ProDock is a new way of hooking up your mobile device to your TV.  Many smartphones and tablets these days have mini HDMI ports, but ProDock goes one better with a 6 foot cable that plugs into the USB port on your device allowing you to then connect a full-size HDMI cable to the other end of the dock.  With this added 6 feet of room you no longer have keep your phone uncomfortably close to your TV.  There are a few things required though.  First the device must have MHL built-in and the technology is fairly new, so only the latest Android smartphones currently have this.  According to their literature,

“MHL is a high definition video and audio interface standard designed for connecting mobile devices to HD TVs. Supports up to 1080p HD video, 60 fps and digital audio output, Dolby 7.1 support. Technology was established by the MHL™ Consortium and is supported by multiple handset vendors.”

The current list price for the ProDock streamer kit is $49.95 and is available now from the manufacturer at ibolt.co.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of The Geekazine.

In the “old days” finding enjoyable TV programmes relied on three sources – in programme advertising for another show, flicking through the channels or your friends saying, “Did you watch xxxx last night? It’s brilliant!” At CES, Andy and Courtney discover Peel, a fourth way of discovering great new TV shows.

Peel is an iPhone and Android app which offers show recommendations based on your viewing habits and the shows that your friends and family are watching.

The app offers “Top picks” based on what you watch and you can rate shows as favourites or as “guilty pleasures” – I think we all know what that means! The app also gives “Friends’ favourites”, the shows that everyone else is watching, so you can catchup with what’s hot.

It’s not clear whether Peel is US-centric or not, but it’s a free app, so there’s nothing to lose.

Interview by Andy McCaskey and Courtney Wallin of SDR News and RV News Net.

Although not present in the USA and Europe, viewing broadcast TV on mobile phones is very popular in Asian countries and parts of South America. Andy and Don talk to Guy from Siano Mobile Silicon about the technology behind this cultural phenomena.

Watching broadcast TV on mobile phones has been very popular in China, Japan and Korea, particularly with people who commute on buses and trains. Much as those of us in the US or UK listen to an MP3 player as we trundle to work, they watch TV. Siano produces the chipset which decodes the broadcast signal and they have a TV accessory that plugs into the Apple connector on an iPhone or iPod to show broadcast TV on the screen.

Phones that can show broadcast TV are expected in the US market during 2012, with coverage available in most major cities. Pricing to be announced.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News and RV News Net and Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

If you’ve ever wondered how your gadgets talk amongst themselves to successfully play music from your PC through a media streamer, you’ll be interested in this interview with Dr Alan Messer, President of the UPnP Forum.

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is the standard by which IP networked gadgets advertise their services and intercommunicate. Formed in 1999, nearly all the big vendors are signed up with over 1000 members, the notable exception being Apple who tend to do their own thing. Think Intel, Samsung, Nokia, Philips.

The most common example of UPnP (AV spec) is DLNA-certification which governs media management, discovery and control and this effectively determines how music is streamed from one device to another. Set-top boxes know how to use different router ports based on UPnP techniques. Almost any consumer device attached to the network in the home will have some element of UPnP built-in.

(No, Andy, it’s not the ISA PnP but thanks for the trip down memory lane.)

Interview by Andy McCaskey and Courtney Wallin of SDR News and RV News Net.

Shodogg is a brand new content delivery technology that takes content shown on your smartphone and passes it to any web-connected device, such as a smart TV. Launched at CES, Andy talks to David, co-founder of Shodogg, to find out more.

Frankly, it’s probably easier to watch the video than to try and explain how it works but basically Shodogg lets you find video content on your smartphone but then play the video on a smart TV, PC, Mac or anything that can view a web page.

It works by giving a unique ID to each “screen” and once you’ve plugged the screen ID into your smartphone, the phone can then pass the video to this screen. Amazingly, you can swap screens during playback, with the new screen picking up at exactly where you left off.

Shodogg is in an alpha release at the moment and will be available late spring on iOS devices, followed by Android about a month later. It’s a great idea, simple to use, and I can see it being a very popular way of finding and then viewing online content.

Fetch, Toss, Share. Shodogg.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News and RV News Net.

The new LG Pentouch technology connects to your TV and a computer to bring touch-screen technology to your flat screen TV.  The Pentouch consists of the box for connecting a Windows PC to the Plasma TV, which comes along in the package.  It all works on WiFi so there won’t be any messy cables either.  It’s geared more towards a business than home user as it essentially turns the TV into a whiteboard, but there are a lot more features than just that.  You can also edit Office documents and there are two pens included so that two people can work on the screen at the same time.

There is no exact release date yet, although LG hopes to make it available in the early Spring.  There is also no price point as of yet, although with a plasma TV included you probably shouldn’t expect it to be too cheap.  You can find out more by visiting LG and by watching the video below.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

Biscotti‘s TV phone is a small camera unit that sits on top of your big screen TV, connecting to the TV via HDMI and to the network via WiFi. Once connected up, owners can make high-definition video calls to other Biscotti owners and Google Video Chat users.  And you will not believe how small the camera unit is. Todd chats to Matthew Shoemake to learn more.

The TV Phone uses an HDMI pass-through technology, meaning that there’s no need to change channels when receiving a call as the Biscotti notifies users via a pop-up message on screen. By using Google Video Chat, the Biscotti TV Phone can connect to any device that has a Chat client, whether it’s Android, iPhone or a PC. Connectivity with other video clients will be forthcoming, but no details just yet.

The Biscotti TV Phone is available for $199 and no monthly fees. Watch the video to get free shipping (disclaimer – not sure how long this promotion will run after CES finishes.)

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

Nyxio, a designer of cutting edge Smart TV and consumer electronics devices, is showing off a new Android Smart TV platform which is made for both consumer and business customers.  The new software will be available for the Nyxio Android OS Smart TV 21.5-inch, which has touch-screen capability and is perfect for business users.

The platform is compatible with screens up to 65 inches, and all versions work with the Google Android Market, meaning they are capable of running all of the apps in the Market, including the best games in the Market.  That also means that TV viewers will get access to such things as Hulu, Netflix, HBO, and more.

You can find out more by visiting www.nyxio.com.

You may have seen the news and pictures floating around the internet the past few days of the LG 55 inch OLED TV that they plan to show at CES.  Now some more information has been released about this ultra-thin beauty.  Before you get too excited and start pulling out your wallet, the TV is only a prototype and it will be unveiled at a private, media-only event.

This is the largest OLED TV yet produced.  In a blog post to their UK website yesterday LG claimed that, “By incorporating the company’s 4-Color Pixels and Color Refiner features with LG Display’s advanced OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels, LG OLED TV generates the most natural colors of any TV set at a much lower price point than could have been achieved using the standard manufacturing process.”

LG claims that this TV has been produced at a significantly lower cost than past OLED TV’s.  They are also claiming an infinite contrast ratio, the utmost clarity and sharpness, and color capabilities that are “technically impossible with LED and LCD display panels”.  They also claim the display is 1,000 times faster than traditional LED and LCD displays.  The TV will be unveiled at CES on January 9th at 8pm.

Sony

Sony announced that starting tomorrow, they will be re-organizing their TV division into three parts. The LCD TV, outsourcing, and next generation TV divisions. The idea is to better define the market to make better TVs.

Sony missed their July-September results last Wednesday, and analysts outlook is going to be under 200 bn yen (2.63 billion). It’s an eighth annual loss, Reuters reports.

Sony and Samsung Joint Venture in Jeopardy?

The LCD division is a joint venture with Samsung. As Market Watch is reporting, Sony might end this alliance that they had since 2004. Since LCD is changing to LED technologies, it is unknown how this partnership will stay fruitful.

Outsourcing Project

The outsourcing division is just that – certain TV parts are outsourced to reduce production costs. Sony began outsourcing in 2009 – which was odd for the electronics giant to do.  By outsourcing, they were able to compact their factories to bring profits up.

Next generation TV division researches the current trends of the TV. From Over the Top Television standards, to screen resolutions, OLED technology and sound breakthroughs.

Sony and Google TV

Of course, earlier in the week, Google announced upgrades to Google TV (which Sony produces for televisions and Blu-Ray players). With a better interface and the additional Android market, it breathes new life into the TV. While last years launch was not heralded, Google hopes this revamp will get Google TV in the right direction. Therefore, Sony could see a good bump in the market.

Whether this split will provide stability is to be seen. The division shakeup will happen on November 1st.

Xbox TV partners

I watch over a lot in the Over the Top Television space. Internet TV, IPTV, whatever you want to call it, it’s a great way to get watchable content without having a full cable lineup.

Last week, Steve Ballmer announced their TV initiative over XBox Live. Over 40 providers have signed up for this venture, including Comcast, HBO, BBC, Rodgers on Demand (Canada), Televisa (Mexico), and other countries including Germany and Italy (20 in all). Best part, if you already have an XBox 360, you have the hardware to do this.

“Today’s announcement is a major step toward realizing our vision to bring you all the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, made easy,” said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Combining the world’s leading TV and entertainment providers with the power of Kinect for Xbox 360 and the intelligence of Bing voice search will make TV and entertainment more personal, social and effortless.” – Press Release

Add to conventional TV line-up the on-line video providers like Crackle, YouTube, Zune and more. Then there is audio content from Last.fm and iHeartRadio. Finally, Social networks like Twitter and Facebook to round off the service.

The Game System that Became More

Whereas companies like Roku that integrated smaller games like Angry Birds, XBox won’t have that problem. It’s a game system over a TV content distributor. You can play Gears of War, Tweet about it, then watch a video on how to play Gears of War (or another show).

Unified Dashboard in XBox Live

With the unified dashboard (looking similar to the Zune software), you can browse your shows, play the games, work your social networks and more. You will connect to the Comcast Xfinity service to get all that service has to offer.

Getting Rid of the Remote with Kinect

This might be the best part about the XBox TV. By using voice controls and your Kinect, you can gesture to a channel, play, pause and move on. It might get harry if you have more than one person wanting to watch different shows. Still, could you imagine a world without a remote control?

It won’t all be free, though.

Right now, to get HBO Go, you need to have a cable subscription with HBO. I don’t expect that to change anytime soon – especially with channels like HuluPlus. Of course, that is just like many of the OTT systems out there. Pay for a subscription and get the content.

Once again, there could be conflict if you have multiple family members where one wants to play a game and the other wants to watch a movie. So this might not replace a cable box or DVR just yet.

The Xbox Live TV service is expected to come out before the holiday season. The announcement comes before then so you can plan purchasing an XBox 360 or Kinect system for your loved ones to connect up quick. While the OTT solution is more pricey than a Roku or Apple TV, it does do more than just watch video, view pictures or listen to music. It also has some great game titles. It also has a new way to browse through your content.

I want to thank all of our Sponsors this month for helping me keep the lights on, it is greatly appreciated and of course all of you that purchased product from GoDaddy or did a GotoMeeting trial.. I have an action packed show for you with lots of tech news and information. It comes fast and furious, so strap in. If you had trouble downloading the last show please send me an email with your ISP and the area you live in.

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Listener Links:
COPPA
Zuckerberg on COPPA
Nissan Contest!
Skype Phone Adapters.
Facebook Editorial – Chicago Tribune.

Show Links:
I want this chair.
Your History on Facebook.
Facebook FTC Probe?
Automated Website Sharing with Facebook.
Spotify goes into damage control mode.
The Kindles.
Kindle Fire and Amazon Video.
Kindle Fire Comparisons.
Xbox Dashboard Refresh.
Xbox gets TV.
a la carte TV Pipe Dream!
Input 1 Battle.
President to sign ACTA without Congress?
NYPD Concerns.
Phone Companies and what they keep about You!
Righthaven Bloody Nose.
SpaceX Green Concept.
Mars Moisture.
Chinese Space Lab?
Man to Walk on Asteroid?
Mercury Re-Written.
Out With Laptop in with Mobile Phone?
Online Reviews Cheap and Fake.
ISP Ads in UK Tighter Restrictions.
Samsung Pays Microsoft for Android!
Windows Phone App Spam.
HP CEO $1.00 Salary.
Twitter Ad Revenue Projections.
Zune Pass ReVamped.
Repairs in D.C.
Chrome to be #2?
Business card Designs.
P2P Site Owner Outed by Payment Processor.
OnLive UK Fail.
RIP iPod, iPod Shuffle?
Bing Airport Maps.
Adobe Flash EOL?
Craigslist Search Engine.
Android Ice Cream Sandwich.
Android Tips.
Delicious Review.
Flickr Android App Review.
Skype 2.5
T-Mobile to help Samsung.
iPhone5 HSPA?
Psystar Who?
India Caps Text.
New Car Alcohol Detector.

Credits: Jack Ellis – Executive Producer

To preview their forthcoming album, Tomorrow’s World, pop duo Erasure have produced a tribute to the future-gazing BBC TV show of the same name. British geeks of a certain age will fondly remember this TV programme for introducing us to gadgets such as Walkmans, CDs and camcorders. It was also notorious for showing off products that promptly disappeared and never made it to market. The programme ran from 1965 to 2003 and drew over 10 million viewers at its peak.

Erasure’s tribute is a reworking of the programme’s soundtrack and has an accompanying video that includes many famous gadgets from the past. Here it is.

While it was announced several days ago at IFA, the new Sony SMP-N200 Network Media Player has gone largely unnoticed.  The new version, which replaces the SMP-N100, brings support for HD and even 3D.  The player integrates seamlessly into your home network via 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (it is unclear if ethernet, which is the fastest most reliable connection, is included).

Of course, it integrates with the Sony Entertainment Network to get much of it’s content, but it can also stream from any compatible DLNA device on the network, including the also just announced Sony Tablet S, as well as USB drives.

There is a remote control included, but users with Android and iOS devices can get a slick remote control app, which will be available for free download from the respective mobile markets.

There is a built-in web browser, and they boast Twitter and Facebook, although it isn’t clear if these are apps or simply through the browser.  Finally, they claim a lightning-fast 3 second start-up time.

The device will be available in October 2011, but pricing has not been announced.  However, the SMP-N100 can be had for about $69.99 at many US retailers.  For more information, you can read the Sony Press Release.

Ohana, I will be visiting my sister tomorrow and will not be having a meet-up. First time to get to see her in a couple of years. Headed back to Honolulu on Saturday and will be home for a while. I have a great on the road show tonight. UK Listeners please pay attention for the UK specific contest.

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Listener Links:
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Show Links:
UK Specific Contest.
** Three Strikes coming to United States? **
NASA Robot.
Now they Lobby Agencies Versus Legislators?
ACTA gets rejected in Mexico.
FCC gets tough on Caller ID.
90% of Companies Hacked.
Ebay raises rates!
Facebook Pays up!
New UK Space Vehicle.
Social Media and Google Search!
MySpace RIP?
LinkedIn Ad Targeting!
Twitter Ads Round 2.
FBI takes out Instapaper Server.
NFC & Google.
Apple moves forward on Nortel.
Apple TV Patent?
Netflix CES joins Facebook Board!
T-Mobile 1 Million iPhones!
Silicon Implant Study.
Evolution Expedited?
Two Billion Earthlike Planets?
SETI needs Money.
Video2k Wow!
PogoPlug goes Software Only.
Google Antitrust Suit?
Foursquare ruining Social Media?
Thunderbird 5.0
Google TV 2.0
Ready to Pay Hulu!
Hulu Plus on Android.
Film in your Yard get Arrested!
Chrome 13.
Firefox 5.0
uTorrent 3.0 new Streaming Feature.
Netflix Streaming Options.
Sage TV Insights.
Google Music Beta.
Nevada Driverless Cars.
Viacom goes after Cablevision.
1325 MPG.
Saliva to estimate your age.
Japanese Idol a Robot?
Wyoming to the Cloud.

This weekend Apple began airing a new iPad 2 television ad.  The ad is called “Now” and it shows a mix of built-in features and third-party content is on display, including FaceTime, the iBookstore, and iTunes U as well as Spin, Star Walk, The King’s Speech, and The Wall Street Journal.  The announcer explains how iPad makes it possible to such things as “watch a newspaper” and “listen to a magazine”.

It’s a clever little ad that shows off some of the tablet’s best features.  No doubt it will get plenty of airtime over the coming days and weeks.  As with previous iPad ads, this one doesn’t give hardware specs as some of the other tablet competitors are doing.  That’s a wise move, as it keeps rivals from being to effectively use pure hardware specs to compete.

You can check out the ad below.

Following on from the previous post, Boxee have announced that they’re opening a European office in London. In an email to Boxee users, they said that Wil Stephens will be setting up shop to bring more content to the UK audience and will be working with D-Link to get more boxes into more stores. They’ll also be hiring staff so watch their Twitter feeds and Facebook pages if you are interested.

And to celebrate, Boxee is having a meet-up on 7th June in East London at an undisclosed bar. It’s an RSVP affair (and £5 in) but they’ll be showing off some new content partners and giving away some Boxees. And if you can’t make it in person, it’ll be streamed live on the Boxee as well.

As the UK slowly moves towards turning off the analogue terrestrial TV signal and switching to digital transmissions, it’s been overtaken by consumer demand for high definition (HD) broadcasting. The satellite and cable providers, namely Sky and Virgin Media, have been quick to offer HD on their subscription services, but the terrestrial digital broadcast system, Freeview, has been somewhat slower to offer HD. Some regions of the UK, e.g. Northern Ireland, will not have HD terrestrial broadcasts until 2012. Consequently, there’s been a great deal of uncertainty and misinformation.

So it’s fortunate that ConsumerChoices has added Freeview HD coverage to its HD Coverage Checker. By putting in your postcode and your house number, you’ll be presented with all the HD options available to you, including satellite, cable and terrestrial. In addition, for Freeview (terrestrial), the website will tell you which transmitter to use, how far away it is and the likely signal strength. If Freeview HD is not yet available in the area, it will give the expected date for it to be turned on.

With Freeview decoders now available in a range of products including set-top boxes and HD TVs, there’s often a small price premium to pay for the HD decoder over the standard definition. By using the HD Coverage Checker, you can make informed decision whether to go HD and pay more, or stick with the standard definition decoder.

We seem to be moving into the age of the apps. Are apps just a passing fad, or is something more substantial afoot?

We have come to think of the Internet itself as being synonymous with the World Wide Web. However, that’s a wrong perception that may have many of us caught in a perception trap making it difficult for us to “get” what is happening.

The Internet itself is a platform on which to run applications, a fact we would do well to remember. In the early days before the Web, there were data moving applications such as Gopher, IRCP, Telnet, etc. along with many others. HTTP just happened to be one of the major protocols that in combination with other protocols gave foundation to the websites we are all now familiar with. The Web itself is not the end of the story, but just a data delivery application.

Though we don’t think of it this way, many websites themselves are really applications.

The apps that seem to be taking over our smartphones and have given rise to tablet computing are more than what they appear to be. Though today the best of these apps seem to be giving concentrated bits and pieces of the full-blown functionality of websites, I believe a larger fundamental trend is going on than we currently realize.

The apps themselves are in the process of evolving into new Internet applications and will ultimately give rise to new services that go beyond computers and browsers. One day in the future, apps may well eclipse the Web as the data delivery applications of choice. Applications follow the form of the devices on which they are executed.

Apps are just now beginning to invade televisions. We are still in the earliest stages, and things are still clunky. Moving beyond the clunky stage, imagine what form these new web-based TV apps might look like in the future. Forget about browsers, and forget about existing web services that run inside them. For example, think in terms of a networked app running just on a connected TV – what could be done with that? Would it be possible to create an app that just delivered a live IPTV network stream (or a bunch of them)? Of course it would, and it would be an advantage over having to scroll through clunky, often near-useless lists and near-worthless descriptions because that’s the way websites running on computers seem to work best.

It could be argued that connected gaming consoles are data delivery apps, delivering specialized services to the end user that go well beyond browser-based or browser-conceived functionality. The Microsoft Kinnect attached to a connected X-Box with end-users using their bodies to interact with the games and ultimately other Kinnect users is moving data back and forth that has nothing to do with the Web.

Ultimately we must begin to think about the Internet as a global data retrieval/delivery system that is independent of computers and browsers. Computers and browsers are just one application of potentially thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions that have yet to be thought of. Therefore, apps must conform to the devices, machines, or appliances they are running on. App designers would do well to forget about computers and browsers and begin thinking outside the computer/browser Web perception trap.

Once in a while, a book comes along that contains ground-breaking insights.  Such is the case with a book I’ve listened to over the past couple of days, the Audible audio book version of ‘The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires” by author Tim Wu.

“The Master Switch” is a compelling look into the history of major information industries such as the telegraph, the telephone, commercial broadcast radio, the commercial movie business, and commercial broadcast television. The book points out an identifiable, slowly-repeating cycle obviated by the fact that these industries were able to gain and hold monopoly status. Each in turn became quite adept at retarding disruptive technological innovations that threatened their respective business models.

Today we take an open Internet for granted, but these same and other forces are looking to take over control of the Internet and turn it into a closed, much more tightly-controlled system.

The book is extremely well written and well researched. The Audible audio book narrator Marc Vietor brings the book to life in a wonderful way.

Mr. Wu does a fantastic job of laying out the often-fascinating histories of companies such as Western Union, AT&T, NBC, etc. As consumers, we think we know these companies through their consumer advertising. The real history of these companies is often quite different and very eye opening.

If you enjoy stories about technology and business, you will almost certainly enjoy “The Master Switch” by Tim Wu.

“Cut the cord.” in the hospital it means one thing but at home, in your living room, it refers to something completely different. With the amount of content readily available on the internet these days lots of people are fed up with enormous cable bills and have decided to end their service, relying solely on the videos they find online, thus “cutting the cord.”

Services like Hulu Plus, Netflix and Vudu only make it easier but running cables from your PC to a TV is just a pain — trust me, I know. On top of that, going all-out and buying a PC specifically to feed your home theater really isn’t an option for most of us. That’s where Warpia, and their recent deal with Best Buy, comes in.

Their wireless display adapters, the StreamHD and Wireless USB PC-to-TV adapter, provide a simple and easy way to stream any content you find on the web straight to your TV. Neither device restricts any content or web page, they both simply mirror your PC’s display and put it on your TV screen — sounds simple right? It is!

Both products come with a wireless USB dongle for your PC and a base station that connects to your TV. Both have HDMI ports for HD video but, the cheaper USB PC-to-TV model only supports 720p resolution while the StreamHD delivers full 1080p HD madness. They both come with an HDMI cable and an SPDIF optical audio cable — which is awesome — and Warpia says they’ll stream from up to 30-feet away!

The StreamHD will cost a pretty penny at about $170 but, that’s a lot cheaper than a HTPC, not to mention months upon months of cable bills. The Wireless USB PC to TV adapter is a little cheaper coming in at $130 and both are available at BestBuy.com.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what each product provides…

StreamHD $169.99
Full 1080p (1920 x 1280) HD video
5.1-channel surround sound
HDMI cable
SPDIF audio cable
Wireless USB Dongle for PC
Video Base station for TV and power supply

Wireless PC-to-TV Media Adapter $129.99
720p HD video
16-bit stereo sound
HDMI cable
SPDIF audio cable
Wireless USB Dongle for PC
Video Base station for TV and power supply

Yes I am back… Back in the Saddle with my first change to the show format. Quantity does not always equal quality one of the first change I am implementing on the show is more quality versus quantity. I have been jamming more and more into the show. That change starts in today’s show where I refuse to rush, even though I have 10 articles left at the end of the show. From here on out you will get an even spread of content throughout the program and no more rush to jam in the last topics at the end. This will result in the show intro segment being tightened up as well in future shows. We also have a prize winner tonight as well.

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Listener Links
EmBand Brain Monitoring for Marketing.
Samsung Vibrant gets some Bug Fixes.
Facts on Japan Power Grid.
Wyse Pocket Cloud.

Show Notes:
Where your Taxes Go.
Spaceship Airplane Style?
Playbook needs Crutches?
Judge gets down on WiFi Sniffing.
Righthaven getting Spanked.
Will BamBoom get BamBoom in the Kisser?
Cook that Meat!
NASA hands out 4 Big Checks.
Tagging Videos for Google?
Apple AirPlay Key Hacked.
Simple.TV
Never Satisfied.
Poker Sites Seized next Taxes Due by Players?
Michigan State Police extracting Cell Data!
Japanese Earthquake heard 900 miles away!
DaCast.com
Google Video RIP Shortly.
P2P Streaming by Akamai.
YouTube Live for IOS
iPad Erase Board.
Get a Camera from Paris!
Tweetdeck in Play?
Dropbox Exploding!
Demand Media gets Spanked again.
Apple App Ranking being Tweaked.
National ID coming your way soon.
FLIP RIP.
Zillow to do IPO!
Paul Allen Part 1.
Paul Allen Part 2
The Power of Words.

Since the advent of the VCR, the adage has been to look to the pornography industry to see what would happen – which formats would take off, what business models might work, etc., etc., etc. While the pornography industry did seem to be the first on the block to figure out how to make e-commerce work, do they still lead the way today when it comes to the future of video?

While there is a certain profession that perhaps lays claim to be the oldest, right up there with it is the art of the sale, and the pastime of shopping. The shopping experience itself if done well can be a pleasure.

QVC, HSN and other home shopping channels excel at making the shopping experience itself the content. They make no pretense – they are right up front with the fact that their channels are all about advertising.

Many people claim to hate ads, but I’d contend I that it’s really bad ads that most people despise. Advertising that is well done is informative and entertaining and can even be enjoyable. Watching QVC, HSN, ShopNBC, etc. product presentations (particularly electronics, gadgets and sometimes cooking) can for me easily fall into the guilty pleasure category. These people are masters at the art of the sale. Who doesn’t enjoy (or cannot learn from) watching a master ply his craft?

So how are the home shopping channels handling their all-important online presence? QVC and HSN both have iOS and Android apps that make it possible to watch their current live video streams, as well as easily search their catalogs, as well as place and track orders. The ShopNBC app is a fail in that it doesn’t allow you to watch the live video stream. I’d give the nod to QVC’s app as being the most advanced and usable overall.

One of the problems with watching video podcasts as an alternative to conventional television is that you have typically and deliberately watch one video at a time. On longer videos it’s not as much of a problem, but with short videos that last 5 minutes or less you have to keep manually restarting the next video after the previous one has finished.

I now have three Mac Minis – one is an old somewhat underpowered Power PC Mac Mini that I’m using as a video podcast aggregator. I have that machine’s iTunes database located on a much larger shared drive that’s available to every machine on my home network. I’m subscribed to a variety of tech podcasts, most of them in the highest resolution file sizes available.

I have two other Mac Minis that are of the latest design. I have an “Eye TV” USB HD tuner connected to one that’s connected to a substantial external antenna. Depending on atmospheric conditions I can receive up to 18 channels counting the various digital sub channels. This enables the Mac Mini to function as a DVR.

The second Intel Mac Mini is in another room and the Eye TV software also loaded on it is able to work from the other Mac Mini’s shared recordings.

Today I discovered by accident when playing around with iTunes on one of the Intel Mac Minis that the shared videos show up in the shared playlists from other iTunes databases. So, in other words, I can pick a shared iTunes list from the Power PC Mac Mini’s shared iTunes and a list of video files shows up. Since the videos are in the list just like audio would be, I am able to start a video file playing and when one file ends it will immediately start playing the next video file on the list. This is particularly useful because I can start videos playing as I do other things and it will continue to play just as if it’s a TV station. This is quite a handy capability to have. The lack of an ability to set up continuous video playback has long been one of the Apple TV’s biggest shortcomings.

Periodically I go to the Power PC Mac Mini and delete the video files that have been played, since iTunes keeps a play count, so I always have fresh material to watch.

Like millions of others, I’ve been glued to news sources to get as much current information as I can about the ongoing disasters in Japan following the massive earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear plant disasters. This has to be the biggest natural disaster that has occurred in my lifetime.

In pre-Internet days, we had to rely on newspapers and television for news. Those forms of information have their problems. This is the Internet age. I want current information directly from the source NOW, not later. I want current information of my choice, not what news agencies that aren’t directly on the scene think is or is not important for me to know. If I want 24/7 disaster coverage, in the Internet age that becomes possible, allowing me to completely bypass limited conventional coverage.

It took a while for me to find, but there’s an iPhone/iPod/iPad/iOS app from Japan’s NHK called NHK World TV Live. The app is free. Once the app is installed, it operates very simply. You simply open the app and the live video directly from Japan’s NHK World news service immediately begins streaming. Search iTunes for NHK World TV Live.

The service has an English translator that talks over the lowered volume of the original Japanese broadcasts. The English translators aren’t slick and you can hear them become a bit confused from time to time.

There’s also an app from the Al jazeera TV English news network that operates live out of Doha, Qatar. Al jazeera TV English is highly produced from a beautiful state-of-the-art studio. The on-air newsreaders seem to be British nationals. Though Al jazeera gives more news from the Arab world than the typical American is used to, they do a pretty good job of covering international news, including the situation in Japan. Search iTunes for Al jazeera English Live.

Savvy TV news agencies in today’s world have to make themselves available if they want to continue to be relevant. News agencies such as the BBC, CBC, CNN, Fox, etc. seem to be dragging their feet regarding available-to-anyone-anywhere 24/7 Internet TV broadcasting. I believe they are already losing world market share.

If you mention “TV” and “smartphone” in the same sentence, most people will think about watching TV programmes on their phone. Some people will probably think of Sling. But what if you want to do it the other way round? What if you want to see what’s on your smartphone on your TV? In that case, Snapstick may have just what you want.

Jeffrey and Esbjorn ask Balaji Krishnan, Founder of Snapstick, why you’d want move from your smartphone to your TV.

Think about it, you’re browsing away on your smartphone and you come across something that looks really interesting but it’s on the tiny smartphone screen. Wouldn’t it be great if you could watch it on the big TV screen. That’s what Snapstick lets you do – hand off content from your phone to the TV.

The Snapstick is a combination of an app and a small box that you connect to your TV via HDMI. The box runs a custom version of Firefox and what happens is that the URL of the webpage or YouTube video gets passed by the app to the Snapstick box, which then displays that webpage or video. Data isn’t actually streamed from the smartphone to the TV, just the location is transferred.

Snapstick is currently in talks with hardware vendors to embed Snapstick into media players and a trial version may be available from D-Link. If you want to see Snapstick in action, there’s a YouTube video.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of The Geekazine Podcast and Esbjorn Larsen of MrNetCast.com.

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Brice Washington, of Hauppauge, stops by to chat with Andy about streaming live TV to iOS devices via their Broadway.  In this video you will get a look at their new device that can hook to your over-the-air or cable TV service and then broadcast, wirelessly, that signal to any iOS device within range.  Just access the stream by entering the IP address of the Broadway.  Better yet, connect the Broadway to the internet and you’ll be able to access it’s stream, not just from your home network, but from anywhere in the world where you have internet access.  You can also hook other video sources, like a DVD player to it.

Retail price will be set at $199 and should be available within the next month.  Not a bad price considering all it does, and if you have an iPad, iPhone, or Apple TV then it will be pretty handy – both at home and on the road.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News and Esbjorn Larsen of MrNetCast.com.

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Maxel Rapheal, CEO of iMovee, explains a little bit about their product.  This may get a bit complicated, but if you haven’t heard of ATSC-MH then you are in for a treat.  It stands ATSC mobile handheld – the mobile version of watching digital TV.

The upcoming Mobeo product can pull in an ATSC-MH signal and then rebroadcast it over WiFi to your mobile device.  It’s compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7.  Want to watch your favorite show at up to 160 MPH?  Then check out the video below to get all of the details (there’s a LOT more that I haven’t even touched on) and see Mobeo in action.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News. and Esbjorn Larsen of MrNetCast.com.

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Todd Cochrane spoke to Jeff Cody and Matt Miller from Vidtonics a company that is just launching and will be providing a kit to build your own TV. Everything you need is included in the kit, the LCD panel(22-42 inches), the board and anything else you will need. They made it clear that there is no soldering involved, if you can build a computer you can use this kit. It is made for hardcore coders and those who like to tinker.

Both the hardware and software are open source. Because it is an open development platform it allows for and in fact they encourage customizations and mod-ding, They are hoping for a lot of community participation and contribution.  It will have a Texas Instrument processors and will allow up to 1080P resolution. It also includes an expansion port for testing purposes and special uses. It should be available this summer on-line at Vidtonics, pricing is unknown at this time. If you like to build computers or tinker with things this maybe the product for you

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

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Michael Williams from XpanD takes Andy McCaskey through the benefits of their range of universal 3D glasses.

Unbelievably, the 3D glasses provided with active-shutter 3D TVs are not always compatible between brands. It’s sometimes possible to make them compatible by wearing the glasses upside down but clearly this is an unsatisfactory solution for long-term viewing. I know, you couldn’t make some of this stuff up.

Fortunately, XpanD have introduced their active-shutter Universal 3D Glasses (X103) which are compatible with all makes of TV and they can be used in XpanD-equipped movie theatres and cinemas. The glasses have a small button on the frame that allow the user to toggle between the different brands of 3D TV. Available now for $129 which is comparable with the brand-name models, so why not buy a pair that you can use in your house, your friend’s house, your local sports bar?

For real 3D aficionados,  XpanD has a pair of Youniversal glasses (X104) that are the ultimate glasses for tweaking and customising. Via iPhone and Android apps, the user is able to alter the settings of the glasses to adjust for environmental settings such as room lighting or medical conditions, e.g lazy eye. Available in April and price TBA.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News.

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