Freshly-appointed Sony CEO Kaz Hirai faces the difficult challenge of delivering on predecessor Howard Stringer’s ambitious four-screen strategy: convincing users to buy not just one Sony device, but as many as four of them. Stringers’ grand design – of tablets, TVs, smartphones phones and computers all interacting – is an determined attempt to follow Apple’s lead of a tightly integrated ecosystem of content sharing across devices
Sony has announced that Kazuo Hirai has been named CEO and President, with previous chief exec Sir Howard Stringer taking the role of Chairman of the Sony board. Previously tipped as a done-deal in early January, and rumored for months beforehand, Hirai – who until now has been Executive Deputy President at Sony – will take the new position from April 1 2012, while Stringer will make the leap to the chairmanship in June.
Mass production of Toshiba's 55-inch glasses-free 4k2k 3D TV has already begun, according to supply chain tipsters, with the pixel-plentiful panels at the heart of the oversized sets already winging their way from display specialists AUO. The new TV is expected to launch sometime this quarter, Toshiba has said, and it's AU Optronics supplying the panel rather than a homegrown Toshiba LCD, according to Chinese language press as DigiTimes reports.
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Sky has revealed a new on-demand streaming TV service, offering subscription-based and pay-per-view content to those who haven't signed up to the network's satellite TV option. Set to launch in the UK in the first half of this year, the new Sky internet TV service will stream content to computers, tablets, mobile phones, games consoles and smart TVs. Meanwhile, there's also news on expansion to the Sky Go mobile app, including a version for Android.
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Sky has announced plans to integrate on-demand programming into its set-top boxes, adding BBC iPlayer and ITV Player to UK Sky Anytime+ in what appears to be a challenge to smart TV strategies from Google, Apple and others. The deal with the BBC and ITV means recently screened content will join archival shows already offered through Sky Anytime+, provided at no extra charge to existing satellite subscribers.
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I’m often asked by friends if they should buy an Apple TV. They usually head to the Apple Store to buy a new iPad or iPhone, and while there, they come across Apple’s little set-top box. For just $99, it seems like a bargain. And so, they ask me if they should plunk down the cash to buy one.
The first question I ask when I field the question is, “do you own an Xbox 360?”
I’m a little confused.
Remember back when Apple first introduced the Apple TV, and the company said that it was designed to be a hobby device? Well, in 2010, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, after unveiling a new version of the device, said it was no longer a hobby. Now, though, it appears it is again, since Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook said earlier this week that the device is still — wait for it — a hobby.
“Doing quite well” isn’t a phrase you associate with Apple, and yet that’s just how CEO Tim Cook described the Apple TV this week. The little-loved stepchild of the company’s hardware range, at $99 – with no need for a carrier agreement or subsidy – it had the smart TV price point right while Google TV was floundering at more than twice that amount. Yet Apple has consistently failed to capitalize on its foot-in-the-door of the living room, and it’s looking increasingly like it may miss the opportunity again.
Online video site Vimeo has revamped its site, with a full redesign that boosts clip size, streamlines navigation, adds to privacy options and ensures streaming content loads quicker. The site - which has found favor among digital creatives for its support for high-quality source files - now allots twice the width for videos, but also makes discovering new clips more straightforward thanks to a pull-down discovery bar and a "Related Videos" recommendation engine.
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Boxee's $49 Live TV adapter has begun shipping, adding OTA TV channel reception to the Boxee Box STB and pushing the idea of cable-cutting among TV addicts. Announced back in November, plugging in the USB adapter and bundled antenna adds a "Live TV" option to the Boxee UI; from that, users can browse through free-to-air channels, complete with program guides, though not actually record any content.
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As a Time Warner Cable customer, I was one of the last cable subscribers out there to get access to HBO Go. For months now, many of you have probably been using the streaming service, and to see a column about it now might surprise you. But don’t hold it against me — I was a victim of the oddly contentious relationship between Time Warner Cable and its former corporate overlord, Time Warner.
If you were following the Consumer Electronics Show last week, you know that several TV makers showed off some of the most exciting technologies we’ve seen yet. LG offered up an ultra-thin OLED TV that, years ago, seemed at least a decade away. The company followed that up with the announcement of its first 4K resolution TV. If you haven’t heard of 4K resolution, it’s a technology that delivers — are you ready for this? — four times the resolution found in 1080p.
