A defense of charging more for Web TV (Q&A)

A defense of charging more for Web TV (Q&A)
All the signs coming out of Web TV over the past year or more tell us that the TV networks are done with their experiment with ad-supported online distribution and super low-cost content. The returns that these companies were collecting from Hulu just weren't attractive enough for them to brush off cable companies and other distribution partners.Fox announced yesterday that it will no longer offer TV shows the day after they appear on broadcast TV to the free version of Hulu. Users of that service must wait eight days to access that content. To acquire next-day viewing, you must subscribe to Hulu's paid-subscription service or those cable and satellite companies that contract with Fox. So far Dish Network is the only company to have signed on. The move didn't surprise Dan Rayburn, who has been involved with streaming media in some form or another for 15 years and now, as principal analyst at research firm Frost & Sullivan, covers the online video sector. He says he understands that people wish hit movies and TV shows and films were freely available online. But the self-described pragmatist says that just isn't going to happen.Rayburn spoke with CNET tonight about the quickly shifting landscape in video distribution: Question: Have we've seen the end of free Web TV ?Rayburn: Was it ever really here? Somehow the idea got out that consumers will have access to any type of content they want on any device. That's not going to be the reality. The reality is that we're always going to have some kind of pay wall and we're going to have authentication methods that keep us from being able to get a lot of different types of content unless you're a certain subscriber.Now, you can say that's the case with Netflix. You have to pay to get access to their content. With Hulu Plus, you got to pay to get access, with Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA. This stuff costs money. So, I'm not at all surprised by the Fox move and I expect we'll see a lot more of that down the road. Some will argue that that's not the right approach. You can debate that but the bottom line is they are obviously concerned about their core business and they want to do everything possible to protect that. As a consumer, does it stink? Yes, but these guys are running a business. They aren't willing to give away their content for free. That will never happen.--Dan RayburnHow does this compare to what's going on with Hollywood and films?Rayburn: It's the same way that the movie studios are worried about DVD sales so they force Netflix to agree to a 28-day window where they can't rent new DVDs. It's no different from what the studios have done. Iexpect we'll see more of that. What about piracy. Isn't what's happening with legal services going to send people to BitTorrent?Rayburn: That's always possible but here's the thing: The average person is not going and getting that [pirated] content. My wife just turned 30. So she's still in that demographic where she's young. She's not the 18- or 19-year-old, but she wouldn't have any idea how to get that content off of BitTorrent. No free lunch in Web videoHow will you react to costlier Web content?It's not like it's easy to get it. You got to download an application. You have to figure out how to search for it. You got to figure out what the quality is. Was it encoded in H.264? Is it something that has to playback in DivX. Do you have the right player for it? It's not as easy people make it out to be. In our industry the media makes it seem that people just pirate it...but [it takes a lot] of work to do it. I don't think this will increase piracy. What Fox is doing isn't a huge burden on users. You're talking about a wait of eight days. Is one week that big of a deal? Now, is 28 days a big deal? Absolutely, and the scary thing on the Netflix side is that the studios have said that once they go to renegotiate with Netflix, they're going to get longer windows because they're noticing that they're selling more DVDs [as a result of agreements Netflix entered into last year with some of the large studios to delay renting new releases for 28 days]. No surprise there. The problem is that the consumers aren't saying they want more DVDs. They are saying they want more digital content. So, this is the future.Like it or not as a consumer, content owners are the ones who are putting restrictions on who can see what, the quality that they can get it in, and the device they can play it on.So for instance HBO Go, that app is awesome on the iPad but if you try to output that to your TV it doesn't work because they built in protections so you can't output it to a larger screen. Do most people know that? Probably not. But why is HBO doing that? Because watching it [via the Web streaming service] defeats the purpose of having an HBO account. They don't want you watching the Web stream on a larger screen. It sounds like you don't see a lot wrong with what they're doing.Rayburn: There's all these restrictions in the market today. I don't hear people talking about them and I didn't see any big complaints by people until this [Fox] story broke yesterday. But we've always had stuff like this. I think the media will blow this up and say, "This is crazy, this is going to be a killer." But do consumers care? I don't know that. You don't know that. It's too early to tell. Do consumers care that they have to wait eight days to get some of this content? Probably not. This is content from Fox. This is "Glee" and that type of stuff. That's all available on major broadcast channels. So even if you don't have a cable subscription, you can access stuff from Fox over the air. Come on, do you think there's that many people clamoring to see "Glee" who can't see it on broadcast TV or record it? I don't' see that being a big deal. As a consumer, does it stink? Yes, but these guys are running a business. They aren't willing to give away their content for free. That will never happen. You can argue that their business is broken. I don't think it is. We don't have numbers that shows that people are fleeing cable subscriptions. I think the way they think about it is the wrong. Again, consumers are saying we want A, and studios are saying we'll give you B. That doesn't work, but their model isn't broken. Cable TV isn't dead. It's not dying and it's certainly not going away anytime soon. Just the other night I went and I was doing my review of all the [Web] services. Most of the content I was looking at would look terrible on my new 55-inch TV. It would look horrible. Yeah, I can get it on my computer. I think it's interesting that Netflix says that the majority of their streaming is still done through the PC. Why is that? Well the streaming on a lot of the movies from Netflix to a 55-inch TV screen doesn't look very good. Now, the moment I turn on cable and turn on an HD channel, I know the quality I'm going to get. I don't wonder what it's going to look like. I don't. So that's the thing about cable, it's easy. It works. The quality is always there. It has lots of channels, and I can DVR whatever I want. To me paying $100 a month for a triple play of phone, Internet and cable is the most cost-effective solution on the market. People say that I can cut cable and save $80 a month. OK, you sign up for Hulu, sign up for Netflix and Major League Baseball, which still has black-outs so you can't get your games live locally. Then let's say you buy two shows a week from iTunes. Now, you're already close to the cost of your cable subscription. All those arguments that I read about regarding the cutting of cable don't work unless you're somebody who doesn't watch a lot of TV.

How to set up Find My iPhone on your iOS device

How to set up Find My iPhone on your iOS device
Find My iPhone is a powerful utility that every iOS device owner needs to take advantage of. Whether you have gone through the experience of losing your beloved Apple device in the past, or you just want to err on the side of caution, setting up Find My iPhone will save you headaches and hassle down the road. Don't let the name, Find My iPhone, fool you. Apple has made creating a Find My iPhone account available for iPhone 4, 4th generation iPod touch and the iPad running iOS 4.2 or later, best of all, it's free! Let's get started.1. Download and install the Find My iPhone app [iTunes Link]. It's a universal binary, meaning it will run on both the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad alike. 2. Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Add AccountScreenshot by Jason Cipriani3. Select MobileMe from the list. (Your list may look different from what is shown above, that is OK.) Screenshot by Jason Cipriani4. Enter your Apple ID e-mail address and password. Tap on Next when done Screenshot by Jason Cipriani5. Turn on Find My iPhone. If you are using a true MobileMe account, it will be at the bottom of the list. If you set it up using your Apple ID, it should be the only option listed. When prompted to allow Find My iPhone to access your location, select Allow. Screenshot by Jason CiprianiTo find a device you can either run the app on another iOS device, or through a Web browser at Me.com. Login using the same information you entered during Step 4, you will then see a list of all devices you have set up Find My iPhone on. Screenshot by Jason CiprianiWhen viewing a device you have several ways to interact with the device:Screenshot by Jason CiprianiLock the device, setting a new passcode. Display a personal message, as well as have the device play a sound for 2 minutes. Wipe all information and settings from the device. Keep in mind, if this option is selected, you will no longer be able to track the device. Of course your device will have to be turned on, and have some sort of data connection. If your device doesn't have a connection when you send a command, you will receive an e-mail alert once the device is back on and the command has been received. You can set up Find My (insert device name here) on as many devices as you wish; just repeat the steps above on each iOS device. The next time your iPhone falls behind the couch cushion, or some stranger makes off with your iPad after leaving it on your table in a coffee shop, you have the ability to not only find the device, but also prevent anyone from accessing your information.

Analyst- iCloud linked to Apple's TV ambitions

Analyst: iCloud linked to Apple's TV ambitions
The longstanding rumor that Apple intends to jump into the business of selling televisions could be coming closer to reality thanks to iCloud, a new analyst report suggests.Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, who has long been trumpeting the possibility--or as he calls it, the firm's "thesis"--of an Apple-made TV set, says Apple's recently-announced iCloud infrastructure makes it all the more plausible."Apple's iCloud service for media storage makes it simpler to own multiple Apple devices and share content among them," Munster wrote in a note to investors this morning. "At first the only media iCloud will store is music and pictures, but we believe Apple may add movies and TV shows purchased or rented in iTunes to the iCloud service, which could be viewed on a TV." To add to that, Munster says the appearance of three different Apple patent applications related to TV technologies are evidence that the company is at least considering a deeper move into the space.As far as making a business out of it, Munster suggests that Apple intends to open up the platform to third-parties to develop on, as it's done with iOS. Several third-party apps like NBA, MLB, and Netflix are already available on Apple's existing Apple TV set top box, but Munster believes Apple will open that up to anyone."In other words, Apple's strong iOS developer community would likely jump at the chance to build apps for an Apple Television, and Apple's iOS users would likely jump at the chance to buy one," Munster wrote.Munster believes Apple will bring an $1,800 TV set to market near the end of next year, with it replacing the Apple TV set-top box, which Apple currently sells for $99. As for how much that would bring in, Munster estimated that it could add $2.5 billion in revenue in 2012, nearly doubling to $4 billion in 2013, and reaching $6 billion by 2014. A report by Dailytech earlier this week cited an anonymous, former executive at Apple suggesting that the company was hard at work on a TV set. That set is said to embed the existing Apple TV set-top box technologies alongside a modified version of iTunes. The report also suggested that such a device would actually be made by another manufacturer, and not Apple. Apple rival/frenemy Google entered the TV space late last year with combination of set-top boxes and TV sets that include its Google TV software. Unlike Apple's Apple TV offering, which is primarily focused on delivering rented and purchased content from iTunes, Google's strategy is to blend in with TV content you watch through your cable operator and let users do Web searches while watching programming. Google has also approached game developers, urging them to design TV-friendly entertainment with compatible Web technologies.