If you’ve been paying attention to the mobile market over the last several months, you know that Apple and Samsung are at each other’s throats over alleged patent infringement. And with lawsuits flying worldwide, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the war between the firms will spill over into next year.
Last week, I talked about Verizon’s reported desire to acquire Netflix, and why such a maneuver would be a bad one for the company.
And although I still feel that way, it’s quickly becoming clear that in a year, Netflix won’t be Netflix. The streaming company will be part of a much larger firm that will use it as a key component in a move to expand a home-entertainment empire.
Apple has rolled out iTunes Match for international users, offering those in the UK, Canada and other countries the chance to replicate their music collection in the cloud. After a premature - and quickly yanked - start earlier this week, the system is now live in numerous locations, priced at £21.99 in the UK and CA$27.99 in Canada.
Read The Full Story
Sling has released SlingPlayer for the Logitech Revue, allowing all owners of the Google TV set-top box to access its media streaming app and placeshift content locally or remotely. Announced back in July - and opened up for a closed beta at the same time - the app requires a Slingbox SOLO or Slingbox PRO-HD as well as a minimum of a 600 Kbps connection if you're content with standard definition video.
Read The Full Story
Gracenote is readying a "second screen" platform that would use digital audio fingerprinting to show related information to TV shows on an iPad or other tablet. The new system listens in to TV shows or movies with the tablet's microphone, comparing snippets of audio with its database of content to identify not only the show but whereabouts in its timeline it is. That process takes around five seconds at most, GigaOm reports, after which point the app can show contextually-relevant information on the tablet's display.
Read The Full Story
SiriusXM has released a new version of its iOS app, with v2.0 bringing the ability to jump back to the beginning of a show or song, even if you tune in partway through it. The updated internet radio app adds Start Now and TuneStart, different names for basically the same time-shifting functionality: if while channel-surfing you come across a show or a track you wish you could hear all of, new buttons allow you to flip between hearing it from the beginning or listening live.
Read The Full Story
Microsoft is looking to create its own original content for its Xbox LIVE TV service, insiders claims, with the software giant seeking to recruit a television executive to turn its gaming system into a true cable challenger. A head-hunting firm has been employed to dig up the best candidate, Bloomberg‘s tipsters reckon, with Microsoft hoping to replicate the success of its homegrown Xbox games franchises with specially created TV content.
Logitech pushed out the Google TV 2.0 update to its Logitech Revue set-top box this week, upgrading the smart TV adapter with Android Market access, a revised UI and more. The update, based now on Android 3.1, arrived on the SlashGear Revue - which we reviewed, in first-gen form, all the way back in November 2010 - this weekend; has your Revue been revised yet?
Read The Full Story
Something rather interesting has been happening as of late: an increasing number of companies, smelling Netflix blood, want to jump into the streaming space and become the average consumers’ new go-to place for entertainment.
It makes some sense. Over the last several months, Netflix has been hemorrhaging subscribers who are displeased with the company’s new pricing plans. And its ill-fated decision to spin off its DVD rental business made management seem incompetent. Add those issues to the difficult relationships it has with content providers, and it’s no wonder companies like Amazon, Wal-mart and others, want to take it down.
Spotify has relaunched Spotify Radio, offering unlimited playback with a free account along with as many track-skips as you like. The updated streaming music service allows listeners to pick any initial artist and then creates a custom radio station of similar tracks, with no subscription account required. If you don't love the current track, you can skip it as many times as you choose.
Read The Full Story
Apple has quietly activated TV show purchases on the Apple TV for owners in Canada, the UK and Australia, adding outright buying options to the existing iTunes rentals. Until now, Apple TV boxes outside of the US had only been able to stream TV show rentals bought through iTunes; now, there are reports from Canada, the UK and Australia that those limitations have been lifted. However, you'll still need an internet connection to watch the shows.
Read The Full Story
Apple could ease itself into the TV market by integrating Apple TV and iCloud functionality into an iMac-style all-in-one, one analyst has suggested, using a hybrid TV/computer in 2012 as a bridging step before its true Apple Televisions go on sale. The existing 27-inch iMac is a likely launch point, Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair wrote in a note this week, with the suggestion that "Apple's redesign of the iMac in the first half of 2012 will likely usher in some … TV capability into the iMac offering first," AllThingsD reports.
Read The Full Story
