Western Digital Adds New Services for WD TV Live Media Players

In an effort to provided more content accessibility and operational convenience to its WD TV Live and Live Hub Network Media Players, Western Digital has added a host of new services, as well as an iOS remote control app.

The new content services added include the VUDU pay-per-view movie streaming service, SnagFilms, which features a library of free documentaries and independent films, XOS College Sports, SEC Digital Network, Comedy Time, featuring a collection of short comedy films, and Watch Mojo, which features professionally-produced videos on a variety of topics, ranging from education, fashion, food, politics, technology, and more.

For complete details on these new additions, read the Official Announcement from Western Digital

In addition, be sure to read our reviews of both the WD TV Live and WD Live Hub Network Media Players.

Source is
http://hometheater.about.com/b/2011/12/20/western-digital-adds-new-services-for-wd-tv-live-media-players.htm

Charter Launches TiVo Premiere in Texas

Charter Communications launched its whole-home solution powered by TiVo Premiere to its customers in Texas. The initial launch will be followed by deployment of TiVo Premiere across its footprint in the first half of 2012.

TiVo Premiere from Charter blends traditional television channels with Internet-delivered video and interactive applications from Charter On Demand as well as Pandora, YouTube and more, all packaged in TiVo’s user interface. In addition to the entertainment library, customers can enjoy the whole-home video solution allowing them to begin a recording in one room, pause and pick it up from a TiVo Premiere device in another room.

Other Charter TiVo Premiere features include:

1. Integrated search: Quickly scan across the TV lineup, Charter On Demand and Web content to find programs to watch, regardless of where they originate.
2. Remote scheduling: Search and schedule recordings from the Web or from a mobile device.
3. TiVoToGo transfers: Transfer some programs from the TiVo Premiere to a laptop, media device, or smart phone for viewing outside the home.
4. Control live TV: Pause, rewind, slow-motion, and instantly replay live TV.
5. iPad and iPhone: Free app enables search, browse, explore and sharing of favorite entertainment without interrupting what’s playing on TV. An Android app is expected to be launched in early January 2012.
6. Personalized ratings: By hitting the “thumbs-up” and “thumbs-down” ratings buttons on the TiVo remote, TiVo tracks personal likes and dislikes, providing relevant programming suggestions and automatic recordings.
7. Content storage: Record up to 45 hours of high-definition (HD) programming or up to 400 hours of standard-definition programming – equivalent to more than 16 days of content.
8. Full HD support: Offers full support for 1080p and 1080i HD formats.

Source is

http://www.cable360.net/ct/news/thewire/Charter-Launches-TiVo-Premiere-in-Texas_49446.html

Apple rumor: iTV sizes to range from 32 to 55 inches

Apple's rumored iTV will come in three sizes, ranging from 32 to 55 inches, according to supply chain sources in Japan.

As expected, the Apple iTV rumors are continuing to trickle out from all over the globe. Today’s rumor comes courtesy of Australian tech site Smarthouse, which claims to have a scoop on the details of the supposedly upcoming Apple iTV, which the site says will come in three sizes, starting at 32-inches and going up to 55-inch, according to “Sources at a major Japanese company who are involved in manufacturing the TV.” The middle size? Well, there’s no word on that, but we’d guess it’ll be around 42-inches, a common increment for high-definition televisions.

In addition to the size specifications, the sources tell Smarthouse that iTV will come loaded with a new, faster processor, which will also power the (also rumored) iPad 3. This has commonly been referred to as the “A6″ CPU. Apple’s iTV — or whatever it may be called — will also include Siri, the voice-controlled artificial intelligence software that is currently exclusive to the iPhone 4S, the publication reports. The Siri rumor is something we’ve been hearing for some time, and gained steam due to a section of Walter Isaacson’s biography of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs,  in which Jobs claimed the iTV would have “the simplest user interface you could imagine.”

In terms of release date, Pipper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has long held the reigns on this rumor wagon, saying that Apple will release the iTV in mid-2012. Other’s claim release won’t come until early in 2013.

All of this is solidly in the realm of speculation, remember, so make sure to have your salt shakers handy anytime you read anything about the iTV. Still, the Jobs biography does lend some credence to rumors that Apple is, at least, considering the release of such a product.

Source is
http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/apple-rumor-itv-sizes-to-range-from-32-inches-to-55-inches/

Cox is latest to bring live TV to the iPad

Cox Communications is making live TV available on the iPad, with the release of a new app that lets subscribers watch shows and movies while in their homes. The Cox TV Connect app makes it the latest in a series of pay TV operators to extend their services to new devices.

Previously, operators like Cablevision and Time Warner Cable have launched iPad apps that bring live TV to the tablet, as long as users are logged in and are connecting from their home networks. Other apps — like one from Comcast — let users authenticate an watch on demand content. Cox is taking the former approach with its app, bringing live TV to the app in user homes.

For cable operators like Cox, the end goal is to make as much content available on as many places as possible. Thanks to the availability of streaming video on new mobile and connected devices, consumers are increasingly demanding access to their favorite TV shows and networks regardless of the devices. “A screen is a screen is a screen,” Cox VP of Video Strategy Steve Necessary told us in a phone interview.

While the Cox app is a step in the right direction, the selection of live channels in somewhat limited today: The app has about 35 channels available for live viewing, out of hundreds of channels available to subscribers. Compare that, for instance, with Cablevision, which introduced its iPad app with all of its channels available at launch.

Necessary said that’s because the company needs to negotiate rights with TV networks before putting them online. Cox also needs to ensure that local broadcast content, or content that is subject to certain blackouts, doesn’t appear in the app. Cox has operations in 18 different states throughout the country, so local content can vary by market.

This isn’t the first app for Cox; it previously launched an application that lets users browse content and program their DVR from mobile devices. Necessary said that at some point the functionality from both apps will likely be blended together into a single application that handles both sets of functionality.

Source is
http://gigaom.com/video/cox-live-ipad-app/

YouTube reinvents itself with massive relaunch

YouTube is rolling out one of its most ambitious redesigns since its launch in 2006 this Thursday afternoon, putting channels front and center in an attempt to become the Internet’s answer to cable TV. The new design features a completely revamped home page that focuses on a user’s video subscriptions and pulls in video recommendations from social networks like Facebook and Google+.


The pages of video publishers are also getting a significant face lift, emphasizing the notion of subscribing to channels and focusing more on filtering and curation. “Curators are going to be be really great for organizing this massive amount of content that YouTube has,” said the site’s channels product manager A.J Crane.

This focus on channels is part of YouTube’s attempt to evolve from a site that is on average frequented for 15 minutes a day to a destination that invites users to watch for hours. It also ties in with its recently announced professional content initiative that will bring around 100 new channels from celebrities like Madonna and Tony Hawk as well as prominent YouTube stars like The Young Turk’s Cenk Uygur to the site in the coming months.

Some of the highlights of the new design include:

• The overall design is closely aligned with the visual changes on other Google properties, including Google+ and GMail.
• The home page features a kind of activity stream that includes video uploads, likes and favorites, comments as well as announcements for upcoming live events.
• Users can pin up to ten of their favorite channels on YouTube’s homepage, giving them easier access to uploads and video recommendations posted on those channels.
• A new Favicon in the form of a play button replaces the stacked YouTube logo.
• Registered users will be able to choose from four default templates for their own channel pages, with individual templates appealing to the needs of avid YouTube networkers, creators who simply want to showcase their best work through playlists or video bloggers with a lot of output that will be arranged in reverse chronological order.
• Video pages now feature a grey background that is supposed to be less distracting that the site’s previous use of bright white.

These changes are expected to go live to all users at 2pm PT, and YouTube is offering a detailed look at all of the new features here.

The focus on channels and the homepage is also YouTube’s answer to the rise of third-party curation through platforms like Facebook and Twitter. YouTube has been clocking around 200 million visitors to its old home page every day, but the site recently announced that it is seeing 3.5 billion video views every single day. That means that most of YouTube’s traffic isn’t coming through YouTube’s homepage, which entails the danger that people quickly jump off after watching a single clip.

YouTube VP of Product Development Shishir Mehrotra emphasized on Thursday that this was just a first wave of changes across YouTube’s properties. “We are just geting started,” he said. Up next are changes to YouTube’s mobile apps and sites as well as efforts to bring this channel-centric approach to connected devices. YouTube representatives also hinted at further personalization options for channel content, which would presumably work in conjunction with Google+, as well as the ability to view private and unlisted videos shared with you within your homepage’s activity stream.

One of the platforms that will see some of the new channel-centric approach next is the Xbox, where the launch of a new UI for YouTube is imminent. “Any of the channels on YouTube may be a great channel on TV,” said YouTube Group Product Manager Shiva Rajaraman, and Mehrotra went on to predict that distinctions between traditional TV channels and YouTube content channels would eventually become irrelevant. “This term of online video is about to disappear,” he said.

Source is
http://gigaom.com/video/youtube-relaunch/

Spotify Announces New App Platform

At Spotify’s first U.S. press conference in New York City, the streaming music service announced its new app platform.

The new version of Spotify will include access to applications built by third parties that take advantage of the Spotify library and community. Spotify Platform launch partners including Rolling Stone, Last.fm, Pitchfork and Billboard.

Apps take advantage of Spotify’s vast music library, as well as its deeper social integration with Facebook.

The apps are built in HTML5, which conceivably means they will be easy to access in Spotify apps across platforms. Spotify says that the apps are available first and foremost for the desktop, but if it is a success, apps will come to other platforms. They’ll be available in the Spotify desktop app and to premium and free users.

Spotify says it is open to all developers, but will still manually approve apps before listing them in the Spotify player. A preview version of the Spotify desktop app is now available for users that want to try out the apps early. A consumer release will be issued in December.

Check out this video the Spotify team put together showing off the new platform:

Source is:
http://mashable.com/2011/11/30/spotify-app-platform/

Virgin adds Spotify to Tivo services

Virgin Media has released the Spotify Tivo application for its users and is rolling it out from today.

The service adds on-demand music streaming to on-demand television services, and presumably is much in demand amongst those with a desire for both.

From now, and once it gets around to all of Virgin Media's customers, Virgin Media Tivo users will be able to access their Spotify Premium accounts and the tracks and playlists therein. Virgin Media said that content will appear in the Apps and Games section of the Tivo menu setup.

You know by now, probably, what Spotify is, but Virgin Media told us that its service is perfect for quiet listening on the sofa, whatever that means, or for playing a "digital DJ for the ultimate house party". We presume the company means the ultimate house party that centres around a television.

"The world of digital entertainment is continually changing and we're always looking at ways we can bring our customers the best entertainment for their whole families," said Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media.

"Our goal to deliver a truly unique experience for our customers and we're really excited about bringing Spotify to our Tivo service as part of our ongoing initiatives to develop the platform further with new features, applications and content."