Loewe Reference ID TV hits the UK in July with full customization and a 1TB DVR

Loewe Reference ID TV hits the UK in July with full customization and a 1TB DVR

Loewe has staked its success in the TV market on personalized designs, and it’s taking that concept to its logical extreme with the upcoming Reference ID. First shown at IFA last year, the LCD set is now due to reach the UK in July with progressively wilder customization options. Owners will only have a choice of covers for the built-in 160W speaker at first, they’ll get frame selections later in the summer, and full customization of materials and patterns this fall — if they want a set housed in leather and gold, it can happen. Conformists might still be happy with the Reference ID between its 3D-ready 400Hz panel, media streaming and a dual-channel DVR with 1TB of space. Loewe’s adaptable design won’t be cheap for discerning Brits, however: 40-, 46- and 55-inch variants will respectively cost £4,500, £5,500 and £6,500 ($7,007, $8,564 and $10,121), and that’s before applying a personal touch.

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Via: Pocket-lint

Source: Loewe

Zynga signs on to publish Game of Thrones social game

Zynga has partnered up with game developer Disruptor Beam to publish the developer’s Game of Thrones Ascent social game. Zynga will be publishing the game both through Facebook and through its official website in order to market it to its user base of over 250 million people. The game is an extension of the popular Game of Thrones series on HBO, and will allow you to create a character to fight for one of the Great Houses.

Zynga signs on to publish Game of Thrones social game

Disruptor Bean joined up with HBO to launch the social game on Facebook. The game entered open beta mode on February 21st, and over 500,000 million people have installed the game since then. While 500,000 is an impressive number, the developers at Disruptor Beam know that they need to do more to increase their user base. Jon Radoff, CEO and Founder of Disruptor Beam, says that “partnerships are integral” in making any game successful.

The game takes place in the world of Westeros, where your character plays the role of a Noble. You can choose which Great House you will swear your allegiance to, whether it’d be House Lannister, House Targaryen, House Stark, or any of the other houses. You can also choose your lineage, develop your lands and reputation, and create alliances with friends. The game integrates itself deeply with the HBO series, and each week, after each new episode airs, new content is added to the game.

Publishing Games of Thrones Ascent should do well for Zynga’s revenue, which is most likely the primary reason why they’re doing it. Recently, Zynga had to shut down several of its games in order to lower costs. It also stated that in order to increase revenue, it will transition more into the mobile market this year. Who knows, maybe we will see Games of Throne Ascent, or a similar Game of Thrones game, head to mobile devices soon, hopefully.

[via Zynga]


Zynga signs on to publish Game of Thrones social game is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nielsen Will Soon Launch Program That Counts Internet TV Viewers

Nielsen Will Soon Launch Program That Counts Internet TV Viewers

Watching TV has gone beyond sitting in front of your television screen to watch a show as it is aired as the inclusion of DVRs and online streams have made it possible to watch a new episode of your favorite show at any time. That’s why the Wall Street Journal’s report of Nielsen possibly launching a digital program to cover Internet streaming makes complete sense.

According to the WSJ, Nielsen’s TV ratings system will soon be able to count Internet views through its “Nielsen Digital Program Ratings” pilot program. The program will launch with participation from NBC, FOX, ABC, Univision, Discovery and A&E and will be able to track their respective shows’ viewership through streaming video that is posted on their respective website. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Netflix Ditching Microsoft Sliverlight For HTML5, Short Film Starring Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates Wants Kids To Learn To Code,

    

EVE Online will turn players’ stories into comics and a TV series

At the annual EVE Online Fanfest, CCP, the publisher of EVE Online, stated that it’s going to spice things up for EVE Online players. It will soon be turning the stories of real players into professionally made comic books as well as a TV series. Players will have to submit their stories to EVE Online’s True Stories competition before the May 1st deadline. Gamers will then get to vote for their favorite stories until May 15th, when the grand finalists are chosen.

EVE Online turns players' stories into comics and TV series

Player submissions, even if they aren’t the grand finalists, have a chance to be featured in EVE Online’s 54-page comic book, published by Dark Horse Comics, who is known for its comics like Hellboy, Sin City, and its upcoming Mass Effect comics. The top stories will have a chance of being turned into episodes of an EVE Online TV series, which will be directed by an Icelandic director said to have produced many major films.

Alongside the possibility of have a TV episode based off their stories, finalists will also be given a series of other bonuses from EVE Online as well. Players who come in 3rd-5th place will be given a 1-year free subscription to EVE Online. The 2nd place winner will receive a free 10-year subscription to EVE Online. The 1st place winner will receive a round trip for 2 to Reykjavik, Iceland, which includes airfare and hotel accommodations. He/She will have the chance to visit CCP’s headquarters and meet and talk with senior developers, and will also receive a 10-year subscription to EVE Online.

The launch of EVE Online’s own TV series and comic books is in celebration of the game’s 10th anniversary. There are also talks that a film for the game may be produced, though that’d be much farther into the future. Also in celebration of the game’s 10th anniversary, Dark Horse Comics will be producing a 184-page hardback book containing all of the stories regarding the lore of EVE Online as well as the various NPCs you encounter in-game. There will also be a new collector’s edition released giving EVE Online fans access to a variety of things, like cosmetic in-game items, physical models, and more.

[via Joystiq]


EVE Online will turn players’ stories into comics and a TV series is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

LG Cloud rolling out in over 40 more countries by late May

LG Cloud rolling out in over 40 more countries by late May

Although LG jumped into the deep end of the online services pool when it launched LG Cloud last year, it didn’t have much to brag about when access was limited to South Korea, Russia and the US. The company is about to broaden its horizons considerably — it now plans to deploy LG Cloud to more than 40 additional countries before the end of May. While the electronics giant hasn’t outlined its plans on a nation-by-nation basis, it’s planning a truly worldwide expansion that should include Asia, Europe and Latin America. If your Optimus G Pro and brand new TV aren’t already syncing their media in perfect harmony, there’s a good chance that they will within a month’s time.

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Source: LG

Boxee Cloud DVR reaches the San Francisco Bay Area in beta

Boxee Cloud DVR expands to the San Francisco Bay Area in beta

Boxee Cloud DVR has been active in only eight markets since its inception as Boxee TV, but it’s at last time for the platform to spread its wings. As of now, Boxee’s live TV recording service is up and running in the San Francisco Bay Area in beta form; owners just need to update their firmware to start uploading shows. While the company hasn’t outlined its plans for other markets just yet, its target of 26 cities by the end of 2013 means that other areas shouldn’t be far behind.

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Via: GigaOM

Source: Boxee (Twitter)

The CW attempts to secure more TV viewers with Xbox LIVE

The CW TV network has become the latest TV network to bring its selection of shows to Xbox LIVE. The TV network has been struggling for some time to attract viewers to its TV series, so hopefully its collaboration with Xbox LIVE will help. With the new CW TV app, viewers will be able to catch the latest episodes of the CW’s TV series a day after they air on live television.

CW hopes to attempts to attract more viewers with Xbox LIVE

Viewers will be have access to all of the CW’s current TV series, including Arrow, Beauty and the Beast, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Nikita, and more. The app is compatible with Xbox’s SmartGlass feature, which recently became available for the Amazon Kindle Fire, so that users can access extra content while watching an episode, such as episode summaries or plot overviews. The CW app is also compatible with the Kinect, allowing you to control it via your hands or your voice.

The CW is one of the under-performers in the land of free television. While other networks like ABC and Fox are able to get well over 10 million viewers for their most popular TV shows, the CW’s most popular TV shows are only able to grab about 2-3 million viewers each week. That’s not to say that the CW only has bad TV shows (I personally think Nikita and Arrow are pretty great shows), it just needs more exposure.

Through its collaboration with Netflix, and its app becoming available through Xbox LIVE, it may be able to get more people to view its offering of TV shows, and perhaps even convert some of them to loyal followers. The CW recently cancelled several TV shows this year, including Cult, 90210, Gossip Girl, and Emily Owens M.D. due to their lack of viewers, and several more shows are still awaiting their fate. Maybe also releasing an app for the PlayStation Network would be a good move for the network as well.


The CW attempts to secure more TV viewers with Xbox LIVE is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Amazon TV set-top box rumored to be in the works

Amazon has been investing a lot of its resources into the TV business. Just a few days ago, it launched 14 new original series, with their pilot episodes being available for free for any user. Now it looks like Amazon will be diving even deeper into the TV business by releasing a TV set-top box in the future. According to Business Week’s sources, Amazon will be introducing its very own set-top box come this fall.

Amazon TV set-top box rumored to be in the works

The set-top box will be deeply integrated with Amazon’s video selection, including its Instant Video service, and its collection of other video on-demand products. It will do wonders in getting Amazon more business for its Instant Video service as well as getting more viewers for its original series. It would also help it compete against other video-streaming services, like Netflix.

According to Business Week, the set-top box project is being led by Cisco’s former VP of Emerging Video Products, Malachy Moynihan, and the product is being built at Amazon’s Lab126 division. Lab126 has several engineers that are experienced in developing TV-related products, including Andy Goodman, who was a top engineer at TiVo and Vudu, and Chris Coley, who used to be a hardware architect at ReplayTV.

The name for the set-top box is still going under consideration, but sources say that it could be dubbed “Kindle TV”. There’s also a good chance that Amazon will include other streaming services onto the set-top box, including Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu, giving customers more options to view their favorite shows, and also giving customers more incentive on purchasing its product. And knowing Amazon, this product will be priced competitively against the other set-top boxes currently on the market.

[via Bloomberg Businessweek]


Amazon TV set-top box rumored to be in the works is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

[REVIEW] Sharp AQUOS LC-24MX1 – Bluetooth smartphone-compatible LCD “MX Series” TV

[REVIEW] Sharp Aquos LC-24MX1 - Bluetooth smartphone-compatible LCD "MX Series" TV

From Sharp comes the latest from its AQUOS line with an emphasis on compatibility and coordination with smartphones – the MX Series LC-24MX1, due to be released on May 30. It comes in 3 colors: green, orange and silver.

Sharp announced the release yesterday and the LC-24MX1 was reviewed by ASCII.jp which I would like to share with you.

Strictly in terms of viewing specs, there is nothing special here. It’s a relatively small size 23.6 inch with standard 1366×758 dot resolution. There is 1 built-in tuner and is compatible with USB HDD and can record for a long period of time.

The best characteristic of the TV seems to be the built-in 2.1ch speaker. When the TV is in standby mode, they speakers can be accessed through the user’s smartphone and automatically come alive to play music from the smartphone.

The speaker unit is 5W+5W output, with a 10W subwoofer, built by Pioneer. When connected to a smartphone, it turns to “music mode” which will make better high pitch and low pitch sound than regular TV audio play mode, which helps make the TV audio better to listen to.

Also when playing Blu-ray, surround-sound mode can be employed.

So, despite its small size and and basic resolution, the viewing experience is fairly enjoyable.

Through its Miracast functionality, images from your smartphone can be wirelessy broadcast to the TV screen, and it can be used as a custom remote control device.

Another big feature of this TV is introduction of the specialized “AQUOS Connect” application. The TV screen and your smartphone screen can simultaneously show the same content.

It will automatically compensate for the horizontal TV screen interacting with the vertical smartphone screen to properly show content on both. And interaction of sound between TV and smartphone can be adjusted by waving the smartphone.

AQUOS Connect also gives “Keyword Search” functionality. Keywords related to a TV program currently on air are automatically extracted, and you can search further information by selecting a keyword you want to know about.

AQUOS Connect can be used through both wireless Miracast and wired MHL, but when you use wired MHL you need to have a wired internet environment.

AQUOS Connect provides an Android version and iOS version, however iOS devices are not compatible with Miracast or MHL. So in that case, a wired internet connection is needed for Miracast and HDMI output adapter is needed for MHL.

The bottom line assessment by Ascii is that it is useful for (mainly younger) people who are used to accessing and viewing content through their smart device and wanting to use the TV as a larger, viewing aid, with better audio, for their content.

Estimated price: 69,800 yen
Display: 24 inch (1,366 x 768)
Size: 56.5 × 17.5 × 41.8cm
Weight: 7kg
Tuner: Digital terrestrial broadcasting, BS/CS, analog broadcasting
Audio output: Max 20W (5W+5W+10W)

Aereo’s Boston spread tempts cable company fury

Aereo has been a part of a bit of controversy these past couple of months, mostly due to the fact that television networks aren’t too happy with Aereo’s business model. Nonetheless, Aereo has announced that its widening its reach past New York City, and will be launching its television services in Boston next month on May 15.

aereo

Boston residents will be able to pre-order Aereo service, which will give them access on May 15, while a wider public release for everyone in the Boston metropolitan area will take place on May 30. Aereo didn’t mention the reach that its service would have in Boston, but they do say that the service should be able to support around 4.5 million customers in 16 counties in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Aereo allows users to watch live broadcast television on their mobile devices and computers. In New York currently, users pay $12 per month to stream live TV programming from over 20 local broadcast networks, including CBS, NBC, and FOX. The controversy is how the company is doing it: they’re essentially yanking the broadcast signals using their own antennas and beaming it over the internet for users to enjoy.

Aereo was announced back in January, and while it’s only available in New York City for now, the company will be launching it services in numerous states throughout 2013, including Miami, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Washington DC, Baltimore, Detroit, Denver, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Cleveland, and Kansas City.


Aereo’s Boston spread tempts cable company fury is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.