Amazon files a patent to create a modern-day holodeck just like in Star Trek; 'blended reality mirror' will use light and projections to create virtual reality scenes.

A holodeck could become reality a lot sooner than when Commander Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation first walked through the doors of one on the USS Enterprise D, with Amazon that has filed, and been granted, a patent for a "blended reality mirror".

Not just being able to superimpose virtual clothing on a user's reflection, the blended reality mirror would also be capable of placing someone in the middle of any projected virtual reality setting, using lights, projectors, mirrors and cameras to create a specific scene - just like the fantastic (and notoriously malfunctioning) holodeck technology from Star Trek.

"These visual displays can be used to alter scenes as perceived by users, for example, by adding objects to the scene that do not actually exist," says the Amazon patent filing.

Face-tracking sensors and sophisticated software will manage the virtual reality display so that users see a realistic blended picture from any angle.

Amazon's patent filing describes the mirror as partially-reflective and partially-transmissive, creating a blended image by scanning an environment to generate a virtual model.
Amazon wants to presumably use the technology created from the patent as a type of "fitting room" to help people try on various outfits and to sell more clothes, but there's obviously also other potential uses.

Speaking of Star Trek and holodecks, the second half of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery will resume this coming Sunday in America with the last 6 episodes that will be made available on Netflix for the rest of the world, with one a week, starting Monday.

No conspiracy! Scully is done with The X-Files on FOX as actress Giliian Anderson says she won't be returning to the drama series after the new 11th season.

It's not a dark conspiracy: Scully is done with The X-Files, with actress Gillian Anderson absolutely adamant that she is leaving the revived drama series and her iconic character of Dana Scully.

In an interview with America's TV Guide magazine, Gillian Anderson says she is resolute that she is done with The X-Files: "I’ve said from the beginning this is it for me. I was a bit surprised by people’s reaction to my announcement because my understanding was that this was a single season".

In October 2017 at New York Comic Con to audible gasps, she first revealed that she will not be returning to The X-Files if there were to be a 12th season.

Series creator Chris Carter isn't sure if there will be a 12th season for The X-Files, but told TV Guide "there are a lot more X-Files stories to tell. Whether we get to tell them is a question mark. The truth is out there".

The 11th season started in America on FOX on Wednesday night after the 10th season of the revived series that started in 2016.

The latest season of The X-Files will debut in South Africa and Africa on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) on Saturday 20 January at 19:40 and will consist out of 10 episodes.

The new season continues on from the story of the previous season finale and dealing with the mystery and the search for FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully's son, William.

Also back are the mysterious villain, the Cigarette Smoking Man, Robbie Amell and Lauren Ambrose as the "next generation" FBI agents Kyd Miller and Liz Einstein, and Mitch Pileggi as FBI assistant director Walter Skinner.

Amazon Prime Video releases its first select global viewing statistics: Vienna laughs, Tokyo is dramatic and London is into fantasy.

Amazon Prime Video is following rival Netflix's lead and has released selected global viewing statistics for TV shows on its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service for 2017, indicating that The Grand Tour and The Man in the High Castle were its most watched shows in the past year.

Usage of Amazon Prime Video is however still lagging in Africa and South Africa with the continent far behind the rest of the globe in watching and making use of the Prime Video service.

This is primarily due to the still exorbitant cost of data charges for ordinary consumers in South Africa as well as across Africa, and the limited roll-out of, and access to basic internet services.

Most African consumers are forced to and use their mobile cellular services and devices to access the internet where the data charges of watching streaming video, on top of paying for access to SVOD services, quickly add up and remain in prohibitively expensive.    

The top series globally on Prime Video for the year have been the first season of the car show The Grand Tour, followed by Sneaky Pete, the first and second season of alt-Nazi universe series The Man in the High Castle, as well as The Tick.

Amazon rolled out its Amazon Prime Video SVOD service in 240 countries and territories around the world just over a year ago and finally has its first set of global streaming data of its consumers' viewing habits.

Amazon doesn't want to divulge specific ratings and numbers and is taking the same route as Netflix, Showmax and others who are keeping their specific ratings secret since it, like other SVOD services, are still largely in a beginning phase of creating its own content for its over-the-top (OTT) services.

Amazon is however willing to share general viewing data on its service about subscriber habits in 2017 - including the shows they love and when they stream.

Amazon Prime Video's biggest day of streaming for 2017 was interestingly very recently - on 30 December 2017. The  top streamed series on Prime Video that day were the second season of The Grand Tour and the Golden Globe-nominated new series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

The top streamed movies that day were The Big Sick and The Circle.

Among the top 50 cities with the highest number of Amazon Prime Video viewers around the world in 2017 Vienna, Austria was the city with the highest streaming hours per customer.

London, England watched the most fantasy programming by average hour in 2017, with Vienna, Austria coming out tops in the comedy watching genre. Tokyo, Japan watched the most drama, while watching of kids programming reigned supreme in Oldenburg, Germany. 

Austin, Texas watched more mystery shows during 2017 than anywhere else in the world. 

The top movies watched in 2017 globally on the service were Daddy's Home, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Iron Man, Dirty Grandpa and Whisky Tango Foxtrot.

The most downloaded series globally from Amazon Prime Video in 2017 were the first seasons of Bubble Guppies, Mr. Robot, The Grand Tour, The Man in the High Castle and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.

The second part of the first season of The Tick will start soon on Amazon Prime Video, with the 2nd season of Sneaky Pete coming in March and Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan in winter 2018.

Although Mozart in the Jungle is an Amazon Prime Video series it's not available on the service with the show has been sold to M-Net (DStv 101) in South Africa and Africa. The 4th season of Mozart in the Jungle starts for viewers elsewhere in the world on Prime Video in February.

The third season of Big Brother Naija starting on Sunday 28 January on DStv; will kick off with a special 2-hour show.

M-Net West Africa has announced that the upcoming third season of Big Brother Naija will start on Sunday 28 January 2018 on MultiChoice's satellite pay-TV platform with the 24-hour Big Brother Naija channel that will run on DStv channel 198.

Besides DStv, the Big Brother Naija channel will also be made available as a channel on MultiChoice's digital terrestrial television (DTT) pay-TV platform GOtv in certain African countries like Nigeria on channel 29.

The new upcoming season of Big Brother Naija , produced by Red Pepper Productions and shown on MultiChoice's DStv satellite platform in Nigeria and across Africa, will likely once again also include South Africa - similar to how it was shown across the African continent during the second season.

M-Net West Africa and Red Pepper Productions decided to keep Ebuka Obi-Uchendu as the host of Big Brother Nigeria, with the former housemate who presented the second season in 2017.

Big Brother Naija will kick off with a special 2-hour introduction show on Sunday 28 January, introducing the various housemates.

Big Brother Naija producers held Nigerian auditions in 6 places across the West African country during early December.

Viewers and TV critics will keep close eye on the reality series' latest season that remains controversial for its notorious in-show history of sexual assault against women that M-Net and the previous production company, Endemol Shine Africa, have failed to prevent, despite repeatedly saying during previous iterations that more is being done to protect against sexual violence and assault, only for incidents to happen again.

The previous season in 2017 once again saw the second season of Big Brother Naija marred by an alleged sexual assault against a contestant that once again raised concerns over why M-Net and Endemol Shine Africa wasn't adequately protecting participants, especially women, in the show despite several prior promises to put better measures in place.

SuperSport adds Graeme Smith and Sunil Gavaskar as commentators for South Africa vs India test series.

SuperSport has signed up the former South African cricket captain Graeme Smith and the former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar as commentators for the South Africa versus India test series that will start on Friday in Cape Town and that will be broadcast on DStv.

SuperSport's coverage of the first SA/India cricket test will start on Friday, 5 January and continue until 9 January from 09:30 on SuperSport 2 HD (DStv 202) on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform with an hour build-up coverage.

Graeme Smith and Sunil Gavaskar will join other commentators Michael Holding, Shaun Pollock, Michael Haysman, Kepler Wessels and Mpumelelo Mbangwa for the duration of the Indian cricket team's tour.

"Graeme Smith and Sunil Gavaskar have become sought-after commentators around the world and we're ecstatic to have them joining our team for this tour," says Alvin Naicker, SuperSport head of production.

"Having just come off the India versus Sri Lanka tour, Graeme Smith and Sunil Gavaskar have the inside knowledge on the form of the Indian team. It's this knowledge that will offer our viewers valuable insights on the tourists," says Alvin Naicker.

Sunday's 2018 75th Golden Globe Awards will have its official red carpet show on Facebook, pre-show coverage on E!, and awards ceremony on M-Net channels on DStv.

South African and African viewers will be able to watch programming from Sunday's upcoming 2018 75th Golden Globe Awards live on Facebook, M-Net's channels and E! Entertainment on MultiChoice's DStv.


Official red carpet pre-show on Facebook
Time: Monday 8 January, 01:00 - 03:00
The 75th Golden Globes official red carpet pre-show will be streamed as a live broadcast exclusively on Facebook this year after Twitter streamed the official red carpet show exclusively in 2017.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) and dick clark productions announced that they've reached a deal with Facebook to live stream the ceremony's official red carpet pre-show for the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

The official two-hour pre-show entitled The HFPA Presents: Globes Red Carpet Live will run from Monday morning 8 January at 01:00 to 03:00 South African time at www.facebook.com/GoldenGlobes with red carpet presenters AJ Gibson, Jeannie Mai, Scott Mantz and Laura Marano.

As part of the partnership, 360-degree videos will be captured from the red carpet and throughout the pre-show and distributed on the Golden Globes’ Facebook page.

"We’re thrilled to partner with Facebook and give viewers a front-row seat to the red carpet that can’t be found anywhere else,” says HFPA president Meher Tatna in a statement.

“We hope to enhance the overall viewing experience so fans at home can feel they’re enjoying the show alongside their favorite stars at Hollywood’s biggest party of the year.”

Sibyl Goldman, Facebook’s head of entertainment partnerships, says “We always aim to create unique experiences which bring communities together, and partaking in the kick-off of award season in conjunction with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is a demonstration of our commitment to bring fans together through entertainment they enjoy.”


Red carpet coverage on E! on DStv
Time: Sunday 7 January, 23:00 - 03:00
E! Entertainment (DStv 124) will once again do live red carpet pre-show coverage of the Golden Globes as well from Monday morning.

E! will start its Golden Globes coverage at 23:00 on Sunday 7 January with the live, two-hour Countdown to the Red Carpet: The 2018 Golden Globe Awards featuring behind-the-scenes preparations, insider interviews, nominee predictions and fashion forecasting.

Note that this live special doesn't show up in MultiChoice's electronic programme guide (EPG) on DStv (yet), so no reminder or recording can be set, but will definitely take place and be broadcast on E! in South Africa and Africa, as announced by E!.

This two-hour show will be followed at 01:00 for a two-hour block until 03:00 of Live from the Red Carpet: The 2018 Golden Globes.

Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic will co-host E!'s Live from the Red Carpet: 2018 Golden Globes. Ryan Seacrest also continues as executive producer of the Live from the Red Carpet show.

This broadcast will be repeated on Monday at 18:10, and a special E! News Golden Globes wrap-up edition on Tuesday at 19:05.


Official ceremony on M-Net channels on DStv
Time: Monday 8 January, 03:00
Sunday’s 75th Golden Globe Awards will be broadcast live on Monday morning 8 January on MultiChoice’s DStv satellite pay-TV platform on M-Net Movies Premiere (DStv 104) at 03:00 in the morning South African time.

The awards show will then again be shown during South African primetime on the same day on M-Net (DStv 101) at 21:10.

Donald Trump announces his Dishonest Media Awards for the day after the 75th Golden Globe Awards.

I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 o’clock. Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018

The caustic American president Donald Trump has announced that he is starting his own Dishonest Media Awards from the White House that he will dish out on the day after this Sunday’s upcoming Golden Globe Awards.

In a tweet on social media, Trump said that he will announce on this coming Monday his new – in all capital letters – his “MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR”.

The American president that hardly does any media interviews or press conferences like his predecessors, continues to attack journalists and to slam media outlets.

In 2017 he continued to publicly show his disdain for everyone from the BBC and the “failing” The New York Times, to CBS News, Vanity Fair and Anna Wintour, TIME magazine and Newsweek, to CNN, CNN International (DStv 401), The Washington Post, NBC News and MSNBC (StarSat 263).

Donald Trump however loves the right-leaning FOX News Channel (StarSat 261 / Cell C black 502) and watches the opinion-skewed morning show FOX & Friends – which means that sadly FOX News will clearly be shut out of and shunned from the American president’s inaugural “dishonest media” awards.

Donald Trump said he would be handing out his “dishonest media” awards on Monday at 17:00 in America in various “fake media” categories, ranging from “dishonest” to “bad reporting”.

His new awards show is likely a pre-emptive strike against Hollywood’s entertainment media with actors, producers, directors and other stars from the world of television and film who are very likely going to for the jugular during Sunday night’s 75th Golden Globe Awards broadcast with host Seth Meyers.

Sunday’s 75th Golden Globe Awards will be broadcast live on Monday morning 8 January on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform on M-Net Movies Premiere (DStv 104) at 03:00 in the morning South African time, and then again during South African primetime on the same day on M-Net (DStv 101) at 21:10.

There will also be red carpet pre-show coverage this year on Facebook and E! Entertainment (DStv 124).

Last year, 12 days before Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45^th American president, Meryl Streep slammed him in her acceptance speech of the Cecil B. DeMille Award, saying “There was one performance this year that stunned me – it sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good; there was nothing good about it. But it was effective, and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh, and show their teeth”.

“It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter,” Meryl Streep said, referring to Donald Trump who mocked a disabled reporter from The New York Times.

CHICKEN OR BEEF? eNCA goes E! in a shocking 6 minute long puff piece report by a champagne sipping Riante Naidoo for United Charter Services private charter plane company.

eNCA (DStv 403) went E! in another shocking travel story, shamelessly plugging the charter jet company United Charter Services in an astounding 6 minute long puff piece by reporter Riante Naidoo.

Sipping champagne, Riante Naidoo and eNCA failed to disclose to viewers how much United Charter Services paid for the unbelievable 6 minute long coverage looking like an infomercial, or explaining why United Charter Services is getting such uncritical coverage in return for a (presumably) free ride, and why eNCA is taking such free rides like this in the first place.

In December Riante Naidoo with cameraman Bafana Yende went on a (free? paid-for?) trip to give charter flight company United Charter Services over 6 minutes of (free? paid-for?) coverage on eNCA ... complete with Instagram pictures.

eNCA struggles to properly and adequately cover Southern Africa and other Africa related news and often fails - yet allows a reporter and a cameraman, a big news room resource, to take a day to make something that looks exactly like the corporate marketing videos that companies put on their websites to promote their own products and services.

For her fawning United Charter Services piece, reporter Riante Naidoo flew with United Charter Services on a small private aircraft departing from Lanseria airport.

She showed viewers all the special treatment she is getting as an eNCA reporter as she interviews United Charter Services CEO Jonathan Wolpe, United Charter Services director David Howarth, and yes, even United Charter Services pilot Richard Smith.

Riante Naidoo also talked to United Charter Services air hostess Ursula van Straaten (Ursula also does hot towels, you know) who says at United Charter Services she doesn't ask the high-flying lux flyers if they want chicken or beef. Bless.

Hilariously Riante Naidoo then wants to make as if the story is about who is using private chartered aircraft in South Africa and Africa, but weirdly only asks United Charter Services - it is the only company that appears in the entire 6 minute, 14 seconds report.

Did United Charter Services pay for the airplay and for the eNCA story that comes across as an advertorial?

Is it sponsored or sponsored content? And did Riante Naidoo and the cameraman get a free trip or did eNCA actually pay money for the flight?

Viewers don't know because eNCA and Riante Naidoo fails to disclose any of that information and chose not to be transparent to viewers who are seeing the story.

In promoting United Charter Services, the champagne drinking Riante Naidoo comes across as a publicist and marketer for the company, instead of being and looking, and asking proper questions like an eNCA reporter.

Why is United Charter Services the only company featuring in a story about luxury charter jets - or is the story about United Charter Services?

If it is about United Charter Services, why is it, like an infomercial, selling United Charter Services' services and amenities under the guise of a "news" story?

In the infomercial-like "report", eNCA gives United Charter Services a chance to explain exactly its on-board catering and to also tell viewers who its celebrity clientele are who have so far made use of its services.

Riante Naidoo also primes viewers in her report about the cost of United Charter Services and gets Jonathan Wolpe to tell and sell viewers on the price of a trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town on the specific aircraft she is getting a ride - further promoting United Charter Services.

Did an eNCA editor or editors or eNCA managing director Mapi Mhlangu okay this trashy fluff?

Presumably at least someone else at eNCA in the upwards editorial chain saw this - yet nobody at eNCA had any problems with this promo and publicity report since it made it to eNCA viewers.

Once again eNCA is damaging the eMedia Investment's TV news channel's credibility by letting a reporter do a fluff piece without any real news value, without any disclaimers, or bothering to specify specifically who paid who what, or who is getting what, and who is getting what for free - jeopardising eNCA's journalistic integrity.

This shameless shilling damages whatever credibility Riante Naidoo has as an eNCA reporter and has a negative impact on eNCA's image as a TV news channel.

A story is worthy of coverage because it benefits the broader public at large in some way - not merely because of a gift or free travel the reporter has received or because a company is paying to get airtime in a news report - something that makes eNCA's United Charter Services story with United Charter Services as the only "source" and people being profiled, extremely problematic and worrisome.

In 2016 eNCA shocked when it allowed reporter Mbali Langa to go on a free boat cruise on the MSC Sinfonia to Mozambique for what wasn't a real news story, and with the reporter who even missed her flight and then proceeded to do a puff piece story that isn't news but a travel promo for MSC and the MSC Sinfonia.

eNCA ended up quietly pulling that story because of editorial lapses and for compromising its own editorial rules and standards.

Game of Thrones the most pirated TV show in 2017 for the 6th year in a row.

For the 6th consecutive year the fantasy drama series Game of Thrones has been the most pirated TV show in the world, followed by the zombie drama, The Walking Dead in second place as the TV series people illegally watched the most in 2017.

While new episodes of Game of Thrones seen on M-Net (DStv 101) and The Walking Dead on FOX (DStv 125  /StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) continue to show within 24 hours of its American broadcast during in-season broadcast, several channels ranging from M-Net to FOX have drastically cut back in 2017 on its "Express from the US" roll-out and is once again making South African and African pay-TV subscribers wait long periods before showing episodes and starting latest seasons of hit shows.

If the list is taken as an indicator of what the most sought-after TV shows in the world were in 2017, it indicates that M-Net once again kept its title as the South African TV channel with the most sought-after shows: the licensing rights of a whopping 7 out of the top 10 most pirated shows on TorrentFreak's 2017 list belong to M-Net.

In 2017 Game of Thrones was once again the biggest dragon in the TV pirate viewing world through BitTorrent.

Besides being the most stolen TV show of the year - aided by several hacks, leaks and piracy of episodes, a massive 400 000 people worldwide actively shared a single episode of the 7th season at its peak, right after the latest season finale flooded piracy sites.

The shows Prison Break on M-Net, Rick and Morty on Netflix and Sherlock seen on BBC First (DStv 119) made the top 10 most pirated TV shows list for the first time, while The Flash (M-Net), The Big Bang Theory (M-Net), Vikings (M-Net), Suits (M-Net) and Arrow (M-Net).

Interestingly, M-Net that did away with the M-Net Edge (DStv 102) channel in April 2017, has dropped both Arrow and The Flash as former Express from the US titles, with South African viewers who are going to be extremely confused in 2018 by the 4-episode cross-over story arch playing out in the latest seasons of these two shows as well as Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow that M-Net won't be showing in the right order.

Below is the list of the most torrented TV-shows worldwide in 2017 for a single episode, compiled by TorrentFreak and based on statistics reported by public BitTorrent trackers:

1. Game of Thrones
2. The Walking Dead
3. The Flash
4. The Big Bang Theory
5. Rick and Morty
6. Prison Break
7. Sherlock
8. Vikings
9. Suits
10. Arrow