Jun 27
Jun 27
Aereo To Launch Its Internet Streaming TV Service In Chicago On September 13
Posted in: Today's Chili
Despite court battles, Aereo is on a roll. The startup just announced its streaming TV service will hit Chicagoland September 13. This comes just a month after the company announced its Atlanta launch details. Once Chicago is online, Aereo will be live in four of the country’s biggest cities, serving up network television to over 12 million Americans.
“There’s no place like Chicago and we’re excited to be launching in this world-class city in September,” said Aereo CEO and Founder Chet Kanojia said in a released statement today. “Consumers want more choice and flexibility when it comes to how they watch television and the enthusiastic response to our technology from people across the country has been humbling. At Aereo, we feel that we’ve built something meaningful for consumers and we’re proud of the work we’ve accomplished. However, there’s still much more to come as we continue our expansion into new cities throughout the summer and fall.”
Chicago marks Aereo’s fourth service area. The startup started in New York City quickly expanding to the surrounding areas. Boston came next followed by Atlanta a few days back. This is all while the company is fighting for its life in and out of the courtroom.
The big networks are fighting to stop Aereo from disrupting the status quo. Aereo essentially takes over-the-air signals and places them online. These signals are captured via tiny antenna’s rather than a direct transmitting from the networks themselves. This allows Aereo to bypass paying expensive retransmission fees, a fact that doesn’t sit well with the suits at the big networks.
But this isn’t about stealing content, famed TV executive turned Aereo investor Barry Diller. This is about moving TV to IP.
Right now, without Aereo, or any of its clones, television is not available through the Internet. Hulu and the like were built to serve as an advertising platform more so than a streaming platform. Aereo simply wants to bring TV to the Internet — while making a boat-load of cash doing it too.
Despite its gumption, Aereo’s legal troubles should not be ignored. Launching in more cities and more regions will only bring more attention to its disruptive business model. But likewise, Aereo cannot not sit idly, waiting for the hammer of justice to perhaps rule in its favor. It needs to launch. And with Chicago on the docket, it seems that’s exactly what the company is doing.
Jun 27
Jun 27
Yesterday, we celebrated after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. But you know what a victory for marriage equality means? More weddings. And more places to celebrate them. Here are 12 beautiful chapels, gardens, and barns—one for each state where marriage is for all.
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Jun 27
Sony Mobile has really done their part to pull themselves up from being an ordinary smartphone manufacturer to one who has beautiful and brilliant designs, this I cannot deny. Ever since they split from the Ericsson merger, Sony Mobile’s concerted efforts have proved to be drool worthy, and their newer flagship models are always a step in the right direction. The recently announced Sony Xperia Z Ultra is set to wow plenty of people, where it boasts of being the slimmest
and largest Full HD smartphone display in the world, sporting a Galaxy Note 2-challenging 6.4” Full HD TRILUMINOS display that is powered by X-Reality for mobile engine, ensuring your eyeballs are in for a treat.
Not only that, the entire Xperia Z Ultra has been carefully crafted to come in an ultra slim body which measures just 6.5mm thin, and it also conforms to waterproof and dust-resistant (IP55/IP58) standards. Running proceedings from within would be a speedy quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, alongside LTE support for blazing fast performance. Not only that, the Xperia Z Ultra allows you to write and sketch on it using any pencil, with the option to use a selected stylus or pen to boot.
Sony claims that there is also the Battery STAMINA Mode which ought to help owners of the Xperia Z Ultra extend its daily use, considering the relatively high power consumption required by the various hardware specifications of the smartphone itself. This unique Battery STAMINA Mode would be able to detect when the phone is not in use, and shut down the various apps that are idle in order to conserve juice. Running on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean as the operating system of choice, the Xperia Z Ultra comes with an 8-megapixel shooter that does Full HD video recording, a front-facing 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth connectivity, NFC support, 16GB of internal memory and a microSD memory card slot.
Press Release
[ Sony Xperia Z Ultra carries the Snapdragon 800 banner proud and high copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Jun 27
Now Back To The Future fans can turn their iPad into the Grays Sports Almanac that Old Biff gave to Young Biff in Back to the Future II. It’s just too bad that it didn’t arrive in time to get some future scores.
Oh well. So you won’t get rich with this thing, but at least your iPad will be protected and look awesome. And who knows, maybe some dude from the past will steal it from you. Then he’ll be upset that it has no sports results and all he got was a lousy flat TV. Which will then lead to an iPad being manufactured in 1984. Great Scott!
So what are you waiting for? Make like a tree and pre-order one now for $30.79(USD) over at Firebox.
Jun 27
Verizon 4G LTE reaches 500th market, initial network build-out now complete
Posted in: Today's Chili
Verizon was the first US carrier to launch (and famously fumble) its LTE rollout back in 2010, but its long road to 4G nationwide coverage has finally come to a near close. As of today, the operator’s LTE footprint now blankets more than 298 million people in 500 markets across the US, with Parkersburg, West Virginia claiming that 500th market distinction. It’s a milestone Verizon managed to achieve in a little over two years’ time, as the company’s Chief Network Officer Nicola Palmer was quick to point out. The completion of this initial LTE rollout also brings Alaska into Verizon’s coverage map as early as next month — a territory that, before today, didn’t even have 3G — marking the carrier’s network as available in all 50 states.
With a full LTE expansion, however, comes network congestion problems, as subscribers in major cities like New York are already starting to experience. Palmer assured us that solutions are currently underway to shore up capacity in these LTE markets. Verizon’s AWS holdings, in particular, should serve to augment LTE reception in select areas starting in the second half of this year. The same goes for small cell site deployment, which Palmer stressed is an LTE-only initiative. News on the carrier’s plans for LTE-Advanced remain just as vague as ever, with Palmer positioning the standard as yet another tool to enhance current LTE capacity. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t commit to a timeframe for LTE-A nor address concerns about the potential for new pricing tiers when it does eventually launch. Still, Verizon subs will at least have VoLTE (voice over LTE) to look forward to next year — that is, when it eventually clears the company’s rigorous lab and field testing.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Verizon
Source: Verizon Wireless
Jun 27
As The Lockitron Nears Shipping, Apigy Partners With Schlage And Details Building Gadgets On IOUs
Posted in: Today's Chili
Almost nine months after its crowdfunding success, the Lockitron is scheduled to ship on July 15th. As I learned through a chat with Apigy’s founder, it’s been a long road to this point as the young company overcame several obstacles including building $2.3 million in pre-orders without collecting any of the cash pledged by backers.
The company today announced a partnership with Schlage on a series of deadbolts specifically made for the Lockitron. Apigy’s co-founder Cameron Robertson explained to TechCrunch that this is in response to backer’s concerns that the Lockitron will not work with the lock on their door.
Apigy had several options to address this concern, which was especially prevalent in Europe where lock design very different from in the States. Cameron explained that they could have gone with an inexpensive deadbolt, allowing them to offer it for less. Instead Apigy partnered with Schlage, a very well-known and respected Ingersoll Rand lock brand.
This deadbolt features a design that’s better suited for use in home automation tasks. The end is tapered, allowing the deadbolt to more reliably lock — a pretty important consideration since the Lockitron is designed to be used remotely.
Backers will have the option of adding this deadbolt replacement to their Lockitron order for $30.
In a chat earlier this week Robertson detailed to me the pains his company has experienced since announcing this version of the Lockitron.
The company had a rough time from the start, getting rejected from Kickstarter that forced them to crowdsource their production funds themselves. This method allowed the company to treat their backers with a bit more respect. Instead of collecting cash after the crowdfunding campaign concluded, like Kickstarter, Apigy stated they wouldn’t force backers to pay until the Lockitron ships.
The crowdfunding campaign was a huge success. The company surpassed its $150,000 goal within 24 hours, and over the next five days collected $1.5 million in Lockitron pledges. And since they promised to not collect any money until shipping, this huge chunk of potential cash caused a bit of an issue.
To resolve it, Apigy turned to angel investors to get the capital needed to build and ship these devices. They essentially built their device on credit instead of a pot of Kickstarter money.
The company won’t reveal any specific order numbers, but they have been taking reservations since concluding their crowdfunding campaign last October. As of today, Lockitron.com lists 14,704 reservations totaling $2,278,891.
The first batch will ship to backers on July 15. Reservations are still open, so anyone can still get one for $179.
Apigy got a lot of things right with the Lockitron. This was their second go at a remote locking device. The company graduated from Y Combinator’s summer 2009 class with a device that promised similar remote access but at twice the price. They went back to the drawing board.
This generation of the Lockitron is much more sophisticated and available for under $200. Best of all, it works on most deadbolts — and if it doesn’t work on yours, Apigy now has the aforementioned replacement.
Apigy has a winner with the Lockitron. Cameron demoed the unit at our CES booth last January and it works as advertised. Excuse the pun, but it’s a clever, turn-key solution that brings simple home automation to the masses.
The company shouldn’t have a problem finding buyers for the Lockitron. But who is going to buy Apigy? That was my question to founder Cameron Robertson. The company, with its rockstar founders and products, is ripe for acquisition.
He laughed but then paused.
“We’re not for sale,” he stated frankly. Apigy has big plans for the Lockitron, explaining that they built its platform to continually evolve. They want to see it through.
So, essentially, Apigy is not for sale yet.
Jun 27
Outside of the fear of flying, the most anxious part of traveling around the world is hoping your bags get to the same destination as you do. The paper tags in use today work, but if they get accidentally torn off your luggage, who knows where it might end up
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Jun 27
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