HBO Go comes to Chromecast on both Android and iOS

HBO Go comes to Chromecast

See, when the Chromecast first launched, it was intriguing primarily because of its exceptionally low price point. People who ran out and bought one (which included more than a few Engadget editors) were investing in promised future functionality, not its current feature set. Well, it’s safe to say that money was not wasted. With today’s announcement that HBO Go will now support Chromecast, Google has brought most of the major non-sports streaming properties to its tiny dongle, including Netflix and Hulu. It’s particularly impressive given how notoriously slow HBO has been to bring its streaming service to “new” platforms. Now Google-loving nerds across the US will be able to get their “Game of Thrones” fix on demand on their TV simply by tapping an icon on their Android or iOS tablet. Of course, that is if you’re an HBO subscriber. The update is already hitting both the iTunes App Store and Google Play, so go download it now.

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Source: Google

Xbox One will have a native YouTube app at launch (update: mobile app support)

YouTube on Xbox One

Microsoft thinks of the Xbox One as a complete media center, but many would say it’s unfinished without a way to catch up on YouTube videos. Thankfully, one is coming just in the nick of time — the company has revealed that a native YouTube client will be available when the system arrives on November 22nd — something that’s not available on the PS4 (yet), although owners of that system can watch videos in the web browser. The officially sanctioned player will support channel subscriptions as well as Kinect-based gesture and voice commands. Additional features like Snap mode support are coming in the future, Microsoft says. The app launch doesn’t mean that Google and Microsoft have resolved all their differences over YouTube, but it will let you stream cat clips and blooper reels from the comfort of your living room.

Update: We’ve checked the app on our Xbox One test unit, and there’s an additional treat in store for mobile viewers: you can use YouTube’s Android and iOS apps to send videos to the console.

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Via: Major Nelson (Twitter)

Source: Xbox Wire, YouTube Blog

Nokia rebrands Music service as Mix Radio, updates Windows Phone app to match

Nokia’s Music service has been a secret weapon for Lumia owners — they get ad-free radio streaming on their phones at no extra cost. The company is driving that advantage home today by rebranding the service as Mix Radio (reflecting the service’s main feature) and launching an updated music app to match. The new Mix Radio client centers on Play Me, a personalized stream defined by a few favorite artists. There are also Pandora-style thumbs-up and thumbs-down votes to refine the selection, and it’s now easy to share mixes through email, Facebook, text messages and Twitter. As before, avid listeners can spend $4 per month to get unlimited downloads, improved quality and web listening. Current Lumia users just need to update their existing Music app to take advantage of Nokia’s smarter audio experience.

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Via: Windows Phone Central

Source: Windows Phone Store

Sony’s Video and Music Entertainment chief wants the PS4 to be your everything

Sony Video and Music Entertainment chief Michael Aragon on original shows and a lack of musical options for PS4

The reviews are out, and the PlayStation 4 is, in fact, much of what we’d hoped it’d be: a fabulous gaming machine with a social personality. It has lived up to it’s next-gen label, thus far. But there’s another aspect to the PS4 that may prove to be equally as important to the console’s long-term success against its main rival from Microsoft. I’m talking about video and music services.

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DirecTV to expand out-of-home live TV streaming, Android tablet support

DirecTV for Android tablets

DirecTV Everywhere will soon become much more useful for travelers eager to watch their favorite shows. As of November 21st, the satellite TV provider is expanding its out-of-home TV streaming selection to include more than 30 live channels, such as HBO and Showtime. Subscribers will also have access to more than 100 channels when at home, and 19,000 on-demand shows through DirecTV’s website. The company’s Android tablet app is receiving a makeover as part of the expansion — an impending update will stream both live and on demand video to tablets of all sizes and multiple OS versions. Customers will just have to wait a short while before they get access to DirecTV’s wider world of content.

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Source: Business Wire, DirecTV

Xbox One gameplay broadcasting delayed to ‘the first part of 2014’

It sure is good that Microsoft’s Xbox One controller doesn’t have a “Share” button dedicated to pushing live broadcasts of gameplay to the internet, because that functionality is being delayed beyond the console’s November 22nd launch date. Microsoft confirmed as much this morning in a cursory footnote in a larger piece about the Twitch.tv app, which reads, “We are working to ensure the initial Twitch on Xbox One broadcasting experience meets the expectations of the Twitch community.” It sounds like, as it stands now, broadcasting via Xbox One isn’t up to snuff for release.

“While this feature won’t be available right away, we’ll let you know as soon as it is ready,” the note continues. “Our goal is to deliver it during the first part of 2014.” We’ve yet to use the Xbox One’s broadcasting since first hearing about it during the console’s debut event last May. To be clear, the Twitch.tv app is different from the ability to broadcast gameplay through Twitch.

In addition to the delay news, Microsoft released a video of Twitch.tv’s app in action, which enables viewing of gameplay broadcasts (it’s below the break). Hilariously, this will allow Xbox One players to watch live gameplay from other game platforms, just not the one they’re using. Womp womp.

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Source: Xbox Wire

Major League Gaming launches MLG.TV online network to stream e-sports in high definition

Major League Gaming launches MLGTV online network to stream esports in high definition

Major League Gaming’s been tinkering with better ways to show and monetize its Call of Duty and Starcraft battles for years, occasionally showing up on ESPN and utilizing myriad online streaming solutions to get its premium content to the people. However, MLG decided that YouTube and its ilk aren’t enough, and so has launched its very own online network, MLG.TV, to better cater to e-sports fans (and pull in bigger ad dollars, of course). TechCrunch reports that this new platform, aside from streaming up to 1080p video, will also have social sharing capabilities and Twitter-based chat. While exclusively an online portal, MLG.TV is borrowing some ideas from broadcast television. It’ll have weekly shows (like the recently debuted SportsCenter-esqe eSports Report) at specific times, and the plan is to build out a TV-like programming schedule as new shows are created.

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: MLG.TV

Sling–the streaming box that lets you use your cable subscription from anywhere–has completely red

Sling—the streaming box that lets you use your cable subscription from anywhere—has completely redesigned its SlingPlayer app for Android and iOS to favor better discovery, with added social integration and new split-screen navigation. Sling will also be releasing an app for Windows 8.1 in December. And finally, you can now use your Slingbox with your Roku.

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How YouTube Works

You’re about to watch a video via YouTube. Hell, you watch dozens of videos every day on YouTube. But do you have any idea how it works?

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Do Music and Movie Suggestion Algorithms “Get” You?

Do Music and Movie Suggestion Algorithms "Get" You?I pretty much universally hate streaming music services. They all promise to broaden my horizons, analyzing my tastes to bring me music I never knew I couldn’t live with out. They can all go to hell.

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