Business Model Archive

  • Dutch court orders, again, TPB to delete torrents, block Dutch users

    Dutch court orders, again, TPB to delete torrents, block Dutch users

    Posted on October 23, 2009 | No Comments
    More news about The Pirate Bay to bore you all! (Seriously, it's not like people are still talking about the old Suprnova or Torrentspy anymore, yet the TPB has stuck around.) Some time ago, a Dutch court ordered TPB to delete a number of torrents and block Dutch IP addresses from being able to visit the site. Using a sledgehammer on a thumbtack, yes. Then TPB protested, as it does all the time, saying that it had no idea about the court case to begin with, so it couldn't make a proper defense, etc. The Dutch court agreed to give TPB a a little bit of time to work out its issues, and has now reached another, similar verdict: remove the torrents, and block Dutch IP addresses. Fun all around, really.

    Full Story

  • Dear Hollywood: Wanna stop BitTorrent piracy of your TV shows? Make them available overseas in a timely manner!

    Dear Hollywood: Wanna stop BitTorrent piracy of your TV shows? Make them available overseas in a timely manner!

    Posted on October 5, 2009 | No Comments
    What's wrong with sites like Hulu? Well nothing, per se, except for the fact that they can't be used anywhere outside of the Unites States. As if other countries don't want to watch... um, really great shows like “Extreme Makeover” and “The [American] Office”! Perhaps that's why, then, BitTorrent site EZTV has seen traffic double, mainly from non-American IPs, in the past year? For whatever reason, people want to watch these shows, but since there's no legal outlet to do so, well, it's not exactly hard to configure uTorrent or Transmission, now is it?

    Full Story

  • Activision mulling plug-and-play Guitar Hero TV games in the future

    Activision mulling plug-and-play Guitar Hero TV games in the future

    Posted on September 15, 2009 | No Comments
    If you really think about it, it makes sense that future installments of Guitar Hero and other games like that could basically come packaged like those Jakks Pacific plug-and-play TV games. It’d eliminate the need for a console altogether. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick realizes this, and says that his company is considering the possibilities.

    Full Story

  • “World’s Sexiest App”? Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models Now Clutch Themselves On The iPhone.

    “World’s Sexiest App”? Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models Now Clutch Themselves On The iPhone.

    Posted on July 21, 2009 | No Comments
    The print magazine business isn't doing so hot right now, but Sports Illustrated might just have found a new business model: selling an iPhone app featuring models from its 2009 Swimsuit Issue. Although the Swimsuit issue came out in February, the app just hit the iTunes store today (iTunes link). Marketed as the "World's Sexiest App" with a 17+ age rating, it costs $2.99. I'm sure it's going to make a mint. What do you get for $2.99? Photos of 20 models including Brooklyn Decker and Danica Patrick in various states of bikini nothingness and "breathtaking bodypainting videos." There are also other "intimate" videos for each model. Does Playboy have an iPhone app? It might save them too.

    Full Story

  • Yes, The Pirate Bay was sold, will cease to exist as you know it (but will still exist)

    Yes, The Pirate Bay was sold, will cease to exist as you know it (but will still exist)

    Posted on June 30, 2009 | No Comments
    My initial reaction to the news that some company called Global Gaming Factory X has agreed to buy The Pirate Bay was, “Pfft, why should I care? The was only garbage on there anyway.” And while that's still my opinion—there really was only garbage on there—we really ought to recognize that, for better or worse, The Pirate Bay was something of a symbol for the greater “music/movies/whatever wants to be free” “movement,” if you can even call it that.

    Full Story

  • Sony says PSPgo is expensive because it’s new

    Sony says PSPgo is expensive because it’s new

    Posted on June 26, 2009 | No Comments
    psp goIf you curled your lip and slowly shook your head when Sony announced that the PSPgo would cost $249, you weren't alone. So it's perhaps even more irksome when the head of Sony Europe just comes right out and says that you're paying a premium price just because the PSPgo is new. What's with all the honesty, Sony?

    Full Story

  • Yahoo Japan fires up video delivery service for Sharp AQUOS TVs

    Yahoo Japan fires up video delivery service for Sharp AQUOS TVs

    Posted on May 28, 2009 | No Comments

    With Akihabara, mobile TV that works and games like this, does Japan really need another nicety to remind us of how awesome it is? Starting this week, Yahoo Japan has started to deliver free video services to loads of Sharp AQUOS HDTVs. The so-called Douga Channel currently offers some 3,000 videos gratis, and absolutely no member registration is required to tap in. At least initially, the service will target Sharp's AQUOS DS6 family of products, which are equipped with a revised Sharp GUI and an 'Ex System' for handling the video processing. Better still, the material coming through can be viewed in SD or HD, which has to make local cable companies cringe. At any rate, the company is still trying to hammer out a business model before delving into pay-TV, and it's hoping to service at least one million TV sets in the not-too-distant future. So... any news for North America?

    Filed under: ,

    Yahoo Japan fires up video delivery service for Sharp AQUOS TVs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 May 2009 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Full Story

Newer Entries »