HBO Max exec admits to the app’s early flaws

Viewers have long complained about the early HBO Max app’s tendency to crash, and its lack of discoverability features. There have been a number of overhauls and fixes since then. Now we know why. Turns out that HBO Max launched its apps before they were ready in order to keep up with its competitors. The app was “never intended to go global” or to suit the needs of a direct-to-consumer market, according to an interview that Sarah Lyons, HBO Max’s head of product experience, gave Protocol. The network wanted to build an audience first, and then fix the app’s flaws as the service scaled up.While Lyons admits that the early days of HBO Max were rocky, she thinks the company made the right decision. We’ve been changing out the engine of the plane while we’re flying the plane,” she said. “I do think it was the right decision to try to balance both,” said Lyons.HBO Max first released its app in May 2020, to join an already saturated streaming ecosystem that included Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+ and others. At the time, both HBO Go (the network’s on-demand app for cable subscribers) and HBO Now (the standalone app for cord-cutters) were still available, a fact that confused many subscribers. The network has since retired both apps.Viewers have flocked to Reddit since the app’s initial launch with complaints that spanned platforms and devices. “We’ve been trying to watch the Harry Potter movies and literally every 15 min or so we get an ERROR message and have to force close... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2022-04-14 23:32:58 UTC ]
News tagged with: #apple tv+ #streaming platforms #home page #biggest change #harry potter

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How we made the Uneditions web app

Unlimited Theatre's Jon Spooner reveals the co-creation behind a new platform for publishing play scripts on mobile devicesUnlimited Theatre has often worked with new technologies, mainly due to the fact that I've had a geeky interest in things ever since I was bought a Dragon 32 home computer... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This Week in Children's Apps: January 16, 2014

This week in children's apps, we feature apps that take players on journeys with familiar faces – the Berenstain Bears hit the road, the Cat in the Hat explores the rainforest, and Curious George makes his way through the alphabet. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Maverick backs bedtime story app

A new story reading app will launch later this month with nine picture books from publisher... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Personalised digital magazine app Flipboard aims for 150 million users

Company plans enhanced discovery and search tools to explore the 5m magazines already createdPersonalised digital magazine app Flipboard is aiming to pass 150 million users in 2014, thanks to enhanced discovery and search tools that will allow users to better explore the 5m individual online... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An app to check your cholesterol is the latest way smartphones are evolving into medical devices

On mobile phones, health, and fitness are rapidly becoming big business. The latest idea? A concept from researchers at Cornell which demonstrates how your phone could be used to check your cholesterol levels, no visit to the lab required. In a paper published in the medical technology journal... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2013-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Holiday Catalogs Data and Top 15 Cities, Per Popular iPad App

The turn-the-page Web catalog—tested widely in the 2000s as an alternative to e-commerce sites—once looked like an emerging shopping platform led by now-defunct tech providers such as RichFX. But the concept died on the proverbial vine. With the massive proliferation of tablets, however, the... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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I wrote the Anarchist Cookbook in 1969. Now I see its premise as flawed | William Powell

When I penned the book, I was angry and alienated. Today I realize that violence can't be used to prevent violenceForty-four years ago this month, in December 1969, I quit my job as a manager of a bookstore in New York City's Greenwich Village and began to write the Anarchist Cookbook. My... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Personalised audio for SourceBooks' Put Me in the Story app

Sourcebooks' Put Me in the Story personalised-book series has launched a new 'universal... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shia LaBeouf admits Daniel Clowes' uncredited work was 'inspiration'

Actor Shia LaBeouf posted the short film he directed, "HowardCantour.com," online Monday. Hours after, comic book fans began noticing the work bore a resemblance to Daniel Clowes' "Justin M. Damiano."Actor Shia LaBeouf posted the short film he directed and screened at Cannes,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Which science fiction classic should be the next HBO box set?

HBO's award-winning adaptations are novelistic in ambition, but TV executives hoping to follow Game of Thrones should look to the starsIt's almost commonplace to suggest that the HBO box set is now television's answer to the novel – witness the wily self-publishers who have started publishing... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen Hawking's first official app teaches the basics of the universe

Stephen Hawking has gone to great lengths to promote science through books and videos, but he has been conspicuously absent in the software world -- until now, that is. The astrophysicist has just teamed up with Random House on Snapshots of the ... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple to give away songs, ebooks, apps during '12 Days of Gifts'

Apple will be giving away digital gifts every day for 12 days after Christmas to users of an app released Tuesday.     Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Inc. execs warn of layoffs

More job cuts could soon hit Time Inc., company executives told their top 300 managers at a quarterly meeting on Monday.The warning came during a question-and-answer session with Norm Pearlstine, Time Inc.'s newly appointed chief content officer. Asked by Time magazine Managing Editor Nancy... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2013-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook Admits Organic Reach Is Falling Short, Urges Marketers to Buy Ads

Facebook is being more blunt about the fact that marketers are going to have to pay for reach.If they haven't already, many marketers will soon see the organic reach of their posts on the social network drop off, and this time Facebook is acknowledging it. In a sales deck obtained by Ad Age that... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2013-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin teams up with Readmill on booksharing app

Free app allows ebook readers to share highlights and update to social media websitesPenguin UK has teamed up with the Berlin-based ebook app developer Readmill to bolster direct ebook sales.The app allows readers to share ebook highlights and to talk to each other while they're reading,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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CNN Nabs Bloomberg Video Exec

CNN has snatched up Bloomberg's digital video czar. Starting on Dec. 2, Chris Berend lands at CNN as the company's new vp of digital video development. Berend was most recently head of video for the Bloomberg Media Group, where he helped guide the company as it looked to significantly ramp up... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2013-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google Play update showcases big-screen optimized apps on tablets

As promised a month or so ago, Google Play is implementing a few changes today that'll push tablet-optimized apps to the forefront. That is, if you're using a device not quite small enough to be considered a phone (though we admit there are certain handhelds that bridge the gap). Indeed, tablet... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Kate Spade Art Director Develops An Adorbs Book App For Kids

My Monster, by Julianna Goodman, bridges the divide between slick digital storytelling and homemade visuals.It's rare to see and "touch" things on the iPad screen that evoke the texture, color, and unpolished feel of real life. Fortunately, a new children's book app corrects that shortcoming,... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 'Mister Max,' an endearing boy faces a family mystery

Cynthia Voigt's tale presents a youngster who must find out about his missing parents while working as a problem solver for others. Readers who wish their families were more interesting will be hooked, as I was, on Cynthia Voigt's "Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things," the first of a planned... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wheelbarrow produces Shaun Tan app

An app has been produced for author-illustrator Shaun Tan’s latest title, Rules of Summer (... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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