Sesame
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HBO's exclusive deal for 'Sesame Street' cuts out Amazon and Netflix
With HBO finally doing battle directly against streaming video subscriptions from Netflix and Amazon, its biggest strike against those two comes today with an exclusive deal for Sesame Street. Most of us have grown up with Big Bird, Cookie Monster and the rest available primarily through PBS and they'll still be there, but with this five-year deal, HBO gets a nine-month exclusive (cable and streaming) on new episodes. Sesame Workshop CEO Jeff Dunn called the arrangement "a true winning public-private partnership model," that will give it the funding to keep making new episodes of the show, and a new Sesame Street Muppet spinoff series.
Sesame Street's executive producer on staying relevant after 46 years
Thanks to Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, the competition for kid's eyeballs is fiercer than ever, but that's not slowing down Sesame Street. Now in its 46th year, the show is making a bigger and bigger push into social media, with often hilarious (but secretly educational) results. I sat down with the show's Senior Vice President and Executive Producer, Carol Lynn-Parente, shortly after meeting my new best friend, Cookie Monster, to talk about the show's digital life and more.
Sesame's smart door lock lets you in with a simple knock
There's no shortage of smart door locks, but they typically require that you bring out your phone or enter a code to get in. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just knock, like you're visiting a friend? Candy House thinks that's a decent idea. It just unveiled Sesame, a smart lock that lets you get in with a secret knock on either your door or your phone -- you don't have to pull out a device, tap a number pad or even speak a command (though that's available) to open things up. The design should fit on your existing deadbolt lock within "seconds," and an optional WiFi bridge gives you both remote access as well as an easy way to determine which friends are allowed inside.
Touch-free smartphone lets you text and play games with head gestures
In the Arabian Nights story, whenever Ali Baba shouts "Open Sesame," the door to the den of the Forty Thieves opens. But for the 10 beta testers of the Sesame phone, uttering that phrase means unlocking their smartphones without the use of their hands. Once the touch-free phone is active, users merely have to move their heads to control the cursor on screen. And yes, they can do anything a smartphone's capable of, including sending messages and emails, taking/making calls and downloading apps. They can even play games like Angry Birds and Candy Crush by using head gestures. Once they're done, they simply have to say "Close Sesame" to lock their phones again.
