Can Comcast-NBC play nice with Hulu-

Can Comcast-NBC play nice with Hulu?
Comcast managers said Thursday, following the company's announcement it had acquired a controlling stake in NBC Universal, that it will be business as usual at Hulu, the joint venture operated by NBC Universal, News Corp., and Disney. Ever since rumors of the acquisition began to swirl in September, questions were raised about whether Comcast would try to kill Hulu to discourage cable customers from dropping their subscriptions. Some critics of the deal said Comcast could also limit access of NBC Universal's TV shows and films to other popular distributors, such as Netflix and iTunes. It appears that some of this may happen and some of it may not.During a conference call, Comcast executives said they anticipate that some content will appear online at Hulu, and other shows will appear on TV Everywhere, the Hulu competitor that Comcast, Time Warner, and other cable companies rolled out last summer. "Comcast is too deep into their Internet-related investments for me to believe that they are hoping to clamp down on consumer enjoyment of NBC content," said James McQuivey, a digital-entertainment analyst for Forrester Research. "They have spent far too much money buying companies and developing infrastructure to suggest they are going to make it a 'my-way-or-the-highway' distribution scheme. It would be absolutely foolish to buy an expensive property like NBC Universal and then cut the legs off of it." Hulu's freedomOkay, so Hulu won't disappear once the acquisition--which still needs government approval--is finalized, but Hulu fans are concerned about how the site will develop. Many had long hoped that the service might one day offer a better selection of full-length feature films and past episodes from hot TV shows. Now, Hulu offers only a smattering of films, and to watch episodes of a TV show from a prior season, a fan must plunk down for a DVD. Most importantly, Hulu fans want to continue watching without paying subscription fees, which has been discussed publicly by some of Hulu's backers, including Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal CEO. Free content was the promise that made consumers so giddy about Hulu and YouTube not that long ago. Cable subscribers were thrilled by the possibility that they could watch the best shows and films without having to pay fees. The NBC Universal acquisition is just the latest sign that this dream might be in jeopardy. "The goal of Comcast is not to make it hard for people to get content. The goal of Comcast in the future is to make it really easy to get content and that's what people will pay for."--James McQuivey, Forrester analyst Paul Gallant, an analyst at Concept Capital's Washington Research Group told The Washington Post that Comcast could "harm consumer welfare by preventing Internet video from becoming a viable cut-the-chord threat." "It's a little bit Pollyannish to say 'I can cut cable because everything I want is on the Internet,' because it isn't," McQuivey said. The big knock on Hulu and other legal video sites is their selection of films and TV shows is still pretty poor. Under Comcast ownership, Hulu will unlikely be unable to change that. More probable is that Comcast will use NBC Universal's content to sweeten its offering to paying subscribers."The goal of Comcast is not to make it hard for people to get content," McQuivey said. "The goal of Comcast in the future is to make it really easy to get content and that's what people will pay for. "In the future, Comcast isn't going to say 'Here's 500 channels delivered to one set-top box,'" he continued. "In the future, they'll say 'Hey, you know that subscription you're paying us every month, that buys you red-carpet access to the best content. No matter what you want to watch we have the license to it. We're going to deliver it to you online, to your game console, to your connected television or Blu-ray player.'"But what about Netflix and iTunes? Doesn't the Comcast-NBC Universal deal put them in a position of competing with a major supplier? Is Netflix friend or foe?Netflix looks less like a DVD-rental business and more like the Web's version of a cable company with each passing day. For more than a year now, Netflix has streamed movies over the Web to anyone who pays the company's subscription fees. CEO Reed Hastings raised the stakes in the competition with cable companies by partnering with set-top box makers and TV manufacturers to create systems that enabled Netflix customers to watch streaming films on their flat screens. Jumping to the TV set was huge for Netflix. No longer latched to the PC, the company was now threatening cable companies on their home turf. But if content is king, then Netflix was offering only a duke. Just like Hulu, Netflix offered cable subscribers a cheaper alternative. Just like Hulu, Netflix's library lacks new and hot titles. Without the best content, the cable companies still hold an advantage over Netflix. Since Netflix is now a direct competitor to Comcast and other cable companies, it will be interesting to see what kind of terms the Web's No. 1 rental store gets from the new NBC Universal? "Comcast has to offer the world, where as Apple only has to offer what's cool." As for Apple, it's highly unlikely that Comcast will tinker with NBC Universal's arrangement for digital download sales at iTunes. The very public quarrel between the companies over pricing in 2008 is behind them. In that case, Apple gave NBC Universal more flexibility over pricing. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has shown respect for Hollywood's lucrative practice of giving exclusive film access to certain distribution platforms over specified periods, called "windows." Jobs is also purveyor of the Web's most successful video-download store, so the relationship will likely remain unchanged. But McQuivey sees a potential problem for Apple should the company decide to broaden its video business.Apple could become an over-the-top pay TV provider," McQuivey speculated. "Apple should say 'You buy an Apple TV from us and pay $28 a month and we'll give you access to this number of downloads and all of this TV-network content for free. They are one of the few companies that could really create this amazing little business model of mixing Internet downloads with Internet streaming with over-the-air HD broadcast...Lets be honest, Apple users have fairly shared tastes and as a result it would be easier for Apple to serve its customer base this way than it is for, say, Comcast. Comcast has to offer the world, where as Apple only has to offer what's cool." It should be noted that in every scenario McQuivey discussed, he mentioned price. In his vision of the digital future, Internet distribution looks a lot like cable.According to McQuivey, "All of these Internet delivery solutions are going to face some kind of reckoning over the next couple of years. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Hulu is going to evolve to include some kind of pay model."


Rafe recommends- Scan your business cards with CardMunch

Rafe recommends: Scan your business cards with CardMunch
Somewhere on or in my desk, I probably have your business card. Like a lot of people, cards rain into my life constantly. Most get "filed" into small cardboard boxes that used to hold my own business cards. And then they get forgotten. I have looked at many solutions for capturing the useful data I get from cards: Scanners, databases, and even services like Cloud Contacts, where you send your piles of cards to be scanned and entered into a database. They all take too much work (or money), so I don't stick to any of them. And then there are the business card workarounds, like Bump and CardFlick, which replace the social gesture of exchanging business cards with some smartphone-mediated artificial contortion.But now, finally, LinkedIn's CardMunch (it recently acquired the product) gets it right. Not completely right, but right enough. It's fast enough, simple enough, and accurate enough to supplant other business card scanning products. And it's free. It's paid for, I presume, by LinkedIn's marketing budget, since you can't really use CardMunch now without being bombarded by LinkedIn features. iPhones have good enough resolution to serve as document scanners now.Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNETWith the CardMunch iPhone app, you take pictures of business cards. You can snap dozens of them fairly rapidly. Then the app uploads them to the distributed data entry sweatshop known as Mechanical Turk, so real humans can transcribe your cards. The info is then sent back to your app. Total time for a business card to make the round trip? In my tests, a few hours, for a group of about 25. Fast enough. And, like I said, plenty accurate, since it's real humans reading the cards, not some OCR app that's going to get confused by clever typography.CardMunch's strength is its simplicity, but that's also a minor weakness. All it does is scan cards and send the results back to you. But it also connects data from cards to individuals' LinkedIn accounts, so you also get contacts' pictures and deeper information than cards hold themselvesYou can quickly add a contact's information from their CardMunch record to your iPhone address book. Big props to LinkedIn for not doing this by default for all contacts. You can also fire off a quick e-mail to a contact from within the app, or initiate a LinkedIn connection request (warning: Once you press "connect," you can't undo the request).See alsoLinkedIn's new CardMunch app upgrades lowly business cardBut there is no way to "favorite" a contact, nor can you sort contacts by company name or the date you took the picture of the card. The app doesn't seem to record the location where you scanned the card (which would also be useful for sorting or filtering). Hopefully these features will get layered into the app later; some of them were in CardMunch before LinkedIn bought it.Summary: I've been looking for a good business card collection utility for years. I think I've finally found it.Pro business card tip: Thinking about creating two-sided business cards, with your company name on one side and your contact info on the other? Oh, so clever. But don't do it. CardMunch only scans one side of a card. The endorsement: CardMunchPlatform: iOS iPhone appPrice: FreeSummary: Finally, a good and free solution for extracting contact information from business cards.Get it: iTunes


Enter CNET's The 404 SuperWeakness contest for a chance to win $404!

Enter CNET's The 404 SuperWeakness contest for a chance to win $404!
We all want to be superheroes with incredible superpowers, but we all know every superhero has a superweakness. Sure, there are classics -- Superman's got his kryptonite, Green Lantern is allergic to the color yellow, and of course there's Batman's historic cat-and-mouse game with the Internal Revenue Service.The 404 will be on the ground in San Diego for Comic-Con 2013, and we want to know which modern-day problems bring you to your knees. Register with CNET and leave a comment on this blog post telling us about your crippling SuperWeakness. Enter and you'll have a chance to win $404, which also happens to be the name of our program (for those of you keeping score).Does the thought of making eye contact in public bathrooms keep you up at night? Are you terrified of being framed for a crime you didn't commit, or even just commitment in general? What about holidays you can't pronounce -- those are pretty crazy, right? We want to hear them all. Submit an entry by July 20 and tune in to The 404 Show the following week when we announce the winner.If you're going to be attending Comic-Con, you can submit another entry in person at the Base Station, located across from the Convention Center at Lou & Mickey's. If not, you just get one.On the plus side, though, you can always check out The 404 Show for free, live every weekday at 9 a.m. PT/noon ET. Or if that's too much work, just subscribe using the buttons below.Subscribe to The 404 Show on CNET.com:iTunes (HD) | iTunes (SD) | iTunes (HQ) | iTunes (MP3) RSS (HD) | RSS (SD) | RSS (HQ) | RSS (MP3)Interested in winning? Here are the rules:Register as a CNET user. Go to the Join the Conversation section below this blog post and hit the Add Your Comment button. If you're not already registered, please do so. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again -- you just need to be logged in.Leave a comment below-- Tell us your SuperWeakness.Enter only once. You may enter for this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than once, you will be automatically disqualified.There will be one (1) winner chosen randomly. The winner will receive $404.If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. The winner must respond within three days of the end of the sweepstakes. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.Entries can be submitted until Saturday, July 20, 2013, at 11:59pm ET.Thanks for entering the contest, and good luck! Some legalese: * NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. YOU HAVE NOT YET WON. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE UNITED STATES OR CANADA (EXCLUDING QUEBEC), 18 YEARS OLD OR AGE OF MAJORITY, WHICHEVER IS OLDER IN YOUR STATE OF RESIDENCE AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. SWEEPSTAKES ENDS 07/20/13. SEE RULES FOR DETAILS.


The 404 675- Where we watch Katy Perry on COED Magazine (podcast)

The 404 675: Where we watch Katy Perry on COED Magazine (podcast)
COED Magazine produces sexy (but SFW!) content that makes a perfect match for CNET's The 404 Podcast, so we're excited to have Editor-in-Chief Stephen Gebhardt in the guest chair today to chat about the genesis of COED Mag, a scourge of suggestive Katy Perry GIFs, 15 signs you're an Internet weirdo, and "Back to the Future" returning to movie theaters! As you might've guessed, Wilson spends the entire episode shaking his head and fielding calls from the FCC.DragCloseThis content is rated TV-MA, and is for viewers 18 years or older. Are you of age?YesNoSorry, you are not old enough to view this content.COED Magazine is a comprehensive Web publication that caters to a lot of different interests like MMA, sports, tech news, and media, but you can guess the main focus of a Web site with "COED" in the name (queue Wilson scrambling to remove screenshots from the video recording).Stephen tells us that Katy Perry is driving a ton of traffic to the site, thanks to her appearance on SNL and her cleavage-filled appearance on "Sesame Street." To cash in on her fame, COED presents the 15 most suggestive Katy Perry animated GIFs. If you're like us, these are sure to end your workday productivity, so don't say we didn't warn you.We also enjoyed this article on the 15 signs you're an Internet weirdo, but mostly because almost all of them apply to The 404 in one host or another. For example, #10: You can't go five minutes without checking your e-mail obviously applies to Wilson, while #1 You play games more hours per week than you work at an actual job sounds like Jeff, and me? Well, it might be easier to read the list and guess which don't sound like something I'd do in the privacy of my own browser.There's plenty more fun on today's episode with Stephen Gebhardt, including a list of 10 movies about video games that don't suck and some news about "Back to the Future," so enjoy the episode and follow along at COED Magazine!Episode 675PodcastYour browser does not support the audio element. Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) |Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video  Follow us on Twitter!The 404Jeff BakalarJustin YuWilson TangAdd us on Facebook!The 404 Fan PageThe 404 GroupJustin YuJeff BakalarWilson Tang


No Beatles on iTunes tomorrow

No Beatles on iTunes tomorrow
Today, as the various sound systems in the room are reminding us, is unofficially Beatles Day: 09/09/09. Given that Apple has announced a press conference on the same day (US time), it seemed natural it would make an announcement to coincide with the worldwide release of The Beatles: Rock Band and the remastered albums. Sadly, an EMI executive has scotched that idea."Conversations between Apple and EMI are ongoing and we look forward to the day when we can make the music available digitally. But it's not tomorrow," Ernesto Schmitt, EMI's global catalogue president told the Financial Times.Apple has had a long-standing feud with Apple Records (distributed by EMI) over the rights to the "Apple" name. The Beatles' label was happy for the two companies to coexist as long as the Cupertino company didn't sell music. So, you can imagine how this relationship soured when the iTunes store went live...Apparently the hold-up is about some outdated fears of piracy on EMI's behalf, and not the band. "If one [EMI] employee decides to take it home and wap it on to the internet, we would have the right to say, 'Now you recompense us for that'. And they're scared of that," Paul McCartney told FT. Did Sir Paul really say "wap"?We're pretty sure that right now lossless FLAC encodings of both the stereo and the highly-sought after mono recordings released today will be freely available on the internet. EMI needs to get with the times.But what does that leave for Apple to announce tomorrow? The strongest rumours surround iPod Touches with integrated cameras, the possible "death" of the iPod Classic, and the release of iTunes 9 with Blu-ray support. We still hold out hope for a Beatles iPod ala the U2 Special Edition, and an iTunes release "in the future". [Financial Times via Gizmodo]


Don't miss a second of the State of Origin

Don't miss a second of the State of Origin
Heads up, footy fans: an official Channel Nine iOS app for catching the State of Origin is here. Although there are a few unofficial State of Origin apps on iTunes and Google Play, if you want to catch everything, Jump-in from State of Origin broadcast partner Channel Nine is the way to go. Because it's from the channel that's airing the matches, it's able to provide a bunch of information as it happens. This includes up-to-the-minute live matches that you can watch directly from inside the app, scores, match statistics and player statistics.It's the replay options that really shine, though. Within minutes of any in-game event, you can watch a replay from up to 16 different camera angles of your choice, in real time or slow motion. And, because the State of Origin is already one match down, you can check out highlights from the first match that played on 5 June.To tide you over, you can also check out a bunch of other State of Origin highlights, including historical footage, player profiles and polls â€" and you can follow the Twitter feed for the hashtag #Origin.At the moment, the app is only for iOS, but other OS users can access it through the mobile website. "We want to make sure we can bring the best Jump-in experience to all users. To do this, we are first working on a new web version of Jump-in," said Bec Haagsma, director of Convergence at developer Mi9. "Users will be able to access all of Jump-in's great iOS features via jump-in.com.au from any device. We know that some consumers still prefer to access these types of experiences through an app, so will also be releasing an Android app experience to market in 2014."Jump-in for iOS (free)


DOJ inquires about Apple's hold on digital music

DOJ inquires about Apple's hold on digital music
The sources said investigators have begun speaking to a number of digital music retailers and top record labels about Apple's response to the "MP3 Daily Deal," an Amazon promotion that involved slashing prices on specific titles and pushing them heavily the day they were released. Amazon sometimes negotiated with the labels to get exclusive access to the music for a day, and the labels and their artists would often support the Daily Deal by promoting it on their Web sites.Apple managers had informed the labels that any music included in Amazon's promotion would receive no promotion at iTunes, music industry sources told CNET in April. In one case, an industry source said then, Apple complained to Sony Music Entertainment after seeing material from Alicia Keys touted as part of the Daily Deal.The sources who spoke to CNET on Tuesday said government investigators don't appear to be solely interested in Apple's impact on Amazon but are more focused on finding out the ways Apple has used its dominant market position to compete.The DOJ inquiry is in its earliest stages, the sources said. The Justice Department routinely goes on fact finding missions before launching more extensive investigations, but these do not always result in the government filing charges.Representatives from Apple and the Justice Department did not respond to interview requests.To see an updated story on DOJ investigation, click photoApple wields enormous power in the music industry. Research firm NPD Group said sales of digital music at iTunes represent 70 percent of the market.Scott Ambrose Reilly, an Amazon executive who left the company's music division in April for a post in the Kindle unit, suggested in an e-mail to music industry insiders at the time that Apple had felt threatened by The Daily Deal."How can I not be proud of the Daily Deal that has been so successful it riled the Cupertino beast?" Reilly wrote.The New York Times was first to report on the inquiry about the investigation.


Report- MacBook supplies dwindling

Report: MacBook supplies dwindling
While much of the attention on Macs in the past few months has revolved around an update to the MacBook Air, there are signs that Apple's entry-level notebook could soon be getting a refresh as well.AppleInsider reports that supply of the $999 MacBook has gone dry at places like Amazon, J&R, MacConnection, and On Sale. The computer is also back-ordered at BestBuy.com and Apple authorized reseller Abt. Apple itself lists the computer as in stock, and shipping within 24 hours. The MacBook's last update was in May of last year, with Apple bumping the existing model to include a faster processor and Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics. With Apple adding the new Thunderbolt I/O to both itsMacBook Pro and iMac line, there is a chance the MacBook could get it as well. Thunderbolt is seen as a high-end addition, though its inclusion in the iMac suggests that the company is not above putting it in a machine aimed at consumers.Since the release of the latest MacBook Air in October there have been questions about whether Apple plans to keepthe MacBook around considering its price tag bumps up with the company's entry-level MacBook Air, which has gone on to become quite popular since its redesign and price cut. It's worth noting that in late 2009, Apple said that the MacBook was Apple's best-selling computer ever, selling more than 10 million units since its launch. The timing of all this is of special interest considering the upcoming release of Lion,the next version of Apple's Mac OS. At the Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, the company announced Lion would be made available as an upgrade to Snow Leopard users sometime in July. If Apple is planning to release an upgraded MacBook around that launch, these shortages suggest that release is coming sooner rather than later.


Report- Jobs disses Adobe Flash as 'CPU hog'

Report: Jobs disses Adobe Flash as 'CPU hog'
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has reportedly continued his campaign against Adobe's Flash video technology, this time at a meeting with The Wall Street Journal, according to a report in Valleywag.People who were at a recent meeting Jobs had with some of the paper's executives told the Gawker-owned site that Jobs dismissed Flash as "a CPU hog," full of "security holes," and "old technology" and would therefore not be including the technology on the iPad, or presumably, the iPhone. (Adobe did recently promise to make the Mac version of its browser plug-in faster.)It's not the first time we've heard this. At an Apple shareholder meeting two years ago Jobs explained why Flash wouldn't be on the iPhone any time soon. He told those present that the full-blown PC Flash version "performs too slow to be useful" on the iPhone, and that the mobile version--Flash Lite--"is not capable of being used with the Web."More recently, word leaked out from Apple's employee-only meeting after the iPad introduction that Jobs had slammed Flash. According to a report on Wired, he responded to an employee question that "whenever a Mac crashes, more often than not, it's because of Flash," and that "no one will be using Flash. The world is moving to HTML5."The lack of support in the iPad and the iPhone for the software that's essentially the Web standard for displaying online videos has drawn complaints, but mostly from a more technically inclined crowd. The likely reason Jobs is discussing Flash behind closed doors with employees and potential partners and not publicly? The vast majority of people he wants to buy his devices don't know what Flash is, and if they do, they don't care. They just want a device that works.


Report- iPod refresh coming sooner than expected

Report: iPod refresh coming sooner than expected
A report from Brazilian news site MacMagazine says Apple's annual refresh of its iPod line is little more than a week away.Citing "a reliable source within Apple," MacMagazine pegs the unveiling of the next-generation iPods between August 14-16, the first two days of which are a Saturday and a Sunday, leaving Monday the 16th as a more likely candidate. For the last four years, Apple has held its iPod press events in early September, and is widely expected to follow suit this year. In the past, the company released new iPod models on an annual basis as early as March or April, and as late as October--as it did in 2005 with the introduction of the iPod Video.Rumored details of the next-generation iPod Touch have been trickling in over the past few weeks. The latest reports have pointed to the addition of a gyroscope, a so-called retina display, and both a front- and back-facing camera to facilitate the company's FaceTime video chat feature. All of these upgrades were made to this year's iPhone as well.Besides updates to the iPod Touch, rumors posted on site iLounge earlier this week made mention of a touch-screen display redesign for the iPod Shuffle, and a refreshed iPod Nano. iLounge also says that a 7-inch display version of the iPad is in development but that its release is likely to be "later this year." While Apple may choose to keep its event focused on just the iPod, it did promise a version of its shared iOS with multitasking coming to the iPad sometime "this fall." (Via AppleInsider)


Report- iPhone 5 to be a dual-mode 'world phone'

Report: iPhone 5 to be a dual-mode 'world phone'
Apple's upcoming iPhone 5 will support access to both CDMA and GSM networks, allowing it to operate in most countries around the world, a source tells TechCrunch.An unidentified app developer reportedly pulled information from registration logs that show two distinct mobile network codes (MNC) / mobile country codes (MCC). These codes, which are believed to have been entered by testers of a single device using Apple's upcoming mobile operating system iOS 5, are unique mobile network identifiers belonging to Verizon and AT&T, TechCrunch said.Apple now caters to both companies, but the devices are not designed to operate on each other's networks; Verizon's works on the CDMA standard, while AT&T's iPhone 4 operates on a GSM network, the dominant global wireless technology and the standard in Europe. While the iPhone 5 has been long rumored to be a CDMA/GSM world phone, Verizon's iPhone has always had this capability, although it's not activated. Teardowns of the device showed that it sports the Qualcomm MDM6600 chip, the same chip that's used in the Droid Pro world phone.TechCrunch concluded that a dual-mode phone would suggest that the iPhone 5 would not support LTE. However, Apple's latest developer builds for iOS 5 contain a snippet of code that mentions LTE, according to enthusiast site MacRumors, prompting speculation that the company may be testing 4G internally.The hotly anticipated next edition of Apple's smartphone is expected to be released in October.


Report- iPad preorders numbering in 'hundreds of thousands'

Report: iPad preorders numbering in 'hundreds of thousands'
Few outside of Apple have seen an iPad in person, but that hasn't stopped a rush of preorders for the touch-screen tablet device.Sources have told The Wall Street Journal that Apple has "sold hundreds of thousands" of iPads since the device went on presale March 12. If this keeps up, Apple could end up selling more iPads in the first three months than original iPhones sold the first three months after its debut, according to those sources.It's unclear if that means actual sales only, or if that includes reservations for in-store pickups of the device. Apple.com is taking reservations for customers who want to pick up a device in a store on the first day of sale, April 3, but it doesn't require a credit card to be put down. That means if they don't pick up the device by 3 p.m. that day the iPad reservation is canceled. In other words, a reservation should not yet be counted as a sale, but again it's not entirely clear how the iPad presales are being counted.Also of note in the Journal's story: Apple is coming down to the wire on striking content deals for the iPad. Negotiations are ongoing between Apple and media companies for discounted TV shows via iTunes, according to the Journal's sources. Partnerships between Apple and newspapers, magazines, and textbook publishers are also still yet to be cemented, and have "been put on the backburner" in favor of other types of content, the report says.Besides content, some accessories for the touch-screen device are also a little behind schedule. Both the keyboard dock/charging station and the 10W USB power adapter won't be available until May.


'Godzilla 2' or 'Pacific Rim 2': Which One Would You Prefer

Let;s pretend you can only like the new Godzilla or last year;s Pacific Rim. Not both or neither. It;s easy for me, because I actually have a huge preference. I was really bored during the latter and on the edge of my seat with wonder during the former. Guillermo del Toro;s Kaiju-vs.-Jaeger movie has cool-looking visuals done unimaginatively, whereas Gareth Edwards does amazing and clever things with the frame in his reboot of the King of the Monsters. I say reboot becase with expectations for a huge opening this weekend, Godzilla is sure to get a sequel. Many fans hope it;ll pit the giant lizard against Mothra. I think it should be a creature that doesn;t fly, because we just got that with the MUTOs. Maybe it ought to be Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. That would sure show the fans and makers of Pacific Rim howto do a monster-robot battle. Of course, both movies were actually made by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros., so there;s no reason for competition. Yet there are sure to be many who;d prefer Pacific Rim 2, in spite of the fact that its total domestic gross was about what Godzillawill earn in its opening weekend (name recognition does matter!) and the fact that it received slightly worse reviews (both are fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). Legendary would love to do a sequel to Pacific Rim, but not just to do one. Slashfilm relays a recent quote from the production company;s CEO, Tomas Tull, where he says they;re in no hurry and will only do a parttwi if del Toro has another great story to tell. If we can crack the story, we all think it’s great and it’s him at the helm, then fantastic. But right now there’s nothing going on officially to proclaim, he said. Meanwhile, Godzilla 2 will probably be green lit by Monday morning, with no script or even an idea in place. How about this, though: the two properties combine as a battle between Godzilla and the Jaegers, but Edwards is in charge of the former and del Toro is in charge of the latter. Is there any technology out yet that will allow two filmmakers to compete against each other in a single project? Maybe like what Ken Kwapis and Marisa Silver did for He Said, She Said, except more intertwined and action packed. Which franchise should be extended, if only one,Godzilla or Pacific Rim? Here are some responses received so far via Twitter: @thefilmcynic Godzilla!! — robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) May 16, 2014 @thefilmcynic Godzilla. There are 29 movies and they always find ways to make it interesting. Pacific Rim, just looks like a one and done. — August Macias (@August_Macias) May 16, 2014 @thefilmcynic Godzilla till we get Mothra spinoffs. — justin robinson (@TheJSRobinson) May 17, 2014 @ErikDavis A GODZILLA sequel actually makes sense in the world they set up, PACIFIC RIM needs to stay dead. — Daniel Bergamini (@dberga) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis both. Why not? If I chose only one, GODZILLA — Adrian Charlie (@Adrian_Charlie) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis ‘Godzilla’ by a country mile. — Mike Sampson (@mjsamps) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis Godzilla. Pacific Rim was fun, but I keep forgetting it exists. Godzilla made me cheer and literally squeal. — Kristy Puchko (@KristyPuchko) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis A Godzilla sequel wouldn;t have to change much in my opinion. Pacific Rim however, would need a total re-evaluation. — Rob Trench (@robtrench) May 16, 2014 @mjsamps @ErikDavis Godzilla, though it could use some of Pacific Rim;s humor. — Robert Levin (@Rlevin85) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis Godzilla. I liked Pacific Rim, but I feel like that;s as good as that premise will get. — Matt Kraus (@MattKraus813) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis Seriously? Pacific Rim. No contest. — Tracksounds (@tracksounds) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis Pacific Rim — MizCaramelVixen.com (@MizCaramelVixen) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis I think currently Pacific shows more promise for a sequel that could capitalize on all the world building of the first. — George A. Hickman (@popmortem) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis I liked Godzilla, but would want more Pacific Rim all the way. — Vivek Bhat (@vivekbhat) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis Pac Rim. I thought the writing was handled better in that one. — Trevor T. Trujillo (@TrevorTrujillo) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis ;Pacific Rim; for sure...at least there was more than 20 minutes of monster footage in it... — Jake Johnson (@jacobecody) May 16, 2014 @thefilmcynic why can;t we have both? — Tyler Mager (@tylermager) May 16, 2014 @thefilmcynic both — RyanB (@TheChewDefense) May 16, 2014 @thefilmcynic Is too much to ask for both? Universal (Legendary;s new distributor) can release Godzilla 2 and Warner Bros. can do Pac Rim 2. — Keith Adams (@BigBrother1988) May 16, 2014 @ErikDavis DON;T MAKE ME CHOOSE! — Bryan Loy (@TenBucksAThrow) May 16, 2014 @davidehrlich @ErikDavis Let them fight? — Keith Phipps (@kphipps3000) May 16, 2014 Join in the next discussion: and