After talk of a movie-streaming service from Amazon has been going on for years, the Financial Times has today reported that, yes, they are about to launch a Netflix-defying service. Supposedly Amazon Prime members will be able to access it (just another brilliant reason to sign up to Prime membership, in my opinion), though it’s not known if there’ll be any fees associated with streaming movies after the initial annual $US79 sum is paid. More »
Joost lost the video war a while ago, thinking a P2P app that imitated TV would be the way people wanted to watch TV and movies on their computer. They were wrong, and only recently rectified the mistake. It’s probably too late for them. But their new iPhone app, which streams over 46,000 videos including full movies like Men in Black and Starship Troopers for free over Wi-Fi, is actually kind of exciting.
As promised, you can finally use Netflix’s Watch Instantly streaming video service on a Mac. The juiciest, most ironic part? The magic happens with Microsoft’s Flash-wannabe Silverlight—which you probably grew to know and maybe hate during the Olympics—since it keeps the DRM voodoo intact. The only real catch is that it works exclusively on Intel-based Macs, leaving anyone on an aging PowerBook out in the cold. Full details below—it’s not live yet, but it should be soon.
It’s really surprising that this hasn’t been done by an Australian company sooner, but Telstra has launched the country’s first online 24/7 news channel, both on their BigPond portal online and on NextG mobile phones.
The channel streams live video of the latest news, finance, politics, sports and weather directly to your browser or mobile phone. It’s powered by Sky News content, but BigPond has control over how it is delivered to the audience, so it can cut to breaking news or stick with the latest sports updates, depending on how they feel.
The online portal at BigPond is available to anyone, although unless you’re a BigPond customer, you’ll pay for the bandwidth (which is the same as watching any other video site). BigPond customers watching the channel have unmetered access. NextG customers can pay $4.95 a month or $1.95 for a day pass.
The only problem with the offering is that the online version uses Windows Media for streaming the video channel, meaning Mac users are left out in the cold.
Full release is below: More »
At long last, Sling Media’s powerful, media extending/streaming/projecting SlingCatcher is available for purchase, at retailers like Best Buy and Fry’s, as well as from Sling directly (the product page isn’t quite live yet, but should be later today). For those unfamiliar, the SlingCatcher takes a sling stream, multimedia files, or your computer desktop and plays it back on whatever television it’s connected to. It can be yours for $US300 if you go here. [SlingCatcher on Giz]
I never understood watching cricket on your mobile phone. Other sports, sure, but not cricket. When 3 had the Ashes a couple of years ago, I tried streaming the first test match. Even with the phone plugged in, it drained the battery. that and I kept hearing what was happening from the office radio at least 15 seconds before I saw it on the mobile’s tiny screen.
But maybe things have improved, now that Telstra’s streaming the upcoming Indian tour to their NextG network. The tour, which starts today and runs until November 9, will cost $9.95 a month or $3.95 a day.
Not my thing, but if you’re a cricket fan, and a NextG customer, hit the BigPond button to get started.
Not just one, but three new ways to view YouTube today. The first two should be familiar to anyone who’s used Hulu—lights out and theatre mode. Lights out dims your whole screen except the video, while the latter also blows up the player and adds tacky/cool theatre curtains on the side. Right now, they’re only available for feature-length videos, but don’t be surprised if they trickle down. The third, and definitely most exciting, is Super HD, which you should definitely check out, even though the selection is currently limited. [YouTube via Lifehacker, Mr Doob via core77]
