Sky gives remote control powers to its Sky+ Android app, escalates living room warfare

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It’s tradition, or an old charter, or something, that no self-respecting geek would ever surrender their TV zapper or their smartphone. Fortunately for Sky customers, those two things are now one and the same. The company has tweaked its Sky+ Android app to offer the same remote control functions found on the iOS version, letting users change channels, play, pause and rewind the picture. The update meanders out from today, and will work so long as your Sky+HD box is connected to the same WiFi network as your phone or tablet.

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Sky signs exclusive UK deal with Sony, keeps Netflix’s dirty hands off MiB 3

Sky signs exclusive UK deal with Sony, keeps Netflix's dirty hands off MiB 3

Having already ploughed through Warner Bros.’ catalog, execs at Sky have just added the latest wares from Sony Pictures Television to their UK and Ireland playlist. Forthcoming titles like After Earth will arrive on Sky Movies six months after they’ve finished in cinemas, and will join other Sony pictures — like Men in Black 3, The Amazing Spider-Man and Django Unchained — in being Sky-only for another twelve months after that.

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Sky Go Extra app adds offline viewing for a monthly fee

Sky has added offline playback to its mobile apps, with Sky Go Extra offering the ability to pre-download TV and movies to their phone, tablet, or notebook in return for a monthly fee. The new feature, adding to the existing Sky Go apps – which require a persistent data connection for streaming content – is priced at £5 ($8) per month and only available to Sky UK subscribers; that monthly fee also doubles the number of devices that can be registered to the Sky Go service.

Sky Go Extra iPad GTD

Unlike the usual two phones, tablets, or other hardware that Sky Go’s free tier supports, Sky Go Extra increases that to four. However, that’s only registrations; only two devices can be actually used to watch content over 3G/4G/WiFi simultaneously.

Channels available include Sky Movies, Sky Atlantic, Sky 1, Sky Arts, Nickelodeon, Disney, and others, while Sky’s exclusive deal to offer the full James Bond collection means they’re also available to app users. A 64GB iPad, Sky suggests, has enough space for 400 30-minute TV shows and more than 80 movies.

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Each download lasts on the mobile device for up to 30 days; if subscribers subscribe to the Sky Movies pack, they can access any of the films available through that, too. However, once you start watching a film, it’s available for 48hrs, while the network says “most other” content “can be watched for up to 7 days and once viewing commences is available for 48 hours.”

Sky Go is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and 26 different Android devices. Sky has also added support for the HTC One X+, the Motorola RAZRi and the Samsung Galaxy Tab2 7.0 today.


Sky Go Extra app adds offline viewing for a monthly fee is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sky Go Extra will let users download shows to their mobile devices for £5 a month

Sky Go Extra will let users download shows to their mobile devices for 5 a month

Being able to watch Sky TV on the go using, erm, Sky Go, is great, but streaming video away from your home router can often be costly, especially if you’re on EE’s basic LTE plan. Thankfully, the broadcaster is looking to launch Sky Go Extra, which, if The Telegraph is to believed, will allow up to four users to download anything from the Murdoch library straight to their mobile device. Adding such functionality to your family’s viewing habits will set you back £5 a month (after a two month free trial) but that also includes unlimited access to the company’s first-window movie catalog, a jewel it’s paid heavily to keep out of the hands of rivals such as Netflix Lovefilm.

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Source: The Telegraph, (2)

Roku adds Sky NOW TV to UK streamers

Roku users in the UK have another streaming media option to choose from, with the addition of Sky’s NOW TV subscription service to the set-top boxes. Added to the Roku Channel Store today, the new NOW TV app streams content to the Roku boxes but also to existing iOS, Android, PC, and Mac devices; in the initial line-up there’s Sky Movies content with the promise of up to 20 new premieres per month.

In fact, NOW TV gets its movies around six months after they finish showing in cinemas, Sky says, and while that’s still a while to wait, it’s quicker than rival services like Netflix and Amazon’s LOVEFiLM Instant. Among the titles available in the coming weeks are the full eight-strong Harry Potter films, along with Contagion and Jack and Jill.

Over the “next few months” meanwhile, Sky plans to add Sky Sports for football, cricket, tennis, golf, F1, rugby, and other sporting content. Beyond that, the plan is to introduce content culled from Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Arts and Sky Living.

The Roku LT and Roku 2 XS both support NOW TV; they’re priced at £49.99 and £99.99 respectively in the UK. A 30-day NOW TV trial is available for new subscribers to the service, after which it will be £8.99 per month for three months, and £14.99 per month thereafter.


Roku adds Sky NOW TV to UK streamers is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Sky’s Now TV service comes to Roku streaming boxes in the UK

Sky's Now TV service comes to Roku streaming boxes in the UK

Sky’s Now TV service is continuing its uphill battle against the armies of Netflix and Lovefilm today, setting up camp in Roku’s streaming boxes. Matching its Xbox 360 launch offer, you’ll be able to try the service for 30 days without charge, but it’s added another enticing deal for the Roku launch — pay a reduced price of £8.99 for the first three months before the regular £15 per month fee kicks in. As well as boasting its exclusive Harry Potter catalogue suitable for a holiday marathon, we’ve been told Sky Sports will finally be coming to Now TV “in a few months.” Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Arts and Sky Living will also eventually be added to the service, but there’s still not even a loose date for those. Now TV might not reach all the hardware it intended to before the end of the year, but at least with this latest launch, Roku can start showing Sky it was worth all that cash.

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David Attenborough’s Galapagos 3D begins airing New Year’s Day in the UK on Sky 3D

David Attenborough's Galapagos 3D begins airing New Year's Day in the UK on Sky 3D

The long nights, relentless Christmas adverts and brisk chill in the air are all signs the year is coming to an end, and what better way to see in the next than with British documentary legend Sir David Attenborough? The first episode of his new three-part natural history series Galapagos 3D, written and presented by the man himself, will be airing New Year’s Day on Sky 3D in the UK. Like most of his projects, it’s sure to be a stunning visual treat that’ll make you forget about even the worst of New Year hangovers. So, don’t forget to stoke the fire, switch on your 3D TV, and enjoy an educational tour of the Galapagos Islands to start off your 2013.

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Source: BSkyB

Sky+ app update brings remote control features to iPhone, iPod touch

Sky app update brings remote control features to iPhone, iPod touch

It’s been a few months since UK TV operator Sky added remote control features to its iPad app, and now there’s a similar refresh for the iPhone and iPod touch. The v4.2 update gives users brings remote control with support for gestures, DVR scheduling and management, a new guide as well as revamped navigation and search on the smaller screens, as long as they’re connected to the same WiFi network as the box. The Android app is still without the new features, however they’re promised to arrive there “in the coming months.” As usual the update app is available at no charge via iTunes, hit the link below to check it out, or check out the press after the break for more details along with a demo video of the iPad version.

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Sky+ app update brings remote control features to iPhone, iPod touch originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 04:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sky and NBC Universal extend content deal with exclusive movie rental window

Sky and NBCUniversal extend content deal, gets exclusive movie rental window

Sky’s war against its VOD rivals could be won before a single shot is fired in anger, thanks to the company’s practice of signing exclusive contracts with major Hollywood players. Today, it’s extended its contract with NBC Universal, giving Sky exclusive distribution rights to the studio’s movies and access to Universal Network’s TV offerings such as E!, Movies24, SyFy and Universal UK. When new films like Snow White and the Huntsmen, Les Misérables and The Bourne Legacy leave cinemas, Sky Movies (and Now TV) customers will have an exclusive rental window before they’re available to everyone else, as well as full access to a back-catalog that contains childhood favorites like Jurassic Park and Back to the Future. As we’ve mentioned before, such deals are great news if you’re a Sky customer, and not if you’re not.

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Sky and NBC Universal extend content deal with exclusive movie rental window originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen

We have smart cars, smartphones, smart TVs, and even smart homes, but how about the humble pen? It seems as though someone has overlooked this humble writing instrument that has served mankind well throughout the ages, but this time around, we have something different for you. The Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen is touted to be the first digital pen of its kind that will integrate WiFi technology as well as cloud services within a single device. The Livescribe Sky is capable of digitizing everything that one writes and hears, sending those automatically over to your personal Evernote accounts which is stored safely and can be readily accessed should the need arise. You will be able to search, play back, organize and share, making the Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen ideal for today’s on-the-go world.

It does not matter if you are a busy executive or a student, you will be able to conveniently access your written notes as well as recorded audio straight from a piece of paper, in addition to those on all the tablets, smartphones and computers that one uses.

Gilles Bouchard, Livescribe chairman and CEO, saod, “Thanks to our unique partnership and joint development efforts with Evernote, we have created an amazingly simple and exciting new experience for our customers. With the Sky wifi smartpen, they can easily capture important ideas, presentations and conversations in the most natural way, on paper, and they automatically appear right where they want them – on their mobile devices and personal computers.”

You need no longer tarry between the painful choice of choosing between writing on paper and writing on a tablet, as the Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen delivers the best of both worlds – making it the ideal companion to a tablet, delivering the ease, flexibility and precision of writing on paper.

Anyone willing to give the Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen a go?

Press Release
[ Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]