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'Babylon 5' will return as an animated movie from its original creator
Original ‘Babylon 5’ series creator J. Michael Straczynski just announced an animated feature length reboot film developed by Warner Bros. Animation. It is apparently finished and more details will be released next week.
Hollywood has long-term Netflix deals it can't shake
If you listened to traditional media giants like Disney and AT&T's WarnerMedia, you'd think Netflix was about to become a ghost town as well-known movies and TV shows vanish forever. However, that's not entirely true. Bloomberg has learned that Netflix has far-reaching deals that could not only keep movies and shows on the service for a while, but restore some of them later on. Disney, for instance, reportedly brings its 2016-2018 movies (including Black Panther) back to Netflix starting in 2026 -- a very long wait, but it's not the permanent cutoff implied in the past.
EA and the CW team up for a 'Madden NFL' eSports special
Sure, Madden NFL is a massively popular video game series that began in 1993 as John Madden Football, but it has never really broken through to the mainstream. The franchise has been making inroads to the eSports space over the last couple of years, though, with a live broadcast last year on ESPN 2. Now the CW is set to air a one-hour primetime special, co-produced by EA and NFL Films called the EA Madden NFL 18 Challenge. The mouthful of a title will air December 27th of this year.
Hulu adds the CW to its live TV service
If you're using Hulu's new live TV service for your cord-cutting needs, you'll find a new network available soon. Hulu just announced that the CW (home to shows like Jane The Virgin, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Supergirl, Arrow and The Flash) will be available to stream live. That's the fifth major broadcast network to join Hulu, alongside Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC. Naturally, this means you'll be able to watch any of those aforementioned CW shows live when they air; additionally, Hulu will be adding the local station broadcasts so that you'll see the same programming that you'd see when watching over the air.
The CW's shows will be available on streaming devices next week
Reports surfaced in January that CBS and Time Warner were planning a streaming service for The CW network. So far, those plans haven't come to fruition, but starting next week, it'll be a lot easier to stream shows that air on the the channel. The CW's series were already available for in-season streaming on the web and its mobile apps free of charge, but based on a tweet from the network's Supergirl account, those shows are also headed Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, Roku and Xbox next week. And they still won't cost you a dime.
Netflix will stream CW shows a week after their season finale
Last month, rumors began circulating that those CW shows that were streaming on Hulu would make it to Netflix a lot faster. Well, those reports were accurate as the streaming service and the CBS and Warner Brothers network made the deal official today. Starting with the upcoming 2016-2017 broadcast season, the decidedly comic-heavy slate of Arrow, The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Jane the Virgin, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and more will debut on Netflix as complete seasons eight days after the show's finale airs. And yes, the just-aired seasons that wrapped up recently will be available as well.
CW shows like 'Arrow' might be leaving Hulu this year
One of the worst parts about getting your TV fix through services like Netflix and Hulu is that your favorite show can disappear on any given day, with little warning. If you're a fan of the CW (home to shows like Arrow, Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), it unfortunately looks like it's getting a bit harder to stay up-to-date on the network's shows. According to Variety, the CW will pull out of Hulu in favor of putting up its shows on its ad-supported website. As with the current (and expiring) Hulu deal, only the five most recent episodes of any particular show will be available.
The CW is bringing eSports to broadcast TV next month
The growing popularity of eSports is making traditional TV networks take notice. We know ESPN's already working hard to embrace that community, and now The CW seems to be on a similar path. In partnership with Machinima, the popular YouTube gaming production company, CW will be airing the ESL Mortal Kombat X Pro League Finals on its broadcast television channel in the US. If you're into it, you can watch the primetime special event February 15th at 8PM ET -- no pay-TV needed.
The CW network might get its own streaming service
As streaming deals with Netflix and Hulu are nearing their end, CBS and Time Warner are considering a new online service for their jointly-owned CW network, Bloomberg reports. It sounds like they're considering something similar to CBS All Access, the network's online service that includes a live TV feed and archive of past shows. There's no word on pricing yet, but sources say CBS and Time Warner are considering listing it between $2 and $4 a month (CBS All Access costs $6 a month).
Arrow actor Stephen Amell stars in new Lego Batman 3 DLC
For its latest downloadable addition, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is ditching the titular Dark Knight to focus on another vigilante billionaire: Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow. Instead of simply cobbling together a Lego version of the comic book character - a thinly-veiled Robin Hood/Batman hybrid - Warner Bros. Interactive cast Stephen Amell, the actor who plays Green Arrow in the surprisingly good CW series Arrow. The developers then modeled the Lego character after Amell, who provided the voice work. As you can see in the trailer beyond the break, Amell seems very comfortable as a virtual character, which shouldn't be too surprising, given that he also played the role as a Green Arrow DLC skin in Injustice: Gods Among Us. The Arrow DLC for Lego Batman 3 is currently available on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 and will be available on January 14 for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. It bears a $3 price tag, but is included (along with four other DLC packs) in the game's $15 season pass. [Image: WBIE]
Cable, the FCC and streaming killed Saturday morning cartoons
We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but one of your fondest childhood traditions has kicked the bucket: Saturday morning cartoons are no more. The CW has aired its last batch of Vortexx programming, leaving American kids without any animated broadcast TV to start their weekends for the first time in decades. From here on out, young ones glued to the tube will mostly be watching educational shows.
The CW app brings full episodes streaming to Xbox 360 a day after they air
The latest entertainment app to launch for the Xbox 360 comes from The CW (the relationship has now come full circle), bringing shows like Arrow, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries to the console. Special to this offering is that it will stream full episodes the day after they air on network TV, and will not require users to verify a cable or satellite subscription. Xbox Live Gold is required, so it's not an entirely free pass to stream away. Still, for fans of the shows it's another way to watch and this Friday's Vampire Diaries episode will feature some exclusive second screen content available via SmartGlass. Not into The CW's teen-centric offerings? Beyond the just-launched Pizza Hut app, XBL Silver sports fans can enjoy a free weekend (25th - 28th) of access to ESPN, MLB.tv, UFC (the 7 pre-fight stories), NHL GameCenter and NBA Game Time. There's also the Hockey Night in Canada app, and an update for Hulu Plus that lets parents search for kids shows based on age group.
CW app lets you watch Vampire Diaries, Arrow on Xbox 360
A free CW app on Xbox 360 allows Gold subscribers to stream full episodes of network shows and other content through their console. Episodes of Arrow, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and other select CW shows will be available the day after airing.The Vampire Diaries supports Xbox SmartGlass functionality, enabling content like an interactive map, character biographies and show lore. The CW app is the third to make its debut recently on Xbox 360, following yesterday's amazing/horrible Pizza Hut app and last week's addition of Flixster.
Engadget Primed: Camera metering explained
Primed goes in-depth on the technobabble you hear on Engadget every day -- we dig deep into each topic's history and how it benefits our lives. You can follow the series here. Looking to suggest a piece of technology for us to break down? Drop us a line at primed *at* engadget *dawt* com. Is learning how to meter with your camera really necessary? With all the intelligent models out today, who needs it, right? Well, you may, depending on the type of killer photography you hope to produce. When it comes to the person behind the camera, there are a few types of photographers. First, there's the photog who just wants to snap away, not terribly concerned about how their photos turn out -- or, at the very least, not interested in knowing how to alter the camera. If this describes you, that's fine -- the latest-and-greatest compact cameras may be your cup of tea. But then there's the amateur shooter who desires a better understanding of how their cameras determine exposure, and if you fit into this category, this piece should be right up your alley.Metering is not a subject you can easily master, let alone explain entirely in an article of this length, but we can give you an idea of how it all works. I consistently see the faces of my workshop students glaze over as I wax rhapsodic about the wonders of metering, but I also notice wry smiles from time to time, which shows me the wheels are turning -- they begin to realize all the things they can do if only they can conquer this aspect of photography. However, comprehension and applied mastery are two separate balls of wax. Putting what you learn to practice is the start, and you can improve over a number of months, but true metering control in any situation requires years of practice.So for our 2012 pre-apocalyptic installment of Primed, we'll break down the world of camera metering, giving you a bit of history, dissecting the main components, describing what your camera wants to do and telling you what the future may hold. By the end, you'll have a better understanding of this vital photographic topic... either that or you'll be in a nice deep sleep.Note: Check out our recent Primed articles on aperture and image sensors to add to your metering knowledge.
ConnecTV social companion beta launches for iPad, PC and Mac (hands-on)
The old guard's attempt at a social TV companion just got real with the launch of ConnecTV in open beta for iPad, PC and Mac -- smartphones and Android tablet versions are coming soon. The idea is you'll load up this app while watching TV and find a whole new way to discover details of your favorite content while at the same time share with your friends. The app uses a mic to detect what you're watching just like IntoNow and links up with both Facebook or Twitter (it'll also work on its own). Overall we were underwhelmed and quickly realizing that the other startups are way ahead in both release date and functionality. For starters, there are plenty of channels missing and not a single channel number. You can't even search for your favorite shows or channels. But even when it did manage to figure out what we were watching, we felt like we were being forced fed useless data like trivia and ads rather than having useful information like actors or players names at our finger tips. There's no doubt in our mind that the app was designed more to make us discover certain content rather than discover shows based on our actual tastes. Then again, this is the first version out of the gate, and there's no reason to believe this isn't just the first step of many on the way to ConnecTV's vision of how we should enjoy our favorite shows.
Vudu adds TV shows to its rental catalog, but only some are in HD
Here we go again with a good news / bad news announcement from Vudu, as it's added a nice catalog of TV shows to its library for rent and/or purchase. The bad news however, is that despite having the 1080p / 5.1 audio HDX technology we've come to know and love, it's currently only offering a small subset of them in anything other than standard definition. Like other online stores, there's an odd situation where some things are a decent value (season one of The Walking Dead is $26.99 on Blu-ray at Amazon, $15.99 on iTunes in HD, and $16.99 on Vudu HDX) and others are not (season six of Weeds is $27.99 on Vudu HDX, $23.99 on Blu-ray at Amazon and $38.87 on iTunes) so shop carefully. Given time the library will probably even out more in quality and price and once Vudu is available on more devices (and hopefully in HD on the PC at some point) there will be more reasons to consider it as a VOD option.
Project Natal makes cameo appearance on Smallville
Did you know that Smallville is shot on location in the future? We weren't aware of this fact until several readers pointed out that Project Natal made an appearance in Friday's episode, "Warrior." Want to see Natal gaming in action (as in, pantomimed by an actor)? Start watching this episode at about the 23-minute mark. The awkward product placement makes an already-awkward date scene super-awkward! "Maybe you need to look ridiculous!" the player says, trying to entice Chloe into a game of Ricochet. Could that be the tagline for the ad campaign? If you want to watch a thrilling yarn about a cursed comic book, that's the rest of the episode.
Project Natal makes a Smallville cameo, does not guarantee ability to fly*
We didn't get any more details about Microsoft's Project Natal add-on for Xbox 360 from the X10 event, but tonight Smallville viewers got to watch someone else whipping their arms and legs around trying to catch imaginary balls flying out of their TV screen. Short of some actual time gesticulating wildly in front of that motion sensing cam this is the closest thing we've got to actually using it, but as the clip (embedded after the break) shows, girls are likely to be more impressed by someone that can fly. %Gallery-85394%
Core i5 and i7-equipped laptops / desktops emerge from every corner
Best Buy already stocked up on the Core i5-equipped VAIO S and Satellite E205, and now it seems that everyone else is following suit. Just weeks after Intel announced that it would be releasing Core i5 and Core i7 chips for the mobile realm, the usual suspects have already outed a number of refreshed rigs that include said slabs of silicon. Sony's 14-inch VAIO CW is now available from $829 with a mobile Core i3, while the $1,120 version ships with a Core i5, NVIDIA's GeForce GT 330M CPU and a Blu-ray combo drive. Dell has obliged by adding a 2.53GHz Core i5 to its 15-inch Studio (available now for $999.99), and there's even a version that ships with Netgear's Push2TV adapter for taking advantage of Intel Wireless Display technology. Over on the desktop side, Acer hasn't wasted any time by updating its Aspire G Predator with a sultry black shell (as opposed to the old orange one) and a 3.06GHz Core i7-950 processor, though the $3,185 MSRP should scare away all but the hardest of hardcore. Seen any others get the Core i5 / i7 bump? Shout 'em out in comments!
VAIO CW hands-on
The poor VAIO CW has to play third fiddle to the VAIO X and VAIO L tonight, but it's a pretty nice general-market laptop in its own right. Especially for the price we'd say that Sony used some pretty premium materials here. The trackpad is large and comfily textured, though it didn't seem to be multitouch, unfortunately. We found the keyboard to be nice, if just a bit shallow to the touch, and sometimes the general complement of regularness is a comfort in this crazy, mixed-up world. %Gallery-74993% %Gallery-75001%
