Netflix today has made its “Fast” internet speed testing service available on iOS and Android. The company originally launched the tool back in May on the web as a way to give users a chance to judge their internet’s streaming capabilities.
A long standing complaint about the Netflix experience on Android TV has finally been addressed. According to the Android Twitter account, users will finally be able to search through Netflix’s library from Android TV’s universal search feature.
After announcing the ability to pay for a subscription using Google Play billing, Netflix is now rolling out cellular data usage controls so users don’t go over their monthly carrier caps. The feature requires an updated app with a global rollout starting today.
If you, like me, have been wondering when Netflix is finally going to get around to allowing offline viewing, so we can stock up our tablet when traveling, the answer would appear to be: not anytime soon. When Gizmodo asked the company why, when Amazon Instant Video does so, a company spokesman gave the unconvincing reply that it thinks we can’t handle the awesome complexity of clicking a download button.
According to Neil Hunt, Netflix’s Chief Product Officer, Netflix users won’t be able to handle the complexity the added choice will bring […]
“Undoubtedly it adds considerable complexity to your life with Amazon Prime – you have to remember that you want to download this thing. It’s not going to be instant, you have to have the right storage on your device, you have to manage it, and I’m just not sure people are actually that compelled to do that, and that it’s worth providing that level of complexity.”
There’s also the content owners who may not have stipulated that their content can be downloaded. Hunt didn’t discuss that but its likely a big concern.
There is some small hope of being able to view Netflix content when traveling, says Hunt.
As an example, what if we can put Netflix in a rack box that essentially contains all of Netflix content that you could imagine putting in an airplane server, right along with our existing offerings? That for me is a more interesting thing; can we make Netflix work on a plane, can we make it work on a train, in hotels?
But that seems to me a ridiculous way to offer a half-assed solution, and it’s merely an idea, not a plan.
Hunt did make one good point: not all of Amazon’s content is available for downloading, and it can be frustrating when one show is and another isn’t. Amazon already has enough issues with its seemingly-random selection of videos available to Prime members on desktop but not mobile, mobile but not desktop or only for purchase.
But with Netflix increasingly focusing on producing exclusive content, it could at least make a decent start by offering its own shows available for downloading.
Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service previously only allowed users of Amazon’s own Fire-branded Android devices to download content for offline viewing, but today the company announced it’s expanding that privilege to all iOS and Android users.
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Google is pushing ahead with its plans to launch a paid YouTube service by the end of this year. So far, it’s signed up YouTube partners accounting for more than 90% of it views, but major TV networks are still holding out. Fox, NBC and CBS (among others) are still holding back according to Bloomberg’s sources.
Without support from TV networks, YouTube will have to attract paying subscribers with its own original content, or try and attract payers with nothing more than its home-grown stars and music videos. But that doesn’t mean the company is down-beat. There are many more options on its plate.
Yesterday, as part of the company’s Google I/O dev conference keynote presentation, Google took the wraps off Smart Lock, a new password manager that makes logging into apps in Chrome or on Android much more painless. Now, some of the first apps to support the new feature are being updated starting with Netflix.
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Update: AT&T has now shared their Galaxy S6 preorder details too.
T-Mobile and AT&T are both offering an HTC One M9 presale, but it looks like the un-carrier is also going to offer a similar promotion for Samsung’s Galaxy S6. Starting Friday, March 27 at 7 a.m. PDT you’ll be able to order Samsung’s newest flagship from T-Mobile, and the company says it will be shipping presale orders sometime before the device’s official April 10th launch date.
The subscription-based video on demand market could see a significant shake-up this year as it was reported that YouTube has started to negotiate licensing deals for its own service to compete with services like Netflix and Hulu.
Variety quoted an unnamed YouTube partner as saying that the company not only wanted to discuss a licensing deal, but was extremely aggressive in its approach.
An exec at one YouTube partner says reps from the vidsite reached out late last year about an SVOD licensing deal. But the offer came with a warning: If the partner didn’t agree to the terms of the subscription service, it would be excluded from any future ad revenue — a tactic YouTube has used in dealing with independent music companies that refused to get onboard with Music Key.
This is the same approach YouTube was said to have taken to persuade independent music labels to sign-up for the company’s subscription music service …
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According to an image obtained by Android Central, Samsung is soon planning to offer all Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 4, and Galaxy Tab S buyers one free year of Netflix. The promotion will apply to U.S. customers only, however, and will only be available for the first 115,000 people to take advantage of the deal.
Netflix announced in a blog post this evening that it is pushing out an update to its Android app with a handful of new features. First off, the update introduces a new “Social Recommendation” capability, which has been available on iOS for some time now. This feature allows users to easily and privately recommend shows that they love to friends and family, right from an Android device.
Google has put together a hefty infographic showing 2014’s most popular apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, books & news.
Health and fitness was the fastest-growing app category, with MyFitnessPal topping the charts within the category. Candy Crush remained the most downloaded game. Other app category chart-toppers were Facebook, Netflix, Pandora, TripAdvisor, Duolingo, Flipagram and NFL Mobile …
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When the Chromecast originally launched more than a year ago, early buyers were offered three free months of Netflix as a bonus. That offer quickly ran out, but various other deals have popped up since. Now, Google is giving anyone who buys a Chromecast from October 1st through the end of the year two free months of Hulu Plus.
Hulu Plus currently runs $7.99, meaning that you’re getting a $16 value with your Chromecast purchase. While Hulu may not have quite the selection of Netflix, that’s still a great offer when the Chromecast only costs $35 to begin with.
The offer will be redeemable through chromecast.com/offers during the set-up process for new Hulu Plus and Chromecast users beginning October 1st. Keep an eye on 9to5toys.com for the latest Chromecast deals, as well.
Today, Netflix announced that it has added Post-Play support to Google’s Chromecast for people streaming content from their compatible smartphone or tablet. If you’re unfamiliar with Post-Play, it’s a queueing feature that automatically starts playing the next episode of whatever show you’re watching around 15 after the program ends.
We thought we understood the net neutrality argument: the need to ensure that ISPs like the big cable companies don’t extort cash from services like Netflix to provide them with greater bandwidth than companies who don’t pay the toll.
But no, according to Time Warner, we’ve got this backward: it’s popular websites like Google who could do the extorting, reports National Journal.
In a filing to the FCC, Time Warner Cable claimed that the controversy over Internet providers potentially charging websites for access to special “fast lanes” is a “red herring.” The real danger, the cable company claimed, is that Google or Netflix could demand payments from Internet providers. Customers expect access to the most popular websites, and an Internet provider may have little choice but to pay up.
The National Cable and Telecommunications Association, a trade association representing all the major cable companies, backed this view, saying that it’s companies like “Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook” that we should be concerned about. It is, of course, merely coincidence that these are the mostly the same companies who wrote a joint letter to the FCC in support of net neutrality.
Google is on record as saying that there is no conflict between co-location – which enables faster delivery of content to consumers – and net neutrality.
We give companies like Netflix and Akamai free access to space and power in our facilities and they provide their own content servers. We don’t make money from peering or colocation; since people usually only stream one video at a time, video traffic doesn’t bog down or change the way we manage our network in any meaningful way — so why not help enable it?
The FCC has, understandably, rejected Time Warner’s claim, stating that “such conduct is beyond the scope of this proceeding.”
Happy birthday, Chromecast! That’s what Google is saying today as it announced the HDMI media streaming stick has been used to cast content 400 million times in the 12 months since it launched. The Chromecast, of course, allows you to stream content from services like Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora to your HDTV from your Android or iOS as well as your computer via the Chrome browser.
We’ve added hundreds of your favorite apps, including WatchESPN, Pandora, Hulu Plus, HBO GO and PBS Kids; announced new features like mirroring your Android device to the TV and expanded to 30,000 stores across 20 countries.
That’s certainly a lot of casting from the $35 accessory, and Google is giving all Chromecast users 90 days of its Google Play Music All Access service for free to celebrate. The offer to redeem 3 months of free access to the $9.99/month music subscription service will run from today, July 24th, through September 30th, for all existing Chromecast customers not already subscribed to All Access.
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If you’re not familiar with Popcorn Time, it’s an app that allows you to stream movie and TV show torrents without any of the hassles usually associated with torrents – what you get is an interface which looks just like Netflix or Hulu. Thanks to a popular forked version, you’ll soon be able to watch that content on your TV when Chromecast support is added …
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Hot on the heels of a similar update to its iOS app, Netflix this evening started rolling out a minor update to its Android app. The app bumps the app to version 3.6, but is relatively small. The first thing you’ll notice is that the app has an entirely new logo. Instead of being white on red, the logo is now red text on a white background.
There’s also a minor interface tweak within the app. The action bar along the top of the interface is now black, whereas it was originally red. This makes the app look quite a bit different, more so than you’d expect a different color change to.
The update is available on the Play Store now.
Oyster, a startup out of New York which lets you pay a subscription fee for access to books, has released an Android app after having been available on iOS since August of last year. It has appropriately gained a reputation of being the “Netflix of books,” allowing users to pay just $9.95 for unlimited access to over 500,000 ebooks, but also touts human curation as being one its most important features.
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Google is about to launch a new Android TV platform at its upcoming Google I/O conference in June, according to a new report from GigaOM. The report claims the new platform will be a revamped vision of what Google already has with its Google TV platform and will focus mainly on online content and Android gaming rather than integrating with existing pay TV services:
Android TV won’t be another device, but rather a platform that manufacturers of TVs and set-top boxes can use to bring streaming services to the television. In that way, it is similar to Google TV, the platform the company unveiled at its 2010 Google I/O conference. But while Google TV was focused on marrying existing pay TV services with apps, Android TV will at least initially be all about online media services and Android-based video games.
Google has apparently been making deals with partners in the lead up to launching the new platform, some of which are said to include Netflix and Hulu Plus as well as hardware partners that will build and sell the Android TV devices. The report also shared some details on the Android TV UI:
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Following a proposal that many fear threatens net neutrality, a plethora of tech companies today have come together to support net neutrality in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission. The group is led by Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, and Twitter, as well as many others.
The letter voices disapproval of a recent proposal that would allow people to pay more in order to gain a higher priority from their internet service provider. The letter focuses on keeping the internet open, and perhaps treated as a utility. The companies make the case that with this new paid prioritization proposition, ISPs would be discriminating both technically and financially against internet companies
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhKZ0fQhbeg]
Amazon recently surprised us with its Fire TV set-top box, offering a native solution for customers to stream movies, music, and even play games. Fire TV will only set you back $99, and in my opinion, it’s just what Amazon needed. Instead of relying on third-party streaming solutions, Amazon now has the power to take its media services in a new direction. Take a look at our overview video above to see Fire TV in action.
For years now companies have been claiming to that they make the perfect set-top box, with Amazon being the most recent to do so with its FireTV. Notably missing from this arm’s race, however, has been Google. The company was one of the first to offer a set-top box OS with Google TV, but the idea quickly failed and was never widely adopted. Over the past year, reports have started to emerge claiming that Google is plaining a reentrance into the set-top box market with an Android-powered set-top box. The Verge has now published an extensive report on Android TV, with screenshots of the actual interface and much more.
The report, which cites internal Google documents, claims that the idea is far along in development with major app providers already building for the platform as we speak. While Google TV was also based off of Android, this new revision is entirely rebuilt and is something very different. “Android TV is an entertainment interface, not a computing platform,” writes Google. “It’s all about finding and enjoying content with the least amount of friction.” It will be “cinematic, fun, fluid, and fast.”
Google’s handy Chromecast dongle is to go on sale in “many more countries” in the next few weeks, according to an SXSW keynote speech by Sundar Pinchai reported by TNW.
The speech seemingly majored on ‘vague,’ with no specific countries listed and U.S. sales of the $35 device described only as in the millions.
Google announced a month ago that the UK would be the second market to get access to Chromecast, going on sale in the electrical retail chain Currys at or around the beginning of this month. At the time of writing it was not yet showing up in a search on the company’s website.
Once it does go on sale, buying one is pretty much a no-brainer if you own both a television and an Android device. Chromecast support is available in a wide range of apps, that include YouTube, Netflix, HBO GO, Hulu Plus, Pandora, Plex and many others – with more likely to be joining the list thanks to a Chromecast SDK, making it easier for developers to add support.
