Here’s a summary of the week’s digital lifestyle action on last100. Note that you can subscribe to the weekly wrapups, either via the special weekly wrapup RSS feed or by email.
Internet TV news
How big of an impact is Internet-delivered video making in consumer living rooms?
Dan Rayburn, the EVP of StreamingMedia.com, crunched the numbers this week and decided that the impact is not nearly as large as we think. “While it is good to see more content options coming to consumers, adding up all of the install numbers for these devices gives a stark picture of just how small the install base really is,” Rayburn wrote. “The market is still too fragmented, with too many different devices, all limited by a lack of premium content.”
Verizon bringing Internet TV to its set-top boxes
Another major player enters the PC to TV space. Verizon is currently beta testing web video on their set-top boxes. Unsurprisingly, the content looks like it will be mostly user-generated or that which has been created specifically for the web, and therefore won’t compete directly with the telco’s own video-on-demand offering. Initial “marketing partners” to include Veoh, Blip.tv, Break.com, and YouTube.
Report: 100,000 Roku Netflix set-top boxes sold
According to a report, the Netflix player by Roku has sold close to 100,000, and will soon overtake sales of the AppleTV.
Video: Netflix streaming on XBox 360
Initial impressions: the UI is slick, and the integration between the XBox 360’s newly designed dashboard and Netflix.com, where you still manage your Watch Now cue, works as expected.
Mobile news
Q&A: Nicolas Gramlich of anddev.org talks Android, Google’s developer relations, and more
In a short Q&A with last100, Nicolas Gramlich, founder of anddev.org, an online community for Android developers, discussed the slow progress Google appears to making in updating the Android SDK, the company’s relationship with the developer community, competition from iPhone, and more.
Interview: Eventful attracts new users through iPhone app, not just Web site
In less than two weeks, Brian Dear, the founder of the event discovery Web site Eventful, has seen “a whole new wave of users coming in” — so much so that he predicts that “in the very long term, everybody will be going mobile and the Web will be secondary.”
Don’t buy a Netbook pleads PC industry
Steve O’Hear: It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the Netbook, an emerging new product category of low-cost and ultra-portable notebooks. But it seems many in the PC industry aren’t.
Roundup: Apple still hasn’t cleaned up its MobileMess
Not only has it been a rough two weeks since the disastrous introduction of MobileMe July 10-11, it’s been a miserable last three days for Apple and its “Exchange for the rest of us” product.
TechCrunch interested in developing own web tablet — with your help
TechCrunch this week announced interest in building its own Web tablet using open source everything. As TechCruch founder Michael Arrington wrote, the basic idea is the “machine is as thin as possible, runs low end hardware and has a single button for powering it on and off, headphone jacks, a built in camera for video, low end speakers, and a microphone.”
Digital Music news
MySpace Music is reportedly set to launch in September as music store, subscription service
According to a report, MySpace’s music store will launch in September with three of the four major labels providing content. The lone holdout, EMI, is expected to give in soon. Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace, told TechCrunch co-editor Erick Schonfeld that MySpace Music will be a music store and subscription service, with unlimited playbacks of full tracks for free.
Sky offers subscription-based music service
Rupert Murdoch’s Sky announced this week that they are launching a new music service in the UK, that offers both streaming and downloads of tracks for a monthly subscription. Downloads will be in the mp3 format, compatible with any digital music player including iPods. According to the press release, “a range of subscription options will be available, offering different download packages tailored to customers’ needs”, suggesting that downloads will be limited per month depending on how much you pay, but streaming maybe unlimited.
That’s a wrap for the week. Enjoy the rest of the weekend — thanks for reading folks!
