Matthew Belloni for The Hollywood Reporter:

Apparently during the jury’s first deliberations members decided to give The Master the top prize, as well as the Silver Lion directing award to Anderson and the acting award jointly to co-stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (Another international critics prize was also heaped on Master.)

But new festival rules apparently prohibit one film from garnering more than two major awards, so the jury was asked to re-deliberate to remove one of the awards. After what a source described as a heated session, the jury decided to take the Golden Lion away from Master and give it to [Kim Ki-duk’s] Pieta.

I like the spirit of this rule. Festival buzz certainly helps a film like The Master, but now there’s an international spotlight on a Korean filmmaker we weren’t talking about yesterday.

Great little video with A.O. Scott, David Carr and Mekado Murphy over at The New York Times on the slew of film festivals that are about to overtake your social feeds. If you’ve ever wondered what makes one fest different from the rest, this is a good primer.¹

Amazon introduced a slew of new tablets and e-readers yesterday. If you want to learn more about them, I recommend checking our their product pages, because I’m not going to discuss them here.¹

• New Kindle
• Kindle Paperwhite
• Kindle Fire HD
• Kindle Fire HD 8.9"

It’s the Software, Stupid

At yesterday’s press event, there was a slide that exemplified what it is that makes Amazon. “Invention does not stop with the hardware.” Amazon is, first and foremost, a software company. Hardware, really any physical aspect of selling goods, is an obstacle Jeff Bezos and friends seek to mitigate.

First Amazon took over the book-selling industry, then they took over selling everything else. Now, as our lives move into the digital realm, they want to sell bits, every bit, really. Bezos put it best: “We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices.”

This mantra makes it clear as day what it is that separates them from Apple, who wants to sell you devices, Microsoft, who wants to sell you software licenses, and Google, who wants to sell you to advertisers. Amazon’s prime directive is to sell you content, and the only way they can do that is if you have devices on which to experience them.

Shh

The backbone of Amazon’s digital machinations is called Whispersync². Initially, all Whispersync could do was keep all of your Kindle devices on the same page. Do a little reading on your e-ink Kindle, then open up Kindle for iPhone and (boom) the furthest read page would be in sync. In my experience, this syncing has worked well enough,³ but the secret sauce is in Amazon’s ecosystem of apps. No matter what kind of smartphone, tablet, computer or Web Browser you have, you’re likely able to access your entire Kindle library and keep everything you’re reading in sync.

And today, Amazon expanded their range of sync services with two new offerings: Whispersync for Voice and Whispersync for Games.

Glossing Over Games

Whispersync for Games is basically iOS Game Center or Xbox Live but for games you buy on your Kindle. Got it? Great.

Digital Immersion

Whispersync for Voice is very cool. Watch the video:

In short, it keeps your page in sync across not only Kindle books, but their Audible audiobook counterpart. This calls for a hearty finally. After all, Amazon owns Audible, it was only a matter of time.

I have long wanted this feature. I don’t listen to audiobooks often, but in my experience I prefer listening to non-fiction when I do. The trouble is that most non-fiction that I read (or hear) usually contains little bits of information I would like to someday reference. With ebooks I can search the text for what I’m looking for, and with a physical book I can usually feel my to the right passage. But with an audiobook? In one ear and out the other. Once the Whispersync for Voice library grows, I think I’ll actually get back into audiobooks again.

But this innovation points to much more than a boon to my edge-case quirkiness.

There are a handful of really annoying buzzwords that have been floating around the past few years. Second Screen Experience! Social TV! Basically, viewers are using a second screen (iPad, laptop or smartphone) while they watch television. Media companies are trying to figure out how to get their full attention on more than one screen at a time (usually to them sell hair cream and laundry detergent). It’s still the wild west, but I think Amazon has cracked part of the nut, here.

Most second screen implementations, like Microsoft’s Xbox Smart Glass, focus on enhancing the primary content with extras on your tablet.⁴ Whispersync for Voice is different because users are actually buying two complete products, two different versions of the same book that they can use with or without its counterpart. That, I think, is something that is actually useful for consumers.

The possibilities for this kind of content syncing are endless, though some may seem more outlandish than others. Imagine, for example, being able to watch a film and have the screenplay stay in sync in front of you on your Kindle. Consider being able to tie the disparate strands of the Star Wars universe together by being able to sync up the story-lines of the films and books, or at least keep them readily accessible if ever timings overlap. Or perhaps sync up relevant film history books to the film you are currently watching.

Not everything Amazon does is a success (remember Silk?), but I have trouble believing consumers will shun Whispersync for Voice. My hope is that it becomes prevalent enough that content makers, of all formats, will be able to put together packages that will make media consumption of the future look like, well, the future.

I remember reading Ben Brooks’s takedown of The Verge¹ in December and thinking he was on to something, but that I wasn’t quite ready to call bullshit on the site and its writers. Now I am.

It’s been a bad week for The Verge, the tech news clearinghouse started by former-Engadget staffers last year and part of the growing Vox Media empire. With a slick “magazine-like” layout and loads of ways to interact with the site, the team there has undoubtedly built an incredible online presence. Their video content is second-to-none, their forums are full of informed nerdy-types and their long-form feature pieces look amazing in a Web browser. The trouble is the content itself, which this week proved to be weak, shameful, unconscionable or all of the above. So I’m done with them.

Weak

Let’s start with the pieces leading up to Amazon’s Kindle announcement this week. The first red flag for me was this August 30th piece by Chris Ziegler with the headline “Exclusive: meet the Amazon Kindle with ‘Paperwhite’ backlit display.” I was excited to see this headline because, well The Verge is a big-time outlet and Chris, who I’ve been reading for years, is a real-deal tech journalist. So I was confused when I got to the page and saw 200 words with an image gallery containing seven images, each with “The Verge” burned into the corner.

My first problem was the use of the word exclusive. I’m used to film outlets abusing the term, but I wasn’t prepared for The Verge to play fast and loose with it. To me, and really to english-speaking readers the world over, exclusive in a headline means more than just images, but analysis and original writing you won’t find anywhere else. And the rest of the headline? When I “meet” a new device I usually get more than some pics and a glorified caption.

Worst of all was Ziegler’s content, which said nothing. Where did the images come from? How did The Verge obtain them? Why aren’t they in English? Nothing. Not even a passing reference. Which is everything. When I didn’t see any form of sourcing in the short piece, my first thought was that Amazon “leaked” the images to The Verge, and if that’s the case, then, as journalists, they failed me as a reader. If they have a source and a scoop they have an obligation to share as much information as they can get their hands on.

Let me be clear: I am not accusing Ziegler or The Verge of regurgitating a fake leak from Amazon. However, without their own explanation of the images’ provenance, as a reader I am left to my own devices to assume where they came from. Without anything of value in Chris’s copy, what am I to think?

Shameful

Then came Nilay Patel’s head-scratcher this past Wednesday: “Exclusive: Amazon phone confirmed, could be announced tomorrow.” This heavy-handed (and impossible) headline was followed by a mere 182 words.

Multiple sources have confirmed to The Verge that Amazon is working on a smartphone that runs a variant of the Kindle Fire’s Android-based operating system, and we’re now hearing that the device will be shown to the press tomorrow.

That headline is shameful. It treats us, as readers, like complete idiots whose clicks need to be bilked out of us at all costs. The “Exclusive” at the front is annoying even if warranted (though of course I would like to read a more in depth-piece). The trouble is that the headline indicates two different pieces of information that aren’t exactly backed up in Patel’s copy, and one of which isn’t confirmed at all.

Let’s talk about that confirmation for a moment. The headline says, “Amazon phone confirmed,” but the piece says “Multiple sources have confirmed to The Verge that Amazon is working on a smartphone.” Working. Nilay is, ostensibly, confirming nothing. Companies work on all kinds of devices that never see the light of day. Patel squandered a more interesting angle (what are they working on?) to get a flashy headline out there.

And that whole “could be” thing? I don’t think I need to explain why saying, consecutively, “confirmed, could be” needs to be explained away. And the copy says “we’re now hearing that the device will be shown to the press tomorrow,” which sounds like as much of a confirmation as the angle on the phone’s existence. So the piece doesn’t even back up the headline.

Why does this bother me? Alone, it’s a sad case of link-bait, but combine it with Ziegler’s previous “exclusive” and the hamster in my head gets back on his wheel. How does one outlet get two non-starter exclusives from the same company in one week? The only conclusion I can think of is that Amazon is leaking them stories they want out there. Again, I have no proof of this and this is not an accusation. But The Verge isn’t giving me a better narrative.

Unconscionable

Finally, yesterday afternoon Bryan Bishop published the most hyperbolic headline yet: “Film review: ‘Looper’ reinvents the sci-fi film with a mix of humanity and adventure.” It’s all fun and games when The Verge disappoints me while covering the tech space, but now they’re covering movies too?

I’ll be seeing the film soon at Fantastic Fest and I’m avoiding reviews, so I haven’t read Bishop’s take, but the headline is preposterous on its face because he isn’t a film critic and he’s not writing for a film outlet. As such, it’s impossible to trust his word that a film could reinvent any genre.

Annoying. But it gets worse.

About an hour and a half after publication, Verge reader “slipslip” posted this comment:

Since it is somewhat unusual for The Verge to review and cover movies (even sci-fi ones), it seems like it might be appropriate for Bryan to add a “full disclosure” addendum to the article about his personal friendship with the director, which I believe was mentioned in The Verge’s post featuring the interview with him.

Bishop concurred:

I agree, slipslip, I’ve just added one. Thanks for the suggestion!

And added this:

[Full disclosure: Bryan Bishop and Mr. Johnson attended college together, a topic we discuss in our interview with the director.]²

First off, it’s discouraged for film critics to do interview pieces for films they plan to review, even when they didn’t go to college with the filmmaker. Secondly, “thanks for the suggestion”? On what planet is disclosure a suggestion? Bishop had an obligation to tell the readers his relationship to the filmmaker from the get-go, and no, linking to another piece where he drops that bit of info (and not in a disclosure, mind you) doesn’t count.

Do I need to do the math on this? The Verge doesn’t regularly do movie reviews. When they do it’s a glowing review of one their News Manager’s college pals. This is more than dubious, it’s downright scandalous. Shame on the site’s entire staff for allowing this to be published under their logo without disclosure.

I’m Done

The journalistic standards The Verge’s staff have displayed in the past week have been, collectively, the last straw. I don’t need the site in my life to begin with, but they have now broken the one thing a news outlet must preserve in order to keep a reader: trust. I have lost faith in the endeavor completely; I can’t trust anything I read on the site anymore.

So I’m done with The Verge. They may not miss one reader. That’s fine. I won’t miss them either.

Quentin Hardy reporting on Intel for The New York Times:

The company, often cited as a bellwether for technology firms, also said the worsening market meant its gross profit margin would fall to 62 percent, from an earlier expectation of 63 percent.

Bummer. But what do the analysts think?

The PC market has been weak for much of the year, but analysts had previously expected a recovery in the final quarter, after Microsoft releases a new version of its Windows operating system, called Windows 8. The new version of Windows has been delayed from its original release date.

In addition, Intel had hoped to take on the growing market for tablet computers, which today often do not use Intel chips, with lightweight laptop computers called ultrabooks. Few of these have hit the market yet, however, and sales have been modest relative to tablets like Apple’s iPad.

So let me get this straight: Windows 8’s delay, the slow start of the “ultrabook” market and the runaway success of the iPad are bringing down the world’s largest chip-maker’s bottom line, and yet it’s Intel that’s the industry bellwether? Got it.

{% blockquote -Earl Sinclair http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0560683/ Dinosaurs, Season 3 Episode 2 “Baby Talk” %} I guess maybe I overreacted when I had the government abolish all our personal freedoms just to stop our kid from saying dirty words. {% endblockquote %}

I’ve been re-re-discovering this show.¹ If you’ve got Netflix, [check it out][netflix]. It’s littered with commentary like the above.

On this week’s episode, Ryan and I talk about redesigning sites and picking fonts while I enjoy a fine Oregon beer. It’s a pretty darn good episode. Go listen to it or subscribe in iTunes, please.

Blu-ray.com:

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will release on Blu-ray Ron Shelton’s comedy White Men Can’t Jump (1992), starring Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson and Rosie Perez. The release will be available for purchase exclusively at Wal-Mart on November 6th.

Haven’t seen this in years and it’s nice to see library titles getting the HD treatment, but why is it exclusive? Is this going to be the thing sets Wal-Mart over the top?

I hate media exclusivity agreements, especially when they’re this silly.

(via Ryan Gallagher.)

Roger Friedman for Showbiz411:

DA Pennebaker, the legendary filmmaker and my friend, has been chosen to receive an honorary Oscar. He’s the first documentary filmmaker to win a Lifetime Achievement Oscar.

Pennebaker is a prolific filmmaker who should be more of a household name. Maybe now he will become one.

Me, 11 months ago:

I don’t know where they’ll take things next, but iPhone 5 is numerically inconsistent and iPhone 6 is just confusing. Gotta change the name eventually.

Guess I was wrong.