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Netflix launches British invasion

It’s a full on streaming invasion as Netflix launches its services in the UK and Ireland. American film-streaming giant Netflix launched its services today in the United Kingdom and Ireland with a strong offensive in the streaming turf war against Amazon’s Lovefilm. “We are starting 2012 in the best possible way: by giving consumers in the UK and Ireland an amazing entertainment experience,” said Reed Hastings, co-founder and chief executive officer of Netflix. “Now, you can enjoy as many great films and TV programmes as you want, when you want, where you want, for one low monthly price with no contracts or commitments.” The world’s largest streaming service has 20 million members in the US, Canada and Latin America, and was so popular in the US it accounted for a third of all internet use in one quarter last year. Despite this, however, Netflix suffered several difficult setbacks in the past year, shedding 800,000 customers after changes to subscription prices, and prematurely launching breakaway Quickster before nixing the scheme almost immediately. The company has said it expects to lose money this year because of the UK expansion, as it competes with broadcasters who have their own web services, streaming companies like Lovefilm, and free services such as Channel 4′s 4oD and the BBC’s iPlayer.

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Netflix launches British invasion

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Skip all you like with Spotify Radio

The good folks of Spotify are certainly changing things up. Last week they announced the addition of music based apps to their service, and now they’re taking on Pandora. “We’ve built a radio app on top of our platform,” said Spotify co-founder and Chief Executive Daniel Ek during his announcement at LeWeb. “It’s kind of like Pandora, but with unlimited skipping and unlimited stations.” Up until now, Spotify has only allowed subscribers to play the specific songs or albums they chose. With stations, users can now choose a category and let Spotify do the picking. And, the unlimited skipping is likely to be a big draw. In contrast to Pandora – where skipping is limited due to the fact that they pay music labels by the song – if subscribers dislike the Spotify song choice they can skip to the next one as many times as they like. According to the company’s official blog post: “Starting a radio station is easy. Click ‘Start Artist Radio’ at the top of any artist page or just drag a track to ‘Radio’ in the left sidebar

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Skip all you like with Spotify Radio

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Population growth dominates Facebook’s newsfeed

Facebook has revealed its list of top ten most-mentioned news stories of 2011 in the UK, with a BBC story concerning global population growth. In addition to the number one article, other newsworthy topics included the UK riots, the Royal Wedding and The Only Way Is Essex. The social networking giant put together the list by counting the number of clicks on its site for stories posted from the UK’s top media outlets. These articles can have appeared as shared items, wall posts or likes. Coming in at second place was the Sun’s story about a woman who received a tattoo with a scatological theme from her boyfriend for cheating on him.

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Population growth dominates Facebook’s newsfeed

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Ofcom say mobile firms deliver better service

Ofcom, the communications regulator, has published the latest of their regular customer satisfaction surveys. Their findings show that the respondents interviewed were happier with the level of service provided by their mobile provider than their online or broadband supplier. This improved level of satisfaction could further boost the popularity of mobile shopping and mobile devices like tablets and e-readers. The Ofcom research was taken from interviews with 3,000 people during September, asking if they had had any contact with their provider in the previous three months, and if they were satisfied with the level of service they received. The survey showed that 7 out of 10 customers were happy with the service their mobile company provided, even after calling about their service or tariff. However, only about 6 out of 10 were happy with their landline and broadband. Landline customer service ratings had improved for Sky, Talk Talk and BT since 2009, according to Ofcom. Yet, on average, these levels of satisfaction were still below those for mobile services

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Ofcom say mobile firms deliver better service

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Interactive Zeebox app makes TV social

A new social TV app, Zeebox, has skyrocketed to the top of the most popular download charts, offering users a more involved television-watching experience. The iPad app is designed to act as a real-time TV guide, with several features that tap into a number of growing TV watching trends. A ‘dual screening’ feature allows users to order channels according to preference, engaging with both live TV and catch-up. Tapping into current TV viewing habits , Zeebox users can simultaneously chat with friends during popular live TV shows on Twitter or Facebook, look up additional information on show’s topics or participants, and even buy related merchandise. The new app has rocketed into the App Store’s top five most popular downloads following its launch last Friday. Anthony Rose – the tech wizard behind the Zeebox app – is also known for his work on the popular BBC iPlayer and music player Kazaa. After raising

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Facebook fixes cookies when blogger raids the jar

An Australian blogger revealed his investigation of Facebook’s use of cookies, claiming that they could be making it possible to track a user’s movements even once they have left the social networking site. Nic Cubrilovic passed the findings of his yearlong study into Facebook’s cookie usage onto the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), when he found that the cookies tracked users’ web browsing on other Facebook integrated sites. The OAIC then launched a report into whether such cookies are breaching privacy laws. “Logging out of Facebook only de-authorizes your browser from the web application, a number of cookies (including your account number) are still sent along to all requests to facebook.com. Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit,” Cubrilovic blogged on Sunday , as he urged users to delete their Facebook cookies

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Facebook fixes cookies when blogger raids the jar