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Amazon adds Silicon Valley startup comedy to pilot lineup

Amazon has added another comedy TV show pilot to its original programming lineup -- and this time it's about Silicon Valley startups.

The series, called "Betas," centers on four computer geeks and "their quest for nerd fame as they attempt to crack the ultimate code." This brings the total number of pilots slated for production on Amazon's Prime video service to 14. The episodes will air on Amazon Prime Instant for free so customers can offer feedback on which pilots Amazon's production group, Amazon Studios, should make into a season-long series.

The creatives … Read more

Wachowskis of 'Matrix' fame bring sci-fi series to Netflix

Late next year, as we're glued to our screens watching Netflix's newest original TV series, will the online-movie powerhouse somehow be tapping our bodies' electrical energy and selling it to evil machines?

If the credentials of the show's creators are any indication, that's a distinct possibility.

"Sense8," a sci-fi show Netflix describes as a "global tale of minds linked and souls hunted," is the brainchild of the Wachowskis -- aka sibling duo Andy and Lana Wachowski, the masterminds behind "The Matrix" movies. The 10-episode first season of "Sense8" will be available for streaming in late 2014, Netflix announced today.… Read more

Pinterest goes to battle over Amazon domain play

Here's one that can't come as a surprise to the legal team at Amazon.com: Pinterest is fighting Amazon's bid to win the contract to control the .pin generic top-level-domain, or gTLD.

Among the reasons for Pinterest's objections: Domain names on .pin -- clothes.pin, say, or whatever Amazon has in mind -- would cause confusion and violate the trademarks that Pinterest holds on the term "pin." Those trademarks include "the standalone PIN trademark and a family of PIN-formative marks, including Pinterest, PIN It, P, and others," according to the complaint -- … Read more

Amazon expands X-Ray actor bio feature to TV shows

Curious about what other shows feature the actress playing Lady Grantham on "Downtown Abbey"? Kindle Fire users can now find out instantly using Amazon's X-Ray feature.

The e-commerce giant today said it has expanded its X-Ray for movies feature to TV shows, providing real-time access to actor bios when watching a show. Just tap on the Kindle Fire screen while watching "Downtown Abbey," for example, and a drop-down menu of the actors appearing in the current scene appears. Viewers then can select whichever actors they're interested in to see their bios. X-Ray draws its … Read more

Walmart to test product locker system at stores

Walmart plans to test a locker system at some of its retail locations this summer, the company said today.

The system, unveiled at a press event at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters this morning (via Reuters), will let people purchase items online, then pick them up in stores -- enabling customers to skip lines and guaranteeing that an item is in stock.

Amazon began a similar practice last year, in an effort to sell goods to people with hard-to-ship-to addresses. By shipping it to a locker, there's also a potential to save on shipping costs, and get items … Read more

Hulu may not be for sale yet, but buyers are lurking

Hulu might not be on the auction block, but that hasn't stopped buyers from expressing interest.

A report from AllThingsD said several potential purchasers have reached out to Hulu's corporate owners, though none have made a formal offer. The site lists Ross Levinsohn, the former interim Yahoo who now works for Guggenheim Partners, as one potential acquirer. Yahoo and Amazon are a couple of others that have "kicked the tires," AllThingsD said.

Hulu, Yahoo, and Guggenheim Partners declined to comment. We've contacted Levinsohn and Amazon and will update the report when we have more information. … Read more

'Zombieland' TV series pilot to rise on Amazon Prime

A "Zombieland" TV series could rise from the grave on Amazon if enough Prime members give it the thumbs-up.

"Zombieland" is the 13th and latest original series to bite off a pilot on Amazon's Prime video service. Six other comedy pilots and six children's pilots will also air on Prime Instant Video and Lovefilm UK exclusively for paying subscribers. Viewers will be able to watch and review each pilot, helping decide which of them will score a full season's worth of episodes.

Amazon told CNET that the pilots are "coming soon" … Read more

Apple leads, Dropbox gains in cloud storage wars

Apple is currently in the lead when it comes to the domestic cloud storage wars, according to a new survey produced by Strategy Analytics.

The real strength here for the Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation was digital entertainment, which tends to require a lot of space anyway.

Thus, the combination of iCloud and iTunes Match was said to account for 27 percent of cloud storage usage in the United States during the third quarter of 2012.

Ed Barton, director of digital media at Strategy Analytics, highlighted in the report how music has become a "key battleground in the war for … Read more

Bezos Expeditions recovers pieces of Apollo 11 rockets

A year after discovering rockets from the Apollo 11 moon mission on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, Bezos Expeditions has recovered "many prime pieces" of the engines, Jeff Bezos blogged today.

Amazon's billionaire founder and chief executive wrote that the crew of the ship Seabed Worker spent three weeks at sea, working almost three miles below the surface to pull up the various piece of the engines.

"We've seen an underwater wonderland -- an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end, one that serves … Read more