Weekly wrapup, 28 July – 1 August 2008

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.

Enter your email address:

Internet TV news

LG’s Netflix streaming Blu-ray player announced. What, no Wi-Fi?

Available this fall, the LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player, in addition to being able to play high definition Blu-ray discs and upscale standard DVDs, will give Netflix subscribers the option of streaming any of the 12,000 movies and TV episodes available on Watch Now to their TVs at no additional cost.

See also: In a smart move Netflix rules out pay-per-view video service

Study: For first time, a significant number of people watch prime-time shows online, not on TV

According to a survey released today by Integrated Media Measurement Inc., more than 20 percent of people studied watch some amount of prime-time, episodic programming online. Within that group of online viewers, 50 percent are watching programs as they become available and are starting to use the computer as a substitute for a television. The other 50 percent use the Web to watch programming they’ve missed or to re-watch episodes they have already seen.

NFL will stream select live games over Web for first time

Good news for football fans. The NFL is loosing up, but just a bit. The National Football League — notoriously protective of its game action — will stream 17 prime-time, regular-season games this year on NFL.com. It will be the first time that live action NFL games will be broadly streamed in the U.S.

See also: ESPN to launch Action Sports Network online in fall

Blinkx launches universal Remote for Internet TV catch-up services in the UK

As broadcasters continue to roll out their own Internet TV catch-up services, what’s required is an easy way for viewers to find and be alerted to the availability of their favourite TV shows wherever they may be offered online. Enter blinkx “Remote”, a new service from the company behind the video search engine of the same name, which offers UK viewers a single destination to browse, search and access online video content offered by all of the major TV channels including those from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Five.

Digital Music news

“Just like your local record store”, Universal launches Lost Tunes

Launched first in the UK, with international versions of the site expected in the coming months, Lost Tunes is attempting to tap into a bygone era where music fans regularly scoped out local record stores looking for rare gems. “Lost Tunes comes with a secret stash of records you can’t find anywhere else online” the welcome blurb boasts. “Anywhere else online” being an indirect reference to Apple’s iTunes, hence Universal’s choice of name.

Report: Dell to introduce (new and improved!) MP3 player

Dan Langendorf: The ingredients for Dell’s forthcoming MP3 player look yummy. A sub-$100 price point. Wi-Fi. Access to various online music stores. Maybe even DRM-free. But will anybody care? Seriously. Haven’t people who want a portable digital music player settled on an iPod or one of its competitors from SanDisk or Microsoft?

Other Digital Lifestyle news:

That’s a wrap!

last100 is edited by Steve O'Hear. Aside from founding last100, Steve is co-founder and CEO of Beepl and a freelance journalist who has written for numerous publications, including TechCrunch, The Guardian, ZDNet, ReadWriteWeb and Macworld, and also wrote and directed the Silicon Valley documentary, In Search of the Valley. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

Leave a Reply