Hasta La Gadget!

Sick of your cable company? Well, thankfully, much of that content is available now through other channels (forgive the pun), such as Hulu and Netflix. And according to a new report, number of consumers in the U.S. have opted to “cut the cord” of their cable providers, in favor of Web-based content providers.

The report puts the number at around 800,000. it doesn’t seem all that large when compared to the roughly 100 million homes in the US who are sticking with cable for the time being. But the number seems to be growing–rapidly. According to the Convergence Consulting Group, the which released the the report, the number of people abandoning cable will double to 1.6 million by the end of next year.

Well, it’s taken quite a while since its debut at CES in January, but Viewsonic has now finally managed to get its 23-inch VT2300LED LCD TV out the door. While there’s not exactly a ton of stand-out features here, the side lit LED backlighting does apparently help to deliver energy savings of 30 to 50% over traditional LCDs, and you’ll get some decent specs all around, including a full 1080p resolution, a 5 ms response time, an ATSC/NTSC/QAM tuner, and three HDMI ports, among other standard fare. What’s more, while this one has a list price of $399, it looks like some retailers (including Amazon) are already selling for it as little as $299.

Viewsonic rolls out energy-efficient VT2300LED LCD TV originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How does technology a half-century old manage to be this sexy? We’re not certain. But this one-of-a-kind, handmade retro television — which seemingly combines an old desktop lamp and a giant magnifying glass — definitely tugs at our heartstrings. With a 5.5-inch monochrome CRT screen and no inputs to speak of, you won’t be watching Blu-rays on this set, and its PAL standard and 220V plug mean non-Europeans might not be bothered to try. Still, for an old over-the-air TV, it’s remarkably full-featured, with knobs for volume, band (VHF-L / VHF-H / UHF), brightness, contrast and V-sync, and we can’t get over its clean, handsome design. If your Nixie tube collection is getting lonely, check out the auction at our source link; bidding starts at €300.

[Thanks, Alex]

Unicat retro TV channels the 1940s, bidding now underway originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Forget Sony, Vizio, Samsung, LG, Toshiba and Sharp — those guys might have leverage in the production line, but they ain’t got the pizazz possessed by Sweden’s own People of Lava. After confirming (and reconfirming) that such a company really exists, we were stoked to learn that an Android-based television (the “planet’s first,” as they say) will be shipping later this year from ’em. As the story goes, the future set — which will be fittingly dubbed Scandinavia — will sport a 42-inch panel, a 1080p native resolution and internet connectivity. We’re told that 47- and 55-inch variants are on the way, all of which will include Android widgets onboard and provide users with easy access to YouTube, Google Maps, the weather, an internet browser, Facebook, Twitter, etc. A USB socket will also be included (presumably for playing back media on your external hard drive), and it’ll demand a €2,000 ($2,695) and €2,500 ($3,370) investment when it rolls out in September. IKEA, you seeing this, or what?

Continue reading People of Lava trumpet Android-packin’ Scandinavia HDTV, one bodacious company name

People of Lava trumpet Android-packin’ Scandinavia HDTV, one bodacious company name originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Swedish company will be the first to sell an internet-connected, Android-based TV set. The TV, from the amazingly-named People of Lava, will also be the first television made in Sweden for decades.

The TV is set, fittingly, to enter beta-testing in early Summer, and other than size and price, tech-specs are still to be finalized. The first model will have a 42-inch high-definition LED screen and cost between $2,000 and $2,500 ($2,700 and $3,400). This will be followed by 47 and 55-inch models.

An internet-connected TV is surely a Good Thing, allowing things like YouTube, Netflix and Hulu to stream straight to the big screen. The use of Android, too, seems smart: it already works, it’s free and it is all about the internet.

But after video-streaming, and perhaps a news or weather screensaver, we don’t see a whole lot point in other services. The People of Lava TV will come with a browser, Google Maps, and you’ll be able to grab more apps (Twitter and Facebook head the list). But these will require a keyboard, and if you’re going to grab a keyboard, why not just grab your laptop, cellphone or even iPad off the coffee table? This has the added advantage of not annoying everyone else in the room.

The web-TV is the future, but just treating it as a giant-screened PC is the wrong thing to do. Take this in the direction of Boxee, however, and we’re willing to talk.

Company site [People of Lava. Thanks, Robert!]

Press release [PDF]