Hasta La Gadget!

This week I bought a Roku. Late to the party? Yes, but not as late as you might suppose. Roku has sold about 2.5 million streaming media boxes since the product launched in 2008. Approximately 1.5 million of those units moved in 2011, indicating an acceleration of demand. Coincidentally, those numbers roughly represent the cord-cutting movement: Reportedly, 2.65 million cable subscribers ditched their service between 2008 and 2011, with about 1.5 million of those defections happening in 2011.

While cable cord-cutting is a trend, the movement is occurring in the context of customer inertia. About 100 million customers subscribe to cable, satellite, and other pay-TV providers (e.g. AT&T’s U-Verse). The problematic value proposition of cutting the cord will probably keep massive inaction in place for the short term, but cannot, I believe, withstand long-term marketplace demands.

Continue reading Editorial: Cutting the cable cord is a young trend going in the right direction

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Editorial: Cutting the cable cord is a young trend going in the right direction originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve been following the latest rumors surrounding Apple, you know that the company could be working on a new set-top box. That device, which would ostensibly compete against the TiVo and other set-top boxes, could very well be the replacement for its initial television idea.

Of course, Apple hasn’t said so. In fact, the company has remained tight-lipped on any and all plans it might have. Rather than tip its hand and give up its plans, Apple has decided to let the rumor mill do all of the work.

Given that, I’m going to assume, at least for the time being, that the rumor mill is correct in its assumptions. And upon doing that, I’m going to lament the idea that Apple is even considering launching a set-top box rather than the long-rumored (and more-desirable) television it was supposed to be working on.

Maybe it’s just me, but I was excited at the prospect of owning an Apple television. The company has a flair for the dramatic and could have very well offered up something that sets apart its television from all others available today.

And how might have Apple done so? The company would have undoubtedly delivered a high-end screen in its television, and probably would have offered an application marketplace for those who would want to extend its functionality. Apple would have, in some ways, set a new trend in the television market.

By launching a set-top box, Apple isn’t really doing anything that excites me. I already have an Apple TV, a TiVo, a Roku set-top box, and a Blu-ray player. Why would I need anything else? Moreover, what would make Apple’s set-top box so valuable that I would disconnect those devices to use its own?

I’m sure there are many Apple fans out there that can answer that question. They’d argue that Apple’s set-top box would come with an App Store and a software experience that could trump its competitors’ offerings. Moreover, they’d claim that Apple’s device would have more cable partnerships and a general design that would look nice in the entertainment center. It would be a must-buy, they argue.

I can understand that argument, and it’s awfully compelling. But perhaps I’m displeased with the thought of an Apple set-top box because I already know that a television could have been in the works. I’ve had my heart set on an Apple television for months now, only to have the rug pulled out from under me with the prospect of the company launching a set-top box.

It’s not that a set-top box isn’t appealing – it is. But a television with all of the same functionality built right in is, well, better. And to not want that over a set-top box would be rather ridiculous, don’t you think?

So, count me as one of those who are extremely displeased with news of Apple considering launching a set-top box. Unless it’s designed to be the precursor for the television and not its replacement, I won’t be happy.

I’d Rather Have The Apple Television Than A Set-Top Box is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

During a trip to Switzerland, my family started off on a day hike to reach the nearby foothills of a mountain. It looked doable, but as time passed the range seemed to recede before our approach. After many hours we turned around, having apparently failed to close any distance.

Crossing from now to the future in technology can likewise seem illusory. When we scrutinize and celebrate each tiny incremental invention as if it were a milestone, we lose track of time as if we were counting grains of sand dropping through an hourglass. Game-changing inventions are rare, separated by epochs in which progress adds up to a lot of sameness. Futurism is an unforgiving business. But sometimes, as in the cases of cloud computing and media convergence, redemption comes with patience.

Continue reading Editorial: The future comes slowly, but revolutions are worth waiting for

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Household, Internet

Editorial: The future comes slowly, but revolutions are worth waiting for originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This morning it’s time to get updates in software all around, with Sony’s Jelly Bean and Hulu Plus for Apple TV just at the tip of the pie. Apple has forced a Google employee off of the jury in their Samsung court case. Over at FreedomPop, you’ve got the opportunity to turn your iPod touch into an iPhone with their free data sleeve for 4G.

The project known as OUYA has gotten another big update for those anticipating the full system: Final Fantasy III assurance from the folks at Square Enix. The film Skyfall has been given a brand new trailer complete with more bombs, guns, and 007 than you can handle! There’s a new collection of LRO photos up now showing that most of the USA’s planted flags there still stand proudly.

The folks at RIM will likely be cutting 3,000 jobs on the 13th of August as BlackBerry continues to drain out. Microsoft has made a change to Bing search results in Facebook tagging galore! Motion tracking group Leap Motion is getting ready to ship their first big product in February 2013 as 26,000 developers jump on board for the future of next-level tracking.

There’s a brand new Sony Xperia Tablet out in the wild. Samsung is getting prepared to work on an 11-inch 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution tablet for all to love and hold. There’s a new app out there ready to take on Siri and Google Now: Saga, available for your perusal. NASA’s Grand Entrance videos coming out now will feature William Shatner and Wil Wheaton for all the nerds to love.

SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up: July 31, 2012 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Hulu Plus may have arrived on the Apple TV today, popping up unexpectedly on the company’s set-top box, but there’s no word on what held up the release of an app that was supposedly functionally ready eight months ago. According to rumors back in November 2011, Hulu had already finalized its Hulu Plus software for the Apple TV and was merely waiting for the Cupertino company’s own approval for release, something which Apple was oddly reticent to grant.

Apple, so the rumors go, had put the Hulu Plus Apple TV app on ice over concerns that it could bite into its own iTunes revenue. The delay was not said to be a technical one, with all elements of software and service ready for action, with Apple instead suspecting that Hulu Plus subscribers might be less likely to spend money renting or purchasing movies from its own download store.

Muddying the waters were Hulu Plus’ existing iOS apps, available on the iPad and iPhone, and which already offered access to the subscription based streaming media service. At the time it was suspected that the absence of AirPlay streaming support for the apps that was all that had prevented Apple from denying its a place in the App Store; users would simply be too lazy to plug in an HDMI cable and adapter.

Availability on the Apple TV, however, makes opting for Hulu Plus rather than iTunes far more straightforward. Hulu hasn’t mentioned the delay in its blog post on the new functionality, and Apple was apparently content to push it out without fanfare.

Apple TV has seen a sales boom in its third-generation, though Apple itself still refers to the set-top box as a hobby among its range. The company has seen long-standing rumors suggesting it is working on a full television set as part of a more forceful challenge to the living room.

Apple TV Hulu Plus is here, but what caused the hold-up? is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.