Sky Go hits Galaxy S III, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note

Sky has extended support for its Sky Go on-demand and streaming TV Android app to a further three Samsung smartphones, including the latest flagship Galaxy S III. The new update brings Sky Go – a free service to existing Sky subscribers – to the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy Note as well, joining the existing support for a clutch of HTC phones.

One proviso is that your handset must be running Ice Cream Sandwich, Sky says. If you’ve been holding off on the upgrade to your Galaxy Note, now might be a good time to load up Kies and install it.

Sky Go allows subscribers to register two devices to their account, and in addition to Android phones there’s support for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch access. The service includes access to the five Sky Sports channels, Sky Sports F1, EUROSPORT and ESPN, 11 Sky Movies channels, Sky News and Sky entertainment channels.

Meanwhile, on-demand access to movies and other content is also bundled. You can download the Android app here.

Full list of supported handsets:

  • HTC Desire
  • HTC Desire S
  • HTC Desire HD
  • HTC Incredible S
  • HTC Sensation
  • HTC Sensation XE
  • Samsung Galaxy S
  • Samsung Galaxy S2
  • Samsung Galaxy S3
  • Samsung Galaxy Note
  • Galaxy Nexus


Sky Go hits Galaxy S III, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Sky launches Now TV streaming movie service

If you want to enjoy streaming movies in the UK, currently you have to rely on either Netflix or Lovefilm. Neither are ideal, with missing titles and long waits before new movies show up on either service. Sky has decided to throw its hat into the ring, today announcing Now TV. The service, which launches tomorrow, will offer two methods for watching movies: pay as you go, or via a monthly subscription.

Customers will be able to choose from over 1,000 titles from Sky’s catalogue, with movies costing between 99p and £3.49. If you don’t fancy paying per title, then the Now TV also offers a monthly subscription called “Sky Movies Pass” which costs £14.99 per month. That will give you access to around 600 movies from all the major studios. Sky also promises that five new movies will be added to the service every Friday, with the titles available on Now TV 12 months before they arrive on services such as Netflix or Lovefilm.

Better yet, there’s a 30-day free trial for the service. After that, you’ll have to pay per title or use the monthly subscription. The service will launch tomorrow on PCs, Macs, and select Android devices. Sky says that an app for the iPhone and iPad is also coming, and the service will eventually roll out to hardware like the PlayStation 3 and Roku streamers. Movies won’t be the only content either, with sports and TV shows coming in the future from Sky Sports and Sky Atlantic. The monthly subscription may be expensive now compared to Netflix and Lovefilm, but it may be worth considering given the expanded movie library and the promise of additional content.


Sky launches Now TV streaming movie service is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


PS3 nasne update boosts console’s media credentials

Sony has announced an incoming media-centric update to the PlayStation 3, bringing the console up to speed for the new nasne networked recorder and NAS. Revealed back in April, nasne will hit Japanese shelves on July 19 along with system software update v1.5, allowing the PS3 to stream live and recorded content from the STB to their console, and introducing smartphone browser support for remote control. However, Sony will also begin collaboration with other companies on open DLNA support.

Sony says it plans to “proactively collaborate with DLNA client software developers to enhance compatibility between their software and nasne, so that users can enjoy even more content on their devices through the media server features.” That could mean the tuner-enabled box ends up useful even to those without a PS3; Sony had already said it would be streaming content from nasne to VAIO computers, its Smart TVs, and its Xperia phones.

The new update will also enable inter-compatibility between nasne and torne, and Sony has partnered with Japanese content providers SKY PerfecTV ! e2 and WOWOW. How nasne is presented to other devices via DLNA is also customizable, with user-selectable icons and a client management tool.

nasne is a compact tuner and DVR box, with integrated terrestrial and satellite digital tuners and a 500GB hard-drive. It hooks up to a wired network and can stream live and recorded content to multiple DLNA devices, while remote access from a web-based client is also supported. A USB 2.0 port supports adding extra storage.

Sony is yet to confirm whether nasne will go on sale outside of Japan, though the fact that the v1.5 software update announcement has been pushed out both in Japanese and English (which is not always the case) might imply that there are international launch plans on the drawing board. The STB is priced at 16,980 yen ($214).

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PS3 nasne update boosts console’s media credentials is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


HBO Go And Hulu Plus: The Perfect Living Room Marriage?

I’ve become an expert of sorts on entertainment. I’ve spent the better part of my life watching televisions, enjoying movies, listening to my favorite artists, and playing video games. To me, having all of that media available to me whenever I want it is a blessing.

Because of that, I spend an awful lot of time evaluating different entertainment opportunities. From Netflix to Hulu Plus to iTunes, I’m always out there examining what’s best and what might need some work.

For a long time, I truly believed that Netflix was the best entertainment option available to me. The platform had all kinds of movies and television shows, and it was cheap. Netflix was, for a while, the best living room entertainment option we had.

But now, I’m starting to move away from that. Netflix’s content library is on the decline, and I’m finding myself watching programming on Hulu Plus and HBO Go far more often. To me, those two services are delivering the very best in living room entertainment.

How, you might ask? Simple: top-notch content.

Let’s start with Hulu Plus. Although the commercials can be annoying, the sheer amount of content on the service is delectable. I can watch some of the latest episodes of television shows I might have missed, as well as check out some older films that, in some cases, really aren’t too bad. Granted, Hulu Plus has its limitations, but for those looking for a solid television alternative to Netflix, it’s quite good.

“How HBO gives away so much content for the price is beyond me”

HBO Go, however, might just be the best addition to the living room experience I’ve seen in years. How HBO is willing to give away so much of its content for only the price of subscribing to its network is beyond me. But I’m more than happy to take advantage.

If you haven’t tried out HBO Go, you should do so sooner rather than later. HBO offers every episode (yes, you read that correctly) of its series both on now and off the air. In addition, it comes with the network’s documentaries, sports coverage, and films.

The issue with HBO Go is its general lack of availability in the living room. Unless you have certain devices or televisions, you’ll more than likely be watching it on a computer. Luckily, my Samsung television recently started supporting HBO Go, so I can watch all of its programming right from the couch. Over time, I expect more vendors to support the application, as well.

So, let’s consider this new scenario: when we want to watch popular, current major network and cable programming, we can opt for Hulu Plus. And in those cases where we want to check out what, I believe, is a grouping of even better shows and entertainment, we can go for HBO Go.

With Hulu Plus and HBO Go in tow, I don’t quite miss Netflix. In fact, I couldn’t care less about it.


HBO Go And Hulu Plus: The Perfect Living Room Marriage? is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Samsung adds SugarSync cloud to AllShare Play on Galaxy S III

Samsung and SugarSync have inked a deal which will see the sync/share app preloaded on the Galaxy S III, adding to the smartphone’s AllShare Play feature with wireless file and media sync across devices. SugarSync Cloud will be bolted onto AllShare Play, giving each user 5GB of free online storage space (and the option to buy more), while existing users will instantly be able to access their current files from their new Samsung gadget.

Samsung first talked about its cloud storage plans back in April, when it confirmed it would be giving users a free 5GB of space to play with on their phones, tablets, Smart TVs and other devices. At the time, however, it was not specified that SugarSync would be the partner involved in providing that storage.

“Users can now save photos and video from their Samsung phones and tablets to the SugarSync Cloud” the storage company said today, “so they can access, view and play them at any time from other Samsung phones, tablets and Smart TVs.” The system – including signing up to the free storage offer – will all be managed from within the AllShare Play app itself.

Samsung has emphasized the sharing and streaming potential of the Galaxy S III from the start. The company has paid particular attention to its AllShare suite of apps and services, such as S-Beam; you can see a demonstration of AllShare Play and the other features in our full hands-on.


Samsung adds SugarSync cloud to AllShare Play on Galaxy S III is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


European Commission proposes changes to music licensing rules

The European Commission has proposed changes to music licensing rules that could significantly benefit iTunes and Amazon music shoppers among others. The proposed changes would make it easier for users to buy music and other content all across Europe. The problem for many is that under the current rules, music available in one country in the EU might not be available in other countries.

The problem is that rights to music sales and contracts are often negotiated on a country-by-country basis. One major contributor to piracy is that many Europeans can’t buy the music they want to purchase legally and may resort to illegal means. Under the new proposed rules, there will be greater transparency and better management for groups that collect royalties and copyright holders.

These new rules would encourage rights to music to be licensed wider and in more countries. The commission also says that the collecting societies acting as intermediaries between musicians and music sellers need to be more efficient. The EU has 250 different collecting societies across the 27 member states.

“Some collecting societies struggle to adapt to the requirements of the management of rights for online use of musical works, in particular in a cross-border context,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier.

[via ZDNet]


European Commission proposes changes to music licensing rules is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Small Sonos: Is multi-room music overkill in a tiny apartment?

I’d always ignored Sonos. Not in the sense that I didn’t appreciate the clever mesh networking, or like the idea of controlling multiple streaming speakers from a single device, but because I assumed you’d really need to be living somewhere spacious to make the most of it. Since I’m squeezed into a central London flat that could (generously) be described as bijou or – if you don’t speak real-estate agent language – just plain tiny, splashing out on Sonos seemed like a waste of money.

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, Sonos is a multi-room streaming system that aims to make distributed audio just about as easy as plug-and-play. The company started out with boxes that hooked up to existing amplifiers and speakers, all linked together with a preconfigured “Sonos Net” wireless network, and then expanded into all-in-one speaker boxes that

Sonos’ two key products now are the PLAY:3 and the PLAY:5, integrating wireless, amplifiers and speakers into single boxes. The key difference between the two is the number of speakers and the amplification on offer: the PLAY:3 ($299/£259) has three amps powering a tweeter and two mid-range drivers, while the PLAY:5 ($399/£349) steps up to five amps pushing two tweeters, two mid-range drivers and a 3.5-inch woofer. Both can be used individually or, if you want to double up, can be wirelessly linked together to take each side of the stereo pair.

When I mentioned to a few others in the industry that I was having pangs of Sonos lust, I was surprised at how quickly jaded people became enthusiastic. In fact, so enthusiastic that it wasn’t long before I had three PLAY:3 boxes in my living room. (I went for the smaller model out of deference for the size of the rooms, my neighbors, and my wallet.)

Setup was, as promised, ridiculously straightforward. I bypassed the bundled CD (because my laptop doesn’t have an optical drive) and grabbed the Sonos Mac controller app direct from the site; that walks you through the few steps of pairing the units together. It would’ve gone quicker – or involved less of me racing around the flat – if I’d paired them before placing them in the rooms I intended to keep them in (since you have to click search in the app and then hit two of the three buttons on the speaker itself within sixty seconds), but I used the opportunity to practice some of the free-form dance I intended to do once the music started.

After that it was a case of loading the free Sonos controller apps on every Android and iOS device that I could find lying around, and logging into Spotify. You’ll need a premium subscription to use the streaming music service with Sonos, but given the awful state of ID3 tagging on my patchy MP3 collection, it was worth it. Plenty has been written about Sonos’ ease of use, so suffice to say I was grouping speakers for whole-apartment playback, queuing up impromptu playlists, and throwing shapes in record time.

Was it overkill for a smaller apartment? Admittedly, I’ve only had the volume control up to halfway at most – I can’t fault the audio quality, and the only patchy moments have been down to low-bitrate source files – but I’ve found I’m listening to music a lot more than I was before. Even when I had speakers to hand that I could plug my laptop into, I would generally forget to – or decide not to bother – hooking them up. And there’s something magical about being able to walk from room to room and have the audio playback “following” you.

It’s not perfect, mind. The PLAY:3 not only trims the number of speakers compared to the PLAY:5, but it also drops the line-in connection; that’s likely a cost saving exercise rather than a matter of space, but it’s still a frustrating omission. I’d like to see Sonos update its Bridge – a network adapter that “bridges” your regular router with the special Sonos network – to include a line-in port.

The on-device controls leave something to be desired, too. As it stands there are a mere three buttons: volume up and down, and mute. An instant-group key would be really handy, adding that speaker to whatever was currently playing. Oh, and while I had left Sonos’ dedicated Sonos Control touchscreen remote on my potential-addition list, having subsequently tried it out at a friend’s house (who has a far more comprehensive Sonos installation) I’m not convinced it adds anything more. Touchscreen responsiveness was particularly lacking, in comparison to the free Sonos app on my Galaxy S III, and navigation felt sluggish too. Even my friend said using the smartphone app was easier, and it seems Sonos agrees as it confirmed recently that it would be discontinuing the dedicated remote.

If you’re short on space and on cash, it’s certainly hard to argue with a simple set of speakers. Wired is the cheapest option, or you could throw in Bluetooth or Apple AirPlay, though in that case it starts to get somewhat closer to the price of a PLAY:3. You lose convenience, though, and the relative ease (and spousal approval factor) of a standalone system. I’ve now got an old tablet basically dedicated to Sonos control, simple enough for non-geeks to use, and with none of the “do I really want them digging around on my computer?” concerns that using my laptop as a music source might provoke.

In all, I’m kicking myself for waiting. My Spotify subscription is finally getting put to good use, and I’m rediscovering music that I used to love but which I pretty much gave up on thanks to underwhelming laptop speakers. Sonos may not be the cheapest way to get music on a bigger scale, but I can certainly say that you needn’t have the biggest home in order to get the best of it.


Small Sonos: Is multi-room music overkill in a tiny apartment? is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


My Favorite Music Service

I have tried them all. I have been using Pandora since the early days, and I pay for the premium Pandora service. I tried, for at least a month each and often more, all of the old guard of the streaming music services. Rhapsody. Napster. Slacker Radio. I owned a Zune HD, and subscribed to Zune, and when I bought my first Windows phone, I subscribed again to give it a second try. When Spotify got hot, I tried it for a while, sharing playlists and music. I have tried Rdio and Last.fm. I’ve spent time on Turntable. For a couple days, I even used Ping. But there is one online music service that is my favorite by far. I’ve been using it for almost a year, and it’s actually gotten better since I started. I listen at work on my desktop, on my smartphone while I’m exercising, and in my car on my stereo.

Before I tell you exactly which one (have you guessed yet?), let me define what I want in a music service. I want good music. I want the music I am in the mood to hear. Sometimes that’s a song I already own. Sometimes that’s a song I’m familiar with, but haven’t gotten around to downloading. Sometimes it’s a song I didn’t know I would like until I heard it. Never do I want to hear another cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as long as I live. I’m looking at you, Pandora. Enough with the “Hallelujah.”

My favorite music service, by a long shot, is SiriusXM. That’s right, satellite radio. I love it. I knew I would love it from the start. I love it so much that when I bought a car that had Sirius radio installed, I called up and bought a full year’s subscription with all the bells and whistles, before the 3-month trial period had ended. That’s support for 1 car stereo, plus access to the Web site and the mobile app for streaming.

I don’t know exactly how much it costs, and I’m not going to Google it for you. That’s not the point. It wasn’t so expensive that I balked at paying for a year. The music was much more important to me than the total cost over a year. If you’re looking for a bargain, look elsewhere. But if you want to know why I think this is the best service available, keep reading.

First, an unnecessary disclosure. My day job is with Samsung. As far as I know, we’re not connected to SiriusXM in any way, and I’m not being paid to promote the service. In fact, I’ll bet there are a variety of ways we’re connected to other music services. For some people, those others may be the right choice. There are lots of ways they can serve up music that Sirius can’t match. But those are not my favorites.

One exception is Google Music. I use Google Music in addition to Sirius. When I need to satisfy the itch for just that one song from my library at the precise moment, Google Music comes to the rescue. But I’m not married to Google Music. If another cloud-based storage option came along offering even slightly better service, I would jump ship without regret.

I joined SiriusXM first for Howard Stern. I’m a long time fan. Don’t judge until you’ve tried him for a month. Howard Stern operates two channels on SiriusXM. One plays his main radio show, which is broadcast new three days a week, and then reruns of the show for the rest of the week. The other station plays shuffled clips from his 30+ year history on the radio, as well as shows from other broadcasters Stern has culled.

“When Stern leaves Sirius, I’ll miss his show more than any other”

There is every indication that when Stern’s current contract is up, he will retire from radio. His success on “America’s Got Talent” is probably not helping my chances of hearing him live on my morning drive. When Stern leaves Sirius, I will miss his show more than I have missed any other show that disappeared from the airwaves. But I will remain a loyal SiriusXM subscriber.

Sirius has an excellent collection of curated radio channels. The first 10 channels correspond to decades. Channel 6 is all Sixties music; channel 9 is all nineties music, and so on. There are channels themed towards certain bands or personalities. Jimmy Buffett has his own channel, and so does Eminem. There is a Bruce Springsteen channel, and Sirius recently added a Pink Floyd channel. The best thing about these personality-inspired channels is the bonuses they offer. There are clips of interviews, outtakes, B-sides, and live recordings that even true fans may have missed.

In fact, this is the best thing about all of Sirius. The channels are well-curated. Sirius has employed plenty of old school DJs from the bygone days of radio. Almost all of the original MTV VJs are employed at Sirius. Video killed the radio star, but satellite radio resuscitated the video star’s career.

Tune to a station you like. I love “Lithium,” which is likely named for the eponymous Nirvana song, and which plays mostly alternative music from the early nineties. If you’re a true fan of this genre, on any given day you’ll likely hear songs you already own, songs you never got around to downloading from Napster in its heyday, and some songs you’ll swear you’ve never heard before.

The genre selection could use a little more variety. You won’t find the most obscure genres to quench your thirst. If you’re into underground hip-hop, or pop a cappella, or other less popular genres (as I am), you won’t find stations to support your habit. But there is still plenty to like. I have 6 channels programmed into my dashboard shortcuts, and each of those is a starting point. Sirius channels are nicely grouped. So, if you start with a singer/songwriter channel and work your way up the board, you’ll branch out in ways that make sense: through coffeehouse music; to early alternative rock, with its smooth vocals and padded synths; to the nostalgic Lithium station I mentioned; through college rock and new alternative.

There are blocks of comedy channels, from family friendly through the ultra-raunchy Raw Dog and Howard Stern channels. There are news and political channels that cover a wide spectrum. I still donate to my local public radio station, but I can’t stand listening to it because of the ubiquitous membership drives. On SiriusXM’s NPR station, I get most of my favorite shows with none of that nonsense.

There are occasionally cool special events, but SiriusXM would do better to have more of these. Sirius broadcast live Bruce Springsteen’s first ever show at the Apollo theater in New York City. A special tribute channel will pop up frequently to correspond with an anniversary or a death. The Pink Floyd station seemed to start as a special feature, but now seems like an awesome permanent fixture. Still, when Stern vacates his channels, Sirius will need more original programming to fill in the gap.

There are other small problems, too. The service doesn’t work in tunnels. It cuts out briefly when you drive under a large overpass. Sometimes, it just stops working for a moment or two. Sirius depends on a direct line of transmission from a satellite in space. It doesn’t quite penetrate yet. It would be nice if the service could buffer better, or perhaps pair the satellite component with an online, connected component in the car for a hybrid service that was much more reliable. It doesn’t hamper my enjoyment, but it is annoying when I miss the punch line of a joke because I drove under an exit ramp.

Sirius has been growing steadily, but not quickly enough. It is competing with free terrestrial radio, after all. Free radio gets worse and worse by the day, but hey, it’s free. Plus, most cars have an audio input for your phone or MP3 player, as well as CD players, DVD players, and even Blu Ray built-in. And that’s just in the car. On the desktop and on mobile devices, competition is even more fierce.

I would still recommend SiriusXM above all. If you miss the old days of radio, when a DJ you could trust and enjoy would pick out an interesting selection of music, then SiriusXM will bring you back.


My Favorite Music Service is written by Philip Berne & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Google Nexus Q Review

This week we’re having a look at the Nexus Q, a Google device released during the 2012 Google I/O developers conference both for free to all attendees and for $299 to anyone wanting to buy one from home from the Google Play store. This device is a mid-point between your media devices (like your HDTV or stereo) and your Android device(s). We’ve also got the Google Nexus 7 as well as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, both of them running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and the Nexus Q app – downloadable now to everyone running Jelly Bean at the moment.

Hardware

It’s a two-pound beast, if you’re thinking about carrying it around, but since it’s designed to remain stationary – it doesn’t really matter how much it weighs. It’s also a sphere, or nearly a sphere, this allowing the Nexus Q to look and feel completely unique in a tech world saturated with rectangles and squares in the living room. The Nexus Q has a ring of LED lights around its center, this lovely display of color showing you the status of the device as well as indicating when its being touched.

The top half of the Nexus Q currently works as both a volume knob and a power on/off button, while the center hole near the top also acts as a light sensor – this and touch-responsiveness across the whole top half allow you to mute the device. The bottom has a rubbery stopper so that you’re not rolling about, and the back of the device has all manner of connection ports.

You’ll see on the back that you’ve got two ports for right and two for left for your audio, you’ve got an optical out port, Ethernet port, microHDMI port, and microUSB port. Below all of that you’ve got a power port which connects with the cord you’re given in the box. This unit also ships with a microHDMI to full-sized HDMI converter cord so you can use the whole thing right out of the box.

This device cannot be used on its own.

To activate the device – and to control it – you’ve got to download the Nexus Q app from the Google Play store with a device running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. This minimum software requirement is sure to change rather quickly as it actually says that only Android 2.3 Gingerbread is required in the app’s description in the store, but for now, you’ll need a Galaxy Nexus (with the software upgrade) or a Nexus 7 tablet – which we’ve also reviewed in full here.

Actually connecting your Android smartphone or tablet to your Nexus Q is simple – it just requires that you have your Wi-fi connection’s password and that you enter it once (or twice if you’ve never set up your own device’s connection to the Wi-fi in your home). From there, you’ve got a near-instant connection between the Nexus Q and your Android device for playing YouTube, Google Play Music, and Google Play Movies – these are the only three apps that work with the Nexus Q at the moment (unless you want to hack.)

Software

There is no software – so to speak – unless you hack past the basic settings that the device comes with. What you use this device for, then, is a conduit between your Android device and your stereo or television. If you’ve got the Nexus Q hooked up to your television and are letting it sit without playing music or video, you’ll get a simple sleep screen with a collection of blue orbs spinning around one another in an organic pattern (as seen very briefly in the hands-on video above.)

If you do play some music from your Android smartphone or tablet, you’ll get a visualizer showing some spectacular colors and shapes representing the sound. If you play a video, you’ll get the video up on the screen – same goes for YouTube videos. The Nexus Q certainly does not mirror your device’s display – instead it shows a stream of media from your smartphone or tablet that’s controlled by your smartphone or tablet.

We’ve had an amazing experience with connection speed and playback with the applications that work with the Nexux Q thus far. Audio sounds fabulous in every way, be it through your HDMI connection alone or through the audio ports provided. The video, on the other hand, doesn’t appear to be tuned quite as well as it could be just yet.

Above: While you’ve got something playing via your smartphone or tablet, your Notifications window lets you know – this notification then links back to the player it associates with.

The word “murky” comes to mind with video playback – but just a bit. The blacks are just a bit too overzealous in taking over the screen while the other colors seem to be quite ready to take a dip. Playing streaming video worked perfectly well, with no hiccups other than when our actual web connection failed – with no fault of Google’s at play. Playing video from our device’s own memory worked similarly well, with a slightly too-dark image but perfectly quick playback speed.

The software is fairly straightforward when it comes to working on your device, with a little Play icon appearing at the top of YouTube, Google Movies, and Google Music once the Nexus Q software was installed – tapping once makes your interface Blue and active, tapping again turns it Gray and no longer connects to the Nexus Q.

Adding more than one device to one Nexus Q is a bit more of a challenge, as once the Galaxy Nexus was connected to the Q it took a couple tries to make the Nexus 7 connect as well, but it’s nothing a tiny bit of troubleshooting didn’t fix.

Wrap-Up

The Nexus Q is an absolutely gorgeous looking device, and one that’ll be sought after long after it’s been left for dead by Google in the future. But know this: that’s a long, long time away from now. Google will hopefully take the capabilities of this system and embrace them wholly, because the Nexus Q is exactly what Google needs to bring the public’s perception of Android to the nexus level. With this device you’ve got an Apple TV for nearly every single Android device on the market, and since it is a Nexus device, Google has in so many words encouraged us to hack it.

Once the floodgates open, the Nexus Q will be capable of so very many things that it’ll be on every developer’s holiday season wish list without a doubt. The device feels great physically, only has a few software-related issues here before its big launch, and will be ready to entertain for many years to come. Will people buy it at $299? That’s a different story entirely. Is it worth $299 from our perspective? If you’re the sort of person who spent $199 on your smartphone and $499 on your tablet when you bought them both in the past year, then yes, the Nexus Q is worth every penny.

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Google Nexus Q Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Sony grabs Gaikai for cloud gaming and entertainment

Sony has snapped up cloud gaming specialist Gaikai for $380m, the company has confirmed, with plans to roll out a new cloud service for PlayStation and home entertainment. “Sony Computer Entertainment will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service” Andrew House, president and group CEO of SCE said of the deal, “that allows users to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices.”

Sony has not said when it expects the $380m acquisition to close (assuming it clears the usual regulatory hurdles) but it’s not hard to speculate around where the company could take the cloud technology. The company has been talking about its “four screen” strategy for some time now, bringing together its PlayStation, VAIO PC and tablet, and freshly-acquired Xperia strands into a more holistic platform.

There’s also the possibility of a more computing-related use for the Gaikai tech, perhaps augmenting Sony’s existing PlayMemories Online service that rivals Google Drive. “With this acquisition,” the company said in a statement, “SCE will establish a cloud service and expand its network business by taking full advantage of Gaikai’s revolutionary technology and infrastructure including data centers servicing dozens of countries and key partners around the world.”

A deal with a cloud gaming provider was rumored back in May, with Sony tipped to be weighing a takeover of either Gaikai or OnLive. It’s unclear at this stage what will happen to Gaikai’s existing deals with other providers; the company is ramping up for a launch with Samsung to put cloud gaming on the South Korean firm’s Smart TVs this summer.

Meanwhile, Sony’s second-gen Google TV range looks to be readying for OnLive support, though there’s no word on when it might actually be enabled.


Sony grabs Gaikai for cloud gaming and entertainment is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.