Hasta La Gadget!

While international viewers have had around a week to play with the new dedicated iPhone app, the Beeb has finally launched its iPlayer in its native UK. Replacing the browser-based player of old, it now allows you to stream both radio and TV shows through a 3G connection. The new app also adds HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) which allows itself to tweak the stream quality depending on your signal strength and hopefully allowing you to catch up on Top Gear uninterrupted. Like its overseas version, the new iOS app also throws in AirPlay streaming to Apple TV. Android and Symbian fans shouldn’t feel too overlooked; The BBC are promising to enable 3G to all compatible devices through its mobile web version very soon, with a dedicated 3G-friendly Android app being primed for the new year.

[Thanks Michael]

BBC launches iPhone iPlayer app in the UK, adds 3G streaming to its mobile site originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not MSNBC, it’s MSex-NBC. Or it very well could be, as Bloomberg reports a second marriage of sorts is purportedly on deck for Microsoft and two former Peacock execs, Marc Graboff and Jeff Gaspin. Redmond’s already made public plans to expand its Xbox Live streaming platform beyond VOD and into live TV, having announced a trio of content partners at this year’s E3, so news of an in-house original programming push comes as no surprise. While it remains to be seen just what types of series, scripted or otherwise, are in the works, the company appears willing to press pause on the entire initiative should a suitable candidate fail to materialize. That’s all the rumor mill’s wrought for now, folks, but we’ll keep you posted on this as it develops. And no, a certain Ms. Maddow likely won’t be coming soon to an Xbox 360 near you.

Microsoft on the hunt for original programming head, eyes ex-NBC execs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony posts $350 million loss in Q2 earnings report, forecasts full-year loss originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 04:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You have many choices for your media streaming needs, and Plex is doing its damnedest to get you onboard its bandwagon. Plex is well known for its multi-platform flexibility, and the arrival of the myPlex media server platform makes sharing your content across devices easier than ever. To go with that cloud capability, Plex has released a new version of its desktop and mobile clients as well. The updated code brings a slick new UI and myPlex support, plus Flash and Silverlight video capability to Plex Media Server along with official Windows support — including integration with Windows Media Center — and a laundry list of bug fixes and stability tweaks. A full rundown of all the new goodies plus plenty of screenshots of that revamped UI can be found at the source below.

Plex releases new mobile and desktop clients, gets Flash and Silverlight support to go with a fancy new UI originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen Ubuntu running on tablets and smartphones, but not in any official capacity. Rumors had it that Canonical would be making a serious push into the tablet space in early 2011, but that effort never materialized, or at least was never acknowledged. Still, Unity has some finger-friendly streaks and Oneiric added ARM support — so it’s not much of a stretch to see the popular Linux distro on your mobile devices. Well, at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth made that move official by issuing a challenge to the Ubuntu community to start pushing beyond the traditional PC form factor. Few details were given, but Shuttleworth did say that he believes the time is right for the OS to start making moves into the tablet, phone, in-dash infotainment and smart TV spaces. There were no products to announce, but Shuttleworth was confident the OS would be ready and in shipping consumer electronics by the time version 14.04 arrived in April of 2014. Though, we’re sure some prototypes will start showing up sooner rather than later.

Ubuntu coming to tablets, phones, cars and smart TVs by 2014 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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