Well, that was fast: Another Christmas weekend is over, the presents have all been unwrapped and retailers nationwide are bracing for a throng of returns to hit this week for all those unwanted misfit toys, gadgets, clothes and other items. Since the holiday fell on a Sunday this year, many of us have the day off to get out and spend any cash we received (or cash in on those gift cards) -- but when the spending is over, kick back and take a break by reading up on the day’s events for Monday, December 26, 2011.
The folks at Boxee took to their Our Team Blog today to announce version 1.5 of the media player software, which is now available for the Mac, PC and Linux. The update is now being tested by Early Access users for the Boxee Box, and will soon be available as a beta. New features include a refreshed home screen and menu, a new layout for Movies & TV Shows and new Watch Later and Friends sections. With the company’s Live TV hardware landing in January, the plan is to release version 1.5 for the Boxee Box at the same time. Unfortunately, the team has announced version 1.5 will be the final release for computers -- the company is focusing their efforts purely on the Boxee Box and connected TVs, Blu-ray players and mobile apps from here on out. Kind of bummer news, but the new version 1.5 software will be available for download through the end of January, so get it now while the getting is good.
Still confused about iTunes Match and whether it’s $24.99 per year worth spending? Apple has updated the iTunes section of their website with a new page dedicated to the “scan and match” service, complete with a Getting Started section and a comprehensive FAQ that should answer most any question you might have about it. If the page answers your questions and makes you eager to give it a try, simply click the blue “Subscribe to iTunes Match” button and you’ll be whisked to iTunes, where your credit card will take the brunt of the damage.
There’s little doubt that Netflix and Hulu are the titans of online streaming services, but according to TechCrunch, one of them is growing while the other is faltering. You might think with this year’s missteps that Netflix would be the one suffering, but the numbers speak differently: Based on comScore data, “U.S. visitors spent one billion minutes on Netflix.com in November, 2011, versus 480 million minutes on Hulu.” Of course, that might not be an accurate metric given that Netflix is more about movies while Hulu is more about television shows and other short subjects, but a year ago the two websites “were almost neck-in-neck in time spent, with Netflix users logging 750 million total minutes versus Hulu users logging 690 million.” Part of that shift could be attributed to Hulu’s new focus on the paid Hulu Plus service, which pushes content to connected TVs, streaming boxes and mobile devices, giving subscribers much less reason to use the website for most content. We subscribe to both and get far more use out of Hulu Plus these days, but your mileage apparently must vary...
It looks like Apple users in the United States must have been naughty this year, because Cupertino has launched its annual 12 Days of Christmas app -- but only in Canada and Europe. According to AppleInsider, the free app is an annual holiday promotion “that offers free songs, music videos, apps and books.” Now in its fourth year, the promotion runs from December 26 through January 6, with a new freebie each day the app is opened. In case you were wondering, today’s gift is an EP from Coldplay, a live recording from the recent iTunes Festival in London. So Apple, what did we Americans do this year to offend thee…?
Domain name registrar GoDaddy has already had a not-so-happy holiday after being piled on by internet users for its support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Even after a half-hearted withdrawal of its support, the company has supposedly lost upwards of 72,354 domains in only five days according to The Loop. Making matters worse, Macworld is reporting that the company is being accused of delaying some of those domain transfers, with competitor Namecheap accusing GoDaddy of “returning incomplete WHOIS information” necessary to complete the transfer. If true, the move runs afoul of ICANN rules (that’s the organization in charge of the world’s domain name system). “We suspect that this competitor is thwarting efforts to transfer domains away from them,” writes Namecheap Community Manager Tamar Weinberg on the company’s blog. “We at Namecheap believe that this action speaks volumes about the impact that informed customers are having on GoDaddy’s business.” At the very least, it’s a heck of a way to end the year, that’s for sure...
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(Image courtesy of AppleInsider)
