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Showtime launches Anytime streaming portal, social iPad app

Richard Lawler — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:21:00 EST

Just in time for the return of everyone's favorite serial killer, Showtime Anytime soft-launched recently, bringing online access to the network's library of movies, TV shows and more. Multichannel News reports AT&T U-verse subscribers are the first to gain access, although this same content has already been streaming on Comcast's Xfinity TV website and app. It's no HBO Go yet -- more cable companies and a few mobile apps will be necessary to match its rival there -- but the approach is the same, after pulling its shows from Netflix this TV Everywhere offering hopes to add enough value to keep viewers on the traditional pay-TV train a little longer. While there's no self-branded streaming app yet, the channel has also launched a Showtime Social iPad app to keep viewers tied in with their friends and other viewers while they watch -- let us know if it makes Dexter any more / less creepy.

Showtime launches Anytime streaming portal, social iPad app originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix adds Mad Men in the US today, CBS content in Canada and Latin America later

Richard Lawler — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:24:00 EST

We're not sure how Don Draper would have sold a 60 percent price increase on your most popular service package but maybe Netflix executives can make a guess after they start watching the first four seasons of Mad Men today on Watch Instantly. Netflix's Lionsgate deal will keep reruns flowing for years to come, while a new agreement with CBS International is bringing its programming -- including Showtime shows like Dexter that were recently yanked from the US Netflix service -- to viewers in Canada (who already had Mad Men) and Latin America (where it locked up a cache of telenovelas yesterday). This CBS agreement is separate from their (also non-exclusive) US deal that brought Star Trek back, but international viewers will still get to both TOS and TNG, as well as shows like Twin Peaks and 90210. Check the press release after the break for more details on the international deal, the source link for a time warp back to 1960s NYC or hit the comments below to explain how canceling your $7.99 per month service is a stand against greedy corporations.

Continue reading Netflix adds Mad Men in the US today, CBS content in Canada and Latin America later

Netflix adds Mad Men in the US today, CBS content in Canada and Latin America later originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix suffers temporary website outage today (fixed!), permanent Dexter outage this summer

Richard Lawler — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:03:00 EST

The bad news is that our bulging tips box reports Netflix's website and Watch Instantly streaming service have been mostly inaccessible for the last couple of hours. Those lucky enough to have the page open from earlier may still have access, and devices based on older UIs are up and running while the newer HTML5 based frontends seem to be down for the count. The worse news is Crain's New York Business reported today that a new licensing deal with Showtime will not renew streaming access to older seasons of currently airing shows like Dexter and Californication when they expire this summer. Instead, their arrangement will cover shows that are off the air like The Tudors and Sleeper Cell.

Showtime has decided to hold the fresher stuff back for its TV Everywhere portals accessible by pay-TV subscribers despite Netflix's best efforts to pitch itself as a friend to the premium networks, which could also explain its plan to start offering original content of its own next year. Wide outages like this have been relatively rare and while we'll just keep an eye on @NetflixHelps until it's back up, there's no telling what other blank spaces we might find in our instant streaming queues in the future.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Things appear to be back to normal as of 10:30 p.m. EST or so, there's no official word via Twitter yet but between the commenters below and the episode of Firefly we're watching, it's all good. Wait -- Not so fast, while PC streaming is a go, devices are still mostly locked out.

Per @NetflixHelps UPDATE: Streaming is back on the website. We're still working on getting streaming back to all devices. Thanks for your patience!

Update 2: From @NetflixHelps - RESOLVED: The website and devices are back up and running. Thanks again for your patience while we worked to get this fixed!

Netflix suffers temporary website outage today (fixed!), permanent Dexter outage this summer originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Comcast adds Showtime to Xfinity TV online

Ben Bowers — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:29:00 EST

Almost immediately after expanding its Xfinity TV online services by 150,000 titles, Comcast has announced with Showtime that over 400 hours of the channel's series and movies are now also available via the portal for paying Showtime subscribers. If you aren't keeping Dexter-like tabs on the we-offer-more-content-than-you cable playground banter, this partnership is a first for Showtime and a killer feature for Comcast. In fact, combined with their Starz, Encore, and older HBO and Cinemax online streaming deals, Xfinity TV will now also go down in the annals of history with another first as the only online destination to offer all of the major premium content providers under one cozy URL. As much as we're all for establishing records though, we'd still encourage Comcast to brainstorm on additional ways to keep paying customers -- that is, if it wants to avoid earning another title for losing the most subscribers two quarters in a row.

Comcast adds Showtime to Xfinity TV online originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs: Nokia N8 endorsed by homicidal maniac

Vlad Savov — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:06:00 EST

Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

Just look at that cold-blooded killer up there. And Dexter's no choir boy either! Yes, the Nokia N8 is well and truly out and about now, as evidenced by its first appearance on American television, serving as Dexter von Murderink's trusty sidekick. Nokia does deserve kudos for the subtle product placement here -- you wouldn't even know it was an N8 if you weren't looking out for that portly lens compartment and the signature shade of dark grey. Which, of course, we were. Video after the break.

[Thanks, Luis]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: Nokia N8 endorsed by homicidal maniac

Screen Grabs: Nokia N8 endorsed by homicidal maniac originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs: Nokia N96 preserves the evidence on Dexter

Joseph L. Flatley — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:01:00 EST

Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

No this isn't the first Nokia-wielding fictional character or celeb that we've seen in this space, but the N96 recently spotted in the hands of our favorite psychopath has us wondering: would Dexter Morgan try N-Gage? And wouldn't he prefer something with a QWERTY keyboard? Come to think of it, we always thought of him as a BlackBerry guy. Then again, times are tough, and as a new father he has to make... sacrifices.

Update: We originally identified this one as the N81. Thanks to all you raving Nokia fanatics who pointed out the error.

Gallery: Screen Grabs: Nokia N96 preserves the evidence on Dexter

Filed under: Cellphones

Screen Grabs: Nokia N96 preserves the evidence on Dexter originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blu-ray releases on May 5th 2009

Ben Drawbaugh — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:06:00 EST

What an easy week to decide which new releases is the most anticipated as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button finally goes Blu. Although that is the biggest title, Paramount didn't stop there as it released the second season of the hot TV show Dexter as well as some all time classics like Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Grease. Sony has a few catalogs this week as well, but nothing we're really excited about. There is plenty to get excited about next week though, between all the Star Trek movies and classics like Fargo and -- our personal favorite -- The Good, the Bad And the Ugly, there really is something for everyone.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount)
Dexter: The Second Season (Paramount)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Paramount)
Grease (Paramount)
Saturday Night Fever (Paramount)
It Could Happen to You (Sony)
Roxanne (Sony)
Last Chance Harvey (Anchor Bay)
Bleak House (BBC)
Dog Soldiers (First Look)
Incendiary (ThinkFilm)
The Magic of Flight (Image)
Journey Into Amazing Caves (Image)
Amazon (Image)

Filed under: Blu-ray

Blu-ray releases on May 5th 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 May 2009 12:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jazzmutant's multitouch tablet works with a stylus as well

Paul Miller — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:11:00 EST

The Jazzmutant folks have been doing multitouch since way before it was in vogue, with patents reaching back to 2004 and some nifty tech to back it up. They spend most of their time on the Lemur and Dexter media control surfaces, but they've been playing around with Tablet PCs, and their first prototype is a beauty. The main advantage of the tech is that it not only can handle unlimited points of contact, so you interact with your apps using as many fingers as you'd like, but it can also accept simultaneous Tablet PC pen input, with precision and pressure sensitivity to boot. They've got the tech retrofitted on a 12-inch Fujitsu tablet at the moment, which they showed off last week at the Siggraph Emerging Tech conference in San Diego. Things are a bit bulky at the moment, but hopefully the tech -- which can be scaled from portable devices to 60-inch LCDs without breaking a sweat -- will be finding its way into real tablets before long. The video is after the break.

Continue reading Jazzmutant's multitouch tablet works with a stylus as well

Filed under: Displays, Tablet PCs

Jazzmutant's multitouch tablet works with a stylus as well originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Robot walks independently with dynamic balancing

Jeannie Choe — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:13:00 EST

We're still chuckling about Asimo's sad little tumble last year, but Anybots' breakthrough dynamically balancing biped robot, Dexter, is no laughing matter. While he's sans arms for now, the 135-pound, 5'10" robot is being celebrated for the sole fact that he isn't pre-programmed and can support his own strut -- and supposedly, he'll soon be able to run. Dexter's partner in crime is Monty, a two-wheeled, two-armed bot with one fully articulated, 18-motor gripper hand. Driven by compressed air and controlled remotely by a human operator, both of these humanoid robots were developed with the intent to be of assistance in various household and industrial tasks.

[Via Slashdot]

Read - Anybots' Dexter and Monty humanoid robots
Read - Video of Dexter taking shoves from Monty

Filed under: Robots

Robot walks independently with dynamic balancing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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