Mad Max: Fury Road is grabbing praise from movie critics and fans around the world. The film opens in the US and Canada today. Originally I had no plans to go see the new 2015 Mad Max movie. I enjoyed the 1979 film which I saw much later in the 80’s. However, according to the […]
Netflix loves to test new ideas, and its latest experiment is an odd new feature that lets viewers watch a scene again. A selection of Netflix subscribers noticed the new addition, which serves a pop-up asking if they want to “watch this scene again” after certain ‘highlight’ scenes in a show. The streaming giant confirmed the pilot to the Los Angeles Times, adding: We’re trying out a feature which gives Netflix members the ability to rewatch favorite scenes and memorable moments with the click of a button. Right now we’re just looking to learn from it and may or may not roll it out more broadly in the future. I can’t say I’ve ever had the urge to watch a scene again — and I spend a considerable amount of time on Netflix, often with kids — so this is a pretty curious test. As you might imagine, early users haven’t been too impressed either. One anonymous subscriber took to Reddit to bemoan how it “devalued” the film they were watching. That person was watching ‘Dumplin,’ but even still it isn’t hard to imagine how frustrating multiple popups would be. Other Netflix tests from the past have included video promos between episodes, and showing shows on the log-in screen. On the business side, it has experimented with bypassing in-app subscriptions and also a new mobile-only package to make its service more affordable in emerging markets. But experimentation and thinking differently is often a key part of what makes a business successful and Netflix certainly knows a lot about the latter. The company just broke new records on consumer spending in its mobile apps during November, according to data from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower. It is said to have grossed $86.6 million during the month, a whopping 77 percent annual rise, with increasing revenue coming to Netflix from its international markets. Netflix shares are up after the streaming service adds nearly 7M new subscribers in Q3 ... Read More
The funding extravaganza may be approaching its end for scooter “unicorns” Lime and Bird, but smaller startups in the micro-mobility space have continued to close venture capital rounds at a consistent pace. See Grin, Tier and Yellow for examples. The latest is Dott, a European scooter startup founded by Maxim Romain, Ofo’s former head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Romain joined Ofo, a Chinese bike- and scooter-sharing company that raised more than $1 billion in venture capital funding but has struggled to scale overseas, in 2018 to help it expand. He only lasted seven months before realizing he could do it better himself. “Why work for a Chinese company when we can do it ourselves in Europe where we better understand the market?” Romain told TechCrunch. Dott, headquartered in Amsterdam, has raised €20 million in a round co-led by EQT Ventures and Naspers. Axel Springer Digital Ventures, DN Capital, Felix Capital and others also joined. Dott is using the capital to launch in several cities across Europe, beginning with an early 2019 e-scooter pilot at Station F, a startup campus located in Paris. Additional launches are in the pipeline, as are electric bikes. As a result of its learnings from Ofo, Bird and Lime, all of which have struggled to keep their equipment out of disadvantageous spots, like trees, lakes and garbage cans, Dott says it’s built sturdier scooters. They have 10” wheels, wider decks, a double brake system for safety, a speed cap at 20km/h and apparently are able to hold a charge longer than competing scooters — though we couldn’t independently verify this. The electric scooter saga in San Francisco Dott says it’s taking a friendlier approach to launching in new cities, again, unlike some of its predecessors. If you remember, Bird showed up in a number of cities without permission — a move that resulted in it being denied a permit to operate in San Francisco. Dott will hire local teams to collaborate with city officials to develop pilot plans tailored to each market and it won’t rely on gig economy workers to recharge, clean and maintain scooters. Instead, it will hire and train a team of Dott employees dedicated to maintenance in each city. “I think a lot of the companies grow too fast in the sense that they don’t necessarily have the product that can enable them to be profitable but because they want to win the race,” Romain said. “They want to raise as much money as possible as quick as possible and to deploy scooters as quick as possible. This creates an environment for them where their unit economics are extremely bad.” “That’s exactly what we saw with bike-sharing in China. In the end, the reality of the unit economics came back to bite them. It’s a risk. Lime and Bird are doing a lot to improve their hardware but it’s a risk for the industry. For us, we are taking the view that we really need to focus on the product so we have the right unit economics and we can be sustainable. If you want to make it happen, you have to make it happen in a sustainable way.” Will Uber gobble up Lime or fly off with Bird? ... Read More
Facebook Watch is expanding, even as it’s failing to gain much traction amongst younger, digital-native audiences. Today, the platform announced it was expanding its 15-sec ads to more than a dozen new countries, as well as launching Watch on desktop globally and on Facebook Lite. The move comes just as Facebook slashed funding for some of its original news shows made in partnership with CNN, Buzzfeed, and ABC News, The Information reported today. While Facebook’s budget for news content remains at $90 million, the company is reallocating the funds to other programs. The Information also reported that the ad revenue generated from Facebook Watch has fallen below expectations. In October, Facebook announced it had partnered with MTV to b... Continue reading… ... Read More
Virtual reality arcades were supposed to be one of the first, most convenient ways that expensive VR headgear would reach the masses — but IMAX, the highest-profile provider of VR arcades, has decided to throw in the towel. The large-format cinema company has officially announced that it will be shutting down its last three locations in Los Angeles, Bangkok and Toronto early next year, and is writing off its VR business as well. That’s according to Variety, which spotted the news in a SEC regulatory filing and got a more detailed statement from an IMAX spokeperson as well: “With the launch of the IMAX VR centre pilot program our intention was to test a variety of different concepts and locations to determine which approaches work well.... Continue reading… ... Read More
Call of Duty development studio among dozens of businesses, schools, news outlets receiving threats today... Read More
Video streaming site offloads gaming media network to Fandom two years after acquiring it alongside Curse client and chat services... Read More
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