Coming to CES and stores in January: the $199 70b Internet Tablet from Archos.
“The 70b IT will be lightweight (though we’re not sure exactly how lightweight), and ship with a 1.2 GHz processor, 1024 x 600 capacitive touchscreen, 8 gigs of Flash storage, 512MB of RAM and Wi-Fi connectivity,” Engadget reports.
The device will run Android 3.2 Honeycomb, have access to the Android Market, and feature HDMI output and a microSD slot.
“With Honeycomb, users will have faster and smoother transitions between different applications, and more intuitive navigation to and from home screens,” claims the press release.
At next month’s CES, Myriad will demo its new Alien Vue, which allows TV and set-top box manufacturers to bring Android apps to their existing products.
Alien Vue also brings a branded app store, Web browser and portable device control to your TV.
Myriad enables Android apps on other non-Android devices such as iOS and MeeGo.
“This new release supports apps designed to run on GoogleTV and HTML5, including YouTube, Netflix and Twitter,” describes the press release. “Apps, content and services appear and function as they would in their native environment with no disruption or loss of performance.”
BBC last week broadcast an hour-long documentary titled “Steve Jobs: Billion Dollar Hippy,” in which BBC’s Evan Davis examines Jobs’ “audacious message of revolution” and attempts to answer the question: “How did a drug-taking college dropout create one of the most successful corporations in the world?”
“This is the inside story of how Steve Jobs took Apple from a suburban garage to global supremacy,” explains Davis in the opening.
The documentary is available on YouTube (for now); Forbes has embedded the video into its article covering the special.
Interview subjects include tech insiders such as Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Wozniak, Robert X. Cringely, Steven Levy and John Sculley; friends, colleagues and competitors from Jobs’ early years; marketing and business leaders; Apple executives, technologists and designers from the company’s different eras; and for some added cultural perspective, English author and TV personality Stephen Fry.
Appropriately flavored by the occasional Bob Dylan tune, the documentary examines Jobs’ efforts with Apple, Next and Pixar; his sometimes bumpy relationships; the ebb and flow of a career marked by success and failure; and at the heart of it all, as aptly described by Stewart Brand, “Steve Jobs never left his countercultural frame of reference and so his way of staying forever young was to stay forever hippy.”
ViewSonic will showcase new products at CES including its ViewPad tablet line, the 32-inch tabletop EXOdesk and a capacitive multi-touch universal display.
According to the press release, the company will expand its tablet line to include “new 10-inch business and consumer-focused tablets running Windows and Android operating systems.”
“The ViewPad 7e, an Android-based 7″ tablet offers Amazon services for Android integration, Amazon Kindle for eBook reading and RiteTouch for writing directly on the screen,” explains the release. “The business line of tablets, which include the ViewPad 10pro, run Windows 7 Professional and provide the ability to boot Android as well.”
The EXOdesk, the result of a partnership with EXOPC, is a “10-point touch table top which runs a custom user interface open to HTML5 developers. The desk…will be powered by an Intel Core i7 processor, Intel’s integrated graphics and will run Windows 7 operating system.”
NBC announced yesterday that it plans to stream the 2012 Super Bowl on February 5th.
“In the biggest example to date that Web streaming is becoming a must-do service…the Super Bowl — the most-watched event on television — will be streamed online and to mobile phones for the first time ever,” reports Digital Trends.
In addition to February’s championship, NBC will also stream Wild Card Saturday and the Pro Bowl. The games will be available via NBC.com and the NFL Mobile app, available to Verizon Wireless customers.
NBC will offer additional content such as extra camera angles, game highlights and live game stats. “Because of the added features on the Web stream, NBC found that people weren’t just watching the game on their PCs; they were watching on both the TV and on the website, likely to get the bigger screen view while being able to access the added content,” explains the post.
Last year’s Super Bowl match-up between the Packers and Steelers drew 111 million viewers, making it the most popular broadcast of 2011.
LG is working with Intel to incorporate wireless digital video over Wi-Fi, known as WiDi, into its Cinema 3D Smart TV line.
The WiDi-enabled sets, expected to be featured at CES, will be built into the TVs and will not require a receiver box.
“WiDi was developed by Intel to stream video content from an Intel-based laptop, notebook or other external mobile device to a TV, projector or display monitor,” explains TWICE. “Currently, the system requires a receiver box or dongle be connected to a TV’s video input, but the agreement would enable the system to be built into LG’s Cinema 3D sets.”
“The WiDi system uses point-to-point connectivity and features a wireless interface for instant viewing of content on the wirelessly connected display,” adds the article.
According to LG, the system also supports streaming online content accessible through mobile devices, including YouTube videos and streaming TV shows from broadcast sites.
Time Warner spokesman Jeff Simmermon announced on Friday that Time Warner Cable will finally offer the HBO GO streaming and MAX GO apps.
“The cable company will run a short trial to test out the streaming app on the Time Warner Cable network and roll out the app to all 12 million subscribers during January 2012,” reports Digital Trends.
HBO GO offers approximately 1,400 titles (to HBO subscribers only) for laptops, PCs, Android and Apple smartphones, the iPad, gaming consoles and set-top boxes such as Roku. The MAX GO app offers about 400 titles including original programming, movies and MAX After Dark.
“HBO has already signed agreements with other cable companies such as Comcast, Charter Communications, AT&T U-verse, DirecTV, Dish Network and Verizon FIOS,” explains the post. “The largest holdout at this point is Cablevision with approximately three million subscribers.”
In 1997 when Amazon went public, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO warned investors that they must have a long-term approach. Today, Amazon takes that same long-term approach where they are willing to sacrifice profits to invest in “seeds” like the Kindle Fire and let them grow over five to seven years (or more).
By taking a long-term approach, they can gain economies of scale similar to Wal-Mart and eliminate or weaken competitors like Borders, Barnes & Noble and Best Buy.
“Amazon, in particular, has been true to its word to manage for the long term,” reports The New York Times. “It remains one of the world’s leading growth companies and its stock has soared 12,200 percent since its public offering. In late October it reported quarterly revenue growth of 44 percent to almost $11 billion, which came on the heels of 80 percent growth a year ago.”
Investors tend to be less patient than Bezos, and the company has faced criticism and falling stock value over the years. “The stock has been bumpy,” explains Scott Devitt, a Morgan Stanley analyst. “Investor trust seems to go in cycles.”
Because of this, Amazon may have to “deliver on its promise of higher margins and profits, however long term that may turn out to be,” suggests the article. “To many investors, long term is a year,” Devitt said. “For Bezos, he’s looking at a 10- to 20-year time line. When he says long term, he means 2020 or 2030.”
LG has announced a 2012 updated version of its Magic Motion Remote Control, which is expected to be on display at CES.
“Last year’s model let you navigate any 2011 LG smart TV like a Wii, and the refresh takes a new ergonomic design and adds voice recognition for text input, a scroll wheel, and Magic Gestures,” reports The Verge.
It has yet to be announced exactly what gestures are supported.
“The remote also has a new 3D button you can push to turn on the TV’s 2D-to-3D conversion software — that’s probably not terribly useful, but might make for a neat parlor trick when you have guests over,” jokes the post.
LG says the new Magic Motion will be available in the first quarter of 2012.
Facebook “can be sued by people who claim showing advertisements that their friends ‘like’ violates a California law regarding commercial endorsements,” reports Bloomberg Businessweek.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose has cleared the way for Facebook users to sue the social network over its use of their likenesses in sponsored ads.
The case centers on claims regarding sponsored stories, which use the names and profile photos of users who have “liked” a given brand.
The judge ruled that plaintiffs could claim they had been economically harmed by the ads, but tossed out a claim that Facebook had unfairly profited from the ads.
“We are reviewing the decision and continue to believe that the case is without merit,” wrote a Facebook spokesman in an e-mailed statement.
The number of Americans using smartphones to access TV content is on the rise, according to a new study by research firm Vanson Bourne, on behalf of Motorola Mobility.
Survey results suggest the numbers account for nearly a quarter of U.S. consumers — an almost five-fold increase, reports Connected Planet.
Some 9,000 consumers in 16 countries were polled, with results indicating that trends in mobile networking and social media continue to influence TV viewing.
Consumers spend an average of 12 hours online per week and an additional six hours engaged in social media. “The result of this convergence is Social TV with about 60 percent of global respondents saying that they have discussed a program with friends on social networks.”
“With the traditional broadcast TV industry under pressure, and their adoption of new IT infrastructures generally being almost a decade behind telecom, they should be seriously worried by telcos offering TV type services,” comments Connected Planet.
MySpace is branching away from the social networking scene and is hoping to gain ground as a music site with its 42+ million songs and exclusive access to 30 million songs from independent, unsigned artists.
The new music player, launched yesterday, includes Facebook integration. “Because of the users they have and the integrations with Spotify, Mog, and Rdio it makes sense to open up our catalog to their users,” explains MySpace COO Chris Vanderhook.
The MySpace music player features enhanced music recommendations and built-in search engines. It is free with ad-supported content.
According to new owners Specific Media, MySpace will also undergo a full-scale relaunch in the beginning half of 2012.
“Music is white-hot right now and we want to be able to capitalize on our music catalog and our history in music. It’s something the previous management didn’t really highlight,” Vanderhook says.
It’s official: AT&T announced yesterday it has ended its effort to purchase T-Mobile USA. The company explained it could no longer combat federal opposition to form the nation’s largest cellphone service provider.
“The decision to scrap the $39 billion takeover — which would have been the biggest deal of the year — is a major setback for AT&T, which had pinned its hopes for growth on the acquisition,” reports The New York Times. “The company wanted T-Mobile’s cellular airwaves, or spectrum, to relieve its congested network and offer faster service for data-hungry devices like the iPhone.”
Consumer advocates believe the merger would have led to a powerful duopoly of AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
“Consumers won today,” said Sharis A. Pozen, the Justice Department’s acting assistant attorney general for antitrust. “Had AT&T acquired T-Mobile, consumers in the wireless marketplace would have faced higher prices and reduced innovation.”
AT&T said in a statement that it would continue to invest in wireless spectrum, and suggested that wireless customers “will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled by the regulators’ decisions.”
Google chairman Eric Schmidt told an Italian newspaper, “in the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.” He also confirmed that the tablet would incorporate Google’s voice recognition technology to challenge Siri.
“Exact details of the upcoming tablet were not revealed, and it’s unclear whether the slate will be specifically branded with Google’s Nexus nomenclature or be another manufacturer’s model that the search giant will champion,” reports SlashGear.
The tablet will likely run Ice Cream Sandwich (the latest version of Android), which may allow it to better challenge the iPad.
“Android tablets have generally struggled to compete with Apple’s iPad, and even the HP TouchPad managed to squeeze ahead of Android-based models in 2011 sales thanks to its cut-price discounting,” comments SlashGear. “Common criticisms include the somewhat jerky performance of Android 3.x Honeycomb, as well as a shortage of slate-scale apps to suit the larger displays.”
Lantronix has developed an iPhone-sized box called xPrintserver that enables printing from any iOS device. The $150 device supports more than 4,000 printers.
“With automatic printer discovery and no configuration, printing is easy and hassle-free. Simply open the box, plug in the xPrintServer anywhere into the network, and print wirelessly from the iOS device,” explains the press release.
“The proliferation of iPads and iPhones in the corporate world has yielded a potentially tremendous opportunity for providing an easy printing solution free of hassles associated with today’s work-around solutions,” said Kurt Busch, president and CEO for Lantronix. “With more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies slated to deploy iPads by the end of 2011, this is an ideal time to expand into this market.”
The xPrintserver will be available in January 2012 through Lantronix.com as well as resellers such as Amazon, NewEgg, Buy.com, and MacMall.
The company is expected to showcase xPrintServer at Digital Experience during CES in Las Vegas.
