It looks like Netflix users in the US will soon have quite a few new TV series to choose from as they wait for Arrested Development to make its big return in May. The company announced today that it’s struck a multi-year deal with Turner Broadcasting and the Warner Bros. Television Group that will see a variety of animated and live-action series from the Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Animation, Adult Swim and TNT be made available for streaming. That includes the likes of Adventure Time, Ben 10, the Green Lantern animated series, Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and TNT’s Dallas, the last of which is an exclusive deal that begins in January of 2014 — all the other series will be available starting March 30th.
This past week at CES 2013, the SlashGear team was privy to a handful of fantastic or otherwise generally interesting next-generation technology, but for yours truly, there was nothing as significant for its designer as NVIDIA’s Project SHIELD. I want to be clear in saying that there may have been more market-ready, real-world devices and services presented to us that have hard release dates and/or real track records for success in earlier models, but when you take Project SHIELD and speak about how important even just the idea is for the NVIDIA brand and ecosystem, nothing else had as important a set of implications.
When we were introduced to Project SHIELD at NVIDIA’s press conference during CES, the company’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang prefaced the situation with assurances on the future: “Next-generation gamers play literally on whatever they can, whenever they can. Just like we enjoy movies on multiple screens, just like we listen to music on multiple devices.” Though the delivery couldn’t have been as powerful as the initial reveal of the iPod, a revolutionary device for the music industry (referenced in the conference earlier as such), NVIDIA intended and intends to push Project SHIELD as a revolutionary device for the gaming industry.
We had a chat with Nick Stam, Technical Marketing Director for NVIDIA (as you’ll see above), in which we were told that not only is Project SHIELD a real project, but it’ll be coming to the market in the second quarter of 2013 as an NVIDIA-branded piece of equipment. Though the idea of creating a bridge between large hardware (PC and console) and small hardware (mobile) gaming may be more significant than the actual SHIELD device, the device is being prepared for a real release.
“What you’re seeing here is a Beta version that we’re showing at CES – and there may be some modifications to the physical design elements, some of the software elements, but our plan is to ship this Project SHIELD under an official marketing name in Q2. That’s our plan: in Q2 2013 in retail. So in retail and e-tail, with an NVIDIA name.” – Stam
NVIDIA has appeared in the news essentially the same amount of times for its mobile processor business as it has for its high-powered computing components over the past year. As we see them tie the two together with SHIELD as well as NVIDIA GRID for cloud-based gaming companies and NVIDIA GeForce Experience for high-powered gaming optimization, the circle can be made complete. With the continuation of NVIDIA’s rather successful GeForce GPU lineup and the new Tegra 4 mobile processor (also just revealed this past week) as well, NVIDIA has created a new ecosystem for themselves.
You’ll need GeForce GPU power to stream games from your PC to your Project SHIELD device, and though any number of games will work on the device from the Google Play market for Android, NVIDIA’s Tegra Zone will surely be the place where you’ll find the best of the best, optimized for the Tegra 4 processor you’ve got under the hood, made perfect for the physical controls you’ve got in front of you.
It’s difficult to say how much of an impact this device will have in and of itself as far as sales go – certainly not until we see the price, at least. The confidence with which NVIDIA presents this device as a knot that ties together its two major product lines – PC and mobile – that’s what will have the biggest effect on their future. No other company made such a unique product ecosystem presentation at CES 2013.
Many’s the streamer that can assault your ears with audio of all sorts, but how many can do it simply, with irreproachable fidelity, and at a reasonable price? Few that we can think of, so that’s exactly the tact being taken by Olive with its Olive One, a $400 dollar streaming player and amp currently on Indiegogo. It’s a disk-shaped audio player with a built-in HD amplifier, single volume dial and 7-inch touchscreen to choose your music. It includes an iOS, Android and Windows 8 app so that your handset can work as a remote control, while letting you stream music from your slate or phone, too. So how did our (admittedly non-audiophile) ears take to the device when we saw it at CES? Read on past the break to find out.
Sometimes minor-sounding events presage bigger things to come (and sometimes not), so Cupertino’s recent addition of a new subscription service app to Apple TV in Germany, Watchever, made our ears perk up. The service — which is still rolling out in the country and may not work on all devices, according to its Facebook page — offers Netflix-like streaming of movies and TV shows in dubbed German or original formats for €9 ($12) per month. More significantly, it marks one of the first times Apple TV has added programming specific to a single region on its streaming service, perhaps marking a new trend we could see elsewhere, too. Apple currently has paid subscription apps like NBA, MLB and WSJ from which it gets a nice cut, so a regional expansion would make financial sense — particularly in countries that don’t know a pop fly from a pop tune.
Netflix has been lobbying hard for changes to a law that it believed barred it from sharing the videos users watch on social media services, and now the law has changed. After H.R. 6671 passed through Congress last year without objection, President Barack Obama signed it into law today. As it previously existed, the Video Privacy Protection Act would have required users to approve sharing of each title watched in writing. The amendment removes that restriction, and should see the Facebook features already on Netflix internationally available in the US, soon. Hit the source link to read the bill itself, whether you’re increasingly wary of the reach of social media, or an Open Graph addict.
With all of this talk about 4K displays at this year’s CES, we’re sure many of you who use online streaming video services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video are wondering if a TV capable of that resolution would even make an impact in your life as all you do is stream your video. At this point, it won’t, but Netflix is taking steps in the right direction as they’re announcing today they have started to stream 3D movies.
In addition to 3D movies, Netflix is also announcing the availability of Super HD video, depending on the ISP you’re currently using. Super HD is video that’s still 1080p, but it’s less compressed, making it look much better even though current 1080p streaming videos look pretty good when bandwidth allows it to.
If you’re one of the lucky few whose ISPs support Super HD, you can already check out Netflix’s improved videos on a number of devices like current-generation Apple TV models, Roku, Wii U and Windows 8 to name a few. For 3D viewing, as of now, only the PlayStation 3 and some LG Smart TVs are able to deliver that kind of video, although support for more devices is coming.
Ever wonder what’s going on behind the soulless eyes of your favorite sport franchise’s mascot? Hulu can clue you in this this summer — its new original series Behind the Mask promises to chronicle the life of basketball’s most cartoonish cheerleaders, from high school newbies to the NBA’s seasoned pros. It’s one of three original shows the streaming network is debuting this year, including The Awesomes, an animated comedy following the misadventures of a fledgling superhero team, and The Wrong Mans, a comedy that thrusts a pair of office drones into a high stakes thriller. Hulu’s wealth of exclusive content is getting some additions too, including Braquo, a crime drama set in Paris and a new animated comedy starring Eva Longoria, dubbed Mother Up! Service favorites like Prisoners of War and Pramface are seeing renewals too. Read on for a peek at Hulu’s full summer line up, or skip on over to the streaming service’s homepage to check out the previews for yourself.
Ever since its humble (and very ambitious) beginnings, Aereo has suffered a few hiccups along the way, but that’s not stopping the service from kicking off the new year with a rather striving scheme. The company today announced that it’s expanding outside of NYC and bringing its over-the-air TV broadcasts to 22 more US cities in 2013, with said move expected to reach cities such as Boston, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Baltimore, Denver, Detroit and Washington, DC. According to Aereo’s CEO, Chet Kanojia, the firm’s been “working hard to bring Aereo to consumers across the country and we’re excited to expand our reach to these 22 new cities,” adding that “consumers want and deserve choice.” Dear, Chet, we wholeheartedly agree. The full list of new markets can be found in the PR after the break, and we can only hope there’s plenty more to come as the year progresses.
Hulu’s continuing its trend of producing its own original content with three new shows: an animated superhero comedy with Seth Meyers, “The Awesomes”; U.K. comedy thriller “The Wrong Mans”; and docu-series “Behind the Mask.” More »
Up’n’coming streaming box company Boxee isn’t content sitting next to your TV. Instead, it’s firing up an initiative to get inside your TV by offering an embeddable option to manufacturers. More »
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