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BroApp coming to iOS amidst firestorm of opinion
BroApp, a US$1.99 Android app that sends automated texts to friends, partners, and family is heading soon to iOS. The app acts on your behalf as a kind of techno-Cyrano. It messages your recipient with a fortune cookie of attention. "Thinking of you." "Can't wait to see you." "Good morning! I hope you have a great day!". It's also smart enough to disable itself when it's near a target's Wi-Fi network by detecting SSIDs. The website advertises that the product "messages your girlfriend sweet things so you can spend more time with the Bros" (hence the name). And, already, Wired has taken a stance suggesting that some apps may turn us into sociopaths. Me? I disagree. We already live in a Hallmark age. A pre-printed sentiment is now de rigueur for nearly every holiday and life event. If you inadvertently skip these plastic emotions, the social sanction can be be harsh. BroApp is no more unrealistic than the over-the-top sentimentality we witness on Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and New Years. BroApp isn't creating a pathology. It just reflects the reality of one that already exists.
Daily iPad App: SpiritClips from Hallmark brings family-friendly programming to your iPad
SpiritClips from Hallmark has a star-filled history. It was founded in 2007 by filmmaker Rob Fried who produced the inspiring film Rudy and worked on the equally uplifting flick Hoosiers. Fried originally founded SpiritClips as way to showcase inspirational short films and e-video cards. In the past six years, he has grown SpiritClips into a full-fledged online movie streaming service with hundreds of family-friendly titles. Unlike Netflix or Hulu, SpiritClips doesn't show R-rated films, movies with excessive violence, language or nudity and avoids shows with political agendas or divisive social issues. It includes Hallmark Hall of Fame movies, The Dove Foundation-approved content and classic feel-good movies like Good Will Hunting. The UI of the iPad app has a Netflix look and feel with scrollable rows of movie tiles that are organized by film type and genre. When you tap on a tile, you can read a description of the movie or TV show. The description provides you with the plot overview and the length of the flick. There's also a list of related movies if you are in the mood to browse. Movie playback was solid on WiFi and occasionally choppy on cellular, with poor signal quality pausing the movie intermittently. The app has the standard suite of basic playback controls and a toggle to watch the movie in full-screen or letterbox mode. The biggest feature missing from the app is the ability to pick up watching where you left off. Once you stop a movie, you have to manually scroll back to where you stopped. There's also no way to mark a movie as a favorite or set it aside to watch it later. These are critical features, so hopefully they show up in a future update. SpiritClips from Hallmark is for the movie or TV fan who wants to watch heartwarming films on their iPad. The SpiritClips app is available for free, but it requires a subscription. You can sign up and get a free week of access to the service. A yearly, unlimited subscription costs US$35.99, while the monthly option will set you back $4.99.
The Daily Grind: Is your relationship with MMOs like courting?
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Or, to the angry-slash-rebellious, The Day of Insufferable Expectations Sponsored By Hallmark. Whether you're with a significant other or are secure in your singleness, we just want you to know today that Massively loves you very much. The chocolates and plush teddy bears are on the way, promise. Speaking of love and dating, several people have made the observation over the years that players' relationships with MMOs are significantly different than players' relationships with other types of video games, almost as if these relationships mirrored romantic courting. There are periods of infatuation, lust over the hype, falling in love with the product, monogamy, secret affairs with other MMOs, moments with the game loses its luster, and the occasional break-up. So is this you? Are your relationships with MMOs like courting? Today, take a step back and analyze just how you relate to these games -- maybe you're a "player," maybe a faithful lover, or maybe just plain disturbed by this analogy altogether. What do you think? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
U-verse preps customers for carriage disputes and missing channels
Already involved in a carriage dispute with Hallmark Channel, AT&T's gotten out in front of a possible new carriage dispute with Scripps Networks Interactive by notifying customers what channels they could lose at month's end. Others are also on the block unless a new deal is worked out, including FamilyNet, EWTN and Bloomberg, but Scripps' DIY Network, Food Network, HGTV and others are the most notable. Our friends at ZatzNotFunny recently linked up a Bloomberg article detailing the rising number of retrans fee disputes and discussing the reasons behind them, as content providers and operators continue to try to squeeze profits out of their existing business model while still expanding into new ones, all without raising rates so rapidly customers complain. [Thanks, Salman]
Send an audio get-well card to Steve
We'll have more coverage and reactions tomorrow to Apple's announcement this afternoon of Steve Jobs' leave of absence while he tends to his health. While we may have different takes on what the news means for Apple's immediate and long-term prospects, I believe we can all join in wishing Steve a full and speedy recuperation. I'm sure we also all send Tim Cook our hopes for Apple's continued success.To that end, TUAW wants to give you a voice as part of our audio get-well card to Steve. You can call in your message to our voicemail hotline at (917) 512-7398 x41469, or record it yourself and upload the MP3 or AAC file to our dropbox at http://tr.im/getwell -- we'll edit the messages together for next week's podcast. Be sure to identify yourself on the call.If you want to do a photo or illustrated card, you can upload it to the same dropbox, or simply tag it with 'tuaw' on Flickr to add it to our pool, and we'll highlight the best in a gallery later this week.If you're blogging your thoughts on today's announcement and Steve's health as it relates to Apple, feel free to leave a link in the comments.
Starz broadens offerings by landing multitude of licensing deals
Aside from producing its own original series, Starz Entertainment is also looking to outsiders to broaden its content offerings. In a recent announcement, the channel discloses that it has just closed a multitude of deals that will net it a "bevy of first run and library titles from Summit, Lionsgate, Hallmark, IFC, the Samuel Goldwyn Co., First Look and Fremantle." Better still, that material can be distributed via a variety of methods including all 16 of its linear channels, Starz HD, Starz On Demand and Starz Play (its broadband video download service). Eager to know what titles these deals will bring? Try 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, By Dawn's Early Light, Call of the Wild, Bye Bye Birdie, Hound of the Baskervilles and Rear Window -- and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Cox Communications to carry Hallmark Movie Channel HD
Another month, another carrier picking up Hallmark Movie Channel HD. This time, we see Cox Communications landing an agreement with Crown Media Holdings in order to distribute the high-definition feed of Hallmark Movie Channel. The operator currently beams out the SD flavor along with Hallmark Channel, but this newly inked multi-year agreement ensures that fans of the network will soon be seeing an HD version. Exactly how soon, unfortunately, remains unanswered.
Hallmark Movie Channel HD could hit Cablevision
Since launching in Q1 2008, Hallmark Movie Channel HD has found its way onto Time Warner Cable and DirecTV, and now it has discovered yet another home: Cablevision. A recently announced agreement between the carrier and Crown Media Holdings will give it the "right to distribute both the standard-definition and high-definition versions of Hallmark Movie Channel," though it's not specifically stated if it will choose to carry the HD variant. Sure, it's not the most thrilling possibility, but one additional high-def option is better than none, we suppose.
Hallmark Movie Channel HD coming to DirecTV, too
When we first heard that Hallmark Movie Channel HD was hoping to rush into households as early as April, there was speculation that DirecTV would be the first to lock it down. Curiously enough, Time Warner Cable eventually snagged that honor, but it looks as if DTV will still be carrying said channel according to a renewed agreement between it and Crown Media Holdings. Put simply, terms of deal stipulate that DirecTV "will have the right to distribute the standard-definition and high-definition versions of Hallmark Movie Channel." Unfortunately, an actual launch date was casually omitted.
Hallmark Movie Channel HD headed to Time Warner Cable
Nothing too groundbreaking here, but for fans of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, you can rest assured that it'll remain on Time Warner Cable systems for awhile longer. Reportedly, the cable operator has just renewed its distribution agreement with Crown Media Holdings for "a multi-year term." Under the new deal, TWC "will have the right to continue its distribution of Hallmark Channel as well as the opportunity for distribution of both the standard-definition and high-definition versions of Hallmark Movie Channel." If you'll recall, we were previously left in the dark as to where HMC HD would actually launch -- now, it seems we have our answer. If only things were this easy with NFL Network... [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]
Hallmark Movie Channel HD targets April launch date, but where?
Hallmark Movie Channel set a date for bringing its "whole-family" library of flicks to HDTV format, April 2. DirecTV will be first with the channel, but if your provider gets the SD feed, they will get HD at no additional cost, hopefully meaning only bandwidth considerations can stand in the way of a speedy rollout. Viewers can expect one large programming event per quarter, starting with the miniseries Son of the Dragon. The only bad news to report for fans of the network is that while a high definition version of the regular Hallmark Channel is coming, it probably won't be ready in 2008.Update: Multichannel News has updated its article, apparently realizing that since DirecTV doesn't have Hallmark Movie Channel, it would be somewhat difficult to carry the HD version. So, this channel will debut April 2...somewhere.
HD version of Hallmark Movie Channel coming in Q1 2008
Those who've found themselves skipping right over the Hallmark Movie Channel solely due to its standard-definition nature can start rejoicing, as Crown Media Holdings is reportedly set to launch an HD simulcast of the station next year. Henry Schleiff, president and CEO of Crown Media, owner of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, "unveiled plans for Hallmark Movie Channel HD during a second-quarter conference call," and he also noted that it would "include the presentation of many Hallmark Channel original movies in their pure high-definition form." No word on a hard launch date just yet, but look for it to show up sometime in Q1 2008.
AC: Wild World keeps on trucking out the holiday gifts
Looks like we're batting 0 for 2 on news outside of the LA Convention center last week as another trusty reader, well aware of our fascination with all things Animal Crossing, sent us an email that was both informative and painful to read. Informative in the way that Mother's Day was another occasion where Nintendo let loose another holiday gift for all those Wi-Fi-connecting Animal Crossing: Wild World addicts out there and painful in the way that we failed to obtain it! His email reads: "Hi there,I'm not sure if this was something sent out over WiFi connection, but I opened my gates yesterday (Mother's Day) just in case.A letter in my mailbox was waiting today. It reads:"Buy low, sell high, and call your mom on Mother's Day. These are the keys to a regret free life. - Nintendo"A dafodil was attached. Just wondering if all the post-E3 stuff obscured this ostensible WiFi goodie. :-)" Now, as awesome a reader as you are to let us know what we all missed, I must ask you just exactly where are the pictures man?! Hook it up! [Thanks NotAwesome! Image courtesy of Hallmark]
