Hasta La Gadget!

The PlayStation 3 may have NFL Sunday Ticket but the Xbox 360 still has exclusive access to ESPN3’s slate of games, shows and replays, and today the app was updated with a new look and a few new features. Viewers can designate their favorite sports and teams to bring related content right to the front, while a new mini-guide gives easy access to other streams while you watch. If you’re trying to keep track of more than one game there’s also support for split screen viewing (with independent control of each stream) and upgraded voice control for Kinect owners. Other tweaks include a college football scoreboard to keep track of all the games at once, reminders, live alerts on score changes and the addition of ESPN’s BottomLine. Unchanged is the restriction that you need to subscribe to a TV provider that includes ESPN3 in its package, but if you do have the service (and shell out for XBL, of course) it should be available the next time you load up your console. Check out the YouTube videos embedded above and after the break along with a press release for a runthrough of some of the new features.

Continue reading Xbox 360’s ESPN3 app updated with more voice control, split screen and more

Xbox 360’s ESPN3 app updated with more voice control, split screen and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re a faithful Time Warner Cable customer, your next Slingbox purchase could be on the house. Yesterday, the provider announced that it will offer full rebates to any Wideband internet subscribers who buy the $300 set-top box, as part of a promotion due to launch sometime in September. Jeffrey A. Hirsch, TWC’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, told the New York Times that the offer is geared solely toward promoting his company’s $99 Wideband service, though it’s hard to ignore the move’s larger symbolism — especially in light of that ongoing legal battle with Viacom over live streaming content to the iPad. Time Warner has yet to pinpoint a launch date for its new promotion, but we’ll let you know as soon as we get word.

Time Warner Cable will pay for your Slingbox, in exchange for love originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 08:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While Microsoft is busy readying the much talked about Windows 8 for release, a new patent application has popped up that could reveal even bigger — or at least faster — things to come. According to the filing for “Fast Machine Booting Through Streaming Storage,” which was submitted in February of last year and released last week, Redmond is looking at creating a system that could stream an entire OS to just about anything with a screen. The proposed setup would enlist a series of storage devices, both remote and local, to act as a virtual hard disk, allowing anything from a set top box to a tablet to boot almost instantaneously. We don’t know about you, but we’ve already started a list of ways to spend the extra seconds.

[Thanks, Bogen]

Microsoft patent application points to fast-booting streaming OS originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 06:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Worried that Netflix isn’t doing enough to appeal to the under-10 set? Good news, the movie rental giant has begun testing a “Just for Kids” section, rolling out the feature to a limited number of subscribers. Eligible users will find a tab just to the right of the Watch Instantly button. At the top of the new page is a series of familiar children’s characters, including the likes of Spongebob, Popeye, and, yep, the Jonas Brothers. Each character has its own landing page with easily accessible content. We reached out to Netflix for more information on the matter, and the company would only confirm that the feature is still in testing mode. Given the amount of nostalgia currently available, we suspect that kids of all ages will be pitching in with the trial.

Netflix dons its square pants with ‘Just for Kids’ section trial originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that Vudu has started streaming movies to PCs over the web, we’re not surprised that starting today, it’s moving to the iPad as well but what is surprising is the decision to stream over the web and forego a dedicated app. This approach lets the Wal-mart-owned (and fully integrated) video delivery company avoid the restrictions of Apple’s app store and any additional fees, but unfortunately still means that like the PC, it’s restricted to standard definition resolution and due to licensing issues is missing any flicks from Disney. The company plans to keep expanding onto other platforms like Android soon (if you must, the site does work on the iPhone right now but the UI isn’t optimized for it yet) but it appears accessibility is replacing high quality HDX streaming as the service’s most notable trait, for better or worse.

Continue reading Vudu starts streaming movies to the iPad, chooses the web app route

Vudu starts streaming movies to the iPad, chooses the web app route originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 02:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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