Discovery Channel
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Discovery+ launches today, and it's available on Fire TV, Roku and more
Discovery+ is available today in the US and you can basically access it on almost any major platform.
Discovery+ starts streaming in the US on January 4th for $5 per month
Discovery+ is launching its on-demand streaming on January 4th at a starting price of $5 per month.
'Asteroid Day' is a good time to learn about the threat of space rocks
On June 30th, 1908, more than 770 square miles of remote Russian forest were obliterated from the face of the Earth when a relatively small meteor, estimated at only around 400 feet across, unleashed 15 megatons of energy above the Stony Tunguska River. One hundred and nine years later, humanity knows precious little more about the dangers that lurk within our solar system than we did in 1908. But a recently founded "global day of education" aims to bring the existential threat that space rocks pose to the forefront of our collective consciousness.
Five fact-filled apps for Shark Week
It's Shark Week -- that time of the year when sharks take center stage on the Discovery Channel and beyond. This year's shows have been marred by the Megalodon controversy, but that doesn't mean you still can't enjoy learning about the shark species. Below you will find five shark-related apps to supplement your knowledge of the finned fish. Discovery Kids Sharks [iPad; Category: Education; $4.99] A fact-filled app from Discovery that teaches children about sharks. The app also includes interactive games and digital trading cards. Expedition White Shark for iPad [iPad; Category: Education; $3.99] Expedition White Shark allows you to receive near real time Great White Shark tracking data thanks to the scientists at the Marine Conservation Science Institute (MCSI). Data is collected from tagged sharks when they surface and are relayed via satellite to MCSI. Discovery Kids Readers: Sharks [iOS Universal; Category: Books; $1.99] Discovery Kids Readers: Sharks brings sharks to the little ones in your household. The book includes vivid photographs, fun facts and a quiz. Targeted for children 4 to 8 years old. Shark Net - Predators of the Blue Serengeti [iPhone; Category: Education; Free] Another shark-tracking app that allows you to follow sharks as they migrate off the coast of California. Data is compiled from the collaborative shark research of Stanford University scientists and the GTOPP -- the Global Tagging of Pacific Predators project. Learn Sharks Now! [iOS Universal; Category: Education; Free] Learn Sharks Now! includes 30 shark cards with pictures and facts about our this fish. A quiz mode will test your knowledge of the shark. And one bonus app for you gamers out there! Hungry Shark Evolution [iOS Universal; Category: Games; Free] Play as a shark and feed on sea creatures, swimmers and fisherman. Eat and grow from a pup into a full-grown Great White Shark.
Discovery, TLC iPad apps add second-screen feature
Discovery Communications, parent company of the cable channels Discovery and TLC, has released updates to the Discovery Channel HD and TLC for iPad and iPhone apps that now offer second-screen features on the iPad side. The second-screen feature is branded as Discovery Plus and TLC Plus and offers "an interactive second-screen experience, synced live to your favorite shows! Fully integrated into the app, simply tune in during a TLC/Discovery Plus-enabled show and sit back for exclusive factoids, photos and more! Or play a previously aired Plus-enabled show on your DVR, and sync to view the experience on your own schedule," according to the app descriptions. Discovery Communications does note that not all of its shows are Plus-enabled yet. Also, the Plus features are only available on the iPad, though the company does plan to add them to the iPhone version of the apps soon. Discovery Channel HD and TLC for iPad and iPhone are free downloads.
James Cameron to create sparks with Robogeddon on Discovery Channel
Fresh off his return from the briny deep, James Cameron is set to create a television show for the Discovery Channel called Robogeddon. Similar to BattleBots and Robot Wars, the program will feature a competitive death match of sorts, where robots tear each other to shreds in pursuit of being the last machine standing. In addition to Cameron's participation, the show will also feature the stamp of Mark Burnett -- famous for such reality television titles as Survivor, Shark Tank and The Voice. It's also said that Donald Hutson, the two-time Super Heavyweight Champion of BattleBots, will be among the show's competitors. No date is set for when we'll see the sparks fly, but if you want to get in on the ground floor, might we suggest hitting your local scrapyard?
Discovery shows hit Amazon Prime Instant Video, because it's 'Dirty Jobs,' but someone has to stream it
Amazon today announced a deal that will bring a slew of content from Discovery Communications to its ever increasing selection of streamable Prime videos. The partnership includes content from such properties as the Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet, amongst a handful of others, with shows like Dirty Jobs and Whale Wars coming along for the ride. At present, the total selection of videos on the service is up to more than 17,000 titles, which can be viewed for free by Amazon Prime members in the US. Press info can be found after the break.
TWCable TV iPad app updated with a few more channels, brings back Discovery
Time Warner has added several new cable channels to its TWCable TV iPad app, including Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, which were two of the channels yanked after broadcasters complained. we don't know if they've worked out an agreement over the matter, but viewers can now enjoy those two as well as TLC, Sundance, Lifetime, Military History and Wedding Central on their tablets. Check out the TWCableUntangled blog for the official word, we'll wait and see if Viacom or Fox budge next.
TUAW's Daily App: Deadliest Catch
Brand-based games can be hit or miss -- at worst, they're a crass attempt to cash in on a name, and even at best, they often rely far too much on the license, leaving fun and design out of the equation. But the official Deadliest Catch game for the iPhone actually impressed me. As just a game on its own, it lacks -- it's really just a series of minigames designed to simulate crabbing, which itself isn't that fun to begin with. But if you happen to be a fan of the Discovery Channel show (and I am), trying to guide your boat through stormy weather or hook the crab pots safely is actually a good time. The app has a quickplay mode, where you can just jump into the minigames if you want (steering the boat, hooking crab pots, rescuing a man overboard, or sorting crabs on the table), but the real pleasure is the campaign mode, where you can actually build a boat and crew out of the cast of Deadliest Catch, and then make your own way out into the Bering Sea to try and catch Alaskan crab. Mixing up the minigames is a lot of fun -- just like the real sailors, you lay down pots, check them as they come up, and hope that you hit the crab motherload. The app faithfully recreates the show's feel of going out on the deadly ocean and searching the depths for that big pile of crab that means you'll come home with some cash. The only drawback is that at US$3.99, the app is expensive, especially for a licensed title. Not that $4 is expensive for a quality game (if you like the show, it's worth picking up), but for something that could itself serve as an ad for Discovery Channel, that price is a little steep for the potential audience. The good news is that there are no ads in the app itself (except for some links to both Discovery content and developer Hands-On Mobile in the menu), and it runs surprisingly smoothly, even on my old 1G iPhone. If you follow the Cornelia Marie and the Northwestern like I do, grab it right now and go crabbin'! Everybody else can wait for the eventual price drop.
Discovery's next epic series Life airs March 21 on seven networks, June 1 on Blu-ray
We've been waiting for the next Planet Earth for quite some time, and the latest contender to the throne is Life. An 11-part series devoted to exploring "the adaptability and diversity of life on Earth" each episode focuses on a different form of life, and of course, does it all in HD. The first two hours will air on Discovery Channel HD; TLC HD; Animal Planet HD; Science Channel HD; Investigation Discovery HD; and Planet Green HD, March 21 at 8 p.m., with two hour installments following each Sunday at 8 only on Discovery Channel HD. Check the video previews embedded after the break for more info on all the new camera technology used to make this series even more beautiful to look at than the last -- but hide your credit card first, the Blu-ray release June 1 is already available for preorders and imagining all that super slow-mo footage in 1080p is definitely too tantalizing for the weak-willed among us.
Discovery Communications patents e-book reader, why not?
Let's face it, at this point everyone is looking to get in on the e-book reader action. Back in February, broadcast television group Discovery Communication -- known for BBC America, Travel Channel, TLC, and Discovery Channel, naturally -- filed a patent for its own digital book reader back in February that's now surfacing online. There isn't a lot of concrete detail here, other than it runs the gamut of possible distribution options, including public libraries à la Sony's Daily Edition. In the picture above we've got hints of Cos News Services and US News and World Report, but that could very likely just be filler for the filing. It won't be nothing without partners, but if Discovery's serious, we're sure they've got a few phone numbers to call up and try to make a deal with. [Via Baltimore Sun; thanks, Tom]
WoW.com meets Michele Boyd of The Guild at E3
World of Warcraft isn't actually at this year's E3 -- Activision Blizzard has a great big booth with lots of cool games in it, but none of them are Blizzard's. We guess they're saving everything for the big event at BlizzCon. But we still found someone cool to meet on the floor -- The Guild's Michele Boyd (you can see her here in the last Season 2 episode) was working on the show floor for THQ, and was kind enough to stop by and talk to me before she went off to actually, you know, see some videogames (we heard there's some here, but we've been too busy writing about all the cool stuff we're seeing on Joystiq and Massively).As you can see above, she's hosting a series on Discovery Channel (and she's got the science chops to do it), she's currently rocking an Enhancement Shaman (in Outland, not Northrend -- what can I say, I was confused by her awesomeness), and she's got some good thoughts on what's up in the next season of The Guild. Big thanks again to her for chatting with us, enjoy the video!
Discovery kicking off continent-by-continent followup to Planet Earth with Wild Planet: North America
Having nabbed the former head of the BBC's Natural History Unit, Discovery has designs on its own epic globe trotting series promising to "capture the world, continent by continent in high definition, as its never been seen before." Naturally planned to debut first on Discovery's networks, as opposed to its partnership with BBC on Planet Earth, Wild Planet: North America will be the first of seven installments and start filming this fall. Expect HD cams to visit even more extreme locations, and all manner of wildlife to be snapped by the thousand lenses of myriad high speed cameras. We're ready. [Warning: PDF read link][Via Reuters]
Hudson River plane crash recreated in pulled Discovery Channel game
Whether it was in poor taste or simply survival training, a game based on the Hudson River plane crash made its way onto the Discovery Channel website and was subsequently pulled. The game was called Miracle on the Hudson and recreated the traumatic events of US Airways Flight 1549, which was forced to land in the Hudson River after two of its engines were destroyed by geese. Sadly, the game was pulled before we were able to play it, so we can't offer any hands-on impressions in our usual style. Because you know we totally would have.[Via Fidgit]
WoW Moviewatch: I really wish you didn't love the whole world
Look, I get that those Discovery Channel commercials featuring "Boom De Ah Dah!" are catchy, but something's gotta give. The original song was roughly 30-45 seconds, yet Ilcyra apparently set it on an incessant loop to make it a whopping eight times longer. Do you really love the load screen that much? What about moonkin fluff? I found my eyes glazing over at this love-fest gone bad.Don't get me wrong. The video isn't that horrible, and neither is her voice. However, 4:39 is a bit overzealous, especially when the last minute of it is a guy jumping around for no reason. My advice would be to make an ordered list of the things that you love, and only sing about the first 20![Thanks, Alex!]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a troll
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the third in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself.Trolls are based on the "wild savages" you've seen in the movies or on TV, from King Kong to Discovery channel. If you've seen people hunting with spears, walking around in the forest without many clothes on, or dancing around in costumes and face paint in some kind of ritual you've never heard of, you've seen the apparent inspiration for trolls in World of Warcraft. The culture of Warcraft trolls are a mishmash of all the different myths and rumors that have grown up about some of the earth's indigenous peoples that live outside modern society: Strange voodoo beliefs and rituals? Check. Bloodthirsty headhunters with a taste for cannibalism? Check. Witch doctors, shrunken heads, human sacrifice, and rampant superstition? Check on all counts.It's important to note here that troll culture is based on the myths about some indigenous people, not on their reality. Cannibalism, for instance, has been rare among human societies, nearly always viewed as anathema, but among the trolls of Azeroth, it appears to be the rule rather than the exception. Unbiased study of the world's primal religions has shown them to be far more sophisticated than early (and prejudiced) Western explorers ever imagined. Don't listen to the Jamaican accent trolls have in the game and assume that trolls are based on real life Jamaicans. There is nowhere near the correlation here that we might find with the dwarves and the Scots, or even the draenei and the eastern Europeans that they sound like. Indeed, one could argue that the choice of a Jamaican accent to represent the trolls and their culture reveals a great deal of ignorance we Americans have regarding Caribbean islanders -- but that's a discussion I'll not go into today.Suffice it to say that as a member of the Darkspear tribe, the only tribe of trolls to join the Horde, your character living in a time of great change for your people. Your tribe is the first to embrace the more modern values promoted by Thrall, to take up the spiritual practices of shamanism, and to integrate itself with other races. Although the Darkspears have officially given up human sacrifice, cannibalism, and now tell you to "stay away from the voodoo," these practices are all elements of religion and superstition that your character would have grown up with, and may find it hard to let go of completely.
Sunday Morning Funnies: A new day
This week we are going to approach the Sunday Morning Funnies in a new format. Hopefully this will improve reader understanding of the purpose of posting the artwork. Voting will be removed. Please let me know what you think, as well as other changes you'd like to see!For laughs: Sympathy for the Reaver almost makes you feel bad for using a fel reaver's corpse. Almost. GU Comics. Laughs and plot: Pinky built the gnomes some lodging in LFG. Sacrificial Lamb from Dark Legacy Comics involves a plot, some lambs, some scissors and a sandwich. Along Came the Murlocs opens up a mystery about the two murlocs on Teh Gladiators. When all is revealed on And Then They Were..., hilarity ensues. Well, maybe not for Vallant. Differently structured humor: We hated that boat neway from Road to BlizzCon, sees the lovable characters thwarted by their own shedding. Strangely, there is no fatigue produces an invisible man. On the latest Adventures of Disgraph T. Dwarf, we encounter March of the Dwarf. If you've ever wanted to see these adventures done like they'd do it on the Discovery channel, look no further.
'Frozen Planet' due out before Hell freezes over
The enduring popularity of "Planet Earth" is compelling enough to its backers to convince them to go back to the well. The Discovery Channel and BBC's Natural History Unit are teaming up again to cover the poles of the Earth in "Frozen Planet." HD content captured from the Arctic and Antarctic? Sign us up! You've got plenty of time to continue enjoying that HDM copy of Planet Earth, though -- the new feature is not set to air until 2012. Yeah, that hurts, but quality takes time, friends. The real question is what HDM format this feature will emerge on (if any still exist); this is one title we'll be putting in our library wishlist.
Discovery Channel offers rock bottom prices on HD DVDs
Not like this comes as any surprise whatsoever, but the latest to jump on the HD DVD fire sale wagon is Discovery Channel. As of now, the firm is offering up its famed Planet Earth, Sunrise Earth and Discovery Atlas titles with massive discounts attached (some flicks are as low as $9.99), but alas, all sales are inevitably final. Still, $29.99 for the Planet Earth HD DVD set could be reason enough to keep that unsupported player around.[Via John B.]
Deadliest Catch game in the works
One of our favorite marketing conceits is "average guy makes game," and it's out in full force for this announcement trailer of a video game adaption of TV's #1 crab fishing docu-drama, Deadliest Catch, coming to Xbox 360 and PC. In the extremely media-light trailer, Captain Sig Hansen says he was inspired to "find a team to create a video game based on our crab fishing experiences."We'd love to live in a world where burly crab fishermen take breaks from risking life and limb to give us commoners, bodies enflabbened by the succulent harvest Hansen and crew procure, a taste of what being a real man is actually like. Alas, we'd be more likely to believe "Hey, would you crab fishermen like some free money?"Side note: Does this sound like the sort of game you'd want to play?%Gallery-16980%
