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Trends with Benefits: Wi-Fi Barbie, YouTube cuts ads while cable packs more in

Digital Trends Staff
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What’s wrong with basic cable these days? While reruns of Seinfeld are still 30 minutes long, the actual show is a bit shorter. Did you notice the exterior shot of the coffee shop is only a second long? The laugh track for each joke is a bit shorter? All these edits add up to enough of a time savings to sneak in an extra ad or two … Newman!

If watching ads isn’t your thing, then YouTube’s planned ad-free subscription service will allow you to watch endless cute cat videos without the 30 second Meow-Mix interlude. Could YouTube compete with Netflix and Hulu in the $8 a month streaming game? What type of content does YouTube have to add for you to subscribe?

The mystery of how Facebook plans to make something from it’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus is over, sort of. Facebook said Tuesday it’s developing virtual reality versions of its apps. Wait, what?! Facebook’s product chief Chris Cox says,  “When you’re in Facebook, you’re just sending around these bits of experience – a photo, a video, a thought,” but with VR, he said, there’d be a chance of “sending a fuller picture.”  Conspiracy Dan says this is the beginning of the end.

Finally. Does the world need a Wi-Fi enabled Barbie doll? Think Siri, but with plastic hair. Conspiracy Dan has left the building.

This episode of Trends with Benefits features Ian Bell, Dan Gaul, Glenn Chin, Drew Prindle, and Greg Nibler.

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Digital Trends Staff
Digital Trends Staff
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