According to the DisplaySearch unit of The NPD Group, 6.6 million 3D TV sets were shipped in the third quarter of 2011, up 27 percent from the previous quarter.
The research firm expects shipments to increase 30 percent this quarter, for a total of 21.5 million units in 2011.
However, DisplaySearch suggests a “lack of 3D content and services” means buyers are mostly watching 2D video.
Additionally, Nielsen released a study last year suggesting consumers were reluctant to wear 3D glasses and nearly 90 percent said that viewing 3D TV would get in the way of checking e-mail or Web surfing while watching television.
The article suggests that marketing and aggressive pricing has made the difference. “Television vendors have been pushing 3D sets on customers all year,” reports CNET. “In fact, companies such as Samsung, Vizio, and Panasonic, among others, have made 3D a key component in a large number of their televisions, making it harder and harder to find sets that don’t come with 3D support.”
Founded by a team of execs and engineers from Intel’s Wi-Fi Centrino group in 2007, Wilocity is developing next-gen 60GHz multi-gigabit wireless chipsets for mobile and peripheral markets.
According to the company’s website: “Wilocity’s Wireless PCI Express technology will enable truly multi-gigabit wireless for a wide range of applications from I/O to networking to video.”
“Wilocity, which is leading the charge for next-generation technology called 802.11ad designed to reach 7 gigabits per second over short distances, plans to show off a variety of devices using its technology at the mammoth CES trade show,” reports CNET.
“In Wilocity’s dream, the company will excite people about the possibilities of wireless networking that’s faster than what typical computers today can do with a wired connection,” explains the post. “For example, a smartphone carried into the office could connect to a keyboard, mouse, and large display. A tablet carried into the den could become a controller for a game shown on the big-screen TV.”
The ever-evolving Viera Connect IPTV system is now available on many of the company’s plasma TVs, LCD TVs and BD players. At a recent press event, the company provided details including updates to the number of available apps.
The Viera Connect Market of interactive apps includes 120 offerings with expectations of growing two to three times that amount by the end of next year, explained Merwan Mereby, Panasonic interactive content and services VP. According to TWICE: “The connected TV trend is on an explosive course, with estimates for worldwide connected TV shipments expected to surpass those of PCs by the end of 2013, he offered.”
The article cites recent additions including a Social TV app, an AccuWeather tracking app and a new 3D car racing game from GameLoft.
“To keep up with the challenge, Panasonic has been actively recruiting app development, and is offering a JavaScript app to help third-party developers create programs for the Viera Connect platform,” indicates the article.
Time Warner Cable is expected to add local broadcasting to its iPad streaming app in the New York City market. The app allows its customers to view broadcast programs on the tablet anywhere in their homes.
It will expand the local offering soon and extend it elsewhere by early next year, according to Rob Marcus, TWC’s chief operating officer.
The service will also include access to local newscasts and syndicated programming. “We’re moving towards delivering local programming, which is a little more difficult to do technologically,” Marcus explained to investors.
“Marcus reiterated that TWC believes it has rights to offer Viacom-owned networks on its app. The two companies are suing each other over the matter,” reports Media Daily News. “Cablevision has reached an agreement with Viacom, and offers its channels among the 300-plus it provides.”
“Marcus went on to say there is some impetus to move ahead with TV Everywhere-type opportunity extending outside the home, where it has a deal with ESPN and some others, but ‘the process has taken a lot longer than we would have anticipated at the outset,’” suggests the article.
Add the following news to the growing collection of Apple rumors we’ve heard in the last month…
Mashable reports: “Apple’s relationship with Samsung has deteriorated, and the Cupertino giant may be working with Sharp on the next generation displays for upcoming devices such as the iPad 3, iPhone 5 and a little something called iTV, claims Jefferies analyst Peter Misek.”
According to Misek, the mythical Apple smart TV, which has been a popular subject of recent speculation, is not just a rumor. “Sharp is working on modified amorphous TFT LCD panels for the device,” indicates the post.
Misek places commercial production as early as February with a mid-2012 release date. The new HDTV will reportedly feature some use of Siri, Apple’s voice-activation feature.
While Apple has not made an official announcement yet, competitors are scrambling to prepare for another player in the market, suggests a related BGR post.
In a soon to be published survey, Gartner reports that 46 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds would choose Internet access over having their own vehicle.
“The car used to be the signal of adulthood, of freedom,” says Sheryl Connelly of Ford. “It was the signal into being a grown-up. Now, the signal into adulthood for teenagers is the smartphone.”
“Mobile devices, gadgets and the Internet are becoming must-have lifestyle products that convey status,” explains Gartner’s Thilo Koslowski. “In that sense these devices offer a degree of freedom and social reach that previously only the automobile offered.”
Connected cars may help change this emerging trend — cars that can take pictures and make calls and interact with social networks.
“In other words, to entice teenagers, Ford and other automakers need to make their cars more like smartphones,” suggests The New York Times.
Here’s another interesting tech project in the works through funding platform Kickstarter…
Peter Seid and Phu Nguyen of Seattle have launched Romotive to build robots that are “able to learn, grow, and change, both by adding new hardware modules to the platform, and more importantly, by bring to people everywhere a true ‘app store’ for robots, where robots can quickly gain functionalities based on the app they are running (and you can even code your own),” according to their Kickstarter page.
The first is Romo, which offers a platform mount for your iOS or Android phone and treads that allow for mobility. Users can download Romo-specific apps that allow for a variety of games and other abilities.
“Romotive builds accessible, highly functional, and flexible robotics platforms that are powered by a supercomputer already carried by millions — the smartphone,” explain the founders in their vision statement.
Seid and Nguyen have included a short video on their Kickstarter page that describes some of the robot’s possibilities.
Sony PlayStation 3 users will be able to stream movies and TV shows and enjoy them with friends from multiple locations with an updated version of Crackle.
Instead of accessing Crackle via the console’s Internet browser, users can enter a virtual movie theater with custom PS3 controller navigation. “Fire up PlayStation Home — if you’re a free member, that is — and navigate over to the LOOT EOD Theater, the Hollywood Hills House, or the Sunset Yacht areas,” reports PCMag.com.
The streaming service allows users to create avatars and use them to interact with up to 11 friends (or 60 strangers) in a virtual movie theater with access to hundreds of movies and more than 1,000 TV episodes. “Think of it as an opportunity to have a giant recreation of ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ with strangers,” suggests the post.
“We are very excited to bring familiar social experiences from the real world into a virtual environment, so people around the globe can connect and communicate with each other while sharing their favorite movie, show, music, or event,” said Sony DADC VP David Sterling. “This is the next big step in social networking and it will transform the way people consume media.”
Sony is also planning PlayStation Home support for Ustream content and streaming radio service RadioIO later this year.
An exhibit paying tribute to Steve Jobs recently opened in the atrium of the U.S. Patent Office Museum in Alexandria, Virginia.
The exhibit is open to the public, free of charge, and will run through January 15.
It includes a row of 30 giant iPhone panels, designed by non-profit group Invent Now, which display information about more than 300 patents credited to Jobs as co-inventor.
“This exhibit commemorates the far-reaching impact of Steve Jobs’ entrepreneurship and innovation on our daily lives,” said the Under Secretary of Commerce for IP, David Kappos. “His patents and trademarks provide a striking example of the importance intellectual property plays in the global marketplace.”
After phasing out console games relating to the “Mission: Impossible” series, Paramount Pictures has created a social game on Facebook to promote the franchise.
The game, which introduces an entirely new storyline, awards players with real prizes and new content. Paramount is using the game to give out premiere tickets in addition to other promotional material.
The studio is working with Funtactix, a social game developer, on the project.
According to a related article from TheNextWeb, Paramount is also hoping to generate buzz by making it possible to rent all previous iterations of the franchise directly from the movie’s Facebook Fan Page. Each movie costs 30 Facebook credits ($2.99) to rent for 48 hours.
“Utilizing the sharing capabilities and Facebook ticker, which will alert your friends to the fact that you’re watching one of the movies, could help build excitement for an opening weekend that will destroy the last,” suggests TNW.
Miramax launched a similar Facebook rental model a few months ago. TNW wonders if Facebook rental services will take off in the face of customer comfort and loyalty to Netflix and other streaming services.
The Walt Disney Company is working to replicate the success of “Angry Birds” with its new “Where’s My Water?” iPhone and iPad game.
Since its September 22 release, the game has proven rather successful, even taking the top spot from “Angry Birds” for three weeks.
“The logic is pretty simple; games are a cost-effective way of not only testing new characters, but also building a fan base for a potential movie,” reports Market Intelligence Center. “Developing the game cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars and about seven people. The time to build the game was less than eight months.”
The article points out that the financial risk is minimal when compared to a feature animation project: “Animated movies can easily run in excess of $100 million to produce, so each one is big gamble. If the game continues to find success, Disney can start to plan an animated movie around the game knowing they already have a fan-base for the movie’s characters. Disney will also be able to use its merchandising muscle to create and sell all kinds of toys and clothes around the game’s characters before it ever gets a movie into theaters.”
ETCentric staffer Phil Lelyveld adds: “Entertainment technology must now be defined VERY broadly. The ‘Halo II’ launch incorporated thousands of calls to pay phones into a coordinated transmedia market development campaign.”
Roger Craig, who defeated Ken Jennings’ single-game winnings record on “Jeopardy,” says he used an app created specifically to help him train for the competition.
“A computer scientist with a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware, Craig built an app that used an archive of past ‘Jeopardy’ questions to help identify show trends and the strengths and weaknesses of his own knowledge base,” reports Digital Trends.
For example, Craig’s app dtermined: “…questions with the highest value typically come from certain academic fields (like science or architecture), while low-value questions usually come from topics like food or more mainstream subject matter. With the app, he was able to identify specific academic and mainstream topics he needed to study more (like fashion).”
Digital Trends has posted video coverage of Craig’s recent presentation at the Quantified Self Show & Tell conference, in which he provides details about the app.
The “Jeopardy” champion has plans to create an iPhone version of his app for the public.
Facebook has selected Taiwanese phone manufacturer HTC to build a smartphone code-named “Buffy,” after the television vampire slayer.
Ironically, the device will run a customized OS from its main competitor, Google’s Android, and integrate a number of Facebook’s services, many of which will run as HTML5 apps.
“Facebook only recently chose HTC, after also considering at least one other potential hardware partner — Korea’s Samsung,” reports AllThingsD. “That means the products themselves are still a ways from hitting the market, potentially as long as 12 to 18 months.”
According to a Facebook spokesperson: “Our mobile strategy is simple: We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social. We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world.”
Although other companies have released phones with dedicated Facebook buttons, Buffy is expected to provide deeper integration, “bringing friends and social activities deep into the mobile interface.”
A recent survey of dedicated music demographics indicates access to music from services like Spotify, YouTube, Grooveshark and others significantly decreases the interest in purchasing across all groups except the least dedicated.
“Services like Spotify increase access, but also decrease spending in many situations. Which means less money from higher-returning formats like iTunes downloads, CDs, and LPs,” according to Digital Music News. “But free access also includes a range of other services, including YouTube, Grooveshark, and various freebie competitors. And all of these are sapping the juice out of higher-end impulse buying, once a music industry lifeblood.”
The recently released findings from NPD Group and NARM have already had an impact. “Following a study that claims that streaming music is damaging to record sales, a distributor representing more than 200 labels has withdrawn its entire catalogue from Spotify, Napster, Simfy and Rdio,” reports Huffington Post.
“As a distributor we have to do what is best for our labels,” STHoldings explained in a statement. “The majority of which do not want their music on such services because of the poor revenues and the detrimental affect on sales. Add to that the feeling that their music loses its specialness by its exploitation as a low value/free commodity.”
In a related All Things D story, Spotify announced it has new things on the horizon, but has yet to provide details. “In New York on November 30th, we are holding our first press conference to unveil the latest major development from Spotify — and a new direction for the company. The press event will be hosted by CEO and Founder Daniel Ek, along with special guests,” wrote the company’s PR unit.
All Things D speculates Spotify may be releasing a U.S. service to buy songs (already available in Europe) or an iPad app, but “it is courting the risk of overpromising” if these are the only developments to be announced.
At a recent CES Unveiled event in London, Shawn DuBravac, director of research for the CEA, predicted that a large number of ultrabooks will debut at the 2012 CES conference in January. “We expect to see 30 to 50 new ultrabooks launch at CES,” said DuBravac. TechCrunch responded with, “That’s a whole lot of MacBook Air clones.”
Each year, there seems to be a single prominent device showcased at the annual confab. “iPad killers were out in force at 2011′s show. 2010 was all about 3D TVs while netbooks was the popular product in 2009,” suggests the post. “It seems that ultrabooks might be 2012′s hot product. But can they break the dreaded CES curse that plagued the previous hot products?”
TechCrunch describes how Android tablets failed to challenge the iPad and how 3D TVs and netbooks failed to achieve significant adoption. If ultrabooks dominate the 2012 event, will they face the same fate?
“Ultrabooks are supposed to be the answer to Apple’s increasingly popular MacBook Air. Intel designed the computing platform to be as thin as possible while keeping the price low. The first batch of ultabooks start at $899 and offer competitive performance. But they’re still not built as well as the MacBook Air.”
