A convincing report arguing that mobile broadband, free business-subsidized WiFi, and tablets are sucking the life out of American cable and broadcast TV networks has appeared on Business Insider. While this in itself may not be news to our readers, the nitty gritty details and the statistics to back it all up should confirm what […]
Many of us only wish we could upgrade our less-than-smart TVs. Carnivore at DroidBuild, however, has taken matters into his own hands — he recently finished installing a Raspberry Pi-based media center into his own 40-inch Hisense screen. The hack replaces the TV’s built-in speaker with a Raspbmc system that has a 3D-printed faceplate for Ethernet and USB ports, an infrared adapter and external speaker output. While the modification is risky (and certainly voids the warranty), it’s much more elegant than hanging the Raspberry Pi off the back of the set. Check Carnivore’s photo guide at the source link if you’d like to know how he achieved the feat.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Via: Adafruit, Hack A Day
Source: DroidBuild
Dish’s Hopper software team is clearly busy; just two months after it brought home-automation support to its DVR, it’s rolling out another update that offers considerably more control. The new “Denver” firmware enables promised HDMI-CEC support, letting the Hopper send and receive commands from compatible HDMI gear. It can automatically switch TV inputs when powered on, for example. Other upgrades introduce universal search, a help app and a shelf-like layout for On Demand videos. As part of the revamp, Dish is also improving its Explorer iPad app; Apple tablet owners can both control every TV on the Hopper platform and find recommended shows. Neither “Denver” nor the Explorer update will necessarily get anyone switching TV providers, but it should make the viewing experience that much sweeter for loyal customers.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Tablets, HD
Google’s Chromecast dongle just got another streaming service. Hold on to your dragons: HBO GO support is available starting today.
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Even though California startup Kateeva demonstrated it could print OLED displays way back in 2010, the printer it used was a prototype meant strictly for show and tell. The age of printed OLED TVs might finally be upon us however, as the company recently unveiled the YIELDJet, a machine it’s calling the “world’s first inkjet printer engineered from the ground up for OLED mass production.” The machine is quite an impressive affair, comprising a shifting slab capable of handling glass or plastic sheets big enough for six 55-inch displays along with custom print heads designed to emit teeny tiny OLED pixels.
Why is this a big deal? Due to the oxygen and moisture-hating nature of OLED ingredients, current OLED televisions are built with tricky vacuum evaporation and shadow masking techniques that are too inefficient and wasteful to be inexpensive. The YIELDJet, on the other hand, prints the LEDs in a pure nitrogen chamber to avoid those problems, plus it promises better film coating uniformity as well. This, Kateeva said, will hopefully result in OLED TVs that won’t cost an arm and a leg yet still look stunning when hung on your living room wall. Combined with Sony and Panasonic’s separate efforts to mass-produce the stellar-looking sets, we certainly hope that day comes sooner rather than later.
Filed under: HD
Source: Kateeva
Did you move to the Kansas City area too late to register for Google Fiber? Don’t fret — Google has both reopened sign-ups in the region’s 180 current fiber neighborhoods and detailed an upcoming expansion. Those in existing Fiber areas can sign up for service by December 22nd, with installations due by the spring. Meanwhile, those in outlying locations such as Gladstone, Grandview, Kansas City North, South Kansas City and Raytown will get a chance to sign up in March.
The search giant has also provided a brief explanation of how Austin residents will sign up for Fiber service when it’s available in their town. As in Kansas City, Austinites will be organized into fiberhoods that have to meet registration goals within a few weeks to qualify for a deployment. There’s still no word on just when the process will begin, although the mid-2014 service target doesn’t leave much time for Google to get the ball rolling.
Filed under: Networking, Internet, HD, Google
Source: Google Fiber Blog (1), (2)
If you consider your TV a private safe haven, it might be time to think again. A UK blogger has discovered that LG’s smart TVs seem to collect personal data even when such functionality is explicitly forbidden by its user.
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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.
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Business Wire, DirecTV
A software update is headed to Apple TV this week with both Yahoo Screen (similar to the iOS experience) and availability of a new PBS app to boot. This update allows users to attain PBS content as well as Yahoo video content where such features were limited – if available at all – through alternate […]
The National Football League and Major League Baseball have filed a petition with the US Supreme Court arguing that antenna-streaming service Aereo violates copyright law and should be stopped by legal injunction. The petition is an amicus (“friend-of-the-court”) brief in support of the four major TV broadcasters, whose most recent of many failures to stop […]
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