Showing 132 posts tagged video
“On his Facebook page yesterday, Hastings said that Netflix served up over 4 billion hours of streaming video during the first three months of the year, reaching a high-water mark for the company.”
Torrent site IsoHunt loses appeal against MPAA filters
Torrent search site IsoHunt has lost its appeal against Hollywood movie studios to have keyword filters removed from its results.
The court battle between the torrent indexing site and the Motion Picture Association of America’s member studios has resulted in the former losing its appeal to remove an injunction that forces the Web site to filter its search results.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a 2010 ruling that stated the site does not qualify for safe harbor under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The site’s founder, Gary Fung, allegedly had “red flag” knowledge of copyright infringements taking place through the site — in particular, by interacting with users.
» via CNET
“There is a gap in the law,” Pallante said during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet. “If there is illegal streaming happening, especially in an egregious, willful, profit-driven kind of way, how do you get at that activity if the best that you can do is go after them for a misdemeanor?”
Google, MPEG LA agree to royalty-free terms for VP8 video codec
Google and MPEG LA have announced that they have come to an agreement over Google’s VP8 video codec. 11 patent holders have agreed that any patented techniques used by VP8 can be used without payment of a royalty, forever.
» via ars technica
Skype Announces Free Group Video Calling for Teachers
The ability for classrooms to beam in authors, subject experts, and fellow students from around the world has been one of the great advantages afforded by Skype. Commonly used by librarians and other K–12 educators to provide real-time engagement for their students, the service just got better. As of today, existing members of Skype in the classroom or new registrants can use Skype’s Group Video Calling free of charge.
A feature previously available only to paid Skype Premium subscribers, Group Video Calling allows users to connect via Webcam with up to 10 parties. Skype’s blog post details instructions for signing up for free video calling. (Authentication may take 48 hours)
» via The Digital Shift
Obama signs bill to let Facebook users share Netflix videos
President Obama signed a bill on Thursday to allow users of Facebook and other social media sites to opt in to automatically share which videos they have watched on sites like Netflix.
Facebook users could already choose to automatically reveal which songs they listened to and which articles they read. But the Video Privacy Protection Act banned the sharing of any video history information without written consent by the consumer for each video or a warrant from the police.
House vote updates Bork-era video rental privacy law
The House approved a bill Tuesday that would make it easier for people to share their favorite movie and television show rentals online.
By voice vote, members approved H.R. 6671, which would allow video rental companies to get online consent from their customers in order to share their rental preferences on the Internet. It would relax current law — the Video Privacy Protection Act — that now prevents any sharing of information related to video rental history without written consent.
The VPPA was passed in 1988 after a list of videos rented by Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork were published, which led to quick demands for greater privacy. But in light of new technological developments over the last few decades, companies like Netflix have said the law makes it hard for people to voluntarily share their rental choices with friends online.
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Netflix ranks ISPs by streaming performance, Google Fiber wins
The streaming-video king released a report this morning ranking 21 major U.S. ISPs based on real-world streaming performance. Google Fiber came in the lead by quite at bit, with an average of 2.55 Mbps in November, with the next closest competitor (Verizon FiOS) coming in at 2.19 Mbps. Unsurprisingly, DSL services came in behind all the major cable/fiber services, with the best performer averaging just 1.42 Mbps in November. The best mobile service to crack the list is Verizon at a relatively pokey 0.76 Mbps.
» via CNET
Khan Academy Brings Its 3,500 Educational Videos To The iPhone
Whether or not one believes Khan Academy is helping to reinvent education, it’s hard to dispute the fact that Khan (and now his team) are an educational video-producing machine, or that the platform continues to diversify. In part, that started with the release of its iPad app in March. This week, Khan Academy brought its 3,600 videos to the iPhone.
This means that the company’s learning library is now accessible on the web, tablets and the iPhone and will likely be showing up on Android in the not so distant future. It may not seem particularly shocking given the exploding popularity of mobile, but it does seem notable when put in context.
» via TechCrunch
Supreme Court rejects plea to ban taping of police in Illinois
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal of a controversial Illinois law prohibiting people from recording police officers on the job.
By passing on the issue, the justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that found that the state’s anti-eavesdropping law violates free-speech rights when used against people who audiotape police officers.
» via Chicago Tribune
