Tag Archives: Sarah Perez

Consumer Watchdog Groups Complain Updated YouTube Kids App Still Exposes Children To Deceptive Ads

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photo: Youtube, TechCrunch

YouTube announced changes to its kid-friendly YouTube Kids mobile application this week designed to better educate parents on how the app works and the protections it offers, following a number of complaints, including those to the FTC, from consumer watchdog organizations. But the groups today are saying that YouTube hasn’t gone far enough with the updated YouTube Kids app, calling the changes “superficial.” […] though YouTube is becoming “new TV” in a number of ways, the Kids app it isn’t required to meet the same regulations that apply to the television industry. And groups like Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) take issue with that. – Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Fullscreen Announces Its Own Streaming Service Targeting The YouTube Generation

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photo: Fullscreen

YouTube multichannel network Fullscreen announced today its plans to launch its own streaming service aimed at an audience who grew up using mobile devices. The news was delivered by way of a company blog post from Fullscreen Founder and CEO George Strompolos this morning, which offers light details about the new service in terms of the content it includes, but not pricing and availability information. […] Some of the better-known creators working with Fullscreen currently include Grace Helbig, TheFineBros., filmmaker Devin Super Tramp, Andrea Russett and Jack and Jack, for example. – Sarah Perez, TechCrunch  

On-Campus Internet TV Service Philo Expands, Now Live At Over 40 Universities In The U.S.

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photo: Philo

Philo, the NEA and HBO-backed startup that’s bringing traditional cable television, including both live TV and DVR functionality, to consumers’ mobile devices, has been working to expand its footprint in the university market. Since raising an additional $10 million in venture funding earlier this year, the company is now announcing it has gone live at 15 more universities around the U.S., bringing its total roster of universities to now 40. – Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Apple Unveils A More Powerful Apple TV

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photo: TechCrunch

Beyond the hardware, the bigger news about today’s Apple TV is not what’s inside but what it can do. Most notably, it’s now running a TV-optimized version of iOS, which allows it to offer Siri support, also as previously reported. This allows users to able to take advantage of voice-based searches, including also Apple’s “Proactive” search that will allow for system-wide search. Universal search, a useful feature found on competing connected-TV platforms like Roku, is now enabled on Apple TV, too. – Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Sling’s Streaming TV Service For Cord Cutters Now Runs On Amazon Tablets

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photo: TechCrunch

Sling TV, the DISH-owned live TV service aimed at cord cutters – or those who never wanted to sign up for a traditional cable or satellite TV subscription in the first place – is today available on Amazon Kindle Fire tablets, including the Amazon Fire HD and HDX devices. This rounds out Sling’s already extensive device footprint, which also includes support for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick as well as host of other platforms, such as iOS, Android, Mac, PC, Nexus Player, Roku, and Xbox One. – Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Netflix Upgrades Its TV Apps To Save You A Few Clicks

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photo: TechCrunch

TV app experience isn’t really getting a significant overall, but rather just a small tweak. Now, when you select a title you want to watch, it will immediately resume or start playing while displaying the key info you need to help you confirm your choice – meaning the title, description, the episode number, your viewing progress, and more. – Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Witness launches a live-streaming app that’s a panic button for the mobile age

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photo: Witness

Witness, the live-streaming app that serves as a panic button for the mobile age, debuted earlier this year at the TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2015 Hackathon, where it eventually went on to win the grand prize. Now the app is live in the App Store for the public to try, allowing users to broadcast their location, audio and video to a pre-defined set of emergency contacts. – Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Rhinobird Enters The Live Streaming Race With Its Collaborative, Hashtag-Powered App

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photo: Rhinobird

The Rhinobird app today is not as polished design-wise as Twitter’s Periscope, but is able to broadcast to Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp. Plus, the company says it uses WebRTC technology to stream without lag. Because other apps struggle with latency, they can’t offer synched multiple broadcasting feeds as Rhinobird does, [CEO Felipe Heusser] claims. Rhinobird publishes all the streams with the same hashtag to the same page. Then, viewers can move between live video sources to the scene from different angles, and they can also choose to stick to one audio source as they switch between videos. – Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Showtime’s Over-The-Top Streaming Service Goes Live

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photo: TechCrunch

Hulu is also subsidizing the cost of Showtime, in a clever deal designed to boost its own subscriber numbers. The company said its nearly 9 million subscribers can add the service (at $8.99/mo) on top of the base price of $7.99 per month for Hulu itself. The partnership represented a milestone for Hulu, too – it was the first time Hulu agreed to distribute a premium service to its customers. – Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

TV’s Disruption On Display As Netflix And Amazon Go Head-To-Head At Golden Globes

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More proof that good television doesn’t have to be developed by traditional industry players: Amazon has now received its first Golden Globes nominations for the Amazon Prime Instant Video original show Transparent, which follows the story of a family dealing with the late-in-life revelation that the family’s patriarch (Jeffrey Tambor) is transgender. […] This year, however, will present an interesting battle as both Amazon.com and Netflix are up for the Best TV Series (Musical or Comedy) Golden Globe. Transparent is facing off against Netflix’s original show, Orange Is the New Black which is now on Season 2. (The show competed last year as a drama.) The other three nominations were from more traditional networks, with HBO’s Girls and Silicon Valley, plus CW’s new show Jane the Virgin, filling out the rest of the category. – Sarah Perez,TechCrunch  
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