These Are The Three Most Important Things About Netflix's Dramatic New TV Redesign

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/netflixs-tv-redesign-2013-11

Today, Netflix is rolling out a redesign of its television experience that will look and feel radically different from what you've grown used to if you watch Netflix on a TV screen. 

Which a lot of people do. 

Netflix members watch more than a billion hours of movies and shows per month, mostly on their TVs. 

“This is the biggest change to the TV experience in our history," Chris Jaffe, vice president of product innovation from Netflix, told Business Insider. The update has been in the works for two years. 

These are the most important changes: 

1. You instantly get more info on every show or movie 

If you scroll over an option on Netflix, that title will now have three large pictures that it will cycle through to give you a better idea of what the show or movie is all about. Then you'll also get a short synopsis and personalized details, like whether a friend has viewed it, how it relates to something you've watched in the past, or whether it's won any awards. "We want to quickly and easily answer the question, 'Why should I watch this?'" Jaffe said. "That's the evidence piece."

In general, the new design is much more simple, visual, and beautiful. 

2. Easy updates for all 

Because this Netflix update is delivered by a new software platform that will run on all types of devices, you'll never have to wait a long time for an update again. Previously, Netflix had to code its updates differently for every different device, ranging from Smart TVs to PlaysSations. "We'll be able to innovate and improve must faster," Jaffe said. 

(The Nintendo Wii and Apple TV, however, will not get this update because they have custom Netflix designs.)

3. You're going to find yourself even more addicted to your watching Netflix

No, really.

Netflix tested its new design with hundreds of Playstation 3 users who didn’t realize they were getting a new experience. Turns out, the new design results in higher engagement: members watch more.

Almost sounds more like a warning to us. 

Check out the promo vid from Netflix:

The new Netflix television experience launches on Netflix on Nov. 13 and will be available to all members globally within two weeks. Devices that will support the new experience include PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Roku 3, newer Smart TVs and recent Blu-ray players. Additional devices, including older Roku boxes, will be added over the coming months.

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Incredible video of the magic morphing table that lets you touch things

Source: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/this-video-of-the-magic-morphing-table-is-awesome-1463167945/@kcampbelldollaghan

Remember the morphing table that can replicate your body and movements in real time? It's name is inForm. Daniel Leithinger—from the Tangible Group at MIT Medialab—just told Sploid about their first official video. This thing is so damn awesome.

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Google's Portable Native client lets one app run on any hardware in Chrome

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/12/google-portable-native-client/

Since 2011, Google's Native Client has been enabling developers to write applications like photo editors, CAD modelers and 3D games in C or C++ and run them inside the Chrome browser. Initially, Native Client only functioned on x86 machines, and early this year it began working on ARM devices, too. However, coders had to recompile their apps for each kind of CPU architecture. Now, the company's long-awaited Portable Native Client has arrived, and with it comes the elimination of the need for platform-specific recompiling. That means devs can compile their app a single time and have it run seamlessly on devices with x86, ARM and MIPS chips. For now, PNC is only supported in Chrome, but should devs want their apps to run in Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari or any other browser, they can use Google's Pepper API and JavaScript to get the job done. Of course, there's lots more info about Portable Native Client and how to get started using it over at the Chromium blog, so hit the source for the full spill.

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Source: Chromium blog

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Hisense's 55-inch 4K Smart TV priced at $2,000

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/12/hisenses-4k/

Seems like this is the week to push out all of those budget 55-inch 4K sets before the holidays roll around. Following yesterday's Sears-centric announcement of a Seiki $1,500 set, Hinsense is offering up the T880. The $2,000 UHD offering features built-in WiFi and a number of smart TV apps like Opera, Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, Twitter and Facebook. The company's also promising a 178-degree viewing angle, so you can sit as away from your family members as you want, while still enjoying the movie. The T880 is available through a handful of budget-conscious retailers like Walmart and Costco here in the States.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Hisense

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Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera now supports RAW video for better dynamic range

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/12/blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera-now-supports-raw-video/

After releasing its $995 Pocket Cinema Camera last summer with ProRes422 support only, Blackmagic Design has finally unleashed RAW CinemaDNG video recording with a firmware update. The format losslessly compresses each frame like a .zip file to capture 1080p video from the Super 16mm sensor -- the same one that's on the original Cinema Camera. That preserves the full fidelity of the video stream, letting cinematographers save files with more dynamic range for increased flexibility during color correction. That's not to say that ProRes422 is shabby, as we saw from earlier footage -- but shooters who want RAW in a small form factor now have a way without hacking (and possibly bricking) a Canon DSLR.

Filed under: Cameras, HD

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Via: No Film School

Source: Blackmagic Design

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IDC: 21 percent of smartphones shipped in Q3 were big-screened behemoths

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/12/idc-on-smartphone-sizes-in-q3/

Supersized smartphones have been increasing in popularity for quite some time, but IDC now believes that they've truly hit the mainstream. The analyst group estimates that about 21 percent of the 261.1 million smartphones shipped in the third quarter had displays five inches or larger; that's a huge jump from just three percent a year earlier. An influx of big flagships like the Galaxy S 4 and G2 no doubt played a major role in the growth. However, IDC notes that the average price of a large-screened phone has dropped by 22.8 percent in one year -- those shipments included a wave of lower-cost behemoths like the Ascend Mate and Galaxy Mega 6.3.

IDC is also estimating market share for the quarter (shown after the break), although it's painting a familiar picture. Android now has more than 80 percent of the market, while iOS is treading water at 12.8 percent. Windows Phone grew quickly as well, climbing from two percent in Q3 2012 to 3.6 percent a year later. The fourth quarter may be a different story, however -- Nokia is getting into the giant handset game with the Windows Phone-based Lumia 1520 and 1320, while Apple is enjoying brisk sales of its recently launched (if relatively small) iPhone 5s. We won't be shocked if Google's mobile rivals grab a larger slice of the market.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Blackberry

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Source: IDC

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AMD's next desktop chip lands in January, merges CPU and GPU like never before

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/12/amd-kaveri-desktop-chip-date/

We've been waiting a long time for the AMD chip known as Kaveri, but at least now we have a date for its availability: January 14th. We also know that the flagship desktop part for FM2+ socket motherboards will be called the A10-7850K, that it'll use four Steamroller CPU cores clocked at 3.7GHz, and that it'll incorporate the same TrueSound audio processing technology found on AMD's latest Radeon graphics cards. What we don't know for sure is how much this A10 chip will cost, or whether it'll arrive first as a standalone part or in pre-built systems. But either way, we're about discover something important: namely, whether the next-gen "Heterogeneous Systems Architecture" (HSA) that AMD has been boasting about, and which is supported for the first time on Kaveri, is actually worth its syllables. Read on for more.

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, AMD

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Source: AnandTech

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Twitter's custom timelines let you dump your obsessions into one organized stream

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/12/twitters-custom-timeline/

Where does Carson Daily obsess over news articles about The Voice? Prior to Twitter's new custom timelines feature, he likely had some kind of scrapbook at home. Now, thankfully, he can put them all in one handy stream, delivered directly over Twitter's platform. The feature lets you handpick the tweets by way of TweetDeck, and the microblogging service is also opening up a beta version of an API that will let developers automate the process. TweetDeck users should be seeing the manual version over the next several days.

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Source: Twitter Developer Blog

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Google Chrome now lets you see which tab that unwanted music is coming from

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/11/google-chrome-beta-releaase-32-identify-noisy-tabs/

Sometimes you just want to look up a restaurant menu at work without your coworkers knowing you're slacking off. ('Sup, Marc?) Thanks to a new Google Chrome feature, if you click on a site that auto-plays music or maybe a video ad, you can at least silence it quickly. If you download the Chrome 32 beta release, you'll see indicators on tabs that are playing audio. Likewise, it also lets you know which tabs are using your webcam, or streaming to your TV over Chromecast. Additionally, the Safe Browsing features now automatically blocks malware files, instead of advising you to merely proceed with caution. Finally, the Windows 8 Chrome app has gotten a makeover so that the Metro Modern version looks more similar to the experience you'd get on a Chromebook. Curious? The download page is the third site we link to in our sources list below.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

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Source: Google (1), (2), (3)

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Seiki brings a $1,500 55-inch 4K set to Sears stores

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/11/seiki-sears/

It's not quite an impulse buy, but it's getting close. And hey, who's to say we wouldn't swing by the electronics section after picking up a couple of power tools? Just in time for the holidays, Seiki's rolling out a 55-inch 4K set for the nice price of $1,499 -- a followup to the $700 39-incher we saw back in June. And look, the company's even tossing in a USB port and an HDMI 1.4 cable in for good measure. Can't beat that. Interested parties will have pop into a Sears or visit the store's site to take Seiki up on its offer.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Latest Google Glass update has a secret feature: it can play music (update: $85 stereo earbuds incoming)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/11/google-glass-play-music/

If you thought the latest Glass update was designed solely to help with your schedule and commute, you'd be mistaken. The sneaky devs in Mountain View quietly added support for Google Play Music in the XE11 upgrade, laying the groundwork for a future feature announcement. After sideloading the app onto Glass, a new "listen to" voice command appears on the the hardware's home screen, a feature that Glass head of Marketing Ed Sanders tells USA Today it is "important to have" for the headset. Right on time, the Glass team has posted a new Explorer Story video featuring music producer Young Guru explaining how Glass can help him discover new sounds to sample, showing off playback and the existing Android Sound Search feature.

By uttering the new phrase and speaking the name of an album, artist, playlist or song, the company's guinea pigs can listen to tunes they've uploaded to Google Play Music or those available through All Access, provided they have a subscription. Once a user confirms their choice and the music starts, a card with album art and playback controls (Pause, Play, Previous, Next, Stop, Radio and Volume) is pinned to the wearable's timeline. As you might imagine, the audio quality through the bone conduction speaker isn't spectacular, and while the device's forthcoming earbud may offer some improvement, the foreseeable musical future of Glass Explorers is in mono.

Update: Google has informed USA Today and the New York Times that a set of earbud headphones will be available next month for $85, which you can spot in the video after the break. It also appears that the Google Play Music tricks discovered will be officially unveiled later today, and probably won't require any sideloading shenanigans.

Filed under: Wearables, Google

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Source: Phandroid

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Lenovo's Vibe Z unveiled with Snapdragon 800, dual-SIM tray and Samsung-inspired flip cover

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/12/lenovo-vibe-z-k910/

Lenovo's been using a lot of MediaTek chipsets for its phones of late, but don't worry, it hasn't forgotten to share some love with Qualcomm. What we have here is the Vibe Z aka K910, which is a Snapdragon 800 cousin of the MT6589T-powered Vibe X, but with the same anti-fingerprint finish on the back. By comparison, the former is bigger and 1mm thicker (at 7.9mm), but it does pack a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display, a dual-SIM tray, a 13-megapixel f/1.8 main camera (with dual-LED flash) and a 5-megapixel wide-angle front imager. For the Sony IMX135-powered main camera, Lenovo says it's capable of shooting up to 10 stills per half second, plus its proprietary low-light algorithm apparently produces notably brighter pictures with effective noise reduction. We'll believe it when we see it.

While no battery size is mentioned just yet, Lenovo claims a lab-tested standby time of 278.5 hours for the WCDMA + GSM model. There will also be a CDMA2000 + GSM model for China Telecom users, as well as an LTE + GSM flavor for the international market. Interestingly, the company is offering an S View Cover-like flip case for the Vibe Z, but it comes with the added trackpad that lets you receive or reject calls in the usual spot, instead of having to poke inside the window. We doubt Samsung is going to be happy about this, though LG, Pantech and some others have borrowed this idea before.

Lenovo China's website says it will soon be taking pre-orders for its latest Android device, but you'll have to stay tuned for the pricing and availability for the rest of the world. %Gallery-slideshow121380%

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Lenovo

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Source: Lenovo (Chinese)

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Google Earth Tour Builder lets you tell stories through maps

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/11/google-earth-tour-builder/

Google has used Earth and Maps to tell tales of unfolding tragedies and soldiers fighting for our country. Now its opening up those tools to the public, allowing users to build what they're calling "Tours" through Google Earth. Tour Builder was released in honor of Veterans Day and it allows users to create narratives tied to points on a map. The process is pretty simple: you drop a marker, add some text, photos or videos and you're on your way. As you piece together your tale, dropping pins, you can pull the viewer down into Street View or fly to a particular angle on a 3D landmark.

While the release of Tour Builder was inspired by Google's work on projects like Map The Fallen and VetNet, it obviously has much broader application. Whether it's spicing up your typical vacation slideshow or building a presentation to teach students about the Civil War. Check out the video demo after the break.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Source: Google Lat-Long Blog

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This Rapper From The Nineties Has A Sick New Startup

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/vowch-2013-11

Jesse Itzler, also sometimes referred to as Jesse Jaymes, left his relatively successful career as a rapper to become an entrepreneur.

During his rap career in the nineties, Itzler had two songs in the Top 100 billboards charts, one of which was called "Shake it Like A White Girl" (see video below). At the age of 22, he wrote and recorded "Go New York, Go" — a song that has since become the official theme song for the New York Knicks basketball team. Itzler also wrote an award-winning song called "I Love This Game" for the NBA.

"When I was 24 I realized I could never be one of the best rappers but I knew I had some of the best ideas," Jesse Itzler tells Business Insider.

After leaving the rap game, Itzler went on to help create Marquis Jet, one of the largest private jet card companies in the world, which eventually sold to Warren Buffett. Itzler was also an early aprtner in Zico Coconut water, which sold to Coca-Cola. He's now married to Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx and the youngest female self-made billionaire.

“Jesse is a cool guy, he knows everybody," Vowch co-founder David Parker tells Business Insider. "Together we came up with the idea of this concept of Vowch.”

At its core, Vowch is a social recommendation platform. With Vowch, you can easily get a snapshot of who someone is based on what they vouch for. Users can vouch for things like movies, TV shows, musicians, hotels, conferences — you name it. 

The more you Vowch, the better your chances are for becoming a true "boss." "Bosses"on Vowch have the most street cred in the app. There are fashion bosses, reading bosses, music bosses, and so on. 

So how do you become a boss? Well, if I were to Vowch something, and someone revowches it, I'll get points. The more points you get, the closer to a boss you become. 

I've been testing out the app for the last week or so ! and I'm pretty into it. Just last week, Apple featured Vowch as one of the best new apps in the U.S.. 

Vowch is by no means the first startup to try to tackle the recommendation space. But given the team behind the app, Vowch may end up faring better than some of its predecessors. 

Be sure to check out Itzler laying raps on tracks: 

Now, check out some Vowch screenshots below: 

SEE ALSO: SA 100 2013: The Coolest People In New York Tech

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NYC Chief Digital Officer Rachel Haot on providing digital access to all

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/10/rachel-haot/

"The foundation of New York City's digital strategy is access," explains Rachel Haot, fresh off her Expand press day opening remarks. "We define that as access for all New Yorkers, regardless of income level, regardless of the resources you may have in your household. Libraries play a very vital role in this; schools do as well, [along with] recreation centers run by the city's parks department -- and we've even invested in senior centers, where we are connecting more seniors with the internet and providing training." Haot's served as New York's chief digital offers for three years or so, tasked with the seemingly overwhelming goal of making technology available to the citizens of the largest city in the country.

The question of income gaps plays a key role in the city's continued push to bring high-tech jobs to New York as the cost of living threatens to push out potential startups. Haot counters that the city continues to offer affordable spaces in the five boroughs. She also offers up a list of perks the Big Apple provides over those areas we've come to know as tech hubs. "New York City is a completely unique destination that presents completely unique opportunities for any entrepreneur," she adds. "One of the reasons we hear people come here is, first and foremost, diversity. You look at a lot of other tech hubs and it's a one-horse town. It ends up being an echo chamber, or a bit of a bubble. In New York City, you're always kept humble, because there are so many industries, and they're always intersecting. I think that provides and enables enormous creativity and collaboration."

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