Tuesday 23 July 2013

Netflix aims to craft 'House of Cards' into 'Harry Potter' hit

The company is playing a long game for its original series, watching progress from season to season. That means sacrifices, and a long wait, before seeing if it can be the phenomona Netflix hopes.

Reed Hastings, the chief executive of the Web's top video-streaming service Netflix, has some mighty ambitions for his company's marquee original series, political thriller "House of Cards."
"Hopefully, by the time we get to season three, four, five, if we're fortunate enough to get there, then we turn it into a Harry Potter-esque global massive phenomena," with the world anticipating season after season much like J.K. Rowling's fantastically popular books and the films based upon them, he said during a discussion of Netflix latest quarterly results Monday night.
Hastings has raised the Harry Potter analogy before, but he previously used it as an example of how an audience builds over time. A "global massive phenomena" puts Netflix's ambitions in a new league.
"House of Cards" has only one season under its belt, and though Netflix is tight-lipped about audience numbers, it's safe to estimate that viewership has a long way to go before reaching that level. The Harry Potter film franchise alone has drawn more than $7 billion in global box office receipts. Netflix only this year started booking $1 billion in revenue a quarter, and that is for its full breadth of services and content.
Yet the goal underscores how Netflix, in its evolution into an online television outfit, is creating programs that look like traditional TV but aren't viewed like traditional television at all. Because it releases all episodes of every show's season at once, popular attention paid to the programs isn't spread over a period of 10 weeks or 23 weeks like traditional television, it's concentrated at a season's unveiling.
It's a key, fundamental way Netflix differs from the rest of television. If Hastings wants "House of Cards" to succeed in the same way "Harry Potter" did, the commercial payoff in subscribers will be felt season to season. That means the commercial value of a series is fallow in between, and years may need to pass for a show's trajectory of popularity to be clear.
Netflix's subscription business model allows it the luxury of taking a longer-term view on its programming. Because it doesn't depend on increasing ratings to increase the advertising revenue a show can draw in, it can afford to keep a tight lid on its viewership numbers and incubate shows that could generate a loyal following over time. But with the strategy still in an infancy, there's no telling if releasing full seasons at once will pay off by actually increasing a show's audience year to year.
Early peek at how originals are faring
Netflix released earnings for its second quarter of the year on Monday night. It was also the second quarter to include the impact of its dedicated push to become a top-tier creator of TV shows. By all its most-watched gauges of performance, Netflix is doing as expected, or better. Revenue is up, subscribers are up, and profit jumped nearly five fold.
But shares fell after the results were released and are down again Tuesday, as the company fell short of Wall Street's anticipation of an impressive level of new domestic streaming subscribers. Netflix added 630,000 domestic streaming customers in the second quarter -- that's slower than in the previous three periods, which never dropped below a million and were often well above. It was within the company's target range, but watchers had been excited for something higher.
Netflix predicted a little more than 1 million U.S. subscriber additions in the current quarter at the midpoint of its targets. That's below the midpoint projection by analysts, despite more originals, better overall content and more accessibility through tablets, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth noted.
As for how originals themselves were doing, executives continued to hold their cards close to the vest about viewing, but they provided a few peeks.
Ted Sarandos -- Netflix's head of content -- said every one of the original shows is drawing "TV-size audience numbers." Netflix's latest original, "Orange Is the New Black" released earlier this month, drew as much viewing in the first week after it debuted as any other series, and both the viewing audience and total hours in the first seven days after every premiere have grown sequentially with each series that has been released, Sarandos said. Netflix said one of two originals released during the period -- "Arrested Development" -- produced "a small but noticeable bump in membership" when it came out.
Comparing apples to oranges
But "Arrested Development" is unusual among Netflix's slate of originals thus far. It was a revival of a series with an installed fan base. The rest of its endeavors, though based on existing content like a book or a program overseas, are building up a following from scratch. The "small but noticeable bump" of "Arrested Development" isn't much to go on, but it's more than the "nice impact but a gentle impact" that Hastings used to describe "House of Cards" effect after it premiered.
Jason Bateman and a friend in a promo clip for Netflix's new season of "Arrested Development."
Jason Bateman in a promo clip for Netflix's "Arrested Development."
(Credit: YouTube/Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)
That executives compare one series to the next to describe originals' momentum stresses the unusual way Netflix releases its content. Because all episodes of each show are available in one big clump, Netflix can't compare the momentum of like-for-like shows. When the time comes that Netflix can compare seasons of the same show, it will follow many months of that series laying dormant in the public eye.
Gary R. Edgerton, the dean of the college of communication at Butler University and author of "The Columbia History of American Television," said the fact that Netflix distributes its episodic content all at once works against it economically.
"It's one and done," he said. By serializing, broadcast and cable networks foster audience engagement all along a multiple week airing span, in addition to season to season, according to Edgerton, which works to their economic advantage.
"Each service has its own attraction, and Netflix attraction is there's no delayed gratification," he said. "But it seems to me that Netflix is losing an important marketing component."
A vestige of movie background
In Netflix's transformation from a online DVD rental-house into the Internet's biggest streaming video provider, the big shift occurred in method of delivery. Its third act as a content creator shifts the type of entertainment that viewers come to Netflix to watch. That change is from film to, increasingly, television.
The company's very name was selected to reflect not only its online status but also the type of entertainment it was delivering. HBO, the programming ideal that Netflix is aspiring to eclipse in an online way, had a similar evolution. Originally a purveyor of movies, Home Box Office eventually shifted to dominate the world of edgy serials and specials.
In many ways, Netflix is on the HBO path. It has checked off the box for the original series with critical accolades, including major Emmy nominations. Comedy specials and homegrown documentaries are en route. Netflix executives discussing the company's latest quarterly earnings on Monday said Netflix would be exploring full ownership of its content, like HBO does for its original productions.
But the timing of release -- all at once versus parceled out over time -- is the area where traditional television and Netflix remain at opposite poles.
House of Cards
The cast of Netflix's "House of Cards."
(Credit: Netflix)
"There's a reason why Netflix is always all available the first day," Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush, said. "Until they made originals, there was nothing on Netflix that wasn't available somewhere else."
Even its originals are available elsewhere. Netflix's investment in creating "House of Cards" got the company an exclusive first shot at streaming the show. But the program's producer, Media Rights Capital, holds other rights and has sold them elsewhere -- DVDs of the first season are now available through the e-commerce arm of Netflix streaming competitor, Amazon.
Consumption of the DVDs will be at the fringes, especially considering they're priced at about $34 for the season versus a $7.99 monthly Netflix subscription fee. But Netflix's originals are hurt by not having a lasting engagement with its audience, said Robert Thompson, a media scholar at Syracuse University. "Having all the episodes available all at once was smart because it made it different," he said. "The problem is, it does take off the time-released buzz about things."
He noted that viewers hitting the climaxes of a series very quickly and at different times hurts the shows popular traction. After initial attention and viewership of a series like "House of Cards" after its debut, it doesn't get much more unless a development arises like Emmy nominations.
And even then, the commercial effects are difficult to pin down.
Last week, "House of Cards" was nominated for outstanding drama series, as were its stars for lead acting, in the first instance of programming that premiered on a digital platform garnering nods in high-profile Emmy categories.
But being nominated for an Emmy isn't as clear-cut catalyst as it is for an Oscar, according to Tuna Amobi, a media and entertainment equity analyst at S&P Capital IQ, who said the effect is more drawn out for television and hard to distinguish.
Netflix's Emmy nominations in attention-grabbing categories are a first in the 65-year history of the awards, so there's no precedence for whether commercial benefits will materialize for a digital platform unlike a traditional one. "There's really no reference point on how much viewership Netflix can drive" from the Emmy recognition, Amobi said. "It's not inconceivable that the buzz that's going to be generated is going to get people to subscribe to Netflix, but the viewership is always going to be far greatest at the onset of the shows."
Jennifer Holt, an associate professor of film and media studies at the University of California Santa Barbara, noted that Netflix being validated on the quality of its shows could have other benefits. It can attract major producers willing to put money into projects and make a commitment of a 13-episode season, she said. It can attract big-name stars that viewers may subscribe to see.
"The more critical acclaim its programming gets, the more valuable it will become as a service, and the more people will be willing to pay for it," she said.
Building a slate of original programming piece by piece, and letting the entirety of the offering be what drives growth, is the long game Netflix is playing. But with the company keeping mum on how much the shows are being viewed, it will be a long time before the world knows if originals can be the superhero in Netflix's story, or mere extras.

Photographers, meet your camera phone

Photographers, meet your camera phone 

 

The good: The Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone's camera captures extremely high-resolution images with fine detail, and puts creative controls at your fingertips.
The bad: A niche device, the Lumia 1020 is $100 pricier than most high-end smartphones. The lens makes it a little bulky. Multiple camera apps are confusing. It lacks manual f-stop control and presets for common shooting scenarios.
The bottom line: Avid mobile photographers will love the Nokia Lumia 1020's exact controls, but casual users should stick to cheaper camera phones.
You can sum up the Nokia Lumia 1020 in three words: 41, megapixel, camera.
It's the Lumia 1020's high-octane shooter -- along with Nokia's custom camera app -- that defines this next marquee Windows 8 phone, and that gives mobile photographers a reason to salivate. In the 1020, Nokia pushes the smartphone camera envelope with a combination of raw image-capturing prowess and close-cropping capability that makes it one of the most artistically able smartphone cameras we've tested.
Would we ditch our point-and-shoot cameras and rely on the Lumia 1020 instead? For day-to-day and weekend events, absolutely; the 1020 is the ultimate in convenience and approaches point-and-shoot quality. However, based on our tests so far, Nokia still has a ways to go before it can completely supplant the need for a higher-level standalone camera. We'd take it away for the weekend, but wouldn't use it to shoot our kid's first birthday.
The 1020's $299.99 on-contract price with AT&T is too steep for casual users, who can capture high-quality everyday stills and videos with handsets that cost $200 or less. Serious photographers, however, will appreciate the phone's genuine two-in-one capabilities. The Lumia 1020 also is sold globally.

Design and build

The first thing you're probably asking yourself is if owning the Lumia 1020 is like carrying a bulky point-and-shoot camera in your pocket. Blessedly, it is not.
Compared with the chunky Galaxy S4 Zoom and bulbous Nokia 808 PureView (the company's first attempt at a 41-megapixel phone), the Lumia 1020 seems only slightly thicker than the Lumia 920 and 928, both of which it physically resembles.
(Credit: Blake Stevenson/CNET)
Dimensions of 5.1 inches tall by 2.8 inches wide are pretty standard, and the 1020 measures 0.4 inch thick throughout most of its body. It's that large camera module on the back (about 1.75 inches in diameter) that protrudes a full 0.51 inch from the phone's face.
That means the phone won't lie flat on its back, which is surprisingly sometimes helpful when the face tilts toward you as if on a stand. Amazingly, I did carry the phone around in my back pocket for long stretches without noticing it too much. When I held it, my fingers adjusted to grip the 1020 below its bulge.
Keeping the phone this slim was quite the design feat, especially when you compare the 1020 with the chunky S4 Zoom, which is shaped more like a point-and-shoot with a smartphone attached.
Nokia Lumia 1020
A huge camera module defines the Nokia Lumia 1020.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
At 5.6 ounces, the matte yellow, white, or black 1020 is hefty, sturdy, and undeniably solid. I'm used to carrying heavy bags and backpacks, so the weight didn't particularly bother me, but those who travel light will notice the 1020's density right away. We tested the phone in all three colors; the white version picked up smudges most readily, but they wiped off easily enough from the polycarbonate material.
Nokia pulled off a design feat in keeping the large camera mount from sticking out too far.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
Like all the Lumia 920-series phones, the 1020's 4.5-inch display features a 1,280x768-pixel resolution (WXGA) and pixel density of 334ppi. Its AMOLED screen is also supersensitive, which means you can operate it with fingernails or gloved fingertips. Gorilla Glass 3 helps resist cracks, though smash any screen hard enough or often enough and it'll break.
In keeping with the Lumia design philosophy, you'll find oblong volume, power/lock, and camera shutter buttons on the right spine, and the headset jack and micro-SIM card slot up top. In addition to the front-facing camera there are three capacitive navigation buttons on the front, and the Micro-USB charging port is down on the bottom edge. On the back, the massive camera module includes a wide xenon flash and a six-lens Carl Zeiss lens, plus an LED sidekick that's mainly used for focus.
The Lumia 1020 does not lie flat.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
A completely sealed unibody device, the Lumia 1020 doesn't have a removable battery or microSD card storage, which may make avid photographers jittery about storage limits, especially with large photo files.

Understanding the camera

The most important thing to know is that the Lumia 1020's 41-megapixel shooter doesn't actually give you 41-megapixel pictures. In fact, not much about the camera or its software is particularly straightforward.
Here's what's essential:
1) The Pro Cam app creates 5-megapixel photos. In addition, it also saves a high-resolution image of each one. If you crop in tightly, your photo looks even more detailed. I recommend CNET camera guru Joshua Goldman's must-read explanation of what's going on with this particular type of lossless zoom.
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Nokia Pro Cam is the 1020's default camera app, but you can also switch among other apps, or change the default in Settings.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
2) By default, the Lumia 1020 takes photos using Nokia's Pro Cam app. Not to be confused with Nokia Smart Cam, Pro Cam gets you sliding controls for flash, exposure, ISO, and focus among other settings. Nokia Pro Cam is technically a "lens," a separate camera app that supplants the native camera. You can only capture the higher-resolution images using Pro Cam.
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Choose resolution and aspect ratio in the Pro Cam app settings.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Making matters more confusing still, the size of the high-resolution photo you shoot depends on your camera settings. Pick a 16:9 aspect ratio, and the phone saves a 34-megapixel shot in addition to the 5-megapixel picture you eventually see and share. A 4:3 aspect ratio gives you a 38-megapixel file in addition to the smaller snap. You won't see these choices -- or any resolution options -- when using the native camera app.
You'll only be able to upload and share the smaller file size from the 1020; if you want all 34 or 38 megapixels, you can access the raw files through a computer connection.
In some cases, the 1020's creative settings are no big deal. Most smartphone cameras have many of these within submenus. The difference here is that surfacing them on the app's top layer makes them a lot quicker to access, set up, and change from shot to shot.
One setting is conspicuously absent for serious photographers, and that's the power to manually change the depth of field. It also threw CNET's photographers that the "live preview" of manual controls that you see on the screen before taking a picture often didn't represent the actual image once it was captured.
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
CNET editors help demo the Nokia Pro Cam app.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
In the menu, you can switch to the front-facing camera, get at settings, and launch the tutorial. Unlike the Galaxy S4 Zoom, there aren't mode presets for night shots, sports, or other common scenarios, so it helps to know what you're doing, or have the patience to play around.
I'm not sure why there's no onscreen control for the front-facing camera; digging into the menu just seems like an unnecessary step. It's also a little strange that there are two buttons for reviewing your photos. One reviews the last shot you took, the other lets you get at your whole photo stream. Unfortunately, you can't swipe to the left as you can in the phone's native app to access your camera roll.
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
I don't like having to dig into settings to use the front-facing camera, but I do like having easy access to the tutorial.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
There are cursory editing tools you can access when you review a photo, including rotation and a sort of cropping tool that changes the aspect ratio to 4:3, 3:2, 1:1, and 16:9. I wish that Nokia had included a more robust suite of editing features here. Instead, you'll have to swap to a different editing app if you want to crop or auto fix. Luckily, the 1020 makes this fairly easy to do from the settings when you access photos through the review strip.
Nokia Lumia 1020
Sliding controls let you adjust exposure, ISO, brightness, and white balance.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Image quality

To test how well the Lumia 1020 backs up its claims of photog greatness, I shot dozens of pictures with both the Pro Cam app and the native app, using a combination of automatic modes and fancier settings. Full disclosure: I'm a completely casual photographer, so my photos here represent the perspective of an average user. For the more-artistic shots, I enlisted the help of CNET photographer James Martin and CNET camera editor Joshua Goldman, who independently called the Lumia 1020 a "really good smartphone camera" after taking their own rounds of test shots.
Many pictures I took looked fantastic in terms of color, contrast, and detail -- especially fine detail like a visible background cobweb. When an image was focused correctly, the camera's lossless digital zoom also produced terrific detail, just as Nokia promises.
I never took a bad photo with the 1020. That said, not every photo was a complete hit. Of course, even good cameras can take the odd bad picture if conditions are off. Sometimes, I wasn't sure that another high-end smartphone couldn't have taken the photo just as well.
Edges usually appeared sharp to my eyes, but then some centers sometimes lacked shadows, detail, and depth. I also had a hard time nailing great portraits. Lighting was sometimes off, and faces often appeared a tinge out of focus. That can cause problems when taking photos of a group. Overall, my photos of objects were a lot more beautiful than my pictures of people. James and Josh had much better luck with portraits; photo enthusiasts should take my results with a grain of salt.
This kid clearly loves his snack. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)
I also noticed that the 1020 seems to color-correct a couple of seconds after taking a picture. When using the flash, photo color also grew warmer, yellower, which can be a little weird. Then again, yellow is better than the blue cast you sometimes get when taking photos with a flash.
Since the Pro Cam app saves pictures in one small and one large resolution, the camera takes longer to reload. Instead of shot-to-shot times about 2.5 seconds apart, it's about a 6-second wait before the Lumia 1020 is ready for the next round.
I will say that I got some terrific pictures of objects even in the Pro Cam app's automatic mode. That and being able to crop in tight on an element without losing detail definitely made me want to take a lot more photos than I normally would.
Unless otherwise specified, the following pictures were taken using automatic settings, and have been resized. To see more of what this camera can do, check out this Lumia 1020 photo gallery and a camera showdown between the Lumia 1020, Samsung Galaxy S4, and iPhone 5.
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Shoot outdoors using Pro Cam. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Taken with the 1020's native camera app. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Full-resolution crop.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
This grape cluster, shot with the native camera app, was one of my favorites of the bunch. Here it is at full resolution, no cropping.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Despite focusing on the palm trees, this landscape shot, taken on an overcast day, looks a little soft. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Words to live by. Click to enlarge.
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
The text looks great even cropped close. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Keep cropping ever tighter, but know that once you save an image this way, you can't revert.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
I've cropped in so tightly on this text, the 100x112-pixel image below is as large as it gets:
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test (Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
This full-resolution crop of the leaf and grass looks great.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Here's a full-resolution crop of the same image, drawing from the 1020's saved higher-resolution image.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
The Lumia 1020 was fantastic at switching focal points. This picture snaps onto the foremost cluster. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Here, the rear cluster is the photo's main subject. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Here's another exercise in playing with focus. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Kristina Rosa/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Kristina Rosa/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Tacos, anyone? Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
The Pro Cam app made the appetizer appear yellower after I took the photo. The fried shallots look focused, but the yellow sauce isn't as well defined.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
This flower bouquet was shot indoors at night using the native camera app. It's sharp, but the blooms lack depth, especially the white ones. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Shot outdoors at night using the Pro Cam app: 1/400s shutter speed, ISO 800.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Full-resolution crop, shot at 1/800s shutter speed and ISO 4,000.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Once again, the Lumia 1020 is good enough to abandon your point-and-shoot for much of the time, but it still lacks some manual controls that more serious photographers will want for momentous occasions.
You can compare some smartphones' image performance in our periodically updated gallery of studio shots.

Video and front-facing camera

The Lumia 1020 shoots clean, smooth 1080p HD video -- once you change the default from 720p HD video in the settings. The same clear zoom the Nokia boasts for its still camera extends to video as well when you use the 3x digital zoom in the Nokia Pro Cam app. Nokia has hidden zoom gestures in the app. You can pinch to zoom while shooting, but you can also swipe up to zoom in and swipe down to zoom out.

Zooming in actually worked pretty well in my tests; for instance, patterns in rugs and faces showed up pretty clearly when I zoomed. Audio capture was my one complaint with taking video using the native camera app; my voice rang loudly -- almost too loudly -- while my subjects standing a few feet away were hard to hear. Nokia's "rich recording" in its Pro Cam app seems to have captured clearer sound.
Reviewing the Pro Cam video prompts you to install Nokia Video Trimmer from the app store. This is yet another tool that boosts Nokia's Windows phone capabilities, though it would be far more valuable to include that in the photo apps from the start.
For its front-facing camera, the Lumia 1020 plugs in the same 1.2-megapixel wide-angle lens we get on the Lumia 920 phones. Its 720p HD video recording is a boon for video chats. I was impressed with front-facing image quality on this camera, which was wide enough to take in my surroundings and tell a vibrant visual story when I shared photos with friends.
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera test
Documenting the food truck scene with the front-facing camera using the Pro Cam app.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

OS and features

The Lumia 2010 runs a version of Windows Phone 8 that's been slightly modified to accommodate the phone's enormous 41-megapixel camera.
You won't notice any difference on the front end, though, which looks and behaves like any other Nokia Windows phone. The usual complement of Nokia apps includes Nokia Music, Here-branded maps and driving apps, and a couple of extra photo tools in Nokia Pro Cam (of course), Nokia Smart Cam, Panorama, and Cinemagraph. AT&T also has its say with a suite of apps that include AT&T Radio and a family map.
Other key features include NFC for Tap + Send, and Bluetooth 3.0 (which could soon turn into 4.0). There's no integrated wireless charging on the 1020, but you can buy an aftermarket back cover if that's your jam.
Shutterbugs will more likely seek out other camera accessories, like a tripod case, or the camera grip case ($79) that really does convert your 1020 into a point-and-shoot camera, hand grip included.
A Nokia Lumia 1020 accessory turns your phone into a point-and-shoot.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
Nokia Lumia 1020 with camera case.
A closer look at the 1020's camera case.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Performance

Call quality
I tested the Lumia 1020's call quality (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) using AT&T's network in San Francisco.
When speaking in a quiet spot indoors, I kept volume at level 5 of 10, but pumped it up when it was noisier outdoors. Voices didn't sound completely natural. Instead, they came across a little flat, robotic, and lispy. There weren't huge distortion spikes or blips, but the audio weirdness persisted throughout my calls. I could still carry on conversations, but I definitely noticed that my caller sounded off. One high point is that the 1020's sound was absolutely clear, with no background noise.
On his end of the line, my test caller says I sounded a little distorted on the peaks, with occasional gargling. Otherwise, I sounded clear and comfortably loud, though my voice also sounded overly sharp in almost an uncomfortable way. The muddiness and crispiness made the call OK overall for my main test caller, but it wouldn't be his top choice. He gave it a B to B-.
Nokia Lumia 1020 call quality sample Listen now:

Speakerphone was impressive on my end when I tested it at hip level; I could tell I was shooting out audio through the speaker, but it mostly sounded good. Volume was the biggest problem: I had to boost it to the highest level to hear conversation clearly, even indoors. Still, the phone wasn't echoey for me. I could see myself using this to take a conference call or to talk while driving.
Unfortunately, speakerphone quality tanked for my caller. He called it "muddy" and said it emphasized rather than reduced that telltale speakerphone echo. He said he would have a hard time hearing amid any ambient noise.
Data, processor, battery
AT&T's 4G LTE blazed on the Lumia 1020 in my San Francisco tests, consistently delivering speeds in the double digits.
I often saw diagnostic results ranging from 15Mbps to 38Mbps down and 5Mbps to 15Mbps up. In real-world tests, even graphically rich desktop versions of Web pages loaded pretty quickly and completely. Apps and photos downloaded fast as well, and status updates and pictures uploaded without much wait.
Nokia Lumia 1020 diagnostic speed test
Some diagnostic test results using the Free Speed Test for Windows Phone.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Like other Lumias, the 1020 has a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. Although it isn't as fast as Qualcomm's quad-core processor, this is as speedy as you get in a Windows Phone, and it's a plenty quick chipset. Gameplay was engaging with Xbox games and others.
Nokia Lumia 1020 (AT&T) Performance
Download Endomondo (3MB) 19.5 seconds
Load up Endomondo mobile app 4.1 seconds
CNET mobile site load 5 seconds
CNET desktop site load 13.7 seconds
Boot time to lock screen 30.7 seconds
Camera boot time 2.8 seconds
Camera, shot-to-shot time Pro Cam: 6 seconds with flash and focusing;
Native: 2.5 seconds
The Lumia 1020's 2,000mAh battery has a rated talk time of 13.3 hours over 3G. We'll conduct independent battery drain tests as well. This is the same battery capacity as the Lumia 920 line, and just like those phones, this one should continuously last a full workday before needing a charge. Keep in mind that batteries do degrade over time.
There are 32GB of memory on the Lumia 1020, which is enough for most people. The Nokia Pro Cam's large photo format will suck up more space than others, so that might make some jittery. Still, I took and kept dozens of shots without running close to the barrier. The 1020 does come with 7GB of free SkyDrive cloud storage, though, with an option to upgrade to more. The 1020 has 2GB RAM, rather than the other Lumias' 1GB RAM.
FCC tests measure a digital SAR of 0.82 watts per kilogram for this phone.

Buy it, skip it, or hold out?

This is clearly a camera phone that helps define a new era of smartphone photography. Its larger sensor, up-front creative controls, and incredible lossless cropping really make it stand out from the crowd. However, for casual users, there may be more camera -- and bulk and a higher price -- than necessary, especially when smartphones like the Nokia Lumia 920 models, the iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy S4, and the HTC One produce some really great snaps to upload and share.
For purists, the Lumia 1020's sensor size may be smaller than Nokia's Symbian-running 808 PureView antecedent, but that helps it achieves a pocket-friendliness it may not otherwise have had. I have some complaints about the Pro Cam app's look and layout, but these are minor issues at the end of the day.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom
Samsung's Galaxy S4 Zoom has a 10x optical zoom lens.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)
Although I won't be able to compare image quality with Samsung's 16-megapixel Galaxy S4 Zoom until my review unit arrives, I can say that when I handled it briefly, the Zoom's settings didn't strike me as being as ambitious about absolute image control as Nokia demonstrates here. That said, I do expect that its 10x optical zoom and easy-access shooting modes (like night, portrait, and sports) will challenge the Lumia 1020.
If you're deciding between the S4 Zoom and the Lumia 1020, you're investing in a pricier-than-usual two-in-one device either way. Hold out for our Zoom review if you think you may prefer this Galaxy S4 version's optical zoom. Ditto if you value preset shooting modes for common scenarios, like night mode, and don't mind a smartphone the size of a point-and-shoot camera.
Buy the Lumia 1020 if you:
- Subscribe to AT&T
- Are a photography enthusiast willing to invest in a pricier two-in-one device
- Crave precise control over exposure and other settings
- Often carry around a point-and-shoot or dSLR
- Consider yourself an avid photographer
Skip the Lumia 1020 if you:
- Are looking for a slim or budget smartphone
- Prefer preset scenarios to help photograph a scene
- Highly value fast shot-to-shot times
- Are happy with your current smartphone camera
- Dislike Windows Phone OS

Leap Motion controller now shipping, coming to Best Buy on July 28

The Leap Motion 3D gesture controller is now shipping following an unexpected delay. It was initially scheduled to ship on May 13, but CEO Michael Buckwald said back in April they simply needed more time to test the device before deploying it in the wild.
In a post on the company blog, Leap said they started shipping pre-orders last week and some have already received the device. They are dispatching hundreds of thousands of units to more than 150 countries but due to high demand they are still processing pre-orders at this time. The company promised not to rest until all placed orders are delivered.
If you are not familiar with the Leap Motion controller, it’s a flash drive-sized module that is able to track the movement of all 10 fingers on both hands in an area of eight cubic feet. It’s much more sensitive than the Kinect as it can detect movements of just 0.01 millimeters although it's designed for close quarters operation rather than room-filling fun like Microsoft's solution.
The device works with specialized apps found in the Leap Airspace Store. At present, there are 75 or so apps to choose from including games, productivity apps and creative tools. Most are either free or cost a couple of bucks to purchase.
If you’re the type that likes to check out a product in person before making a purchase, you can head to your local Best Buy starting July 28 to pick one up. Otherwise, you can order through the company’s online store for around $80 plus shipping.

Download VLC for iOS, now with AirPlay and Dropbox support

Undoubtedly, one of the most popular open source media players available today is VLC, and it's been that way for quite some time now. As a project backed by many well versed contributors it's available in a wide range of platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and now once again iOS.
Being an open source project, as long as you oblige the GNU license agreement, it's perfectly fine to distribute and port to practically any environment. Based on that premise Applidium posted a port of VLC on the App Sore a couple of years back, but due to an incompatibility of licensing terms it was ultimately removed by Apple. Fortunately, for the millions of us who use software and are interested in taking its functionality on the go, VLC is back on the App Store, this time officially backed by the VideoLAN team.
The new version 2.0.1 can handle all major video formats including MKVs, as well as audio tracks and subtitle tracks. It also includes support for network streams like HLS and MMS, Bluetooth headsets, AirPlay and Dropbox integration. For more details on features and requirements, as well as the download link for the App Store and Jailbroken devices running iOS 5.1 or later, just click here.

TV station taps copyright law to erase embarrassing broadcast

After racist gaffe following San Francisco plane crash, KTVU uses the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to have clips of the event removed from the Internet.
 
A San Francisco Bay Area television station that became world famous for a racist gaffe during a news broadcast about a deadly plane crash is apparently trying to erase the event through copyright law.
Six days after Asiana flight 214 crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, KTVU morning anchor Tori Campbell said the station had just confirmed the names of the pilots and proceeded to read them out loud as they were simultaneously displayed on viewers' screens. The names read by Campbell -- "Captain Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow" -- were confirmed by an intern at the Federal Aviation Administration but apparently not read out loud at the station until the broadcast.
While Campbell and the station quickly issued an apology, that did not stop clips of the broadcast from flooding video-sharing sites and social networks. But the Fox TV affiliate has arrived at a novel solution to its embarrassing moment: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which requires Web sites to remove copyrighted material at the copyright holder's request.
Some of the videos uploaded by viewers have vanished from the Internet, replaced by messages that say, "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by KTVU."
While the station certainly has the legal right to protect its copyrighted materials, that is not the primary goal behind the clip-removal campaign, according to Tom Ramponi, the station's general manager and vice president.
"The accidental mistake we made was insensitive and offensive," Raponi told MediaBistro today. "By now, most people have seen it. At this point, continuing to show the video is also insensitive and offensive, especially to the many in our Asian community who were offended. Consistent with our apology, we are carrying through on our responsibility to minimize the thoughtless repetition of the video by others."
Three people died and more than 180 were injured when Asiana's Boeing 777 crashed into the runway while attempting to land at San Francisco International Airport.
A clip of the broadcast is embedded below. Please note that racially insensitive content is included.

How to spot and avoid Facebook 'Like' scams

How to spot and avoid Facebook 'Like' scams

When you click or press the Like button, you may be disclosing more about yourself than you imagine. You may also be contributing to the bank accounts of Internet scammers.
Facebook "likes" mean money. Individuals and businesses of all types -- legitimate and otherwise -- use various techniques to persuade you to click that ubiquitous thumbs-up button.
Begging for Facebook "likes" has become epidemic. "If I get a million likes I'll be cured of my terminal disease and I'll be able to implement my sure-fire plan for world peace!"
"If you don't like this picture you hate your mother, America, and apple pie."
Yeah, right.
Scammers prey on Facebook users' propensity to respond emotionally by clicking "Like" when an image or plea tugs at their heart strings or piques their ire.
Scam sites offer to sell you likes clicked by real-live humans. The buyers intend to convert the clicks into traffic for their Facebook page, which translates to increased ad revenue. Several such sites I visited appear to be owned by the same anonymous party and are registered in Panama.
The Facebook Help Center states unequivocally that you cannot buy likes:
Certain websites promise to provide large numbers of likes for your Page if you sign up and give them money. These websites typically use deceptive practices or are scams. People who like your Page this way will be less valuable to your Page because they won't necessarily have a genuine interest in what your Page is about. If Facebook's spam systems detect that your Page is connected to this type of activity, we'll place limits on your Page to prevent further violations of our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.
(Earlier this month, CNET's Jennifer Van Grove reported on the U.S. State Department's questionable attempt to generate "likes" for its Facebook pages.)
At the same time, Facebook allows developers to reward the people who like their pages. The company's Platform Policies site describes its referral-based rewards program for tying in-app rewards to its Social Channels.
For example, users can't be rewarded for sending invitations to their friends, but they can be rewarded based on the number of their friends who accept such invitations. Also, people who like a page can be given coupons, rebates, exclusive content, a chance at a promotion, or the ability to donate to a charity. The only caveat is that the bonus be available to all users, not just new ones.
Pepsi recently offered attendees at a Beyonce concert in Antwerp a free drink in exchange for liking the company on Facebook, as Mashable's Todd Wasserman describes.
Facebook "fan" pages are bought and sold. Buyers are promised access to hundreds of thousands of "friends." Last May, Becky Worley reported on the Yahoo News site that a Facebook page followed by 500,000 hamburger fans was offered for sale at an asking price of $5,000, while another for cuddling aficionados was listed at $7,000.
One popular Facebook scam is a variation on the old "download the player" ploy. You're checking out your Facebook news feed when a post appears that says simply "You gotta see this!"
Oh, no you don't. You click the link only to be informed via a pop-up window that you need to install a media player to view the video. Of course, the download is actually malware that infects your system, steals your data, and uses your account to send out even more virus-bearing spam.
What happens when you click the 'Like' button
According to the Facebook Help Center, when you click "Like" or "Recommend," a story appears on your timeline, ticker, and/or news feed.
Another Facebook help page explains that when you click "Like" on a Facebook Page, in an advertisement, or on a page outside Facebook, "[y]ou may be displayed on the Page you connected to, in advertisements about that Page or in social plugins next to the content you like."
You may also receive updates and messages from Pages you like, and the connection might be shared with apps on the Facebook Platform.
To unlike a page, hover the cursor over the page's Like button and select Unlike on the menu that appears, or simply select the blue Liked icon.
Clicking the Like button can be revealing
Facebook loves it when you share. It is a social network after all. As with much of the information you volunteer to Web sites, what you like on Facebook may disclose more about yourself than you realize.
As reported last March by the Guardian's Josh Halliday, researchers at Cambridge University who studied the "public" likes clicked by 58,000 Facebook users were able to discern their IQ, emotional stability, sexuality, and other personality traits with a high level of accuracy, without knowing anything else about the people.
The complete study is published on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences site.
The act of liking an article, post, or other item influences the future. Two years ago, the Wall Street Journal's Neil Strauss decried the tyranny of the Like button and its cohorts the +1, tweet, and StumbleUpon, pointing out that we judge content based on the number of likes it has received.
Strauss compares the failure to generate likes for an item to a comedian's joke that is met with silence. Just as the comedian is unlikely to repeat that joke, the person posting an item that generates no likes may be disinclined to post similar items in the future.
According to the Wisemetrics blog, the Like count that appears above items doesn't represent the number people who have clicked the button for that item. The number includes the times the URL has been shared whether or not the sharer clicked "Like," as well as the number of Facebook comments about the item.
On the lookout for Facebook hoaxes
Facebook scams proliferate so quickly it can be difficult to keep up with them. The Hoax-Slayer site provides an overview of like-farming scams as well as a compendium of Facebook-related scams reported as recently as today and dating back more than three years.
In a post from last October on his DaylanDoes blog, Daylan Pearce described the mechanics of several Facebook Like scams. The Facecrooks site maintains a list of Facebook-related scams, including a revival of the old chestnut that promises to reveal who viewed your profile. As the Facebook Help Center explains, the service doesn't let you track who views your timeline or posts, nor does it allow third-party apps to do so.
Several sophisticated Facebook hoaxes were revealed by Digital Trends' Francis Bea in a post from last May. One of the trickiest is a notice purporting to be from Facebook instructing you to log into your account to re-activate it.
Last March, CNET's Steven Musil described a scam that promised free iPad Minis and other expensive personal electronics in exchange for Facebook likes. If you spot a Facebook-related scam, you can report it by clicking the Report link that appears near it. The Facebook Help Center provides information for reporting all types of abusive content.
At this point, you may be wondering whether you should "Like" this post. After having written close to 600 separate items for this blog since 2007, I know certain topics generate more likes than others. It's no surprise that posts relating to Facebook, Twitter, or another social network are shared more frequently than items about Windows or Microsoft Office, for example. If I chose my topics based solely on sharing frequency, this would be the Facebook and iPad Blog.
No, thank you.

T-Mobile slams AT&T, Verizon's 'deceptive' early upgrade plans

T-Mobile says its Jump program is materially different than early upgrade programs its larger rivals offer and it wants to educate the customer.
In the latest wireless war of words, T-Mobile appears to be having the most fun.
In an advertisement debuting on Tuesday, T-Mobile takes a juicy quote from technology news site The Verge and runs with it. The quote, "AT&T's reaction to T-Mobile's transparency is to be more deceptive than ever," touches off a cheeky follow-up line from the company.
"We wouldn't call it deceptive, exactly. Calculating, sneaky, underhanded, maybe, but not deceptive," reads the ad (see below).
The advertisement is the most direct response yet to the early upgrade programs unveiled by AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Those plans came a week after T-Mobile offered up its own early upgrade program, called Jump. With all of the options providing customers the ability to change to a new phone, T-Mobile wanted to make it clear that there was a financial difference between its plan and what its larger competitors offer.
"What we're doing is materially different than these so-called upgrade programs," T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert told CNET on Monday.
Verizon Wireless and AT&T declined to comment.
The ad is also part of a broader advertising war that's been brewing. T-Mobile has become increasingly sharp and pointed with its attacks, but AT&T got into the mix last week when it claimed the nation's "most reliable network," a title long held by Verizon. Verizon offered up its response on Monday, a more subtle note touting its track record and investment in its networks.
T-Mobile, meanwhile, has been anything but subtle, particularly on the early upgrade issue.
"We feel strongly that these programs they've introduced borderline on the deceptive," Sievert said.
Sievert mocked AT&T and Verizon calling their early upgrade programs "a breakthrough," when it really only takes more money away from customers. T-Mobile argues that AT&T and Verizon's respective upgrade plans, Next and Edge, essentially charge customers twice for a phone. The customer first pays for the entire cost of the device, and then pays for a pricier service plan normally associated with a subsidized phone.
Before T-Mobile introduced Jump and switched to a no-contract offering, it cut the price of its service plan.
"We taking a big financial risk to give customers a breakthrough benefit," Sievert said.
T-Mobile has been far more aggressive in pursuing customers as the last-place national carrier. The company still battles the perception that its network and service is inferior, something it has tried to change with its more colorful promotional efforts.
Updated at 6:53 p.m. PT: to include a response from Verizon and AT&T.
Here's the ad:

When notebooks squeeze Intel out

When notebooks squeeze Intel out

commentary Devices based on ARM chip designs tend to be thinner, cooler (thermally, at least), and cheaper than those based on Intel designs while offering longer battery life.Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11
Thanks to many ad campaigns over the years, most people know that their notebook PCs are powered by processors from Intel (or its chief rival, AMD). Those companies use a chip architecture known as x86, named for the the last two digits of the Intel chip model number in the first IBM PC.
But while Intel may be the best-known PC chip company, designs from ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) serve as the basic architecture behind chips from Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm, and Nvidia that power almost every smartphone on the market. All current Apple iDevices use Apple chips based on ARM designs; the same is true for Samsung Galaxy devices using Samsung Exynos chips. Most other Android devices in this class use ARM-based Tegra chips from Nvidia or Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm.
Despite the great progress that Intel has made with its new Haswell design, products based on ARM chip designs tend to be thinner, cooler (thermally, at least), and cheaper than those based on Intel designs while offering longer battery life. In fact, these days you can get a notebook -- or something that functions as one -- using your choice of four different operating systems. Many of these products offer touch screens and can detach from their keyboards to function as tablets as well.
Windows RT
Best bets: Dell XPS 10 with keyboard dock, Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga RT, Asus VivoTab RT with keyboard dock
Even though Windows RT-based systems haven't sold well, they have spawned a fairly broad array of true ARM-based notebooks that ship with a version of Office that keeps most of the key features from the x86-based version. And particularly now, prices have become pretty aggressive on the Dell XPS 10 which, when paired with a keyboard dock, offers an amazing 19 hours of battery life. Of course, when compared to iOS or Android, you'll find a dearth of touch-friendly apps and no backward compatibility with old Windows apps, but there's a touch version of Internet Explorer included and the user interface is about to get a bit of relief with Windows 8.1.
iOS
Best bet: iPad plus Brydge, iPad plus CruxSkunk
Unlike Microsoft, which has been aggressive about bringing Windows into the tablet form factor, Apple has kept Mac OS out of its tablets and iOS out of its laptops. In fact, iOS doesn't support mouse or trackpad input and, unlike with Windows or Android, there are no true docking options so you have to rely on Bluetooth. Folio cases have been a popular option for pairing keyboards with the iPad. However, there have been a few add-on hinged keyboard accessories funded through Kickstarter that let you roll your own closest thing to an "iNotebook" this side of the Macbook Air, the oddly named CruxSkunk and Brydge. The latter is available in both polycarbonate and aluminum and optionally includes speakers for better quality sound than you'd get from the iPad's speakers. Too bad there's no version for the iPad Mini for now.
Android
Best bet: Asus Transformer Prime series
Android is the most popular operating system for phones and you can get it on a range of tablets, but Google hasn't really done much to push it for notebooks, where it's been focused on Chrome. Still, a couple of companies have turned Android tablets into clamshells. Asus was the first to popularize the concept via its Transformer series. Its top of the line is the Transformer Pad Infinity,which offers a high-resolution display and beefs up the sound. Hewlett-Packard will also step into the detachable Android clamshell market with the 10-inch SlateBook x2 with keyboard dock next month for its back-to-school season.
Chrome
Best bet: Samsung Chromebook
Similar to Apple, Google has one OS for smartphones and tablets (Android) and another for notebooks (Chrome). Unlike Apple's OS X, though, Chrome doesn't rely on native apps, just about everything happens within the browser. Still, most of the Chromebooks out there -- including Google's own touch-screen Chromebook Pixel -- run on Intel processors. That said, the exception, the latest Samsung Chromebook (technically, the Series 3 XE303C12-A01US), is a great alternative. At $249, the slim 11.6-inch device runs about 6.5 hours on a charge. That's a bit underwhelming for an ARM device, but pretty favorable compared to other Chromebooks. Also, the screen supports neither touch nor being detached, but at less than $250, it can be a great extra PC option. particularly if you plan to use it in an area blanketed by Wi-Fi.