Google is lending three sets of Google Glass to each of five film schools for the fall semester as part of what it calls the Glass Creative Collective.
We’re really interested to find out how Glass will contribute to the craft of storytelling, specifically through film. So, we reached out to various film schools, including The American Film Institute, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television and University of Southern California. They’ll start exploring how Glass can be used in production, documentary filmmaking, character development and things we haven’t yet considered … Expand Expanding Close
Google’s recently been updating all of its apps with a new slide-out navigation bar, and the latest app to receive the update is Google Play Movies. The app was updated today with a few new features, including a new, redesigned interface with the slide-out navigation bar and a new Watch Now option, which aims to predict what you are going to watch next and give you easy access to those titles.
Full changelog:
New layout and visual design.
Watch Now provides quick access to what you’re likely to watch next.
An updated Google Play with an image-centric design will be rolling out to all Android devices running Froyo (2.2) and up over the next few weeks, the Official Androidblog confirmed. The redesign focuses on connecting ‘similarly themed’ content so apps, songs, and movies of the same genre are grouped rather than scattered everywhere.
Perhaps it’s too soon to state this with any certainty — surely this update has been in the works for some time now — but we may already be seeing the influence of Facebook Home on app design, at least as it pertains to the use of larger imagery and simplified interface. Something to keep an eye on at the very least.
Last spring, as part 2012’s 24 Hour Film Race presented by HTC One, Director Frank Hannah shot a four-minute film with the manufacturer’s popular Android-powered smartphone.
The challenge occurred from May 18 to May 19, where over 750 teams around the world were given the following criteria:
Create an original short films (4 minutes max) in just 24 hours based on a theme (one), action (listening to music), and prop (the number one).
Hannah interpreted and completed the challenge, and then HTC honored his work by recently posting the short film on YouTube (above). A second video even documents the behind-the-scenes footage (below). Check ’em out!
Google gave an update regarding improvements to the Google Play store coming to Android devices and elsewhere yesterday during Day 1 of its Google I/O keynote. However, information on what was in the works for Google TV was notably left out from its presentations (despite two identical Google Glass skydiver demos from yesterday and today). Today, Google made a blog post confirming features that were announced for Android devices yesterday. A new UI, subscription billing, and movie, music and TV shows will also come to the Google Play store on Google TV this summer:
You already have access to a variety of apps on Google Play, and soon you’ll be able to find movies, TV shows, and music from Google Play to stream on Google TV. Google Play works across devices, so you can rent and start watching a movie on your Google TV, keep watching on your tablet on the move, and finish watching on Google TV. The TV & Movies app will also show Google Play content, adding to the more than 100,000 TV episodes and movies available in the app. The full power of Google Play will be available later this summer on all Google TV devices.
YouTube Movies features a wide selection of movies that users can rent for $2.99, but today we have discovered that YouTube Movies now features free movies in its lineup. The free section isn’t just released movies by any means, so don’t expect to get the latest and greatest. The free section does however feature a pretty nice set of older titles, including the popular Step Brothers, Resident Evil, Ghost Busters II, and more. Clicking on the movie page will bring up a description of the movie, a review of the movie from Rotten Tomatoes, and suggested movies. Expand Expanding Close
Starting at £2.49, users have one of two choices for renting movies. Either grab the video app from the Market, or head over to market.android.com/movies to rent and watch films from your PC. Of course, films rented through either method will be available to watch through your phone, PC, or Android tablet during the rental period. As with the service in the US, you’ll have up to thirty days to watch a film after purchasing the rental. However, after the first play it will expire after 48 hours. Expand Expanding Close
A mockup of a seven-inch Amazon tablet running a forked Android version.
As Amazon gears up to debut its long-rumored tablet on Wednesday at a media event in New York (a subtle hint of a media-focused launch), TechCrunchchimes in with a name. The Android-driven device will be apparently marketed under the Kindle Fire moniker in order to distinguish it from Amazon’s highly regarded family of dedicated Kindle e-readers. Manufactured by Foxconn, Apple’s favorite contract manufacturer, the gizmo should boast a seven-inch color touchscreen (not true multi-touch) and won’t have an email client preloaded, but users will be able to download one from its mobile application store or use a built-in browser for web mail, writes author MG Siegler who first saw the device early this month.
Meanwhile, AlllThingsD’s Peter Kafka writes the online retailer is cutting partnerships left and right with Hollywood studios and magazine publishers. Amazon has now added Fox shows to its streaming catalog, Kafka reported today, explaining the deal includes shows Fox no longer airs and old Fox movies such as “Office Space,” “Speed” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. Also, at least three magazine publishers have thrown their weighg behind Amazon’s tablet project: Hearst, Conde Nast and Meredith. Kafka cites industry sources claiming all three publishers “have deals to sell digital versions of their titles on the new device”.
Those titles are allegedly optimized for Amazon’s seven-incher and terms are said to mirror the 70:30 revenue split offered by Apple’s iTunes content store. Even though its success is anything but given, conventional wisdom has it that the Amazon tablet should benefit from Amazon’s many cloud services and long-standing partnerships with content providers. What’s unique about Amazon…
You may have heard about “prior art”. In patent law, prior art is basically all information made available publicly before a date which might be relevant to a patent’s claims of originality. Hence, if any invention can be described in prior art, its patent can be invalidated. Samsung is resorting to some pretty sci-fi (literally!) arguments in its legal spat with the Cupertino gadget maker, having gone as far as citing Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ movie as prior art against Apple’s tablet.
The finding, discovered by intellectual property expert Florian Mueller on his blog FOSS Patents, stems from page two of an exhibit Samsung filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The document reads:
Attached hereto as Exhibit D is a true and correct copy of a still image taken from Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” In a clip from that film lasting about one minute, two astronauts are eating and at the same time using personal tablet computers. The clip can be downloaded online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ8pQVDyaLo. As with the design claimed by the D’889 Patent, the tablet disclosed in the clip has an overall rectangular shape with a dominant display screen, narrow borders, a predominately flat front surface, a flat back surface (which is evident because the tablets are lying flat on the table’s surface), and a thin form factor.
The prior art claim is in Samsung’s defense against Apple’s motion for a preliminary injunction. The company recently claimed in a Dutch court that Apple doctored Galaxy smartphone images.
Google has announced that a new Android Market is coming to Android phones. Along with an overall redesign, the new Market will be receiving a Book and Movie tab. The updated Market is available for phones running Android 2.2 and up, and will be rolling out in the coming weeks.
Movies will be available in the U.S. for $1.99, where they can be downloaded right on the Android phone. We assume Books will be priced book-to-book, like almost all e-book stores. Movies and Books will be linked to your Google account, so all of your Android devices will be in sync. Check out screenshots after the break.
The new Android Market will be rolling out in the coming weeks to Android 2.2 and higher phones around the world. You don’t need to do anything – the update is automatic on supported phones. If you’re in the U.S., you’ll also be able to download the Videos app, rent movies, and buy books once you receive the new Android Market.
The YouTube team announced via a blog post that American users will be able to rent three thousand movie titles on the popular video sharing site, paying via the Google Checkout billing system. Like on iTunes, some releases will come with additional content such as movie reviews, extras and other goodies. The team also shared a couple of eyebrow-raising stats concerning service metrics.
We’re spending 15 minutes a day watching YouTube clips to the tune of two billion views a day. For comparison, average users spend five hours a day watching the old-school tube, but Google thinks “that’s going to change”. More impressive than this is the fact that YouTube is now available on 350 million devices.
