Hasta La Gadget!

One of my all-time favorite TV shows is The Walking Dead on AMC. I know I’m not alone in really digging the show because it’s one of the most popular shows on TV. If you’re a fan, you’ll be thrilled to hear that AMC is currently getting a companion series ready for the air for 2015.

The Walking Dead companion series will be produced by the executive producers of the original series, Robert Kirkman and Gale Ann Hurd. AMC says that the shows currently very early in development but calls the show a “no-brainer.” AMCs Charlie Collier, president and general manager said that the new series will have an entirely new story.

What exactly will take place in the new show remains to be seen, but we do know it’s going to be set in the same post-apocalyptic world and follow a new group of survivors as they combat the zombie horde. Season four of The Walking Dead debuts October 13.

For the first time, the ironically-named live-streaming service TVCatchup is offering catch-up TV. From later today, the outfit will be baking-in links to the UK’s four major broadcasters’ on-demand platforms to its own service — giving you a choice between watching live TV and binge-watching old episodes of Only Connect. While access to BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD and Demand 5 is currently limited to the browser, the feature will be rolled out to TVC’s mobile apps in due course.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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After an all too long wait, GTA 5 has arrived — check out Joystiq’s review here. For a different source of violent content, you might also want to check out the series finale of Showtime’s Dexter this weekend or World War Z on Blu-ray. Breaking Bad’s penultimate episode is also on Sunday night, while other shows including Under the Dome and Million Second Quiz are packing it in for the fall. New arrivals this week include Fox’s controversial Dads, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, while Bones, New Girl, The Mindy Project and Key & Peele are all brand new. Look after the break for our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and gaming.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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This surely marks a faint glimmer of hope for all the beaten-down and forgotten formats out there. Granted, the vinyl record has been out of fashion recently but still, a 745 percent increase in Amazon sales marks some pretty impressive growth. So, why the bump? A retro explosion? A new-found appreciation for fidelity in this world of streaming compression? The answer’s likely a little bit of both. Also, don’t underestimate the power of Amazon’s AutoRip feature. See, vinyl’s not only the fastest growing music medium on Amazon, it’s also the most popular format for AutoRip, which entitles buyers to MP3 versions of physical albums they buy. Obviously, though, it’s a bit tougher for most music lovers to rip vinyl than, say, a CD.

So, which records are selling best? As of the weekend, the top vinyl titles include albums by the Death Grips, Amy Winehouse and Arcade Fire. Daft Punk, Nirvana and Paul McCartney managed to make their way into the top ten, as well. Those who prefer their information served up in a handy graphical format should click through to the source link below.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Amazon

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Source: Amazon

The Sony NSZ-GU1 Google TV device we’ve seen pop up in FCC filings has been at least partially revealed today, and it’s called the Sony BRAVIA Smart Stick. The blog post doesn’t specifically mention any Chromecast-style features, but it is an MHL dongle that runs both Google TV and Sony’s own BRAVIA apps. The features are just like Google TV boxes Sony has released before, with a remote (that the FCC filings showed is at least similar to the previous ones) that has QWERTY and voice search support. Additionally, its “picture-and-picture” feature lets users see a browser in one window and TV in another. Since it’s a true Google TV device it can install and run Android apps from the Play Store, but any other details will have to wait until it’s officially announced on Sunday (the truly dedicated can dig into the source code, linked after the break). Of course this does leave one other question: Now that app support is available as a simple plug-in dongle, does that mean Sony is going to ship plain-jane HDTVs and leave the “smart” features for add-on accessories like this one?

Update: @CJ_000 points out the web-based instruction manual is up on Sony’s site, and should answer most questions about how it works. It also lists the pre-installed apps, and at least so far, Hulu Plus is not among them. We’re not seeing any DIAL-related features available to start with, so now we really want to know when it will be available, will it work with TVs other than Sony and how much will it cost?

Update 2: Reader Bryan points out a page in the manual that confirms this accessory is only for 2013 model year (and later) Sony HDTVs.

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Sony

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Source: Sony Blog