Hasta La Gadget!

South Korean carrier SK Telecom is billing its new Galaxy S Hoppin from Samsung as a “smartphone that can also serve as a set-top box,” but in reality, it’s basically an Android phone just like any other in Sammy’s stable with a 4-inch Super AMOLED display — the big difference is that it comes bundled with a dock that cables up to your home television and lets you watch streaming video off of the company’s new Hoppin entertainment service either on the road or in the comfort of your La-Z-Boy. Movies will run anywhere from 1,000 to 3,500 won — 89 cents to $3.12 — which isn’t bad, all things considered. The remainder of the phone’s specs are standard fare at this point: 1GHz Hummingbird processor, Android 2.2, a 5 megapixel cam, WiFi, and Bluetooth 3.0 round out the package. Look for it to launch this week.

Samsung Galaxy S Hoppin hops to South Korea, includes TV dock for big-screen fun originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Still mad over news that Netflix is removing the “Add to DVD Queue” button from media streamers? Then you’re probably a commenter on the corporate blog but just in case you were wondering, it appears this doesn’t apply to the mobile apps most of us manage our queues with when away from the official site, Netflix PR says it’s just devices that connect to the TV. Curious decisions like this aside, The Hollywood Reporter recently ran a fun story describing what various Hollywood executives make of the company’s chances. For its part the company plans to keep on expanding and adding more content, like the recent deal with ABC/Disney. TBS CEO Phil Kent made a thinly veiled threat to not license any content available on Netflix, while HDNet‘s Mark Cuban (who recently thought Netflix was set to implode) subscribes to the opposing camp’s newsletter, saying Netflix is “absolutely a friend to producers and distributors — they are found money that is monetizing library assets as DVD sales fall.” What’s your call?

Netflix removing ‘Add to DVD Queue’ button from TV streamers, execs debate the company’s future originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew Google was rather fond of its WebM video standard, but we never expected a move like this: the company says it will drop support for the rival H.264 codec in its HTML5 video tag, and is justifying the move in the name of open standards somehow. Considering that H.264 is presently one of (if not the) most widely supported format out there, it sounds a little like Google shooting itself in the foot with a .357 round — especially considering the MPEG-LA just made H.264 royalty-free as long as it’s freely distributed just a few months ago. If that’s the case, Chrome users will have to download a H.264 plug-in to play most web video that’s not bundled up in Flash… which isn’t exactly an open format itself. Or hey, perhaps everyone will magically switch to Chrome, video providers will kowtow, unicorns will gaily prance, and WebM will dominate from now on.

Google will drop H.264 support from Chrome, herd the masses towards WebM and Theora originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For the average consumer — the kind that doesn’t consider BitTorrent a way of life, that is — video content discovery can still be a pretty big challenge, particularly if you dare venture outside the friendly confines of YouTube and Hulu. A new service called Fuugo looks to clean that mess up a bit, offering to aggregate a variety of online services along with support for the full suite of digital over-the-air standards around the globe: one-seg for Japan and Brazil, DVB-H and DVB-T for Europe, and ATSC-M/H for North America. Fuugo’s app is tailored for devices ranging from smartphones to touchscreen all-in-one PCs, featuring what appears to be a solid UI powered by gestures — swipe to change channels, for instance — that heaps content from various online and offline sources together into one hot mess of brain-melting programming. It’s being shown off for the first time here at CES this week — we’ll be sure to track it down, but in the meantime, follow the break for the full press release along with a video preview.

Continue reading Fuugo aggregates video content for your phone, tablet, or PC, makes it more touch-friendly

Fuugo aggregates video content for your phone, tablet, or PC, makes it more touch-friendly originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marketing research surveys have proven a good source for yet-to-be-announced information in the past and a recent one by DirecTV may be a good sign for those who prefer their NFL Sunday Ticket over the internet instead of satellite. According to a tipster, some of the questions asking about potential pricing setups indicated the digital version would be available via currently unsupported devices including internet connected Blu-ray players & TVs, “game machines,” Apple TV, Roku and Boxee. Another new wrinkle is a $19.99 per weekend pricing plan for streaming NFL Sunday Ticket access among other options. Currently, Sunday Ticket streams in HD to PCs and a bevy of mobile platforms (even without DirecTV’s TV service), but it’s possible we could see that list expand to several if not all connected TV platforms in the near future — assuming this isn’t just pie in the sky dreaming of course. The NBA, NHL and MLB already play ball with some but not all of the streaming set-top boxes, if the NFL follows them by adding alternate viewing options — assuming a new labor deal is reached and we actually see football played in late 2011 — would it make you more likely to subscribe?

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Continue reading DirecTV survey hints at NFL Sunday Ticket on Apple TV, Boxee and Roku players?

DirecTV survey hints at NFL Sunday Ticket on Apple TV, Boxee and Roku players? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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