Hollywood2020

GATES KEYNOTE LINK -- Microsoft Press Release etc

Here's the link to Microsoft's press release for CES 2008 -- it also includes the link to the video of Gates keynote...note you do have to download Silverlight! Blogged by Joyce Schwarz@ www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

Microsoft Participates in the 2008 International Consumer ...
PR Newswire (press release), NY - Jan 4, 2008
Admission to the keynote address will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis to accredited members of the media and analysts with their official CES ...

The keynote address will also be webcast live and on-demand at http://www.microsoft.com/ces.

SLING TO MAKE TV SOFTWARE FOR BLACKBERRY

eFluxMedia

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY UNDERSCORES THE VALUE OF TV SOFTWARE FOR MOBILE/CROSS PLATFORM...MOVING IT INTO THE ENTERPRISE ARENA WILL ALSO ENABLE NEW APPS AND THE ABILITY TO CASH INTO THE $40 bILLION TRAINING MAREKTPLACE! BLOGGED BY JOYCE sCHWARZ, @ WWW.HOLLYWOOD2020.BLOGS.COM. Sling to make TV software for BlackBerry BusinessWeek Sling preps SlingCatcher, SlingModem Electronista FOX News - Slippery Brick - ZDNet Blogs - Electronic House all 82 news articles »

2008 Academy Award Prelim Nominees VFX Oscar(r)

Seven in Running for 2007
Visual Effects Oscar®

Beverly Hills, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that seven films remain in contention for Achievement in Visual Effects for the 80th Academy Awards®

The films are

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

“The Bourne Ultimatum”
“Evan Almighty”
“The Golden Compass”
“I Am Legend”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”
“300”
“Transformers”

On Wednesday, January 16, members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch will view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

The 80th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 22, 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater

Hollywood2020 WIDGET BOOM UPDATE PRIOR TO CES DIGITAL HOLLYWOOD PANEL JANUARY 9

What's the 'new new new' thing in aggregating users and monetizing content --it's still WIDGETS of course....blogged by Joyce Schwarz, JCOM, www.joycecom.com, marketing & business development for emerging media & tech companies and products and founder www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

GOING TO CES -- get a free pass for Joyce Schwarz panel on Widgets --email me at [email protected] with your name and title and I'll see about getting you a free pass to my panel at CES, Thursday, January 9, 2007. Hollywood2020: JOYCE SCHWARZ MODERATES: NEXT GEN MOBILE ... -

Digital Hollywood panel on widgets, Thursday, January 9 at CES: This will be the fourth panel that I’ve moderates with widgets in the title. Trhe last one at Digital Hollywood fall attracted standing room only and more than 150 attendees: For details on the panel see this post Hollywood2020: JOYCE SCHWARZ MODERATES: NEXT GEN MOBILE ... or go to www.digitalhollywood.com

MEANWHILE, here's the latest in the news on widgets!

13, 000 -- and $374 Million --NUMBER AND VALUE OF FACEBOOK WIDGETS:  On Facebook alone, users have installed nearly 13,000 widgets approximately 765 million times, according to Adonomics, a Web site that tracks widgets on the social network. Adonomics estimates the combined value of these widgets to be $374 million. (source Forbes Jan 1, 2008)

100,000 --Number of people and companies (including hackers) developing widgets source, Forbes, Jan 1/2008

Facebook widget mixes in spyware -- so BEWARE! Widespread Facebook Application Installs Adware Secret Crush Leads ... FYI -- Secret Crush is developed by a third party and it also includes a pop-up that seems to pop up constantly telling you that several people have a secret crush on you...and yes I was tempted to check it out --but it looked like SPAM to me...but 50,000 other users did not seem to think so -- and yuck--they are now dealing with spyware. See blue link to full article.

TV WIDGETS -- evidently widgets for TV are popping up at CES -- here's some stories we found on the new Sharp Aquos TV widget capabilities for sports, weather, stock etc -- hmm is that the beginning of Interactive TV APPS??? And Archos TV has Opera widgets! (see below)

Sharp unveils TVs with direct Web connectivity
San Jose Mercury News,  USA - 1 hour ago
The service will offer widgets that can display sports scores, weather information and stock quotes in small boxes on the TV screen. ...

Archos, one of this blogger's favorite companies also announced it's adding widget apps:

Archos TV+ Debuts Ahead of CES
PC Magazine - Jan 3, 2008
Archos also recently released new widgets and games for all its WiFi devices. Opera widgets and a $10 game packet called "Playin' TV" are now available via ...

WIDGETS  VIEWER

--HARDWARE DISPLAY WINS CES INNOVATIONS AWARD:

Emtrace Technologies won a CES Best of Innovations award for (can you believe it? ) a credit-card sized WIDGET VIEWERwere showing off their credit-card sized widget viewer, Photoskins, at CES Unveiled, and has won a CES Best of Innovations award for the ultra-compact real-time media display. it can display photos downloaded from a variety of online media sites such as Flickr and Picasa.  Blogger note-- it looks to me like Embrace's viewer competes with Chumby --

The Chumby, a squishy, ball-like wireless Internet device, has been creating a buzz for months. Instead of using a keyboard or mouse, software called widgets allow it to display anything you want whenever you want it. It's a music player. It's an alarm clock. It keeps you up to the minute on the news and lets you know how you're doing on that eBay item you bid on.

WIDGETS AS AD SERVERS: forget banners and links and adwords-- Widgets are the way to go to monetize content and also to get real-time info on user clicks. Here are a couple of the lastest stories on Widgets including ads:

Online Ad World Gets Wider with Widgets eWeek,  NY - Dec 10, 2007 By Clint Boulton Clearspring plans to offer widgets with online ads, an area where Google is already playing. Widget maker Clearspring Technologies on Dec. ...

New service will insert ads into Web widgets Computerworld, MA - Dec 10, 2007 December 10, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Widget syndication and tracking company Clearspring Technologies Inc. today announced a new ad network that it said ... BLOGGER NOTE -- according to CNET -- widgets, which are applications containing content such as video, games or news and which can be embedded in a user's webspace, are "blurring the line" between content and advertising. MOBILE WIDGETS:

Here's an interview with a Nokia exec that says to watch out for: " travel-related widgets, such as flight trackers, currency converters, local weather services, and the like" Mobile Widgets and the Internet Experience Dr. Dobb's Journal, CA - Dec 11, 2007 STILL DON"T KNOW WHAT A WIDGET IS -- well I usually send folks over to www.widgetbox.com to look at some of them

HOLLYWOOD2020 Blog RUNS FULL NETFLIX PRESS RELEASE

Here it is blogged by Joyce Schwarz, author & emerging media expert, www.joycecom.com blogging at www.hollywood2020.blogs.com on location in Boston, MASS....okay even though we're on location on other biz we could not resist posting this complete press release from Netflix.com.

Note: we boldfaced the sentences we thought had the most impact-- update from CES next week. We scanned the rest of the articles via google and did not see additional info. Note that we do see that many of the press stories do NOT say: ...."to stream movies andother programming from the Internet to HDTV's...this ain't your grand-dad's TV!

LG Electronics and Netflix Announce Plan to Stream Movies From the Internet to the TV

LOS GATOS, Calif. and ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., Jan. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), the world's largest online movie rental service, and LG Electronics, a global consumer electronics leader, today announced they are joining forces to develop a set-top box for consumers to stream movies and other programming from the Internet to HDTVs -- bypassing the need to use a personal computer.

The collaboration is expected to deliver a compelling new online home entertainment service via technology embedded in an LG networked player planned for the second half of 2008. Today's announcement sets the stage for next week's 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES®), which will emphasize digital content as well as hardware solutions.

"Consumers crave compelling and immediate content, and the Netflix online streaming movie feature can provide instant gratification. This alliance underscores LG's goal of developing smart technologies that deliver flexibility, convenience and control to consumers," said KI Kwon, President of the Consumer Electronics Division of LG Electronics USA, Inc.

The technology collaboration supports the Netflix core strategy of offering a multi-dimensional, or "hybrid," service that gives its more than 7 million members a variety of ways to receive movies and TV series for one, low monthly fee.

With the availability of the networked LG product planned for later this year, Netflix subscribers can watch movies streamed from the Netflix Web site on their large-screen home theater HDTVs, in addition to the current capability to watch movies instantly on their PCs.

On top of its rich catalog of more than 90,000 titles on DVD delivered fast through the mail, a growing selection of more than 6,000 familiar movies and TV episodes delivered instantly over the Internet to Netflix members' personal computers or TVs will even more strongly position Netflix in online movie rentals, which it pioneered in 1997.

"Internet to the TV is a huge opportunity," said Netflix Founder, Chairman and CEO Reed Hastings. "Netflix explored also offering its own Netflix-branded set-top boxes but we concluded that familiar consumer electronics devices from industry leaders like LG Electronics are a better consumer solution for getting the Internet to the TV." (blogger note-- could that 'like LG" mean other potential partners or other boxes??"

In all, today's announcement enhances LG Electronics' position as a top-tier player in the U.S. digital television marketplace and advances the Netflix goal of making electronic delivery -- including future high definition content -- a meaningful addition to its existing DVD delivery platform and a valued enhancement to the Netflix subscriber experience. Netflix took its first step in that direction in 2007 when it enabled members to instantly watch movies and TV series on their personal computers.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the development of a set-top box for delivery of content over the Internet to television sets, the delivery of a compelling online home entertainment service, Netflix's strategy and positioning in online delivery of content, and the future of Internet to the television. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ, including, without limitation; the risk that the development of the set-top box or its associated online delivery service may not meet technical requirements, consumer expectations, or otherwise be implemented by the parties; that certain studios will not grant either of the parties necessary rights or otherwise impose limitations on such rights that might impede implementation or hamper consumer adoption, Netflix's ability to create other partnership opportunities for the delivery of digital content to the television, and possible technological or content licensing impediments. Other risks and uncertainties that could impact Netflix performance are included in Netflix's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 28, 2007. Netflix undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.

About LG Electronics

LG Electronics, Inc. (KSE: 066570.KS) is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances, employing more than 82,000 people working in over 110 operations, including 81 subsidiaries around the world. LG Electronics USA, based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is LG's North American subsidiary. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a wide range of consumer electronics (digital display and digital media) products, mobile phones and digital appliances under LG's "Life's Good" marketing theme. For more information, please visit http://www.lgusa.com/.

About Netflix Inc.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is the world's largest online movie rental service, providing more than seven million subscribers access to over 90,000 DVD titles plus a growing library of over 6,000 titles that can be watched instantly on their PCs. The company offers nine subscription plans, starting at only $4.99 per month. There are no due dates and no late fees -- ever. All Netflix plans include both DVDs delivered to subscribers' homes and, for no additional fee, movies and TV series that can be started in as little 30 seconds on subscribers' PCs. DVDs are delivered free to members by first class mail, with a postage paid return envelope, from over 100 U.S. shipping points. Nearly 95 percent of Netflix subscribers live in areas that can be reached with generally one business day delivery. Netflix offers personalized movie recommendations to its members and has more than one billion movie ratings. For more information, visit http://www.netflix.com/.

SOURCE: Netflix Inc.

Web site: http://www.netflix.com/
http://www.lgusa.com/