Netflix nightmare explained: Amazon apologizes for outage

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What happened at Amazon Web Services to take down the Netflix streaming service for hours on Christmas Eve? It was a combination of human error and flawed access controls: An AWS developer was able to accidentally delete a key data set in the AWS Elastic Load Balancing Service, causing the disruption. That’s the word from AWS in… Read More…

Why did Amazon Instant Video keep going, while Netflix sputtered?

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Last month, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings separately took the stage at the Re:Invent conference in Las Vegas and touted the significance of Netflix as a proud customer of Amazon Web Services. Both suggested that the alliance symbolized the importance of how two companies — which compete head-to-head in streaming of… Read More…

Amazon Web Services’ Andy Jassy: The ‘economics of what we’re doing is extremely disruptive’ to the old-guard

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Why is Amazon.com going to kick the butt of Microsoft, IBM and everyone else in cloud computing for a long time to come? Amazon Web Services chief Andy Jassy essentially laid out the case today at the company’s Re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, telling some 20,000 attendees that the company’s focus on high-volume, low-margin businesses… Read More…

After Icahn takes Netflix stake, streaming video service looks to fend off unwanted suitors

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Shares of Netflix surged last week after billionaire investor Carl Icahn purchased 9.98 percent of the streaming media service, suggesting that it could be a possible buyout candidate by the likes of Amazon.com or Microsoft. But Netflix isn’t in the mood to sell to just anyone. Today, the company, with 30 million members, announced a new shareholder… Read More…

Do you binge-watch TV? 6 ways to justify your habit

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You finish a great episode of a great show. You want to watch the next one, but you’ve already seen three of these and it’s getting late. Do you press play? If so, you’ve developed the tech-enabled entertainment habit known as binge viewing. And some people think you’re doing it wrong. “Slow down,” wrote Jim… Read More…

History: Did Amazon try to buy Netflix for $12M in 1999?

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Just imagine what could have been? A new book to be released this week by Reuters reporter Gina Keating suggests that Amazon.com tried to buy DVD movie rental service Netflix for $12 million back in 1999. Whoa. That certainly could have been a lot cheaper than Netflix’s current market value of $3.7 billion. Amazon.com was… Read More…

‘Redbox Instant’ streaming video service on the way

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It’s official: Verizon and Redbox parent company Coinstar will enter the streaming media world and battle Netflix, Amazon and the rest of the digital video market for customers. Bloomberg reports that Redbox Instant by Verizon, a joint venture initially announced earlier this year, will be available between late November and mid-December. The video service will… Read More…

Netflix CEO: Amazon Prime video a ‘confusing mess’

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It looks like Jeff Bezos & Co. have finally gotten Reed Hastings’ attention, or at least gotten Hastings to show that he’s feeling the competitive heat. The Netflix CEO previously made a habit of downplaying the competition from Amazon.com in the online video market, saying as recently as July that his company had yet to… Read More…

Netflix loses out as Amazon inks deal with Epix for popular movies

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Amazon.com continues to bolster its collection of movie titles for its Prime Instant Video service, announcing today that it has struck a deal with Viacom’s Epix premium cable channel for thousands of movies. The new titles will be provided from studios such as Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Lionsgate, bolstering Amazon’s position in the video content… Read More…

Amazon Prime adds ‘West Wing’ and ‘Fringe’ in exclusive streaming deal

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Amazon has struck a deal with Warner Bros. to bring West Wing and Fringe to its Amazon Prime Instant Video service before its rivals get the TV shows — the latest step its effort to boost the streaming features of its Amazon Prime subscription service. The company, competing against services such as Hulu and Netflix,… Read More…

Amazon.com should buy Coinstar: A tech prediction that makes a ton of sense

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A few months ago, the tech blogosphere exploded after rumors emerged that Amazon.com was considering opening physical retail stores. Since those reports, we haven’t heard a peep about whether the Seattle online retailer would break with tradition and expand into the choppy waters of brick-and-mortar retail. But there’s another possibility that could resolve some of… Read More…

Finally: Amazon video app comes to Microsoft’s Xbox 360

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Amazon and Microsoft just announced the first native Amazon Instant Video app for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, making it possible to watch videos from the Amazon service on the Microsoft console without a cumbersome workaround. The app is particularly good news for anyone who already has a $79/year Amazon Prime service and a $60/year Xbox Live… Read More…

Netflix to Comcast: “Internet caps should apply equally”

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In a broadside aimed directly at Comcast, Netflix devoted a section of its quarterly shareholder letter on financial performance to call the cable provider out for exempting the Xfinity On Demand Xbox video streaming app from its own broadband usage caps. On page four of the letter under the bold headline “Internet Caps Should Apply… Read More…

Netflix gains subscribers, tracks Amazon “carefully”

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“Given Amazon’s size and ambitions, we continue to track their progress carefully as well.” With that brief statement, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings acknowledged one of the online streaming video service’s perceived competitors in its quarterly letter to shareholders as part of today’s first quarter 2012 earnings report: Amazon Prime Instant Video. Overall, Netflix came in… Read More…

New evidence of Amazon’s ambitions to make original TV

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From Hulu to Netflix, it seems that every online video service is getting into original television these days, and new signs emerged overnight that Amazon.com is no different. Fortune reports that it spotted a LinkedIn profile for an Amazon executive named Joe Lewis, a veteran of 20th Century Fox and Comedy Central who listed his… Read More…

Comcast unveils $4.99 per month Streampix service, taking aim at Netflix

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Comcast this week is rolling out a new video streaming service called Streampix, an offering that will be available only to subscribers of the giant cable company. The offering, which includes access to past seasons of TV shows such as 30 Rock, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and The Office as well as movies like Brokeback Mountain,… Read More…

Amazon hiring execs to make comedy and kids shows

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Newly surfaced Amazon.com job postings provide some interesting clues about the company’s push into original programming. An Amazon unit called the People’s Production Company, an extension of its crowd-sourced Amazon Studios initiative, is seeking creative executives to develop half-hour comedy and kids shows “for online and traditional distribution.” As noted by AllThingsD’s John Paczkowski, that… Read More…

Coinstar buys NCR assets for $100M, shares soar on Redbox sales growth in Q4

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It has been a very busy day at Coinstar. The Bellevue maker of coin-counting machines already announced a strategic partnership between its Redbox video rental business and Verizon. Now, the company has released strong financial results for the fourth quarter along with the purchase of assets from NCR’s entertainment business. The asset purchase includes Blockbuster Express… Read More…

Ask Andru: Should I get Kinect if I use my Xbox 360 mostly for watching Netflix?

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We’re back with another edition of Ask Andru – this time we’re focusing on the wildly popular Kinect add-on, and how useful it might be for Xbox 360 owners who primarily use their consoles for watching streaming video. On to the question: My family has an Xbox 360 but we end up using it primarily… Read More…