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Seven 'content' stories April 2014 - May 2016

Amazon launches YouTube-like ‘Video Direct’ service for content creators

Jordan Kahn May 10 2016 - 8:10 am PT

Amazon-Video-Direct

Amazon today announced Amazon Video Direct, a new service that will see it go head to head with YouTube as it allows independent content creators to upload content and get paid.

The service is similar to Amazon’s model with Kindle Direct Publishing for e-books, allowing independent content creators to upload their own content for consumption by users alongside Amazon’s other video content.

And creators will get to choose how they are paid, either from advertising and royalties based on the popularity of the content, or by making videos available to buy or rent through Amazon. Creators will also have the option of making the content available to all Amazon customers under the ad-supported model, or to collect royalties by making it available just to Prime subscribers or in a Prime video add-on subscription.

Amazon also has a fund for creators that will see it hand out a million dollars per month to the 100 top titles, a little bit of incentive for content creators:

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YouTube and Halfbrick Studios partner to create an animated Fruit Ninja series

Zac Hall Jun 26 2015 - 7:00 am PT

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF3QVeR9d1Q]

Halfbrick Studios announced today that it is teaming up with YouTube to produce a new series of animated shorts centered around the characters from their hit game Fruit Ninja. The studio already has a number of clips on the video channel including trailers and gameplay clips, but says the Fruit Ninja animated series will be aimed at children age 6-10 with the YouTube Kids app in mind…
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Vessel launches Android beta to give you early access to YouTube content

Tom Maxwell Jun 16 2015 - 12:00 pm PT

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unnamed Vessel, the monthly subscription service that provides early-access to content from some of the biggest channels on YouTube, has today released its app for Android under the “beta” moniker.

For the uninitiated, Vessel is part of a trend recently of online content creators seeking out new ways to monetize their content and make money beyond the traditional display and pre-roll video advertisements that you see around videos and other web content. Vessel charges $2.99 per month and in return gives you access to videos from popular YouTube talent including Rhett & Link and Marcus Butler, among others, several days before the videos go live on YouTube. There’s also a free version, but it doesn’t provide these exclusives and there are ads so it’s essentially the same thing as just watching them on YouTube.

The company claims to have over 130 creators uploading to the platform so far, and hopes that releasing an app for Android will expand its subscriber base greatly. Since the app is in beta, the company is hoping users will submit feedback and feature suggestions. It’s available in the Play Store, so no Google+ communities trick necessary here.

Samsung details Galaxy Gifts package for Galaxy S6 w/ $500+ worth of free content

Jordan Kahn Apr 28 2015 - 7:00 am PT

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As it usually does, Samsung is giving away a bunch of free content to owners of its new Galaxy S6 and S6 edge and now it has revealed what exactly will be included this time around.
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Low-quality content aggregators are the big losers in Google’s Panda update

Jonathan Kizer May 23 2014 - 8:29 am PT

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google panda

Earlier this week, Google rolled out Panda 4.0 and Pay Day 2.0. These updates to the search algorithm were touted as being designed to further reduce the ranking of low-quality and spammy content. According to analysis by Searchmetrics, Panda and Pay Day did just this, with websites that offer undifferentiated content suffering in terms of overall ranking.

However, Panda did not just punish websites: various major websites actually increased their rank in Google Search as a result of the change in algorithm. From the study:
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Amazon’s upcoming smartphone revealed in photo, reportedly coming in June

Jonathan Kizer May 1 2014 - 8:46 am PT

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bgr-amazon-smartphone-kindle-fire-phone

Following various leaks and rumors, BGR has obtained a photo of Amazon’s upcoming smartphone. While the device itself is still a month or more away from being officially unveiled, the above image is the first to show off the device without a protective case obscuring the design.

The device itself is similar in appearance to the Nexus 4, which received praise for its understated design. As Amazon’s phone will likely compete on price, it isn’t a surprise that its materials will shy away from the flashy metallic materials of devices like the iPhone or the HTC One M8.
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MagicPlay brings native Apple AirPlay support to Play Music on rooted devices

Jonathan Kizer Apr 22 2014 - 6:35 pm PT

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MagicPlay—another app from the doubleTwist developers—brings support for Apple’s AirPlay to any Android device running Android 4.1, allowing content to be streamed to an Apple TV connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the phone. If you aren’t rooted, a separate app will enable you to stream your music and videos to an Apple TV or compatible set of speakers from doubleTwist, but you won’t be able to use these features within the Play Music app itself.

If your device is rooted, however, MagicPlay now adds an option to stream your content via AirPlay from the Play Music app. This feature, added in the 1.1 update that was released today, was announced by doubleTwist in a blog post today. MagicPlay now takes advantage of an API normally reserved for the Chromecast:
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