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Jun 15

What is Google TV? (video)

Posted in: Android, Google, GoogleTv, streaming, Television, Today's Chili, TV, video

Google’s reveal of Google TV wasn’t exactly flawless. After technical issues wreaked havoc with the live launch demonstration, many of us found it nearly impossible to focus just as soon as we heard mention of IR blaster control. Fear not, Google has returned with a two and half minute video that breaks it down like we were kindergartners. So grab your blanky and Mr. Tickle, the embedded video is available after the break.

Continue reading What is Google TV? (video)

What is Google TV? (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source Google (YouTube) | Email this | Comments

Jun 14

Netflix for Xbox 360 adds search in November

Posted in: e3, Microsoft, netflix, search, streaming, Today's Chili, watch instantly, WatchInstantly, xbox 360, Xbox360

It didn’t get a slot during Microsoft’s just-concluded Xbox 360 press conference, but the Netflix streaming app will finally add one of the most often requested (and denied) features: the ability to search through the entire Watch Instantly library and add movies to your queue, right from the console. Proudly stating it’s the first gaming console to let you update your queue without a computer (Roku does it too, but try playing Gears of War on that) there’s no word on any Kinect tie-ins, probably the reason it didn’t get any higher billing than a bullet point in Marc Whitten’s 2010 letter to Xbox Live members.

Update: As a few commenters have pointed out, it appears Netflix has been beta testing search access for PlayStation 3 Watch Instantly viewers, as shown in these pics. If you’d like to get in on the trial good luck as it seems to be mostly by chance, although creating an all new account probably couldn’t hurt — and hey, your queue was getting stale anyway. [Thanks, Michael]

Gallery: PlayStation 3 Netflix search

Netflix for Xbox 360 adds search in November originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source Gamerscore Blog | Email this | Comments

Jun 14

Launch of Boxee Box Delayed to November

Posted in: apple tv, boxee, Media Players, streaming, Today's Chili, video, web

The Boxee Box, a set-top box created in partnership with D-Link to host Boxee’s web video streaming software, is facing a setback.

The release of Boxee’s hardware has been pushed back to November from the earlier target of June.

“The original plan was to have the Box out by the end of Q2 (i.e. just about now), but that time-frame proved overly ambitious,” Boxee CEO Avner Ronen wrote on the company blog.

Boxee showed the gadget at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. The company didn’t reveal pricing for the device but said it estimates it to be around $200.

The delay is likely to pit the Boxee box squarely against Google TV. Google announced a set-top box platform based on the Android operating system that would integrate cable TV programming with web video. Google has partnered with Sony, Logitech and Intel to create the hardware that it says will be available in retail stores this fall.

Till its partnership with D-Link earlier this year, Boxee seemed content to offer its software as a free download to users. Most Boxee users install the software on their computers and hook the PC to a TV. Boxee’ software can also run on Apple TV.

But a software-only application does limit Boxee’s reach as it can be intimidating to users who don’t want to get their hands dirty with the set up.

Ronen says Boxee has set some ambitious goals for itself.

“Our vision is to make the Boxee experience on a set top box as good as (and where we can, better than) the one you already know on a PC,” he says. “The goal is to play HD videos from the web or a local network in 1080p and use hardware acceleration whenever possible.”

Boxee also wants to offer a TV browser experience that can handle Adobe’s Flash 10.1.

“Not to mention making all this happen for an affordable price and on a quiet device that will not feel obsolete 12 months after you buy it,” says Ronen.

We will have to see if Boxee can really pull this off.

See Also:

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Jun 14

ESPN3 comes exclusively to Xbox 360

Posted in: e3, kinect, Microsoft, Sports, streaming, Today's Chili, video, xbox 360, Xbox360

The recently relaunched ESPN3 online portal is coming to Xbox 360 , as just announced during Microsoft’s pre-E3 press conference. Trey Wingo and Josh Elliott from SportsCenter are on stage demonstrating with footage from a USC / Ohio State game, and of course it has built in Kinect controller support. 3,500 live sporting events, instant replays, highlights, polls all at your fingertips or by the sound of your voice. The PiP stuff will be familiar to fans who have already indulged online, but with the new control aspects (and of course, HD streaming) it could give a reasonable alternative to the existing channels. The usual requirement of Xbox Live Gold just like Netflix, Facebook, etc. is present, but beyond having a TV provider / ISP that’s signed up for the package, there’s no additional charge.

Update: Wondering if you’ll have access? Check the list of ESPN3 affiliates to see if your ISP is playing ball.

Continue reading ESPN3 comes exclusively to Xbox 360

ESPN3 comes exclusively to Xbox 360 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 02

Sonos S5 all-in-one wireless speaker fades to black, like your career

Posted in: streaming, Today's Chili, video

The $399 black Sonos S5 is just like the original… only now it’s a little bit older and a lot darker. Just like a former teenage popstar. Either is available to purchase now.

Gallery: Sonos S5 all-in-one wireless speaker fades to black

Continue reading Sonos S5 all-in-one wireless speaker fades to black, like your career

Sonos S5 all-in-one wireless speaker fades to black, like your career originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 29

Switched On: Thunder in the cloud

Posted in: Apple, cloud, column, Music, streaming, switched on, SwitchedOn, Today's Chili

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

With each passing day it becomes less of an insult to say someone’s head is in the clouds, as more and more people begin to outright rely on web sites and applications like Facebook, Google Docs, Flickr, Farmville, YouTube and Hulu. Among these popular services are Slacker and Pandora, two internet radio services that have grown tremendously since becoming available as smartphone apps, and which have recently completed the three-screen trifecta by being offered on connected televisions. These services have always had plenty of online competition, including simulcast internet radio stations, streamed Sirius XM, and Rhapsody. But it appears as though the landscape of Internet music services in the US is preparing to accommodate two more game-changing newcomers from profoundly different backgrounds.

The first is a startup from Europe called Spotify, which has been winning fans across the continent in the five countries in which it is offered. Spotify’s Open service represents something of a holy grail for on-demand music from the cloud: you can play any song in its catalog as often as you like for up to 20 hours per month for free, and share songs with your friends. The service gets high marks for its responsiveness. Becoming a premium Spotify member essentially turns the service into something more akin to Rhapsody, with no ads, better audio quality, and offline listening. Spotify has begun offering a private preview of its U.S. service to a lucky few, and is expected to be rolling out more broadly this year.

Continue reading Switched On: Thunder in the cloud

Switched On: Thunder in the cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 17:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 27

ABC’s subscription video plans leaked in consumer survey?

Posted in: leak, leaked, leaks, research, rumor, streaming, streaming video, StreamingVideo, study, Today's Chili

At Engadget HQ, we take great care not to trumpet the claims of a web survey, as it’s always difficult to tell who’s actually doing the surveying — and even if we could, consumer surveys are all about a “what if” that may never actually come to pass. That said, it looks like maybe ABC is conducting a study asking folks whether they’d be interested in a subscription to an ABC.com streaming video service, and maybe that service might have a wide variety ABC shows, past and present, fully on-demand. Sound familiar? Interestingly, the subscription would seem to be offered alongside the existing free service, and both paid and free would have advertising, though reduced by 20 percent for those coughing up the fee. You can find a list of potentially potential shows included in the gallery below, forwarded to us by an anonymous tipster; we tried to take the survey ourselves, but were promptly rejected for our love of FlashForward.

Gallery: ABC’s streaming subscription service survey?

ABC’s subscription video plans leaked in consumer survey? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 20:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 25

Best Buy to include TiVo’s software — but no DVR — in Insignia HDTVs

Posted in: BestBuy, hdtv, Software, streaming, tivo, Today's Chili

Looks like TiVo wasn’t kidding about expanding beyond DVRs, now that its Best Buy partnership will result in integrating non-DVR TiVo software in Insignia-branded HDTVs. That will bring online content (presumably Netflix, Amazon, Best Buy’s store and the others that currently find a home in the DVR menu) to televisions in the first -off set-top box appearance of a TiVo UI, but there’s no word in the press release about whether or not to expect any multi-room support with existing DVRs. The company looks to be turning its Premiere software into a platform ready to compete with the other connected HDTV solutions out there, but even after (or maybe because of) our hands-on experience with the latest TiVo DVRs our doubts are many — if someone says “IR blasters” we are out of here.

Continue reading Best Buy to include TiVo’s software — but no DVR — in Insignia HDTVs

Best Buy to include TiVo’s software — but no DVR — in Insignia HDTVs originally appeared on Engadget HD on Tue, 25 May 2010 14:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink ZatzNotFunny | source TiVo | Email this | Comments

May 24

How to get Hulu running on Android 2.2, for now

Posted in: Android, froyo, hack, hulu, streaming, streaming video, StreamingVideo, Today's Chili

Android 2.2 and Flash 10.1. A perfect combination for combination for a little Hulu on the go, right? Not quite, as Hulu has decided to block videos (for legal reasons) when it detects a mobile device, but it turns out there is a surprisingly simple workaround. As Absolutely Android explains, all you have to do is make Hulu think you’re using a desktop browser, which can be done simply by entering “about:debug” in the address bar and switching the UAString setting from Android to desktop. The only downside to the trick is that you’ll now also get the full desktop version of the Hulu site (and any other site, until you switch it back), and there’s a better than decent chance that Hulu will close this loophole before you can finish your first episode of Kojak.

How to get Hulu running on Android 2.2, for now originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 May 2010 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Mashable | source Absolutely Android | Email this | Comments

May 24

Elgato’s EyeTV HD records shows to your Mac, slings live to your iPad

Posted in: cable, dvr, hands-on, ipad, streaming, Today's Chili, TV

How’s that Apple tattoo treating you? Good, good. Well, Elgato has something for the faithful: the new EyeTV HD. The device grabs a 1080i signal over component from your DVR or cable box or Blu-ray player, and records that video to your Mac using Elgato’s own desktop DVR software. The shows can then be auto-transcoded to iPhone or iPad-friendliness, providing you a bit of much needed Animal Planet during your commute the next day. That’s all well and good, but the real kicker is the live streaming the device can push to your iPad or iPhone, using an IR blaster to change the channel on your cable box. It’s all rosy except for the fact that you’ll need to plug this directly into your Mac and your cable box, meaning that they’ll have to be in fairly close proximity (there’s a six foot USB cable included). The unit retails for $200 and is available now directly from Elgato or Apple stores. PR is after the break.

We haven’t plugged in the box yet, but we played around with Elgato’s setup using an iPad 3G and found it pretty impressive. The streaming quality isn’t really at, say, a Netflix level (it’s more suited to a phone screen), but it’s certainly passable, and the interface for browsing your own channels and recordings is very pleasant. We also loved the inclusion of meta data and chapters in the recorded shows and movies that had been loaded onto the device (you can check that out in the gallery below). Elgato might’ve just released the most elegant “analog hole” yet.

Gallery: Elgato EyeTV HD press shots