Amazon Prime Opts For Monthly Subs to Compete With Netflix

When it comes to video streaming service, there is currently a debate over which is best for you, Netflix or Amazon prime. With Netflix recently raising its prices, Amazon Prime looks to be a large contender thanks to some of the original content it now produces, but many are put off by the large upfront cost for the service. This could change as US users of the service could switch to a monthly service.

Previously Prime users had to pay a yearly subscription of $99, offering access to not only their fast delivery options but also Prime Video and Prime Music, the media providing aspects of the Prime service. The monthly subscription costs $10.99 a month if you wanted to keep all the benefits while if you only wanted Prime Video you could opt in for the $8.99 subscription.

With the yearly total costing you $131.88, a 25% increase overly the annual membership, users may want to take the monthly bundle around times like Christmas or large concentrations of birthdays, rather than using it as a go to package over the yearly service. It should also be noted that if you were to select the monthly subscription you won’t get the 25% prepayment discount that annual members of prime benefit from.

Toshiba Records $4.5 Billion Annual Loss

Toshiba CEO was forced to resign after revelations came to fruition about the company’s management exaggerating operating profits by as much as $1.2 billion. Clearly, this has made a profound impact on their reputation among partners and consumers. According to The Wall Street Journal, The company is set to make a $4.5 billion annual loss with 7,800 jobs being cut as part of a large restructuring programme. Toshiba is having to make difficult decisions to try to restore faith in the company and rebuild once again. However, given their tarnished reputation, it’s impossible to know if they have a long-term future.

Out out the job losses, 6,800 are going from Toshiba’s customer electronics and applications department. Toshiba President Masashi Muromachi said about the upcoming financial period:

“We admit our steps toward restructuring were behind the curve,”

“The damage wouldn’t be this large if we had been able to implement overhaul plans much sooner.”

He also suggested that the company would “focus on businesses that can generate profits” and “consider withdrawals from unprofitable ones if a turnaround is difficult.”  This is an interesting statement to make and exemplifies how challenging Toshiba’s future is. It seems even the company’s CEO isn’t optimistic about the profitability of certain markets. This means is perfectly feasible for them to exit the consumer electronic sector to stay afloat.

Amazon Prime Now Offers Same Day Delivery in Parts of UK

Amazons never been strangers to upgrading their services,  from the idea of delivering with drones, opening their own bookstore, offering offline video playback and even suing people who leave fake reviews about products. It should be no surprise then that Amazon prime users are to get yet another added bonus to their services with their new scheme Prime Same Day.

At the moment at the cost of £79 a  year you can get Amazon prime, giving you access to free next day delivery on a range of their products and their Amazon Prime Music and Video services, giving you access to a wide range of music and video streaming facilities at no extra cost. If that wasn’t enough the new scheme will see you getting the ability to place orders for delivery the same day.

There are a few restrictions on the deal’s though, currently only those within the M25 are eligible at the start of the scheme, and while there are no limitations on the value of the items ordered, there will be a set collection of items available. Don’t worry though, as the collection is set to range around a million items, with orders placed before noon delivered between 6 and 10 that evening.

If that wasn’t enough, Prime members ordering to London or Birmingham can have it delivered within the hour for £6.99 or for free within a two-hour window between 8am and midnight the same day.

Costing nothing extra and giving their users more choices and speedier returns on their purchases can only be a good thing for the customer and if it works, Amazon will soon see deliveries being placed every hour of the day ready for that adventure the next day.

Facebook, Minecraft Lead iOS App Store 2014 Charts

Well isn’t this a surprise – Facebook Messenger and Minecraft pretty much lead the 2014 iOS App Store charts.

The top free iPhone app was Facebook Messenger while the top paid iPhone app was the game Heads Up!, with Minecraft: Pocket Edition in second place. The top iPad app was Minecraft: Pocket Edition with YouTube as the top free iPad app.

Free iPhone apps:

1. Facebook Messenger
2. Snapchat
3. YouTube
4. Facebook
5. Instagram
6. Pandora Radio
7. Google Maps
8. Flipagram
9. Spotify Music
10. 2048

Paid iPhone apps:

1. Heads Up!
2. Minecraft – Pocket Edition
3. Afterlight
4. Plague Inc.
5. Sleep Cycle alarm clock
6. Facetune
7. Cut the Rope 2
8. Bloons TD 5
9. A Dark Room
10. 7 Minute Workout Challenge

Free iPad apps:

1. YouTube
2. Netflix
3. Calculator for iPad Free
4. Skype for iPad
5. Microsoft Word
6. Facebook Messenger
7. Facebook
8. Candy Crush Saga
9. Chrome
10. Clash of Clans

Paid iPad apps:

1. Minecraft – Pocket Edition
2. Cut the Rope 2
3. Heads Up!
4. The Room Two
5. Survivalcraft
6. Notability
7. Terraria
8. Plants vs. Zombies HD
9. Hide N Seek : Mini Game With Worldwide Multiplayer
10. Card Wars – Adventure Time

Source: iTunes

Wikipedia Releases First Year in Review Video

Wikipedia has released its first annual year in review video. The video is somewhat similar to Google’s video from Tuesday, highlighting the year’s big events. 

The video touches on Ebola, the World Cup, Robin Williams and more – all through the medium of the many millions of Wikipedia articles. It also includes a number of license free videos and images submitted by ‘Wikipedians’ from all over the world. 

Catch the video bellow. 

Source: The Next Web

Google Releases Annual ‘Year in Search’

Google has released its annual ‘Year in Search’, formerly known as the Zeitgeist. It comes with a number of surprises and a number of things you probably guessed.

The top trending search subject for the year was the death of Robin Williams, the actor and comedian who passed away in August of this year. That topic was closely followed by the World Cup, which took place in Brazil this summer, with the deadly Ebola virus following up behind that.

The top trending search term in tech was of course the iPhone 6, with the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Nexus 6, the Moto G, and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 following up in that order.

Google has produced a wonderful website, with a number of beautiful pages displaying all the data in what is probably the best way possible. You can search through ‘top charts’, read about big topics and more.

Check it out here.

Source: Google

Twitter Has User Growth for the Second Quarter in a Row

Twitter is looking like it’s on the up again for the second quarter in a row. The company posted figures that shows user growth  in Q2 of this year. The growth rate is helping the company get over concerns from its previous quarter that it had peaked for popularity. Twitter saw its shares surge in after hours trading to $49.62 each.

Twitter announced 16 million new users had signed up in the latest quarter, that number represents 6.3% more people around the world who logged in at least once a month. Twitter reported revenue of $312.2 million, more than double of what it took last quarter, unfortunately for Twitter, they still remain unprofitable with huge $144.6 million pound loss for the quarter. 

Personally, I don’t use Twitter all that often but others live on the site! I use it mostly to see what hardware manufactures are doing behind the scenes and enter comps, that kind of thing. I use it to get inside the industry, so to speak, not as a social platform. So what do you all use Twitter for these days?

Thanks to Tweaktown for supplying us with this information.

Image courtesy of Permissionmachine.