Hasta La Gadget!

Seagate has unveiled a new storage device aimed at mobile users at CES 2013 called the Wireless Plus mobile device storage. The storage device is designed to wirelessly stream content to up to eight connected smartphones or tablets. The storage device has one terabyte of capacity.

One terabyte of storage space is enough room for up to 500 high-definition movies. The integrated drive also has an internal battery that lasts for up to 10 hours of use per charge. Content on the storage device can be accessed from smartphones and tablets using the Seagate Media app.

The app is available for Apple iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire HD devices. In addition to being able to store and stream video, the device also supports sharing of photos, music, and documents. The storage drive also supports Apple Airplay. The Wireless Plus also supports apps that are available for Samsung’s smart TV and Blu-ray players.

The storage drive features a removable USB 3.0 adapter allowing for quick transfers of large photo, video, and music files. The device also creates its own Wi-Fi network so you can use it to connect to smartphones and tablets in areas where there is no available Wi-Fi connection. The Seagate Wireless Plus device is available now for $199.99.

Seagate Wireless Plus Mobile Device Storage keeps your content with you on the go is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Pure is on a mission, and that’s to steal the streaming music crown from industry heavyweights Sonos. The strategy to do that is make Pure Jongo cheap, undercutting Sonos’ premium price tag with a range of affordable wireless speakers and WiFi music adapters at up to a third of the price of a Sonos box. And, just as you’d expect, there’s on-demand playlists and internet radio from iPad, iPhone, and Android remote control apps.

There are three hardware parts to the Jongo system, kicking off with the Pure Jongo S340B speaker with an RRP of $229. It includes both WiFi and Bluetooth – for whole-home streaming – as well as more direct playback from a nearby phone or tablet, and surround audio with five speakers and individual amps spread around the body of the speaker.

Pure Jongo official video:

Multiple audio profiles can be toggled through with a dedicated button on the back, and there’s a choice of mono or stereo playback. Unlike Sonos’ PLAY range, the Jongo S340B can be used away from a power socket, thanks to a rechargeable battery pack good for up to 10hrs use.

The Pure Jongo T640B is a more beefy version, with 100W pushed through 5-inch full-range drive units and dual-concentric tweeters. It can be fitted on a stand in portrait or landscape orientation, or wall mounted, though doesn’t have a battery. No word on pricing at this stage.

Pure Jongo live:

Finally, there’s the $129 Jongo A140B, a HiFi adapter with no onboard speaker, to bridge the Jongo system to an existing stereo. It has both WiFi and Bluetooth like the others, plus a 24-bit DAC, optical and coaxial digital outputs, and dual phono analog outputs. Again, no word on pricing.

For software, Pure uses its new Pure Connected app, available for Android and iOS. It streams from Pure Music, the company’s own Spotify rival, and can send different music to each Jongo speaker, or synchronize to all of the speakers. It also features an Explorer section for finding new content.

The Pure Jongo S340B will arrive in Q1 2013, with a choice of optional speaker grills at $29.99 apiece. The other components will land in the first half of 2013. The new Pure Connect app will arrive in Q1 2013.

Pure Jongo hands-on: Sonos on a budget is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Intel is counting on lashings of cash to drive its living room ambitions, with a rumored budget potentially in the hundreds of millions helping convince conservative content owners that it’s a safe partner to bet on. The chip company has reportedly green-lit an IPTV investment well in excess of the “hobby” amounts rivals with similar cable-cutting ambitions have allotted, a show of force that has allowed it to negotiate new licensing deals of a sort so-far unseen.

The challenge Intel faces is just like every other company hoping to cater to viewers turned off by channel-swollen cable packages: persuading the content owners to relax their stance on only licensing huge bundles of dozens of channels. That strategy has proved lucrative so far, with cable subscribers forced to subscribe to many channels they don’t actually want in order to get a few they particularly watch.

Intel’s strategy, it’s suggested, is using its heft in chip production to demonstrate quite how committed it is to the home entertainment segment; “since Intel is used to betting billions on chip design, it has allocated a budget significantly larger than Apple or Google’s” Fortune reports. That investment supposedly looks more realistic to Hollywood negotiators used to $100m+ movie budgets.

The chip firm also has an existing legacy in working with, not against, cable providers. It inked a deal in 2011 to power Comcast’s next-gen Xfinity TV boxes, and has been producing STB chips for getting on for a decade. What technological advantages it plans to bring to the streaming TV segment has also been framed in terms of benefiting content owners, too, rather than consumers.

So, Intel is believed to be pushing a monitoring system that can deliver more accurate and detailed viewership data, including rough age range, gender, and a more precise number of how many people are actually watching. That same system is also being promoted among content owners as ideal for targeting advertising, picking more relevant promotions based on who is in front of the TV at any one time.

An evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach to pacify content providers, and more flexibility in choosing channels (or even pay-per-show), re-watching media from the past month with a “cloud PVR,” and throwing in apps and other web-enabled features to lure in viewers, could make the difference where Apple and Google have struggled. Fortune’s sources claim Intel will begin a small-scale beta to customers in March 2013, though the first-gen STB itself will be shown off at CES 2013 next week.

Money not merit is Intel’s web TV strategy is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Intel is readying a set-top box mixing on-demand streaming media, free cable content, and a virtual DVR, sources in the video industry claim, with the first-gen hardware tipped for preview as soon as CES 2013 next week. The new push for a slice of the living room follows Intel’s apparent frustration with the failure of first-gen Google TV boxes powered by its chips; according to TechCrunch’s tipster, the company has grown tired of “everyone doing a half-assed Google TV so it’s going to do it themselves and do it right.”

According to another source inside of Intel itself, an early version of the STB will be brought to CES next week, with a preview of the system tipped for its January 7 press event. However, it may be some time before the hardware actually arrives under your TV, with Intel supposedly eyeing a progressive roll-out rather than attempting to sweep across the US in a simultaneous launch.

That’s an apparent workaround to traditional content owner reluctance to “unbundle” the packages of cable channels usually offered, something which has scuppered Apple plans, among others, to help cord cutters get solely the channels they’re most interested in. Packaging channels together is a good way for content owners to keep licensing fees buoyant, especially given many of those tempted to abandon paid cable service are reluctant to miss out on certain sports, media, or other shows.

Intel’s approach will supposedly be on a city-by-city basis, initially focusing on areas where content providers have less lucrative deals with cable companies, and hoping to demonstrate that a more flexible licensing approach might also make sense financially. Such a rollout will begin “soon” according to the tipster, though there’s nothing more specific.

As for functionality, in addition to free cable content and select pay-TV content depending on what Intel can pry out of licensees, there’ll be internet-streamed shows such as from Redbox and other services. Intel also aims to offer a DVR system which would allow recall of any show aired within the past month, across any channel the individual user has subscribed to: rather than having to pre-emptively record a show, it would simply be served up on-demand.

Chatter of an Intel set-top box and accompanying service began back in March, with reports that the chip company aimed to have the system up and running before 2012 was through. Subsequent leaks tipped a complex viewer-monitoring cable box that could give more precise demographic data as to who was watching which services, to show more accurate and relevant adverts, and generally make up for any losses incurred through channel unbundling by increasing overall advertising revenue. “They’ve told us the technology is going to be so much more interactive with ads that you can make more money” one anonymous TV industry executive said at the time.

Google TV had promised to do something along those lines, but Intel’s partnership with Google faltered after early hardware from Logitech and Sony met with mediocre response in the market. Earlier this year, Google announced it would support low-cost, low-power ARM processors with Google TV, though despite more affordable hardware as a result, the platform is yet to take significant market share from more traditional TV entertainment sources.

Intel cable and web TV system tipped for CES reveal is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

When smart TVs were first entering the market many TV manufacturers believe that the technology would push a massive number of users to upgrade. That massive upgrade to adopt smart TV technology didn’t take place the way TV manufacturers had hoped. A new report published by NPD Group claims that most people who own smart TV aren’t using their smart TV to its full capacity.

According to the report, smart TVs get little use beyond streaming TV services such as Netflix and others. The report says that about 60% of smart TV owners are using their TV to access over the top video services. However, the report claims that very few people are taking advantage of available smart TV apps for services like Twitter or Facebook.

The report also claims that very few people are using their TVs to surf the Internet. With the abundance of Internet connected gadgets in homes today such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops it’s really no surprise that people are using the TV to surf the web. The report does say that there has been “reasonable consumer uptake” for streaming music apps offered on smart TVs for services such as Pandora.

The usage rate for apps for social networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn, gaming, and other apps are said to be well under 10% among smart TV owners. The report also claims that about 10% of smart TV owners use the TV to surf the Internet and only 5% or 6% use their TV to access their computer desktops.

“The less than great news is that the TV manufacturers are failing to make the TV more than, well, a TV. Further, we are seeing attached devices also focus heavily on TV and video-centric apps, Microsoft’s upcoming launch of more than 40 additional television apps for the Xbox Live subscription service is one example,” the NPD analyst noted.

[via PC Mag]

Report claims most smart TVs are not used to full capacity is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.