Is Hollywood experimenting with more first day rentals online?
I’m becoming addicted to renting movies online. They’re decently priced, and so fast; it beats the experience of going to a physical video store hands down. Except for one little thing: selection. But is that about to change?
Specifically, what I’m talking about are movies just released on traditional formats like DVD. Typically, the movie studios have allowed users of the online movie services like iTunes and Amazon On Demand to buy these movies the day they… Continue Reading
Lego Batman on the iPhone — much better than the Dark Knight games
Warner Brothers is wasting little time promoting one of its biggest film franchises on the iPhone: Batman. We’ve already seen the throw-away promotional HaHaHa picture application and then the bad Dark Knight: Batmobile game, and now there’s a third one, and it’s good: Lego Batman.
Technically called Lego Batman: Gotham City Games, this version for the iPhone and iPod touch consists of a series of mini-games set in the Batman universe. What’s smart is that all… Continue Reading
The Dark Knight: Buy the movie, not the iPhone game
In some circles, today is “Dark Knight Day.” That is, the ultra successful Batman film, The Dark Knight, was released on DVD and to digital stores like iTunes today. And people were apparently excited enough about the release to make it the top-selling film on iTunes for all of 2008 — before it was even released (thanks to pre-sales). For those who were thinking about celebrating Dark Knight Day with The Dark Knight: Batmobile iPhone… Continue Reading
Roundup: Veoh wins copyright case, Microsoft launches IE8 beta 2, how the iPhone 2.0.2 update fixes connection issues and more
Here’s the latest action:
Veoh wins in court, YouTube claps — A federal judge ruled that Veoh was not infringing on copyrights by letting its users upload videos to the site. This is an important ruling because it sets a precedent for the similar, but much larger YouTube/Viacom case. You can probably expect an appeal. The LA Times and TechCrunch have more.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 released — “While Beta 1 was for developers, we think that… Continue Reading
YouTube finally starting to “Get Smart” about advertising?
Movie studio Warner Brothers has a deal in place with YouTube to promote its upcoming summer film Get Smart, reports Silicon Alley Insider. The $750,000 deal may not seem like much, however for Google’s YouTube unit which is struggling to monetize, any little bit helps.
Google bought YouTube for $1.6 billion in 2006, but the site pulled in as little as $20 million in revenue last year according to Fortune. The problem certainly isn’t viewers —… Continue Reading
Video game developer, Brash Entertainment to raise whopping $150M plus round
Brash Entertainment, an Atlanta online video game developer started by former Massive employees, said is in the final stages of completing an initial funding round of significantly more than $150 million, the company said in a “clarification” of earlier reports.
It also revealed it has already reached an agreement with Warner Brothers to distribute game titles it develops.
Here’s the story.