Hasta La Gadget!

We caught wind of an upcoming video offering from Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks back, as part of a tip on new tablet offerings from the company. And while we’ve yet to hear anything official on the latter, this morning the bookstore pulled back the curtain on Nook Video, a new service boasting support from heavy hitters like HBO, Sony, Warner Brothers, Viacom and Disney. The fruits of those partnerships include standard and high-def movies and TV shows like The Avengers, Brave, The Amazing Spider-man, Breaking Bad, The Daily Show and Game of Thrones, which can be watched on Nooks, and non-Barnes & Noble tablets and smartphones, courtesy of a forthcoming free app from the retailer, letting you pick up where you left off on different devices.

The offering can also be linked to UltraViolet purchases, making it possible to add titles purchased with that feature logo to the Nook Cloud offering. Nook Video will be arriving in the US this fall, followed by a “holiday” release in the UK.

Continue reading Barnes & Noble launching Nook Video this fall with a little help from HBO, Sony, Disney, Viacom, more

Filed under: Tablets

Barnes & Noble launching Nook Video this fall with a little help from HBO, Sony, Disney, Viacom, more originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While YouTube has always enjoyed support on Sony’s PlayStation 3 thanks to the console’s Flash-enabled browser and even offered a YouTube XL layout for connected devices, now it’s rolling out a new app to make the video experience even better (and, no doubt, compete with the experience unveiled late last year on the Xbox 360). The app has an improved search with suggestions and instant results while users type, the ability to pull in a user’s subscribed channels and it allows for remote control from the YouTube app on your smartphone after a simple pairing process (shown in a screenshot after the break.) According to the official blog it should be arriving in North America now, check under the My Channels section in the PS3 store to download the free app and give it a shot.

Update: The new app should be available in the PlayStation store now (if you’re in the US.) There’s no word on when it will arrive in other regions, however Canadians can enjoy the Crackle app that popped up today and everyone can give Madden 2013 a shot.

Continue reading YouTube’s new app for the PlayStation 3 rolling out, allows remote control from smartphones

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Internet

YouTube’s new app for the PlayStation 3 rolling out, allows remote control from smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While it hasn’t actually started to roll out yet, one of our readers sent in pics of a Verizon FiOS survey gauging reactions to a new device that “may be available in the future” as the FiOS Companion tablet. As described in the survey, it’s a WiFi-connected Android slate that not only runs the usual apps, but also works as universal remote control and streams “select” TV channels (probably the same ones as the Xbox 360 app) directly to its screen. The sole picture included confirms we’re looking at the Motorola Corvair 6-inch Android 2.3 tablet that surfaced late last year with all of those features, home automation tie-ins and a 4000mAh battery. The survey questions don’t reveal much else about its capabilities or potential pricing other than asking users if they would be interested in customizing their own home screen, and how. We’d hope the software has seen some updates since its original leak, but knowing this market that seems unlikely. All we can do now is help Verizon / Motorola with that customer research they were hoping to perform so let them know — is this something you’d be interested in?

[Thanks, anonymous]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Tablet PCs

Verizon survey reveals FiOS Companion Android tablet, aka the Motorola Corvair originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 16:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Summer in Paris — you can’t walk a block on Champs-Élysées without locking eyes with at least one camera-equipped tourist. But Steve Mann’s shooter wasn’t dangling from his shoulder and neck; it was mounted on his head, with a design strikingly similar to Google’s Project Glass. Unlike that mainstream Mountain View product, however, Mann’s version has reportedly been around in one form or another for 34 years, and was designed with the objective of aiding vision, rather than capturing stills and video or providing a bounty of database-aided readouts. It’s also street-ready today. While on vacation with his family, the Ontario-based “father of wearable computing” was sporting his EyeTap as he walked down the aforementioned French avenue, eventually entering a McDonald’s to refuel after a busy day of sightseeing. He left without his ranch wrap, but with seriously damaged hardware.

What allegedly occurred inside the restaurant is no doubt a result of the increasing presence and subsequent awareness of connected cameras, ranging from consumer gear to professional surveillance equipment. As Mann sat to eat, he writes that a stranger approached him then attempted to pull off his glasses, which, oddly, are permanently affixed to his skull. The man, at that point joined by one other patron and someone that appeared to be a McDonald’s employee, then pushed Mann out of the store and onto the street. As a result of the attack, the eyewear malfunctioned, resulting in the three men being photographed. It wouldn’t be terribly difficult for police to identify those involved, but this encounter may have greater implications. McDonalds has since launched an investigation into the matter and seems to be denying most of the claims, but it’ll be some time yet before the full truth is uncovered. Still, the whole ordeal got us at Engadget thinking — is the planet ready for humans to wear video recorders, and will it ever shake a general unease related to the threat of a world filled with omnipresent cameras? Join us past the break for our take.

Continue reading Editorial: Engadget on EyeTap, Project Glass and the future of wearable cameras

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

Editorial: Engadget on EyeTap, Project Glass and the future of wearable cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The BBC’s iPlayer has become too successful. It either needs to calm down or be put on a more level playing field with on demand services from the other big UK broadcasters — and it’s going to be the latter. Youview — which has nothing whatsoever in common with YouTube except its name and the fact that it also does video — is a PVR set-top box that uses both an aerial and a web connection to allow catch-up viewing, and we’ve just heard it’ll arrive in UK stores towards the end of this month. It’ll bring together programs from the BBC (which also contributed £10 million of license fee cash), ITV, Channel 4, Five, and Sky, using infrastructure from BT, TalkTalk and Arqiva, and it’ll target millions of British viewers who want a “seamless” mix of live and archived telly without being tied to a subscription — and who don’t yet depend on a Smart TV, games console or other converged device.

Update: Youview front man Lord Alan Sugar told us that the box is Humax-built and will cost £299. He also added that there’ll be adverts within commercial programs, but not plastered over the EPG or interface itself.

Youview TV platform and set-top box coming to UK stores this month (update: priced at £299) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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