Tag: netflix

Xbox apes Netflix with $10 per month, 100-game unlimited “Pass”

Enlarge / A promotional image shows some of the games you’ll be able to download for one monthly subscription price through Xbox Game Pass. (credit: Xbox Wire ) Borrowing a page from Netflix’s unlimited subscription model, Microsoft today announced Game Pass , a service that will offer downloadable copies of over 100 Xbox One and backwards-compatible Xbox 360 games from the systems’ legacy catalogs for a $10-per-month subscription. Microsoft hasn’t provided a full list of games that will be available yet, but an e-mailed announcement included Halo 5: Guardians, Saints Row IV Re-Elected, NBA 2K16, Mad Max, LEGO Batman, Mega Man Legacy Collection, Terraria, Payday 2, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Fable III, SoulCalibur II and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 as examples of what to expect at launch. Publishers taking part in the program include 2K, 505 Games, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Deep Silver, Focus Home Interactive, Sega, SNK, THQ Nordic GmbH, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and Microsoft Studios. New games will cycle in and out of availability with some regularity, Microsoft said. Still, based on the above list, we wouldn’t expect any major new releases to hit Game Pass until well after their traditional retail launches. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Xbox apes Netflix with $10 per month, 100-game unlimited “Pass”

Netflix project lets you mind-control its interface

Netflix’s developers are at it again , using the company’s annual Hack Day to come up with clever, if sometimes wild, ideas on how to improve the streaming service. This year’s crop of hacks mostly focus on intriguing Stranger Things integrations, but the most interesting result is one named MindFlix, that lets you navigate and control Netflix with your mind. In a video demonstrating MindFlix , the team showed how you can, with a Muse EEG-detecting headband strapped on, move your head up and down or side to side to scroll vertically and horizontally through Netflix’s interface. Then, when you’ve landed on a title you like, just think of the word or action “Play.” This worked in the clip, with the test subject happily proclaiming that he never had to move again. Of course, whether it works as well in real life can’t be determined, but if it does, it could make Netflix binging far more enjoyable. Other Hack Day Winter 2017 projects run the gamut from noble to somewhat sinister. Netflix For Good lets viewers donate to related or well-known charity organizations after watching a socially conscious video, while Picture-in-Picture lets you monitor what other profiles in your account are watching at the same time. There doesn’t appear to be plans to make these implementations widely available. In fact, Netflix states in a blog post that “they may never become part of the Netflix product, internal infrastructure, or otherwise be used beyond Hack Day.” Still, though, we can always hope that Netflix puts out the instructions on how to make these real, as it did for the sleep-detecting socks that pause your videos for you. Via: Variety Source: Netflix

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Netflix project lets you mind-control its interface

The first Ultra HD Blu-ray PC drive ships next month

More and more, we’re getting our movies and TV via streaming services instead of on disc . But a certain DIY crowd still appreciates support for physical media piped through a home theater PC, and that’s the group the first Ultra HD Blu-ray drive is made for. Pioneer Japan announced two disc drives, the BDR-S11J-BK and the BDR-S11J-X that it will release in late February, ready to read the triple-layer 4K-ready discs. Both drives come bundled with a copy of Cyberlink’s PowerDVD software that is ready to play back 4K movies from disc. However, you’ll also need a PC running Windows 10 as well as a 7th-generation Core i7 or i5 Intel processor (Kaby Lake) and an HDMI 2.0a connection that’s HDCP 2.2 capable (just like 4K Netflix on the PC) . Once you get past the demands of HEVC compression and the DRM wrapping, it should be all set. Still, we have seen some growing pains with the first Ultra HD Blu-ray players and it’s possible a software update or two will be needed for every movie to work just right. Both drives are capable of reading and writing (read-only for Ultra HD Blu-ray), and are basically identical although the J-X has some extra tweaks for CDs, whether you’re listening or just ripping. There’s no word yet on price or exact release date, but we’ll probably see drives in the US soon. As Myce (f.k.a CDFreaks) notes, both Pioneer and Hitachi-LG are licensed to make the drives, so whatever arrives will probably come from one of those two. Via: AV Watch Source: Myce , Cyberlink , Pioneer Japan

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The first Ultra HD Blu-ray PC drive ships next month

Amazon Launches Anime Channel for $5 Per Month, Its First Branded Subscription Channel

Todd Spangler, writing for Variety: Amazon is rolling out its first branded on-demand subscription service for Amazon Channels: Anime Strike, offering more than 1, 000 series episodes and movies ranging from classic titles to current shows broadcast on Japanese TV. The Anime Strike channel is available to U.S. Amazon Prime members for $4.99 per month after a seven-day free trial, the newest addition to the lineup of around 100 services now available in Amazon Channels. Amazon has struck exclusive U.S. streaming deals for several series on Anime Strike, including “Scum’s Wish, ” “Onihei, ” “The Great Passage, ” “Vivid Strike!, ” “Crayon-Shin Chan Gaiden: Alien vs. Shinnosuke, ” and “Chi’s Sweet Adventure.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Amazon Launches Anime Channel for $5 Per Month, Its First Branded Subscription Channel

Netflix’s first original Korean series is based on a web comic

Netflix is eager to court South Korea now that it has a foothold in the country , and it’s finally readying its first original series to match… with a decidedly technological twist. It’s readying Love Alarm , a 12-episode show based on a popular Korean web comic — no, not a book or another country’s TV programming . Even the premise is appropriately techy. The story centers around a mysterious mobile app that lets you know if someone nearby is attracted to you, which invariably causes chaos. The show won’t debut until 2018, but it’ll be available worldwide. That may sound odd for something that’s clearly designed to suit local tastes, but Netflix is clearly counting on the West’s surge in interest for all things Korean (think everything from K-pop to Oldboy ) as a draw. In theory, it’s the company’s dream show: it’s intensely relevant in its home country, but accessible enough that it could attract an international fan base. Via: Tech Crunch Source: Netflix

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Netflix’s first original Korean series is based on a web comic

Verizon and AT&T Prepare to Bring 5G To (Select) Markets In 2017

An anonymous reader quotes IEEE Spectrum: This year, Verizon and AT&T plan to deliver broadband internet to select homes or businesses using fixed wireless networks built with early 5G technologies. These 5G pilot programs will give the public its first glimpse into a wireless future that isn’t due to fully arrive until the early 2020s. With 5G, carriers hope to deliver data to smartphone users at speeds 10 times as fast as on today’s 4G networks, and with only 1 millisecond of delay… Over the past year, companies have completed a flurry of lab tests and trials to figure out what types of radios, antennas, and signal processing techniques will work best to deliver 5G in hopes of bringing those technologies and their capabilities to market as soon as possible. The article notes that standards groups are halfway through their eight-year process of finalizing technical specifications (set to finish in 2020), but “With so much cash on the line, and facing pressure from data-hungry customers, carriers are moving fast.” In Japan, NTT Docomo has even tested dozens of programmable antennas simultaneously transmitting signals, resulting in transmissions at 20 gigabits per second. “At that speed, a complete 2-hour, 1080p, high-definition movie can be transmitted in a second and a half.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Verizon and AT&T Prepare to Bring 5G To (Select) Markets In 2017

Russian Military Jet Carrying Choir Crashes, No Survivors

A Russian military jet that was en route to Syria disappeared from radar on Sunday. Russian authorities say that it crashed into the Black Sea. Reportedly , all 92 people on board were killed, including at least 60 members of the Red Army Choir. Read more…

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Russian Military Jet Carrying Choir Crashes, No Survivors

A Record High of 455 Scripted TV Shows Aired in 2016

In case you wanted to ground your abstract TV FOMO in hard numbers, FX has data on the fact that, yes, there really is too much TV. An anonymous reader shares a report: The network, whose CEO John Landgraf coined the idea of “peak TV, ” has released its unofficial tally of the number of shows on TV, finding that 455 different scripted television series from broadcast, cable, and streaming sources aired in the last year. That’s an 8 percent increase from last year, when 421 shows aired on TV; a 71 percent increase from 2011, when a mere 266 shows were on TV; and a 137 percent increase from 2006, when there were 192 shows on TV. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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A Record High of 455 Scripted TV Shows Aired in 2016

How to Download Netflix Movies to Your SD Card and Save Space on Your Phone

Rejoice, you can download Netflix movies and TV shows to watch offline. Unfortunately, it only downloads to your built-in storage by default, which can lead to some slow, cluttered phones. If you’d rather use the extra space on your SD card for all those Stranger Things episodes, here’s how. Read more…

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How to Download Netflix Movies to Your SD Card and Save Space on Your Phone