| MacUpdate Weekend Sale | :This weekend MacUpdate has slashed prices on Painter 12 and Painter Lite. Painter 12 retails for $429, but has been reduced by 54% to $199. Painter Lite has seen a 58% price cut from $69 to $29. Hurry, because these deals are only available until May 19th 2013. |
Aziz Ansari has released his latest stand-up special, "Dangerously Delicious," directly to the Internet as a digital download, sidestepping traditional publishing routes in the comedy industry. The Parks and Recreation star is following in Louis C.K.'s footsteps, publishing a video himself rather than relying on traditional broadcasters such as Comedy Central or HBO.
Amazon on Wednesday officially confirmed earlier rumors that it has inked a deal with cable provider Viacom to bring its TV shows to Amazon's Instant Video streaming service. As part of the deal, Amazon will allow customers to access thousands of episodes from MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike, VH1, BET, CMT, and Logo. This will include past seasons of shows like Chappelle's Show, Hot in Cleveland, Jersey Shore, Yo Gabba Gabba, and iCarly, among others.
Cablevision has now extended the availability of its Optimum iPad app to the iPod touch and iPhone. The app (free, App Store) lets Cablevision cable subscribers watch live TV and video-on-demand titles on their portable iOS devices as well as act as a remote control for compatible Cablevision set-top boxes. Just like with the iPad app, however, users can't access content from outside of their home.
PlayOn today brought its mobile app to Android for the first time. PlayOn Mobile now lets users tap the service's remote media library from a Google-running smartphone or tablet with a similar amount of control. The approach optimizes video both from traditional providers with web video, like CNN and Comedy Central, as well as digital-first services like Amazon VOD, Hulu and Netflix.
Google TV was dealt another major blow on Sunday after viewers discovered that Viacom had blocked the platform on its networks. Websites for Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and other networks now show that the "content is unavailable for your device" rather than loading the Flash video. The restriction was expected earlier given Viacom's failed lawsuit against YouTube but comes relatively late.
