The Consumer Electronics Association raised the curtain on the 2015 International CES Sunday afternoon with media-only presentations on Trends to Watch this year and a comprehensive briefing on the State of the Consumer Tech Industry. Shawn Dubravac, CEA’s chief economist, shared business trends, market forces and consumer dynamics behind the technology on display at the 2015 CES. Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis, said consumer tech spending for 2014 is estimated at $1.024 trillion. Continue reading CES Kick-Off: The Magnificent Seven and a Trillion Dollar Year

The NPD Group reports that awareness and satisfaction of UltraViolet is on the rise with American consumers. According to NPD’s “Digital Video Adoption Monitor Report,” 44 percent of U.S. consumers have heard of UV or recognize its logo. That marks a nine percent increase over last year. Consumers pointed to DVD and Blu-ray packaging as the primary source for raising awareness. NPD notes that 91 percent of current UV users indicate they are satisfied with the service, up eight percent from 2013. Continue reading UltraViolet Awareness and Satisfaction on the Rise, Says NPD

Shawn DuBravac, chief economist and director of research for the Consumer Electronics Association, set the stage for the upcoming 2015 CES with a special briefing on December 4 for ETC members. DuBravac placed his remarks within the context of more than a century of innovation beginning with the inventions of recording, radio and telephone transmission. “Five key pillars drive innovation today,” he said. “Ubiquitous computing, an explosion of devices, universal connectivity, access to storage, and embedded sensors.” Continue reading CEA Economist Outlines ‘Post-Smartphone Era’ at ETC Event

As the market for cloud computing continues to expand, customers can expect to pay less for more. Increased competition in cloud computing is leading to greater storage at lower prices. And at the given rate at which customers are being offered lower prices, tech companies await their greatest challenge — “the race to zero” — or the moment when unlimited storage will be available at no cost. Amazon is one of the first companies to reflect this trend with the cost of its Web Services. Continue reading Race to Zero: Reduced Costs of Cloud Storage and Services

With about 175 million current users, SoundCloud far exceeds Spotify and Pandora, which combine for a total of about 116 million users. And while SoundCloud has yet to build any sort of real business with these numbers, it recently agreed to partner with a major record label. Rather than taking a traditional licensing route with its new Warner Music Group deal, the music-streaming site will offer WMG the option to advertise on some of its songs and share revenue with SoundCloud. Continue reading Warner Music Group Partners with SoundCloud for Digital Edge

SanDisk unveiled its new 512GB memory card at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam last week. The $800 Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I card — which SanDisk touts as “the highest capacity SD card on the market” — is designed for professionals that shoot 4K video, Full HD video and high-speed burst mode photography. The new offering marks an increase in SD card capacity by 1,000 times in just over a decade. It was only 2003 when consumers were scrambling for SanDisk’s 512MB cards. Continue reading IBC 2014: SanDisk Premieres Record-Breaking 512GB SD Card

Israel-based Vidmind plans to unveil the second generation of its Android set-top box this week at IBC in Amsterdam. The company hopes to attract cord cutters with an offering that combines over-the-air broadcast TV with live streaming and on-demand content. Meanwhile, TiVo has announced its 24TB TiVo Mega, slated for launch early next year. For $5,000 you can record six shows at once and store up to 4,000 hours of HD programming (or 26,000 hours of SD content). It also includes free TiVo service for life. Continue reading Vidmind Debuts Next-Gen STB, TiVo Readies New 24TB DVR

Dropbox has cut the cost of a gigabyte by 90 percent on Dropbox Pro, changing the price from $9.99 for 100 gigabytes to $9.99 for one terabyte of data. Dropbox also claims that the algorithms it uses to sync files across devices are faster and easier than offerings from any other file-sharing services. The reason for the dramatic price reduction rests in Dropbox’s competition, where Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive both offer similar features for lower amounts. Continue reading Dropbox Pro Reduces the Cost of a Gigabyte by 90 Percent

NimbleTV now allows users to stream live TV for free, no matter where they are. The cloud-based service can stream via computer, Android phone, iPad, iPhone, Roku and Apple TV. With any cable subscription, users can view the same channels as they can on their television, with the option to search for favorite shows. While expansion to nine other cities is expected this year, the user’s choice of cable company is currently limited to a subscription from an address in New York or Chicago.

Continue reading Cable Subscribers Can Watch TV from Anywhere via NimbleTV

Toggle, a participant in the second annual Media Camp accelerator program at Warner Bros., has developed a small, affordable, Wi-Fi-enabled HDMI device that it claims acts as a “physical key” to UltraViolet lockers. Toggle believes that its dongle (which looks similar to Google’s Chromecast) would eliminate the need for retailers and content companies to create silos for delivering their content to television. Via Wi-Fi, the dongle would stream UV content to HDMI-equipped TVs. Continue reading Toggle Planning a New HDMI Dongle to Help Boost UltraViolet

Researchers at the University of Michigan and New York University have been successful in storing data in a liquid containing suspended clusters of nanoparticles. These 12-particle clusters can reconfigure, similar to the way a Rubik’s Cube can, to represent up to eight million unique states. In a tablespoon of the nanoparticle clusters, the liquid can reportedly store up to one terabyte of data. Liquid hard drives could possibly be used in medicine, law enforcement and other fields. Continue reading Liquid Hard Drives Capable of Storing One Terabyte of Data

Kumo, a startup that hopes to offer consumers access to individual channels rather than entire bundles, has raised $50 million in financing. The company may face significant hurdles, since content creators and owners have historically avoided this type of model, fearing a negative impact to their revenue streams. Unlike Aereo’s failed attempt at pairing an antenna with a cloud storage service, however, Kumo is reportedly working to license content for its a la carte approach. Continue reading Kumo Aims to Break TV Bundle by Offering Specific Channels

Nvidia’s new Shield is a tablet PC, but also a gaming console for Android game apps, streamed PC games, and games streamed from the Nvidia Grid cloud gaming service. The Wi-Fi tablet can be used as a handheld gaming device or a console that can be plugged into a TV via an HDMI cable. For $299, gamers will get 16 gigabytes of storage and perhaps some of the best image-rendering technology on the market. The Shield tablet will start shipping at the end of July. Continue reading Shield: Nvidia Launches its First Tablet, Designed for Gamers

Comcast has introduced a commercial content delivery service targeting large and mid-sized content owners that can offer competitive SLA and pricing, since the company already owns the network. Comcast’s CDN allows content owners to go directly to the ISP to store and deliver content via the “last mile.” While this approach can displace traffic delivered by third-party CDNs such as Akamai and Limelight, it should not be confused with a “fast lane” or “prioritization” of content. Continue reading Comcast Unveils CDN Service for Content Delivery via Last Mile

LG announced that its new family friendly, all-in-one computer powered by Chrome OS will be available for $350. The “simple, fast and secure” Chromebase will take on the iMac-dominated all-in-one space when it begins shipping this month. Chromebase combines cloud computing, access to “tens of thousands of apps” via the Chrome Web Store, a widescreen 21.5-inch 1080p display, an Intel Celeron 2955U Haswell processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Continue reading LG All-In-One Chromebase Computer to Hit Shelves This Month