Cell phones with build in cameras are replacing cheap pocket size digital cameras and video cameras. Best cell phone cameras can be better in many ways than cheap pocket digital cameras from few years back. And most people do not want to carry separate devices for each function (at least without a very good reason), when a smart phone can handle calls, Internet, photos and video shooting.
CES 2013 fair had more pocket advanced size cameras on display than DSLRs, but the trend on then was that business was going down due cellular phone cameras getting better. So camera manufacturers are integrating more cellular phone like features to their cameras (like Android OS with wireless connectivity to photo sharing sites) and concentrate on building good superzoom and DSLR type cameras. You need to have something clearly different than what cell phone can offer: huge zoom, good performance in low light or works also in harsh environment. Wireless connection is getting more and more common, either built-in or using memory card with WiFi.
As Sales Slip, TV Makers Strain for the Next Sensation because hardware companies want to make their products stand out in a sea of black rectangles that can show the content user want to watch. And one that is particularly acute for television makers. The hardware is becoming kind of boring and exciting things are happening in software. TV manufacturers continue to push the idea of “smart” sets by adding apps and other interactive elements.
Connected TV technologies get more widely used and the content earlier viewable only on TV can be now seen on many other screens. Your smartphone is the screen in your pocket. Your computer is the screen on your desk. Your tablet is a screen for the couch. Almost every major electronic device you own is a black rectangle that is brought to life by software and content.
In the last two years, television makers have tried a push with 3-D sets. But now It’s official: 3D is dead. The tech industry’s annual hot air balloon show is gone. On the one hand, 3D has become ubiquitous enough in televisions that people are unwittingly buying it when opting for a high-end new HDTV to fill their living room.
Post HDTV resolution era seems to be coming to TVs as well in form of 4K / UltraHD. This year, television makers like Samsung, Sony, LG and Panasonic are trying to grab attention by supersizing their television screens and quadrupling the level of detail in their images. They are promoting what they call Ultra High-Definition televisions, which have four times as many pixels as their high-definition predecessors, and can cost as much as a car. It’s a bit of a marketing push. It seems that all LCD makers are looking to move their business models on from cheap mass production to higher-margin, premium offerings. They try to innovate and secure their future viability by selling fewer, but more profitable displays.
4K at CES 2013: the dream gets real article tells that the 4K bandwagon is fully loaded and ready to get rolling. The US TV maker isn’t alone in stepping up to the higher resolution in its new flagship models. Sony, Panasonic and Sharp, Japan’s traditional big-screen TV leaders, are all attending this year’s CES with proper retail products. Manufacturers Need You to Buy an Ultra-High-Def 4K TV. Save Your Money because just as HDTV was slow to take off, the 4K start will be slow. It’s more than the price that’s keeping these things from hitting critical mass. 4K is only for ultra-premium markets this year.
4K resolution TV has one big problem: The entire ecosystem isn’t ready for 4K. The Trouble With 4K TV article tellst that though 4K resolutions represent the next step in high-definition video, standards for the format have yet to emerge and no one’s really figured out how to distribute video, with its massive file footprint, efficiently and cost effectively. Getting 4K content to consumers is hard.
Even though 4K resolution is widely use in digital cinematography, but there is no suitable consumer disk format that supports it and the bandwidth need to stream 4K content would be huge. Given that uncompressed 4K footage has a bit-rate of about 600MB/s. Broadcom chip ushers in H.265 and UltraHD video tells that H.265 video standard, aka HEVC or MPEG-5, squeezes more pixels over a network connection to support new high-resolution 4K TVs.
You should also note that the new higher resolution is pretty pointless for a small TV (where the TV mass market is now). Ultra HD would make a difference only on screens that were at least 80 inches, measured diagonally. For smaller screens, the extra pixels would not be visible to a person with 20/20 vision viewing from a normal viewing distance. Ultra HD TVs can also be a flop. But let’s see what happens in the world where nowadays tiny smart phone screens can have full HDTV resolution.
Keep in mind that 4K is not any absolute highest resolution expected in few years. 8k resolution TVs are coming. Sharp showed a 8K resolution TV with 7680 x 4320 resolution at CES2013. For more details on it read Sharp 8K Super Hi-Vision LCD, 4K TV and Freestyle wireless LCD HDTV hands-on article.
Another development than pushing up the resolution to make high end display products is OLED technology. OLED is another new technology to make expensive products. The much buzzed-about device features next-generation, high-quality OLED screens. OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode, and they offer a bevy of benefits: more energy efficient, cleaner image, wide viewing angle and devices can be made thinner. You can also make TV screen curved in shape. In a race between television titans, LG has beat Samsung in becoming the first manufacturer to introduce a 55-inch OLED television to market: the largest OLED TV panel to date.. OLED products are very expensive (LG TV $10,300 in US dollars). OLED display can also have 4K resolution, so you can combine two expensive technologies to one product. Market analysts say that they believe the technology will not become more affordable until 2015.
The Verge Awards: the best of CES 2013 article lists for example product like Samsung 4K “easel TV”, Sony 4K OLED TV, Teenage Engineering OD-11 Cloud Speaker and Oculus Rift virtual reality gaming.
All your audio, video kit is about to become OBSOLETE article tells that although much of the audio and video technology packed into CES 2013′s 1.9 million square feet of exhibition space is indeed impressive, one panelist at an emerging-technology conference session channeled a little 1974 BTO, essentially telling his audience that “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Deep-geek soothsayer predicts smart audio, Ultra HD eyewear, much more in coming years. Audio is going to become adaptive, changing its wave forms to fit each user’s personal aural perceptions. Active noise reduction is finding its way into cars. HD audio will be coming to mobile phones. MEMS-based microphones and speakers are also on the runway. Consumer-level video will see in the future much higher resolution devices with much higher frame rates.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Your LG smart TV SPIES on you when you change channels – researcher
Phones home with the names of videos you watch, too
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/20/lg_smart_tv_data_collection/
LG smart TVs silently log owners’ viewing habits to the South Korean company’s servers and use them to serve targeted ads, one researcher has claimed.
According to Yorkshire, UK–based hacker “DoctorBeet,” the internet-enabled sets try to phone home to LG every time a viewer changes the channel, giving the chaebol the ability to track exactly which channels are being watched, minute by minute.
Using network packet-sniffing tools, DoctorBeet discovered that his set was also transmitting the names of media files he played off USB storage, which he observes could potentially be embarrassing for those in the habit of watching less savory downloaded fare.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Here’s what you aren’t allowed to record with PlayStation 4′s built-in DVR
http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/13/heres-what-you-arent-allowed-to-record-with-playstation-4s-built-in-dvr/
If you love the idea of broadcasting your gaming, but you don’t try because of an aversion to complicated hardware and software, then you’re in luck with the upcoming next gen. Both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One include built in broadcasting and gameplay-recording features.
PlayStation 4
The system is always recording gameplay and saves up to the last 15 minutes of action. It also enables players to broadcast their gaming to Twitch or Ustream, but it isn’t unlimited. This is Sony’s video party, and they have some rules.
“[Video recording and streaming] is games only,”
This means you can’t record the PlayStation interface or apps.
“Developers can say they don’t want certain parts of the game recorded.” said Aoki. “We have an API call, and developers have control over that.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Winamp Shutting Down On December 20
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/11/20/1958213/winamp-shutting-down-on-december-20
“If you want to download the latest version of Winamp, you’d better do it soon. According to a new banner on the download page, AOL will be pulling the plug on the iconic llama-whipping music player in a month.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm slips out new Snapdragon hardness to gush 4K vids into palms
New 805 system-on-chip is the Google Nexus 5 CPU’s big brother
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/21/qualcomm_slips_out_new_snapdragon_to_bring_4k_video_to_mobes/
While the media industry is convinced 4K televisions are the next big thing, Qualcomm claims its new Snapdragon 805 processor will bring 4,000 pixel content to smartphones.
“Using a smartphone or tablet powered by Snapdragon 805 processor is like having an UltraHD home theater in your pocket, with 4K video, imaging and graphics, all built for mobile,” said Murthy Renduchintala, VP of Qualcomm, said in a canned statement.
“We’re delivering the mobile industry’s first truly end-to-end Ultra HD solution, and coupled with our industry leading Gobi LTE modems and RF transceivers, streaming and watching content at 4K resolution will finally be possible.”
Qualcomm’s 800 series is currently running in Google’s Nexus 5 smartphone but the new processor should be more suited to the fast-growing phablet market
Tomi Engdahl says:
DirecTV to Stream 30 Live TV Channels Outside the Home
http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/directv-to-stream-30-live-tv-channels-outside-the-home-1200855356/
DirecTV is expanding its Internet video service to let subscribers watch more than 30 live TV channels outside the home — including HBO, Showtime, Starz and Food Network — and will deliver 100 live TV in-home streaming channels.
The satcaster also will relaunch its Android tablet app to support both live and on-demand programming across all screen sizes and various operating systems.
Live channels to be available through the DirecTV Everywhere service
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG investigates Smart TV ‘unauthorised spying’ claim
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25018225
LG is investigating allegations that some of its TVs send details about their owners’ viewing habits back to the manufacturer even if the users have activated a privacy setting.
It follows a blog by a UK-based IT consultant who detailed how his Smart TV was sending data about which channels were being watched.
His investigation also indicated that the TVs uploaded information about the contents of devices attached to the TV.
It could mean LG has broken the law.
The Information Commissioner’s Office told the BBC it was looking into the issue.
“We have recently been made aware of a possible data breach which may involve LG Smart TVs,” said a spokesman.
“We will be making enquiries into the circumstances of the alleged breach of the Data Protection Act before deciding what action, if any, needs to be taken.”
When the consultant – Hull-based Jason Huntley – contacted the South Korean company he was told that by using the TV he had accepted LG’s terms and conditions, and that any remaining concerns should be directed to the retailer who had sold him the screen.
But when the BBC contacted LG, it indicated it was looking into the complaint.
Mr Huntley said he had first come across the issue in October when he had begun researching how his Smart TV had been able to show his family tailored adverts on its user interface.
Digging into the TV’s menu system, he had noticed that an option called “collection of watching info” had been switched on by default, he said.
“That’s a terrible implementation of the idea,” Mr Huntley told the BBC.
“It still sends the traffic but labels it saying I didn’t want it to be sent.
“”It’s actually worse, I think, than if they’d not offered the optout in the first place since it allows the user to believe nothing is being sent.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix takes, HBO almost cries
A year ago, the net transmitted via television services rolled into the front in the Nordic countries. Sweden, the figures collected in the light of the best breakthrough managed to Netflix, and the worst was trampled on HBO.
Last autumn, the trio completed the Viaplay entrants. Nor does it stack up to Netflix, but also far away from the rush of HBO’s above.
According to Netflix to reach 864 000 Swedes, of which service to use on a daily basis 308 000 Viaplayn couple sit on a daily basis 128 000 Swedes, the total coverage of 633 000
HBO Nordic monitoring of the possible 68 000 persons, and is using it on a daily basis, only 17 000 Swedes.
So what went wrong?
First of all, timing. All reported earnings at approximately the same time, but were delayed by HBO start a little bit.
Competitors have a chance to collect a large proportion of potential customers to try their services.
Another problem has been the expected strength of the brand. HBO is imprinted TV series, and first come to mind, that the service offered is much more than that.
The third reason is the company’s launch of slapstick. While others were selling monthly invoicing service, HBO saw wise to engage customers at a time for. Later the correction was made, but it seems too late. First impressions can be made only once, and HBO’s case, it was not attractive.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/artikkeli/blogit/tietoja_koneesta/netflix_vie_hbo_vikisee
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix, YouTube video killed the BitTorrent star? Duo gobble web traffic
File-sharing officially on the wane
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/11/bittorrent_gets_the_boot_as_netflix_and_youtube_win_the_web/
Streaming video now makes up more than half of internet traffic in North America as more and more internet users shun filesharing sites.
Netflix and YouTube now account for the lion’s share of all online traffic, according to the Global Internet Phenomena Report by Sandvine
Netflix is top, with 31.62 per cent of downstream fixed access traffic, followed by YouTube, with 18.69 per cent. Bittorrent occupies the fourth place, with 4.05 per cent of traffic – significantly down from its heyday 10 years ago, when it made up more than half of all traffic.
However, Bittorrent still rules the roost when it comes to upstream traffic, accounting for 36.35 per cent.
When it comes to mobile traffic in the US, YouTube is the top downstream site, wolfing up 17.69 per cent of the total traffic, followed by Facebook with 15.44 per cent. With mobile traffic, the top two are reversed, probably due to the number of people uploading selfies to Zuck’s advertising empire. Facebook accounts for 20.62 per cent of upstream traffic, compared to YouTube’s 13.20 per cent.
The report said: “Netflix continues to be the unchallenged leader for traffic, accounting for 31.6 per cent of downstream traffic during peak period.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG promises to stop your Smart TV spying on you
http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/21/lg-admits-smart-tv-data-collection/
In light of accusations that its Smart TVs were sending private data to its servers, LG has admitted that some of its sets are behaving in ways they shouldn’t be.
In a statement, the Korean manufacturer conceded that it has been collecting channel, TV platform and broadcast source data from some units, even when the feature was switched off.
In response to claims it was also beaming over names of files located on connected USB keys, LG admits that it actually forms part of an upcoming service that searches the internet for detailed information on a particular film or TV show.
Understandably, both features might leave a nasty taste in your mouth, especially if you own one of the affected Smart TVs.
working on a new firmware update that will ensure its data-collection settings adhere to user preferences
Tomi Engdahl says:
Blockbuster to close all 264 UK stores before Christmas
2,000 staff to lose jobs
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2308572/blockbuster-to-close-all-264-uk-stores-before-christmas
VIDEO RENTAL SHOP Blockbuster reportedly will close all 264 of its UK stores before 20 December after having entered administration for the second time.
News of Blockbuster re-entering administration surfaced at the end of October, with the firm admitting that it had been hit hard by digital alternatives such as iTunes and Netflix.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Technicolor expects to out-run market growth for TV set-top boxes
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/21/us-technicolor-idUSBRE9AK13420131121
Technicolor is bullish about its TV set-top box business for next year, and expects to outstrip growth in the market in Europe, Asia and North America, its chief executive said on Thursday.
He said his optimism was based on his view that the market was about to enter into a “massive” refresh cycle, driven by LTE mobile broadband becoming embedded into devices and growth of the new WiFi standard 802.11ac.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Twitter TV Ratings Are Here, But No One Knows What They Really Mean
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/10/twitter-tv-ratings/
Nielsen recently released its first Twitter TV Ratings top 10 list, a new metric that measures not how many people watch a given television show — the basis for traditional TV ratings — but how rather how much activity they generate on Twitter. Just how different are the two metrics?
It turns out the shows most seen on Twitter aren’t always the shows most seen on TV, and the discrepancy illustrates just how much more there is to learn about what a tweet about a TV show means. It also offers networks and advertisers a way to gauge the relationship between viewership and Twitter traffic, but knowing the volume of tweets is just the beginning, and there’s a lot of data in those tweets that’s still silent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘World’s first’ mass produced OLED inkjet printer to drive down costs of OLED TVs
Yieldjet aims to produce screens in high volume at low cost
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2308522/-world-s-first-mass-produced-oled-inkjet-printer-to-drive-down-costs-of-oled-tvs
AN INKJET PRINTER capable of printing large, flexible OLED screens in mass production has been unveiled by a firm called Kateeva.
The Yieldjet printer has been “engineered from the ground up” to produce OLED screens in high volume, Kateeva said. The name Yieldjet comes from the printer’s focus on driving yield improvements to push production costs lower.
OLED TVs are becoming more and more prevalent thanks to Korean hardware manufacturers such as LG and Samsung that have introduced a range of curved OLED TV displays in the last year or so. LG has promoted large size OLED display technology for a number of years but the technology is still most commonly used in sub-10in displays found on smartphones and tablets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ONVIF updates networked video storage, recording specification
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/09/onvif-updates.html
ONVIF, the global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, has announced the Release Candidate for its Profile G, the specification designed to store, search, retrieve and playback media on devices or clients that support recording capabilities and on-board storage. The new Profile is now available for review on the ONVIF website.
As with the previous Profile S, which ONVIF introduced in 2012 as the standard interface to stream video and audio between conformant devices and clients, Profile G now brings video playback into the Profile concept, says the consortium. Having global interface specifications — with specific functionalities easily identified by Profiles — makes it easier for end users, integrators, consultants and manufacturers to harness the opportunities offered by network video technology, contends ONVIF.
Profile G will encompass devices ranging from cameras and encoders to networked video recorders (NVR) and client systems such as video management systems, building management systems and physical security information management (PSIM) systems, among others.
Although Profile G and Profile S are related, the two are independent profiles and encompass different functionalities of a network video system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Comcast isn’t worried about the Xbox One
For its 50th birthday, Comcast would like another half-century of television dominance
http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/21/5129464/why-comcast-isnt-worried-about-the-xbox-one
While the tech world’s attention is firmly planted on the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One, and their bids to take over the living room, Comcast is having a party.
The company is in the midst of its 50th anniversary, celebrated from 30 Rock to Philadelphia’s Comcast Center — and to many within the company, the new Xbox with its focus on live TV in particular doesn’t seem like such a big deal. As executives point out, Comcast customers already have most of the Xbox’s advanced TV functionality. They can already search by show, and while voice search isn’t ready yet, it’s coming as part of the new X1 platform. More importantly, customers can record and watch TV shows with the Comcast DVR.
Of course, Comcast could have worked with Microsoft to enable DVR access, or at least allow something less kludgy than an IR blaster — but why would it? Microsoft’s TV ambitions only work if they can convince you to plug the Xbox into your TV’s input one — and Comcast isn’t giving that up without a fight.
In its 50-year history, Comcast has shown a frightening and omnivorous appetite for acquisitions.
If you’re a Comcast customer, the result is that the company often controls nearly every link in the chain, from the camera to your TV screen. NBC–Universal owns production companies like Universal Television, Focus Pictures and Canal+ which create TV shows and movies, along with the networks like NBC, USA, and Bravo broadcasting them. Comcast owns the servers that house them, the wires that distribute them, and the increasingly important software architecture that manages how and when content gets broadcast on demand. It also builds the entire interface, from the on-screen overlay right down to the remote in your hand. It’s vertical integration, the same arrangement that made Rockefeller’s fortune a century ago.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft releases wonderfully loopy experimental GIF-jiggler
Software detects motion and re-assembles vids into regions for ‘temporal consistency’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/25/microsoft_automated_video_looping_with_progressive_dynamism/
Microsoft Research has released something rather interesting: a GIF-maker that analyses the patterns in a video and re-orders discrete sections of the frames to produce the best possible output.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Panasonic’s New Mirrorless Camera Is Smaller Than Many Point-and-Shoots
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/10/panasonic-gm1/
Tiny cameras usually have tiny sensors. A camera that fits comfortably in your pocket almost never has interchangeable lenses. The pint-sized Panasonic Lumix DMC-GM1 breaks both of those rules, packing the same 16-megapixel Micro Four-Thirds sensor and processing engine as the higher-end Lumix GX7 in a body that’s just 1.2-inches deep. That makes it smaller than the Sony RX100, but with swappable lenses and a bigger sensor.
The GM1 weighs a little more than half a pound with its kit lens attached, but it’s not made out of plastic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart Glasses Help the Blind See
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=269873&cid=nl.dn14
The advancement of technology has helped improve the quality of life for many people around the world.
About 15% of the people all around the world are now living with some sort of disability, compared to 10% 40 years ago. This has given rise to an increase in technologies to help people with everyday tasks
The next big technology, which is being developed to help disabled people, is glasses to help blind people see. Created by Dr. Stephen Hicks of the University of Oxford, the glasses will use simple visual images along with descriptions of nearby signs to help the blind navigate.
Many people who are registered as blind still have the capabilities to perceive some light and motion. Previous attempts at creating a product to help the blind see include silicon chips which had to be implanted in the eye to produce stronger visual signals. Due to the chip having to be placed in the eye, it was dangerous, and an expensive procedure.
The cameras and distance sensor work together to display an image onto transparent OLED displays, which acts as the lenses of the glasses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TV Is Dying, And Here Are The Stats That Prove It
http://www.businessinsider.com/cord-cutters-and-the-death-of-tv-2013-11?op=1
The TV business is having its worst year ever.
Audience ratings have collapsed: Aside from a brief respite during the Olympics, there has been only negative ratings growth on broadcast and cable TV since September 2011, according to Citi Research.
Media stock analysts Craig Moffett and Michael Nathanson recently noted, “The pay-TV industry has reported its worst 12-month stretch ever.” All the major TV providers lost a collective 113,000 subscribers in Q3 2013. That doesn’t sound like a huge deal — but it includes internet subscribers, too.
Broadband internet was supposed to benefit from the end of cable TV, but it hasn’t.
In all, about 5 million people ended their cable and broadband subs between the beginning of 2010 and the end of this year.
The following charts show the evidence that cable TV is dying, and that people are also unplugging from broadband internet service.
Fewer people are watching TV.
This is the macro problem: Ratings are falling across the board. They have been for years
ratings for both cable and the broadcast networks are down.
Meanwhile, Facebook and Google have created an audience that’s about to overtake all of TV in terms of reach.
For the first time ever, less than half of subscribers at the major broadband companies now subscribe to cable TV.
It’s not an across-the-board collapse. But this is what you would expect to see during a technological sea-change: The weaker players are crumbling. The stronger players are picking up some of the pieces … but how long can they also resist the tide?
Even though iPhone and Android phones still struggle to show video seamlessly, the amount of video seen on mobile devices is going through the roof. About 40% of all YouTube traffic comes from mobile.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Said to Be Asking $500 Million for Pay-TV Unit
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-25/intel-said-asking-500-million-for-streaming-pay-tv-unit.html
Intel Corp. (INTC) is asking about $500 million for OnCue, the online pay-TV service that the world’s largest chipmaker developed before dialing back its ambitions, according to people with knowledge of the process.
Intel is seeking to secure a sale by year-end, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. One suitor, Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), has begun talking with owners of broadcast and cable channels about terms for a streaming TV service, the people said.
A sale that meets Intel’s asking price would let the company recoup its costs as it retreats on a plan to enter the pay-TV business, while still supplying chips to the new owner.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Infographic: Is Internet porn destroying our sex lives?
http://pandodaily.com/2013/11/19/infographic-is-internet-porn-destroying-our-sex-lives/
Like it or not, we are in the golden age of pornography.
But there’s a growing concern over what happens to our brains, our bodies, and our relationships when we have an inexhaustible wealth of porn at our disposal. A recent study showed that men who say they are addicted to porn experience changes to their brain in the same spots as drug addicts.
Porn doesn’t destroy your lungs like smoking, or your liver like alcohol. As far as I know, no one has ever died of a porn overdose (though not for lack of trying). But compulsive porn-watching can affect relationships, sex drive, and sexual performance.
Is porn inherently bad for us, distorting people’s view of sexuality so their tastes become disassociated with the kinds of things sexual partners might actually like to do? Maybe.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How the iPad Release and Other Big Events Impacted the World’s Porn-Watching Habits
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/11/24/how-the-ipad-release-and-other-big-events-impacted-the-worlds-porn-watching-habits/
Finally, a porn site that offers what you really want: statistical analysis. Pornhub, a massive XXX network that clocks about a billion visits monthly (more than BuzzFeed!), has published a study focusing on how worldwide events impact porn consumption.
The groundbreaking study found that, for example, the release of the first iPad increased American porn consumption by 9%;
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple patents Lytro-like refocusable camera suitable for iPhone
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/11/26/apple-patents-lytro-like-refocusable-camera-for-iphone
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday awarded Apple a patent for a camera system that uses a microlens adaptor to enable refocusing of an image after the initial shot is taken, much like the Lytro light-field camera.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Said to Be Asking $500 Million for Pay-TV Unit
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-25/intel-said-asking-500-million-for-streaming-pay-tv-unit.html
Intel Corp. (INTC) is asking about $500 million for OnCue, the online pay-TV service that the world’s largest chipmaker developed before dialing back its ambitions, according to people with knowledge of the process.
OnCue is able to provide pay-TV programming over any high-speed Internet connection, making it a threat to cable-TV services that deliver shows over dedicated lines installed by territory. Intel developed a system that includes servers, set-top boxes and applications that stream content to phones and tablets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why you shouldn’t buy a 4K TV this year
Standards for Ultra-High Definition TV are still far from complete
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244406/Why_you_shouldn_t_buy_a_4K_TV_this_year
Ultra-High Definition (UHD) 4K televisions are sure to be on many holiday shopping wish lists this season, but industry experts say now is not the time to buy.
For one, they’re still pricey: Most UHD TVs large enough to showcase their better picture quality – that is, 65-in. or larger — cost $5,000 or more. There’s also a lack of 4K content that can be viewed, and industry standards that need to be hammered out.
In fact, the lack of standards is hampering the availability of 4K content.
“You can get more for your dollar going with a good LED HDTV from a top brand,” said Veronica Thayer, an analyst with IHS Research. “They’re coming out with great prices for this holiday season.”
Screen resolution, however, is only part of the reason for superior UHD TV picture quality. The sets also have improved color standards, are capable of higher frame rates and have greater dynamic range (i.e., brighter highlights and darker shadowing).
For example, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) tested 4K televisions with viewers earlier this year and found the audience appreciated higher frame rates much more than increased resolution. “Early results give a clear indication that higher frame rates are appreciated by the observers, to a significantly greater extent than increased resolution,” the EBU said in a statement.
While UHD TVs sport four times the resolution of 1080p HD TVs, some experts have argued that the human eye is only able to perceive the improved picture quality of UHD TVs at a close range — within 10 feet or less.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inexpensive ‘nano-camera’ can operate at the speed of light
Device could be used in medical imaging, collision-avoidance detectors for cars, and interactive gaming
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-11/miot-ic112613.php
CAMBRIDGE, Mass — A $500 “nano-camera” that can operate at the speed of light has been developed by researchers in the MIT Media Lab.
The three-dimensional camera, which was presented last week at Siggraph Asia in Hong Kong, could be used in medical imaging and collision-avoidance detectors for cars, and to improve the accuracy of motion tracking and gesture-recognition devices used in interactive gaming.
The camera is based on “Time of Flight” technology like that used in Microsoft’s recently launched second-generation Kinect device, in which the location of objects is calculated by how long it takes a light signal to reflect off a surface and return to the sensor. However, unlike existing devices based on this technology, the new camera is not fooled by rain, fog, or even translucent objects, says co-author Achuta Kadambi, a graduate student at MIT.
“Using the current state of the art, such as the new Kinect, you cannot capture translucent objects in 3-D,” Kadambi says. “That is because the light that bounces off the transparent object and the background smear into one pixel on the camera. Using our technique you can generate 3-D models of translucent or near-transparent objects.”
Instead, the new device uses an encoding technique commonly used in the telecommunications industry to calculate the distance a signal has travelled,
“We use a new method that allows us to encode information in time,” Raskar says. “So when the data comes back, we can do calculations that are very common in the telecommunications world, to estimate different distances from the single signal.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Looks like Google may ask you to PAY for YouTube music – report
No ads on millions of songs, but plenty of ads on millions more?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/28/google_youtube_subscription_service/
Google appears to be readying YouTube for a music subscription service, after intriguing references were spotted in the app by the Android Police blog.
It posted a series of strings detailed in the 5.3 version of the YouTube app, which tantalisingly mentions a number of juicy terms, including “Music Pass”, “Offline playback”, “Take your music everywhere” and “Uninterrupted music”.
There’s also a “No ads on millions of songs” option from the ad giant
Google didn’t deny that it was working on such a service.
Tomi says:
While TV broadcasts have been converted to digital format in very many countries, digitalization of radio broadcasts (from FM to DAB) has not got so much wind. UK has actively tried that:
DON’T PANIC: No FM Death Date next month, minister confirms
Stay of execution granted for much-loved audio tech
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/29/dont_panic_no_fm_death_date_next_month_minister_confirms/
Culture and Comms Minister Ed Vaizey told Parliament last night he won’t announce an expiry date next month for a popular technology that everyone uses and loves: FM radio.
Vaizey will, however, make a much-anticipated strategy statement, while the larger radio stations had hoped he’d set a firm date for when broadcasters shift from FM to DAB.
“We will not be pushed into a switchover date,”
Vaizey was bullish about the potential of small scale DAB – a technology that uses cheap equipment and open source software. But broadcast regulator OFCOM has cautioned that while SS-DAB offers new opportunities for events and popup stations, the spectrum and penetration issues mean indoor coverage will be poor, and general coverage patchy at best.
Tomi says:
Bloke in shed starts own DAB radio station – with Ofcom’s blessing
Setup would work fine with a Raspberry Pi, he says
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/06/open_source_hacks_dab_to_the_masses/
A three-month experiment in Brighton has proved that Digital Audio Broadcasting can be cheap and easy to transmit, opening the way to community and local stations – and perhaps a pirate or two.
The experiment was carried out by Ofcom broadcast specialist Rashid Mustapha, though in his own time and at his expense. Despite that, the regulator has decided to publish the results as a demonstration that low-power DAB broadcasting can be done at very low cost, and without interfering with existing services.
The Brighton experiment, which was carried out under a Non-Operational Test and Development licence, used an old PC running a Software Defined Radio stack to generate the DAB signal.
Later testing proved that a Raspberry Pi could have filled that role, but for three months a 2GHz Pentium box was used.
The last patent restricting the use of DAB ran out in January, so software radios can use DAB without fear of litigation — something which doesn’t apply to the more technically advanced DAB+.
In DAB that squaring is normally accomplished with (expensive and bulky) cavity filters, but this project was to see if it could be done on the cheap.
proving that anyone can set up a DAB broadcast station for minimum outlay.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What Piracy? Removing DRM Boosts Music Sales by 10 Percent
http://torrentfreak.com/what-piracy-removing-drm-boosts-music-sales-by-10-percent-131130/
DRM was once praised as the ultimate tool to prevent music piracy, but new research shows that the opposite is true. Comparing album sales of four major labels before and after the removal of DRM reveals that digital music revenue increases by 10% when restrictions are removed. The effect goes up to 30% for long tail content, while top-selling albums show no significant jump. The findings suggest that dropping technical restrictions can benefit both artists and the major labels.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Heavy metal shows piracy is not killing music, offers new business model
http://www.deathmetal.org/news/heavy-metal-shows-piracy-is-not-killing-music-offers-new-business-model/
The music industry — and the television and movie industries — appears to be in free-fall. After years of having an exclusive means of delivery, its market hold has been fragmented by the internet and increasing distrust of big media. Looking over the past decade, the picture adds up to a slow and steady decline with downloaded forms of media failing to replace the profits of their physical counterparts.
Although the industries responded with initiatives to stop piracy, many observers disagree that piracy is the root of industry’s woes and think instead that there is a need for a new business plan in the media industries because the old profit model has failed. However, no one is sure what that plan will be, since media is no longer a high margin industry with tons of excess profit between cost and sales price, but a low margin industry where people aren’t willing to pay much for media. Think of the difference between a 1990s-era $150/month cable bill and today’s $15/month Netflix bill.
The new holy grail is to find a business model that allows bands to have more promotion than being independent can provide, but does not lead to the excess and inefficiency of the big record labels of the past.
“Iron Maiden’s BitTorrent data suggests Brazil is a huge driver of fans – and given Brazil is one of the biggest file sharing nations on the planet, this is a strong indicator of popularity,” said Greg Mead, CEO and co-founder of Musicmetric.
“With their constant touring, [the] report suggests Maiden have been rather successful in turning free file-sharing into fee-paying fans. This is clear proof that taking a global approach to live touring can pay off, and that having the data to track where your fan bases lie will become ever more vital.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android update brings Decline – “dramatically worse”
Android operating system version 4.3 (Jelly Bean) to version 4.4 (KitKat) substantially decrease the video playback features, it becomes clear Tampere OptoFidelity to do the tests.
OptoFidelity measured the video playback, Google’s Nexus 7 and the Asus tablet reference years 2012 and 2013 versions of the latest and the second latest on Android. The measurements were targeted by three things: jerking deviation occurring the video, the video playback rate, the average frame rate, and the number of missing frames, which largely increases shown in the video jerking and stopping.
“In practice, the operating system in both versions of the Nexus weakened the results dramatically for the worse, missing frames and the video jerks began to appear in the video for the basic normal operation (24/30 frames per second),” explains OptoFidelity.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/androidpaivitys+tuo+heikennyksen++quotdramaattisesti+huonompaan+suuntaanquot/a951241
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dell Leaks Details of a 24” UHD 4K (3840×2160) Monitor, the UP2414Q
by Ian Cutress on December 1, 2013 12:01 PM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7556/dell-leaks-details-of-a-24-uhd-4k-3840×2160-monitor-the-up2414q
Currently there are several 4K options on the market – models using the higher end IGZO displays such as the Dell Ultrasharp 32” 4K (UP3214Q, $3500) or the ASUS PQ321Q ($3500, our review) are currently attracting the most attention. From my perspective (and a few others), 32” is just too large for a desktop monitor and while 4K seems attractive, something smaller (27”) would be more palatable.
Putting arguments aside about OS scaling and whether someone needs 4K in a 24 inch monitor, the specifications do make for interesting reading
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inside IBM’s vomit-inducing, noise-free future chip lab
Interference-free photography on a molecular scale
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/02/ibm_noise_free_labs/
There’s a bunker inside IBM Research’s labs in Zurich which will make you want to throw up – at least according to its architect.
It’s a white room – literally. The walls are covered in white foam-like, patterned tiles. But it’s a room that has been specially engineered to block out any interference from any source – noise, electromagnetic, vibration and temperature.
The bunker was built in 2011, but in September it became home to one of the world’s best transmission electron microscopes (TEM) – a JEOL JEM-ARM200F. This beast is capable of scanning at a resolution of 80 picometres, the highest for any commercial TEM that corrects for spherical distortion.
Boffins will use this giant microscope to examine the structure of nanowires and growing and building nanoscopic sctructures using graphene and crystals.
“We can work with very, very little airflow,” Loertscher claimed. “One thousands times less than you require elsewhere. It’s very silent – less than 20 decibels.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Despacio: The 50,000-watt sound system designed for discerning audiophiles
Legendary audio engineer John Klett built an immense rig.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/12/despacio-the-50000-watt-sound-system-designed-for-discerning-audiophiles/
“With most gigs, people are turned toward the DJs looking at what you are doing. It becomes a performance,” explains 2ManyDJs’ David Dewaele. “With Despacio, the sound is the star. In Manchester, people didn’t want to take pictures with the DJs, but with the stacks.”
The stacks in question are the seven 3.5-meter-tall speaker stacks that make up a monster, 50,000-watt sound system called Despacio. It was designed by LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy, along with legendary audio engineer John Klett and mashup masters 2ManyDJs (David and his brother Stephen Dewaele). After two years of development, Despacio made its debut over three nights in Manchester’s New Century Hall in July. In December, the team is bringing the ten-tonne system to London’s Hammersmith Town Hall.
The idea for Despacio—which means slow in Spanish—was initially to create a night in Ibiza with a beautiful sound system, where DJs could play the sort of music they don’t normally have the opportunity to play. And everything had to be vinyl.
Klett started to sketch out some designs, referencing the sound system installed at New York clubParadise Garage, which operated in the 70s. It was important to use vintage techniques.
All parties involved had a shared appreciation for analogue technology. “We use almost ancient techniques, which would be very strange for a 17-year-old kid who makes techno on a laptop,”
The overall ambition was to create a club sound system that was good as a big high fidelity audiophile home system as opposed to a conventional club PA system, which tends to use lots of processors and digital circuitry to project sound long distances.
“We are not doing that at all. We are back to basically the kind of sound system that you would have had in the 50s or 60s,” explains Klett.
McIntosh lent hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of amps to the project, weighing in at 4.5 tons. “We are known for the Grateful Dead ‘Wall of Sound.’ That was 30,000 watts. We were talking about 50,000 watts of power,” says Reid.
The amps were needed to power the speakers in the seven towering stacks, custom-built with metal frames encased in wood.
One of the most important characteristics of the system is the amount of headroom it offers. When a powerful system is run at its maximum, the sound can distort, which can make the clubbing experience hard on the ears. “Sometimes you go to a club and you come out and are tired, beat up, irritable. That’s not the experience you get from Despacio,” Klett explains
By having an incredibly powerful system that’s not being run anywhere close to capacity (Dewaele said it was run at around 20 percent), but with the full range of EQ and dynamics of the tracks, the experience is radically different. “There is tons of headroom. It’s very clean, very relaxed. You are subjected to sound pressure levels that are really up there, but it sounds so clean and free of stress that you don’t perceive it to be loud. You are awash with sound,” says Klett.
For the opening night the Dewaele brothers and Murphy had around 35 tracks that had been remixed or re-edited pressed on vinyl dubplates specifically to play at Despacio. The set perfectly captured the eclectic Balearic spirit they had aimed to deliver.
“We played all these tracks we can’t really play normally in clubs. You can’t really play Steve Miller in front of 10,000 people at a festival. It just doesn’t work. But if you are in the right environment and you have a Serbian disco track with an amazing percussion and the right sound system, then it works,” Dewaele says.
Financially, Despacio has been somewhat of a black hole, running massively over budget.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Insanity or Innovation? The World’s Quietest Place
http://www.industrytap.com/insanity-or-innovation-the-worlds-quietest-place/11918
magine hearing nothing but your heartbeat, over and over, for seconds, minutes, hours. Eventually, you may get a little crazy, but this is how quiet a room must be in order to test the most sensitive equipment in the world.
Companies from motorcycle maker Harley Davidson to washing machine maker Whirlpool use these facilities to test products and improve their sound. NASA uses these chambers to replicate space environments absent normal perceptual cues that lead astronauts to hallucinate.
Anechoic chambers block out and absorb 99.9% of sound and Orfield’s lab holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s quietest place.
Tomi Engdahl says:
(Slideshow) 10 different ways 3D imaging techniques are being used
http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/slideshow/2013/11/slideshow-10-different-ways-3d-imaging-techniques-are-being-used.html?cmpid=EnlVSDDecember22013
It’s no secret that 3D imaging, in its many forms and variations across multiple verticals, is an extremely popular subject nowadays. While you’ve probably heard of many of the more popular uses, including the widespread proliferation of Kinect usage, it may stand to reason that you’ve not heard all of them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientist-developed malware covertly jumps air gaps using inaudible sound
Malware communicates at a distance of 65 feet using built-in mics and speakers.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/12/scientist-developed-malware-covertly-jumps-air-gaps-using-inaudible-sound/
Computer scientists have developed a malware prototype that uses inaudible audio signals to communicate, a capability that allows the malware to covertly transmit keystrokes and other sensitive data even when infected machines have no network connection.
The proof-of-concept software—or malicious trojans that adopt the same high-frequency communication methods—could prove especially adept in penetrating highly sensitive environments that routinely place an “air gap” between computers and the outside world. Using nothing more than the built-in microphones and speakers of standard computers, the researchers were able to transmit passwords and other small amounts of data from distances of almost 65 feet. The software can transfer data at much greater distances by employing an acoustical mesh network made up of attacker-controlled devices that repeat the audio signals.
“In our article, we describe how the complete concept of air gaps can be considered obsolete as commonly available laptops can communicate over their internal speakers and microphones and even form a covert acoustical mesh network,” one of the authors, Michael Hanspach, wrote in an e-mail. “Over this covert network, information can travel over multiple hops of infected nodes, connecting completely isolated computing systems and networks (e.g. the internet) to each other. We also propose some countermeasures against participation in a covert network.”
The researchers developed several ways to use inaudible sounds to transmit data between two Lenovo T400 laptops using only their built-in microphones and speakers. The most effective technique relied on software originally developed to acoustically transmit data under water. Created by the Research Department for Underwater Acoustics and Geophysics in Germany, the so-called adaptive communication system (ACS) modem was able to transmit data between laptops as much as 19.7 meters (64.6 feet) apart. By chaining additional devices that pick up the signal and repeat it to other nearby devices, the mesh network can overcome much greater distances.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Final Days For Australia’s Analog TV
http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/12/03/0239229/final-days-for-australias-analog-tv
“The switch to digital TV broadcasts in Australia has entered its final few days, with Sydney’s analog signals being fully switched off today, 3 December”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stealth Camera Takes Pictures Virtually in the Dark
Computing technique reconstructs 3D images from single photons reflected from dimly lit
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=stealth-camera-takes-pictures-virtually-in-the-dark
Talk about taking a dim view of things. Researchers have obtained ultrasharp images of weakly illuminated objects using a bare minimum of photons: mathematically stitching together information from single particles of light recorded by each pixel of a solid-state detector.
The achievement is likely to support studies of fragile biological materials, such as the human eye, that could be damaged or destroyed by higher levels of illumination. The development could also have applications for military surveillance, such as in a spy camera that records a scene with a minimum of illumination to elude detection.
“The amount of information they’ve been able to extract is quite incredible,”
“We didn’t invent a new laser or a new detector,” notes Kirmani. Instead, he explains, the team applied a new imaging algorithm that can be used with a standard, off-the-shelf photon detector.
In the team’s setup, low-intensity pulses of visible laser light scan an object of interest. The laser fires a pulse at a given location until a single reflected photon is recorded by a detector; each illuminated location corresponds to a pixel in the final image.
Variations in the time it takes for photons from the laser pulses to be reflected back from the object provides depth information about the body — a standard way of revealing three-dimensional structure. However, the algorithm developed by Kirmani and his colleagues provides that information using one-hundredth the number of photons required by existing light detection and ranging (LIDAR) techniques, which are commonly used in remote mapping or measuring forest biomass, for instance.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Spotify opens up analytics in effort to prove its worth to doubting musicians
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/03/spotify-analytics-musicians-streaming-music-artists-earn
Streaming music firm opens Spotify Artists website and claims when it reaches 40m subscribers, even ‘niche indie albums’ will earn $17k a month
Tomi Engdahl says:
Zucker plans massive change at CNN
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2013/12/8536789/zucker-plans-massive-change-cnn
After almost a year of tinkering, CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker has concluded that a news channel cannot subsist on news alone.
So he is planning much broader changes for the network—including a prime-time shakeup that’s likely to make CNN traditionalists cringe.
“People who traditionally just watch the cable news networks [are] a great audience,” he said. “I’m not trying to alienate that audience. But the overall cable news audience has not grown in the last 12 years, OK? So, all we’re doing is trading [audience] share. … We also want to broaden what people can expect from CNN.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
BBC iPlayer mobile and tablet use has almost caught up with desktop
http://thenextweb.com/uk/2013/12/02/bbc-iplayer-mobile-tablet-use-almost-caught-desktop/
The BBC has revealed that its iPlayer streaming TV and radio service saw its highest ever number of mobile users during October – accounting for 37 percent of all streams.
In total, there were 261 million iPlayer requests (199 million of which were for TV content) during the month, up 23 percent from the same point last year. Of this figure, some 39 percent of requests came from people watching on a traditional computer, while 37 percent came from mobile and tablet users, marking the first time that the different platforms had nearly reached parity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube’s Music Subscription Service Won’t Show Up This Year
http://allthingsd.com/20131203/youtubes-music-subscription-service-wont-show-up-this-year/
Waiting for YouTube’s subscription music service? You’re going to have to be patient.
The video service, which is already the biggest free music service in the world, had planned on launching a paid service this year. Now that won’t happen until 2014.
People familiar with the company’s plan say it is now looking at a Q1 launch, though it doesn’t have a specific date nailed down.
One issue for YouTube’s team to figure out: The best way to integrate user-generated content, like lipsyncs and mashups, along with conventional recordings and videos.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BMW and Mini connected cars now support Amazon Cloud Player
http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/03/amazon-cloud-player-bmw-mini/
Almost a year after it rolled out to select Ford models, Amazon has finally secured itself another automotive partner for its cloud music service. The company today confirmed that its recently-updated Cloud Player iOS app can now connect to in-car dashboards in BMW and Mini Connected cars, letting owners access their cloud-hosted music with the help of steering wheel controls or touchscreen displays.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Surprise! You’re Watching More TV Than Ever.
http://allthingsd.com/20131204/surprise-youre-watching-more-tv-than-ever/
No one watches TV anymore.
You don’t, and no one you know does, and it’s just a matter of time before the TV Industrial Complex folds in on itself and disappears.
Except … it turns out that people are. Still. Watching. TV.
More than ever, according to Nielsen.
In fact, at first glimpse it appears as though TV viewing may have decreased in the last quarter, for the first time in several years: If you look at the chart below, it looks like Americans spent four hours and 43 minutes a day (!) watching live TV and shows on their DVRs in the third quarter of this year. That’s down from four hours and 46 minutes in Q3 2012.
That’s a small decrease (and it’s still more than people were watching in 2011) but it’s still a decrease. Hence: End of TV. Right?
Nope. For whatever reason, the Nielsen chart above doesn’t factor in video-on-demand viewing. And video-on-demand viewing is skyrocketing.
Comcast, the country’s biggest pay TV provider, said 70 percent of its subscribers watch stuff on demand, and that TV shows account for 40 percent of its usage. (If you factor in pay-TV channels like HBO, the number jumps up to 60 percent.)
So once you do factor in on-demand usage, you see a different story. Nielsen said that there has been a small increase in the number of people watching live TV, and a significant increase in the number of “timeshifted” TV watchers — people watching on either DVRs or VOD.
And when you look at the amount of time spent watching TV, live-TV viewing is down, a bit. But timeshifted viewing is up by nearly 15 percent. Note that these numbers don’t include people watching TV shows on the Web via services like Netflix and Hulu.
So how about that? People still like TV. They just like to watch it on their own timetable.
This doesn’t meant things are rosy for the TV Industrial Complex, of course. Obviously, all the competing digital distractions (maybe even the story you’re reading now!) pose a problem for the TV guys (though note that Nielsen said traditional PC usage declined this quarter).
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG partners with Qualcomm’s AllJoyn for 2014 Smart TV line, will connect to any phone
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/125584-lg-partners-with-qualcomm-s-alljoyn-for-2014-smart-tv-line-will-connect-to-any-phone
LG Electronics has announced it will incorporate AllJoyn into its 2014 line of Smart TVs, a big step in creating a connected home entertainment ecosystem.
AllJoyn, developed by Qualcomm, is an open source protocol that lets customers control a TV and share content with their mobile phone no matter which manufacturer is behind the TV set or which mobile OS the phone is running. Android, iOS, or Windows Phone – Qualcomm wants you to control any TV like a traditional remote or even game controller.
“LG will now enable consumers to more effortlessly connect their networked devices in the home and continues to show a strong commitment to the next generation of convergence technology,” Richard Choi, senior vice-president of the smart business centre at LG Electronics, said.
AllJoyn takes away a TV manufacturer’s reliance on their own in-house operating system running their TVs, and instead opens up cross-platform compatibility
Tomi Engdahl says:
Just 9% of Internet consumers would pay to rent a select movie or episodic program on a connected TV
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/vod/study-low-consumer-interest-transactional-vod-31990
Consumer demand for renting movies and TV shows on connected devices, including television, remains low despite home entertainment’s transition to digital distribution, according to a new study.
Just 10% of 1,200 respondents in a Nov. 15 survey conducted by Frank N. Magid said they would pay to watch a specific movie or episodic TV program on a laptop or computer. Another 9% said they would do so on a connected TV; 8% on a smartphone and 7% on a tablet.
The results do not include transactional VOD movies found on multichannel video program dsitributors such as cable, satellite and telecommunications. Respondents accessed movies and TV shows via apps, websites and related video services.
The majority of respondents (51% to 63%) said they preferred to stream or watch TV shows and movies for free with commercials no longer than 30 seconds each — which is par with broadcast TV. Most (63%) said they would do so on a tablet, with the least (51%) opting for a connected TV.
Another 30% to 40% of respondents said they preferred to pay a subscription fee (i.e. SVOD) to watch video programming without ads.
Meanwhile, 54% and 44% of respondents, respectively, said they would stream movies or TV shows in the home on a connected TV or computer. Another 22% and 25%, respectively, would do so out of the home on a connected tablet or smartphone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finnish reindeer in Lapland watches TV
http://yle.fi/uutiset/finnish_reindeer_in_lapland_watches_tv/6958679
Aatu, a domesticated reindeer in Rovaniemi who enjoys watching his favourite show, Heartbeat, has become a local tourist attraction.
Tomi says:
How Intel TV failed — pay attention, Google and Apple
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57613334-93/how-intel-tv-failed-pay-attention-google-and-apple/
analysis Intel aspired to revolutionize cable and satellite with Web TV. Just because it failed doesn’t mean Apple, Google, and the rest will too — but they’re no closer to a happy ending.
Now, with 2013 in its final weeks, Intel’s goal for OnCue has morphed into securing the best payday it can from somebody who will take the venture off its hands.
Intel is just one company attempting — and failing — to change the TV industry, underscoring the difficulties involved with convincing the major players to move out of their comfortable and lucrative business models. There are lessons that can be gleaned from Intel’s botched project, lessons that should be heeded by the likes of Apple, Google, and Sony, which are all said to be chasing the same vision.
More money, more problems
Unfortunately for all tech companies eyeing Internet TV, the problem that rankles cable and satellite customers most — climbing bills — is a problem technology can’t solve.
As Intel proved, the easy part was creating a new technology to deliver television with a user interface that beats cable and satellite. Test versions of OnCue have been deployed in Intel employees’ homes for months.
The hard part is content. Be it TV shows, sports programs, or live events, content is expensive to produce and it’s expensive to license.
“Out the door, you’re paying for a million subs, whether you have zero or a hundred thousand,” he said, noting that fee payments aren’t going down over time and typically have three- to four-year terms.
The contenders
In Apple’s case, making a significant investment to upend a product category comes straight from its playbook.
Unlike Intel, Apple has a background prodding media companies to break their molds, selling electronic music, TV and movies through iTunes.
In Google’s case, the company has never shied away from pursuing outlandish innovations while it enjoys a reliable, lucrative stream of revenue from its search ads.
both companies have a head start getting onto televisions. Apple TV and Chromecast, though not technological home runs, have proven popular: Apple virtually splits the market for set-top boxes with Roku, and Chromecast was on back order for weeks at launch in July and for weeks was the top-selling electronics item in Amazon’s massive online store.
In the case of Sony, it means pushing the bounds of its PlayStation gaming console, but the company was the first to make early headway on content. Sony is the only contender reported to have have a tentative deal with a media company, Viacom, which owns Comedy Central, MTV and other channels.