Archive for the ‘Net TV’ Category

First 'powered by Chumby' device to be a digital picture frame, Internet-connected TVs to follow

by Steve O'Hear

August 20th, 2009 | Posted in Net TV, Other | Comments3 Comments

When Chumby, makers of the boutique gadget of the same name (a sort of cross between an alarm clock radio and digital picture frame, housed in a leather ‘bean bag-esque’ casing), announced that is was porting its widget-based platform to third-party hardware, the emphasis was on Internet-connected TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. Now it seems that the first ‘powered by Chumby’ device will be something much closer to the company’s own hardware: a digital picture frame, to be released in time for the holidays, reports Forbes.

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Blockbuster VOD service to land on Motorola handsets sometime in the future

by Steve O'Hear

August 19th, 2009 | Posted in Mobile, Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

This one feels a lot like a non-announcement, although technically it’s actually a pre-announcement.

Bricks ‘n’ mortar video rental chain Blockbuster is teaming up with Motorola in the U.S. to deliver its video-on-demand service to the handset maker’s future devices. Future being the operative word here as we don’t yet know when or on what phones, although it’s likely that the service will utilize Blockbuster’s recent partnership with Sonic Solutions, owners of the video download store CinemaNow, whose technology is already compatible with a range of mobile devices.

See also: Dan Rayburn: 10 years on Blockbuster still lacks a digital strategy

The fact that both Blockbuster and Motorola aren’t in the best of shape with regards to their respective markets won’t been lost on many, with Gizmodo’s Joanna Stern summing it up nicely: “I think it is romantic when two companies can hold each other in tough times.” Tough times indeed, although I’m skeptical that this partnership will do much for either companies’ bottom line.

Sony PlayStation video store coming to the UK, France, Germany and Spain this November

by Steve O'Hear

August 19th, 2009 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

While the U.S. version launched all the way back in July 08, it’s been a long wait for users across the pond. Along with announcing a new slimmer version of the PS3 and a bunch of other service enhancements, yesterday Sony revealed that the PlayStation video store will be opening its doors to parts of Europe from November this year.

From gamesindusty.biz:

Film companies Lionsgate, Paramount, MGM, Walt Disney, Fox, Universal and Warner Bros have been signed up by Sony, which will result in the delivery of “hundreds of movies straight to your PS3 and PSP,” Sony’s Andrew House has confirmed at the Gamescom Sony press conference in Cologne. These films will be purchasable using the usual wallet system, and the store will be rolled out in other territories throughout 2010.

While Sony will get there in the end — the company was already playing catchup in the games console delivered online video space even in the U.S. — the hold up is likely to be the usual issue of content licensing. Striking deals in one territory doesn’t guarantee speedy success in another.

In related news, Sony also announced that in the UK, the version of the BBC’s iPlayer TV catchup service for the PlayStation 3 will be promoted through the console’s ‘What’s new’ section being introduced as part of a new firmware update.

Download the complete Pirate Bay torrent index, if you dare

by Steve O'Hear

August 17th, 2009 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

I personally wouldn’t go anywhere near this. The occasional ‘ilegal’ torrent at a time, such as a missed episode of Mad Men, may carry a little risk, but try justifying the complete Pirate Bay torrent index sitting on your hard drive — all 21 GB of it — and well I wish you good luck.

That’s exactly what you’re now able to do thanks to a helpful user of the world’s most famous file sharing site, reports ReadWriteWeb.

It looks as if an anonymous user uploaded the entire site’s archive in order to ensure that multiple backups exist in case torrents are removed post-purchase. Users who would like to download an archival copy of the site, can access it as a massive 21.3 gigabyte download for free.

“Post-purchase” refers to the pending sale of Pirate Bay to Global Gaming Factory X (GGF), a publicly listed company in Sweden. See our recent report: ‘The Pirate Bay sold, plans to go legit. Users urged to become capitalists.‘

VidZone, Sony PS3's on-demand music video service, is a hit with… record labels

by Steve O'Hear

August 17th, 2009 | Posted in Audio, Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

vidzoneI was so underwhelmed with VidZone, the PlayStation 3’s on-demand music video service, that I couldn’t bring myself to review it. The UI is clunky and videos stream in a 4:3 aspect ratio, even for recent releases, so that they don’t fill up the whole screen on my High Def telly.

However, it seems that I’m in the minority, if the company behind VidZone is to be believed. The service is a hit with the major record labels, meaning that it’s presumably resonating with consumers too, its co-founders tell GamesIndustry.biz.

After starting off by having to persuade the major labels to license their music videos to the service, VidZone says that the music industry is now knocking at their door.

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Samsung opens up its TouchWhiz homescreen; widgets let developers target all three screens

by Steve O'Hear

August 17th, 2009 | Posted in Mobile, Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

When I reviewed Samsung’s touch screen feature phone, the Tocco SGH-F480, I described the home screen widgets, part of the company’s “TouchWhiz” user interface, as “a fun but under developed feature”. At the time, the Tocco only offered seven widgets, including a clock, calendar, birthday reminder, photo browser and music player, and I bemoaned the fact that third-party developers were unable to create more.

That was almost a year ago, and today Samsung announced that it’s finally opening up the TouchWhiz widget platform, which exists across many of the company’s touch screen phones running Symbian, Windows Mobile, and the handset maker’s proprietary operating system. Third party developers will be able to build their own home screen widgets using familiar web standards – HTML, JavaScript and CSS – similar to Nokia’s WRT or, on a more ambitious scale, the Palm Pre’s WebOS, or indeed any widget platform whether it be targeting mobile, the PC or the television.

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Roku set-top box adds Major League Baseball streaming (MLB.TV)

by Steve O'Hear

August 11th, 2009 | Posted in Net TV | Comments2 Comments

mlb-tv-rokuRoku’s cheap but increasingly versatile set-top box has added another feather to its bow.

Joining both Netflix and Amazon-On-Demand, the $99 Roku Video Player can now stream live ‘out of market’ and archived baseball matches — in 720p HD no less — courtesy of MLB.TV (US-only).

Fans will of course still have to pony up for a season pass ($35) but that doesn’t seem like such as bad deal now that you can easily pipe that content to a wide-screen TV, and especially if you’re already an owner of Roku’s cheap ‘n’ cheerful little box.

(Also see Dave Zatz’s five suggestions for how to improve Roku’s offering.)

Netflix CEO: Web browser is television's future

by Steve O'Hear

July 23rd, 2009 | Posted in Net TV | Comments2 Comments

Forget channel surfing, Web surfing is the future of television, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings tells CNNMoney.com.

In five to twenty years, says Reed, “the way that consumers will interact on the big screen will be similar to the way they interact on a laptop screen.” Instead of switching channels, they’ll visit online video destinations as the web becomes “the universal paradigm that’s gonna subsume and embrace the User Interface on all of these systems” [PC, TV and Mobile].

“In the long term what we’ll see is a web browser like IE or Chrome or Safari or any of these in the television, and the way that consumers will interact on the big screen  will be similar to the way they interact on a laptop screen. That is with a web oriented paradigm and they’ll go to CNN.com or Netflix.com or ESPN.com as apposed to specific channels. So think of websites, over time, replacing channels… Over maybe 5 to 20 years.”

Full video interview after the jump…

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Hulu explains its lack of love for PlayStation 3

by Steve O'Hear

July 16th, 2009 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

It’s for your own good

Users who are complaining that they can no longer access the online video site Hulu on through their PlayStation 3’s web browser are being given an official explanation. The short version: it’s not Hulu’s fault per se but the result of keeping content owners, who don’t want the service to compete with revenue generated by traditional television distribution, happy.

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Dan Rayburn: 10 years on Blockbuster still lacks a digital strategy

by Steve O'Hear

July 16th, 2009 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

Bricks and mortar video rental chain Blockbuster were a decade ahead of the competition in terms of the move from physical media to digital. That lead, however, “never materialized into any real online video strategy over the next ten years”, writes industry veteran and EVP of StreamingMedia.com, Dan Rayburn.

“Without a doubt, Blockbuster should have been in the position Netflix is in today as they were the first movers in the market.”

Rayburn then goes on to paint Blockbuster as a digital headless chicken.

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