑top alternatives evolving quickly, the industry is going to have to experiment and learn.
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  • If someone came to us and said, "Would you launch a TV series in Imax day-and-date?", that's definitely something we would consider
  • We have over 300 theaters open; we have over 200 theaters in backlog [where a theater has been approved and the space designated, but it hasn't been built yet]. We just announced a 10‑theater deal.
  • Wanda, which accounts for the largest number of Imax screens in China, has its own giant-screen technology. Worried? I'm not very worried.
  • If the public wants an experience that's better than a standard 35mm but not as good as an Imax, there's a category they fit in.
  • In 2015, you announced the creation of the Imax China Film Fund to invest in Chinese tentpoles.
  • We can leverage those relationships, plus the Imax technology, plus the Imax release windows, and create value by investing in the right films.
  • We could get into original programming, but we're not going to be a small participant in a $200 million movie. Could I see there being a $10 million or $20 million film that is with an Imax filmmaker who loves Imax and plays well to the Imax audience and has the right ancillary distribution afterward? Yes. That's something we're exploring.
Maria Gurova

Microsoft HoloLens: Real life holograms unveiled as part of Windows 10 - News - Gadgets... - 0 views

  • Microsoft unveiled a new hologram platform today as part of its new operating system
  • The holographic software is built into Windows 10 already, the company said. Though Microsoft is working on its own hardware, the platform will also work for other virtual reality software like Oculus Rift and Google Glass
  • Microsoft executive built a virtual flying drone, which the company then showed could be 3D printed. Alex Kipman, who helped lead the project, called it “print preview for 3D printing”.
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    Microsoft tackles the field of VR headsets 
Maria Gurova

'Snowpiercer's' VOD gamble is paying off | EW.com - 0 views

  • distributors are usually loathe to discuss VOD specifics publicly. When consumers are used to seeing $60 to $100 million opening weekends for major blockbusters in wide release, VOD numbers, no matter how “good,” look miniscule in comparison. Add on the fact that Snowpiercer is the widest multi-platform release ever, and the tricky exercise of figuring out how to combine theatrical earnings with weekend estimates from digital and cable providers, and the territory gets even more unfamiliar.
  • Snowpiercer earning an estimated $1.1 million from VOD this past weekend, nearly twice as much as the $635,000 it earned in theaters. “From a layman’s perspective these numbers are possibly not that interesting,” admits RADiUS-TWC co-president Tom Quinn. “But from an industry perspective, it’s a game changer.”
  • VOD is both cheaper and more profitable. “That $1.1 million gross is actually worth almost double to me in terms of how it nets out in our bottom line,”
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  • VOD—with access to 85 million homes—doesn’t have the same drastic theatrical drop-offs from week to week.
  • Still, a two-week theatrical exclusive is an extremely short window, especially since Snowpiercer opened in only eight theaters and is currently showing at a mere 356 locations
  • “This is completely uncharted territory but it’s 100 percent within the consumer’s control how you want to see this film,”
Maria Gurova

Italian courts order ISPs to block isoHunt - 1 views

  • FIMI successfully lodged the complaint stating that isoHunt, which provides access to and sharing of illegal copies of copyright protected content, costs the Italian music industry millions of euros.
  • Earlier this year, the Rome court ordered to block domains of 27 torrent websites.
  • The growth of blocking orders seems to be a result of the struggle against online copyright infringements through torrent websites. Opponents of website-blocks argue that blocking access to torrent sharing websites is ineffective.
Vladimir Antonov

Pirate Bay gets 'Stream It' option for in-browser viewing (Wired UK) - 1 views

  • A new browser plugin for Windows and Mac computers has turned The Pirate Bay into the world's biggest streaming site
  • plugin lets people stream torrents embedded in webpages without needing to use an external client or download the torrent itself
  • A new 'Stream it!' button has appeared alongside existing options to download, although the feature is still in beta with poor image quality and slow speeds the main issues.
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  • Unlike conventional torrent downloads, the service is easy to use and lets users start watching pirated films and TV shows in seconds
  • The streaming add-on works by finding enough peers to stream content without buffering. Existing torrent streaming services used HTTP, which quickly became too demanding on bandwidth
  • By launching on The Pirate Bay, the service has instantly become one of the world's largest online streaming platforms, albeit one completely based on piracy
  • The team behind Torrents Time claimed that ad server integration was "coming soon". And if Torrents Time can make money, and dodge almost inevitable legal take-downs, it could be here to stay
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    seems we'll have legal online movie theatres and pirate ones, who'd gain more users in the future?
Maria Gurova

Is it curtains for the big screen? - FT.com - 1 views

  • According to the National Association of Theatre Owners, US movie attendance peaked in 2002 and has been steadily declining ever since. To compensate, theatres have rolled out new technologies such as 3D, Imax and premium large-format cinemas, raising their ticket prices and thus keeping the box office at record-breaking levels
  • The majority of us are increasingly staying home.
  • At Cannes this year, the studio with the most films in competition
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  • was not one of the big studios, but the streaming service Amazon.
  • But blockbusters have a design flaw: their marketing costs are enormous — opening a movie typically costs anywhere from $20m — and they spend less and less time in cinemas. To take a recent example, ticket sales for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice dropped by an astonishing 68.4 per cent on its second weekend
  • “What you’re going to end up with is fewer theatres,” George Lucas said during a panel at the University of Southern California in 2013. “Bigger theatres, with a lot of nice things. Going to the movies is going to cost you 50 bucks, maybe 100.”
  • He argued that a film will come out in cinemas for 17 days — three weekends — which is where 98 per cent of films make 95 per cent of their revenues anyway. On the 18th day, the film will be available everywhere and you will pay for the size: a movie screen will be $15, a 75-inch TV will be $4, a smartphone will be $1.99.
  • “Fifty per cent of Americans did not step into a movie theatre last year, and of the 50 per cent that did go into a theatre, 95 per cent of them went to one or two films,”
  • Arguably, it’s more visual than television. It has our full attention: each frame must pull its weight in terms of narrative and spectacle. That is why it is a director’s medium: it envelops us. TV comes to us, into our homes, casual, familiar, favouring habit-forming episodic narratives. That is why it is a writer’s medium. The big screen glamorises — its stars are the stuff of myth; the small screen is more like a member of the family
  • And something like The Avengers, it’s too much fun laughing with the audience. These things are communal experiences.
  • But then many film-makers would argue that movies should be consumed differently from music: a song is a song wherever you play it, whereas films were built for the big screen.
  • “I don’t think that experience is going to die,” says Obst, “although I do worry that eventually we will all be inside on our huge computer screens, watching all of the different types of entertainment together
  • Nothing breaks the spell of the movie more instantly than the pause button.
Anton Vorykhalov

Goxip is a 'shoppable Instagram' for fashion followers in Asia | TechCrunch - 1 views

  • Gimenez’s take is “shoppable Instagram:” an app that uses image recognition and a large collection of retailers — 400-500 merchants selling over two million items from upwards of 15,000 brands — to create a more engaging and ultimately more fruitful social commerce experience.
  • Social commerce, the idea of buying products listed on social media sites, is huge in Asia.
  • “When you see anything online or on Instagram, the frustration is that you can’t shop even when people are using it as merchants,
Maria Gurova

Hands On With Tobii's Eye-Tracking Laptop - 0 views

  • Even if I turned away and turned back, Tobii instantly picked up my gaze
  • Forget waving at the screen, I want my computer to look into my eyes and know what I want to do.
  • I was looking on screen
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  • Tobii
  • building a 3D model of my eyes and could watch and see where
  • Tobii Gaze eye-tracking technology-equipped laptop
  • Even if I turned away and turned back, Tobii instantly picked up my gaze
  • Leaving aside the slightly unfortunate mental image of your eyes touching anything, this does sound like a new form of human/computer interface.
  • Windows 8’s modern design interface seems particularly well suited to gaze control. The screen scrolls from left to right and is comprised of a number of large app squares. I would simply stare at square and then hit enter to activate the app. Tobii never missed my gaze. Whatever I was looking at, the eye-tracking tech would launch it.
  • Tobii has no plans to deliver its own commercial laptops. Instead, it’s working with OEMs on integration.
  • Tobii is also working on eye-tracking control for tablets.
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    Are you ready to control your computer with your eyes, or will your hold to your mouse and keyboard for as long as humanly possible?
evgeny lavrov

One Day, Google Will Deliver the Stuff You Want Before You Ask | Wired Business | Wired... - 0 views

  • As personal digital assistant apps such as Google Now become widespread, so does the idea of algorithms that can not only meet but anticipate our needs
  • eBay lets you shop at only one store at a time and promises delivery “in about an hour,” while Google lets you shop at multiple stores and pick your own delivery time window.
  • customers won’t be ordering stuff from eBay anymore. Instead, they’ll let their phones do it.
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  • “Ambient commerce is about consumers turning over their trust to the machine,” Sheldon says
  • Between what these companies know about our interests, our friends, our whereabouts, our purchases, and anything else we’re willing to feed them, whether by email, Twitter, Facebook, GPS, or credit card, they probably should have a very good idea of what we want and when and where we want it.
Maria Gurova

Amazon Will Open Over 300 Physical Bookstores Because Life Is a Practical Joke Played O... - 1 views

  • Amazon is working on plans to open hundreds of brick-and-mortar bookstores
  • Amazon already has one physical store that opened back in November.
  • Physical bookstores quickly turned into showroom floors where people would browse and then go buy books for cheap at Amazon.
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  • We can’t wait to see Netflix open up laserdisc rental shops next
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    so far this is only speculations and rumors. but let's see how the story evolves 
alexbelov

Microsoft is bringing bots to Skype - and everywhere else | TechCrunch - 0 views

  • Microsoft’s own virtual assistant Cortana, aim to help pave the way for the future of communication, productivity, and interactions with businesses and brands.
  • In Skype, the company showed off rich Cortana integration which put the assistant directly into the app where she could help users do things like identify the persons, places and things in your messages, underline them, and then display more info in a card-like interface when clicked.
  • She is also able to help you perform a variety of tasks, like adding items to your calendar, booking travel or hotel rooms, or even pre-populating conversations to friends with text.
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  • The bots’ integration in Skype is rolling out today on Windows, iOS and Android as a preview.
  • The company launched the first-ever Skype Bot SDK, which lets brands, businesses and other third parties create their own bots that can work on Skype, seamlessly integrating into users’ chats. These aren’t just text bots, as many of the SMS-based virtual assistance startups we’ve seen so far – Skype bots can introduce both audio and video experiences
  • The company is also launching a bot directory, giving us a brief peek at a few bots it had created itself.
  • Bots “represent a huge opportunity to write new types of applications,” Nadella told developers
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    Microsoft jumps bots bandwagon by introducing bots ecosystem in skype, which includes bot development kit, bot framework and bot directory.
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