Kaz Hirai hasn’t even moved into his new office as CEO of Sony and already there is talk of pressure being applied to turn Sony’s flagging fortunes around after Standard and Poor’s cut the company’s long term debt rating from A- to BBB+. The ratings downgrade comes on the heels of a similar downgrade by Moody’s a few weeks ago and […]
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Those loving folks at FireCore have decided to jump the gun on Valentine’s Day and share a little early love by releasing version 1.3 of aTV Flash (black). The update includes the usual array of bug fixes and performance improvements. There are new features, including support for folder based organization and several new languages. The big new feature will be […]
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Under current regulations, cable companies are generally not allowed to encrypt their basic, analog channels. This allows the tuners built into TVs and devices such as the recently launched Boxee Live TV to receive the channels without a settop box. Cable companies can request a waiver from the FCC to switch to a fully digital and encrypted system, but to […]
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Microsoft will be attending the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, but not just for Windows Phone. Microsoft will also be hosting a Windows 8 Consumer Preview event to launch the next phase of their Windows 8 beta program. While launching the Windows 8 Consumer Preview at WMC will lead to all sorts of speculation about how Windows 8 will tie […]
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Yesterday there were reports that Amazon and Viacom were close to announcing a deal that would bring Viacom content to Prime Instant Video. Today there is an official announcement. The deal appears to be limited to Viacom-owned TV shows that are part of the Viacom Media Networks. Evidently adding Viacom-owned movies will require a separate deal with Paramount Pictures Corp. […]
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The A.C. Ryan Veolo is an Android 2.2-based media streamer. It supports the usual range of formats and offers the option of accessing the entire Android Marketplace, placing a wealth of media content options, games, and other services on the big screen. The A.C. Ryan Veolo’s implementation of Android is pretty barebones and this review does point out that controlling […]
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When Dell announced the Alienware X51 small form factor gaming PC, the design immediately drew comparisons to modern game consoles. Certainly it would be easy to imagine sliding the X51 onto a shelf in the component cabinet, perhaps even right between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Given that Microsoft and Sony seem more interested in their consoles as media […]
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It has already been a busy week for streaming media deals with Redbox and Verizon hooking up, but it looks like Amazon is getting ready to make some noise as well. Amazon is reportedly getting ready to announce that they have secured a deal to add content from Viacom to Prime Instant Video. There are no details on exactly what […]
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The first generation Google TVs were Intel-powered, and if those original Google TV devices had been the runaway successes that Google had hoped, then Intel today would have a pretty big foot in the door of the smart TV market. Instead, the general consensus is that Google TV v1.0 flopped, sending Google back to the drawing board for v2.0, and […]
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Samsung is one of the world’s largest cell phone manufacturers and Corning’s exceedingly strong and scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass has been extremely popular for cell phone displays. The two companies have found success working together before, and now the two companies are working together on a new type of glass called Lotus Glass. Lotus Glass is intended to be used in […]
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