If you’re a proud owner of a 4K TV, take note: Netflix is now charging a premium of $11.99 per month for access to 4K (also called Ultra HD) streaming content, which holds a limited yet growing media library. The introduction of this tiered plan isn’t exactly surprising, as Netflix has clearly been looking to diversify its offering. And if one can afford a pricy 4K TV right now, that extra $3 per month shouldn’t be too painful.
Category: Percolate
You Can Now See A Doctor On Google
Sinking its teeth deeper into eHealth, Google is now testing a new feature in its Google search results that prompts users searching for clinical symptoms to connect with a doctor via video-chat. Seeing a doctor on demand online isn’t exactly new, but given Google’s dominance in web search, it seems set to make eHealthcare a common practice and, judging by Google’s wording of the prompt, a potentially profitable one at that.
London Zoo’s Now Using Leftover TV Signals To Livestream Cute Animals
The Zoological Society of London has teamed up with Google to use TV white spaces (vacant frequencies in the TV spectrum) to livestream footage of selected zoo animals on YouTube. The main aim of the trial is to figure out how white space transmissions could be used by conservationists out in the field. If successful, dormant spectrum could be used to provide Internet connectivity in hard-to-serve locations.
Tesla Unveils “The D”, The Super Car With Autopilot
Earlier today, Tesla Motors’ CEO Elon Musk introduced a new dual-motor, all-wheel-drive version of its existing Model S sedan. More than just an update, the new D series features an autopilot program. Not to be confused with Google’s autonomous cars, this feature deploys embedded radars, cameras and sonar to create “a protective cocoon” aimed at warning of impending collisions. Even more impressively, this driver assist feature is now included at no extra cost on all Model S sedans.
We Won A Smarties Award!
We here at the Lab are very delighted and honored to learn that our previous campaign for One Direction on the popular messaging app Kik has earned a Smarties Award from the Mobile Marketing Association. The Smarties Awards recognize the most effective mobile marketing campaigns around the world, and the aforementioned campaign included a Kik Card that, in addition to connecting fans with the band, gave One Direction a 24/7/365 presence on Kik and a new channel to drive engagement. It also provided fans on Kik with exclusive unlockable content.
Amazon To Open Its First Physical Store In NYC
We have seen a lot of brick-and-mortar retailers going digital by opening online stores, but it is rare to see a digital retailer to open a physical store (Warby Parker and Piperlime are among the few who have done it). So it’s come as quite the surprise that Amazon, the No. 1 ecommerce site in the States, is opening its first brick-and-mortar store in Manhattan just in time for the holiday-shopping season. The store, located across from the iconic Empire State Building, will reportedly function as a mini-warehouse, with limited inventory for same-day delivery within New York, product returns and exchanges, and pickups of online orders. As it’s right in the neighborhood, we’ll be keeping a close eye on its development.
Skype And StumbleUpon Gone Chatty
Windows-owned Skype and content discovery service StumbleUpon couldn’t be more different from each other, but with their newest updates, it looks like both services will be putting messaging features front and center. And given the continuous rise of the messaging apps, this shift seems reasonable.
On both its mobile and laptop version, Skype has optimized its instant messaging function to be prominently displayed on the main interface. Meanwhile, StumbleUpon is introducing a new social chatting feature, which lets users who have a webpage easily start a conversation about it right away with fellow StumbleUpon users with just a few taps.
BuzzFeed Ventures Into Ecommerce-enabled Content
After some successes with native content advertising, BuzzFeed is moving into new territory. Earlier this week, the viral content site debuted its first foray into ecommerce-enabled content with a L’Oreal sponsored post that features a click-to-buy link for readers to purchase products that are relevant to the post. Such integration could help BuzzFeed and the sponsors better quantify the impact of branded content, but whether it can successfully drive up digital sales remains to be seen.
Why FitBit Chose Not To Support Apple’s HealthKit, For Now
The wearable fitness device company Fitbit has stated in a recent post on its community forum that it has ‘”no current plans” to support Apple’s HealthKit system. It’s an odd decision given that Fitbit Flex was prominently featured in Apple’s keynote that introduced HealthKit, and the reasons behind this choice might go beyond fear of user takeover by Apple’s shining new platform, as the company makes a profit from selling the tracker devices anyway.
The true reason of the opt-out could be about the health data that Fitbit currently hosts on its own platform. By denying support for HealthKit, the company appears to be aiming for a tighter control over the data its devices harness, despite potential detriments to the user’s experience. Still, considering the high demand for integration voiced on its forum, we won’t be surprised if Fitbit decides to join Apple’s party down the road.
How The New Update Of Apple TV Is Making It The Smart Home Hub
The central hub of your connected smart home could soon be the Apple TV, as Apple’s latest beta software officially brings HomeKit support to its set-top box originally devised for streaming iTunes media. The beta reportedly includes support for Apple TV as a remote access peer, which would allow the user to automatically sync information from connected home devices to the TV accessory. With this update, Apple is one step closer to building a future internet of “iThings”.
