Much of the iPod’s success, says Steve Jobs, is down to the fact that Japanese consumer electronics companies don’t produce elegant software. He makes the same accusation of handset makers too. They can do hardware but they “just can’t seem to get the software right.” Enter Android, Google’s open source OS, which although explicitly designed to deliver better software for Internet-connected cellphones, will also soon find its way onto all manner of devices.
“Over the last few weeks I have learned that numerous companies are tinkering with Android in an attempt to get the OS to power a whole slew of gadgets — everything from set-top boxes to navigation systems to mobile Internet devices to smart picture frames”, reports Om Malik.
Motorola have already confirmed that it has at least one Android-powered handset in the pipeline, but the company is also a major player in the television set-top box space and is said to be exploring the potential of Android in the living room too. Malik also says he’s heard from “fairly reliable sources” that two large PC makers are experimenting with Android-based Internet devices. None of which I find surprising. From both a technical and business point of view, Google has laid the foundations for Android to move quickly beyond its cellphone roots and, the company hopes, eventually become a ubiquitous platform.
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The device meets the typical specs of 
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the BBC’s TV catch-up service iPlayer (UK-only), which I regularly access on my laptop, cable television set-top box, and of course 
Jalipo, the Internet TV service that charged on a minute by minute pay-as-you-go basis, has entered the deadpool. The browser-based offering, which delivered both on-demand and live streaming, was purchased by the ROK Entertainment Group earlier this year at a valuation of $16.8 million. But after just five months, its new owners appear to have had a change of heart. Blaming the current economic climate, ROK has decided to shut down the service and reportedly lay off its 30 London-based employees.
After a month-long hiatus, I made a return appearance on ReadWriteTalk’s fortnightly podcast RWW Live hosted by Sean Ammirati. In this 
At long last, Nokia has taken the wraps off its 
With Apple recently re-positioning its iPod touch, and to a lesser extent iPhone, as a portable gaming device, in addition to media playback and Internet functionality, it would make some sense for Nintendo to move the other way with its DS handheld games console. And that’s exactly what might be about to happen.
Roku is once again talking up plans to open its Netflix-only set-top box to other online video providers. Talking at the Streaming Media West conference, Roku CEO Anthony Wood 
Although the UK version of Microsoft’s Video Store for its XBox 360 console launched last December, it wasn’t until just over a month ago that I got to try out the service for myself. Microsoft’s PR team kindly loaned me a top of the line model – the HDMI equipped 120GB “Elite” version – to hook up to my High Definition TV to download and watch a few shows and movies purchased from XBox Live. However, while the service is dead easy to use and worked as intended, for a number of reasons I came away disappointed.