Archive for the ‘Latest Internet TV News’ category

Redbox Instant is coming to Google TV soon, Roku up next

May 17th, 2013

Redbox Instant by Verizon is going to bring its streaming service to Google TV devices soon: The company demonstrated a prototype of its app at Google I/O Friday, and a representative told me that the app will launch in earnest within the next few weeks. After that, the company is going to launch a channel on Roku media streamers.

Check out a photo of the app UI below:

rbi on google tv

Redbox Instant by Verizon’s prototype app was on display on an LG Google TV that ran the next version of Google TV that is based on Android 4.2.2, or Jelly Bean. That version will come to Google TV devices in the third quarter of this year, but I was told that the Redbox Instant app will be available before that, and that is going to work just fine with the current version of Google TV. However, the service won’t be available on Google TV devices using an Intel processor, which means that owners of the Logitech Revue and other first-generation devices won’t be able to use it.

Redbox Instant first launched on select Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players as well as PCs and mobile devices in March. The joint-venture between Redbox and Verizon has since added support for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 as well as select LG Smart TVs. I was told by a representative Friday that the company is looking to add support for Roku players soon after rolling out the Google TV app.

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The CW will stream TV shows on Apple TV for free, the day after they air

May 16th, 2013

The CW's TV shows will stream to the Apple TV for free, the day after they air

This week many TV networks are putting on “upfront” where they lay out their content plans for the next year, and The CW President Mark Pedowitz announced it’s bringing full TV episodes streaming to the Apple TV. The CW already has ad supported full episode streaming on several platforms including iOS and Android, Windows 8 and it launched last month on the Xbox 360 (pictured above). Pedowitz indicated the network is working to reach more viewers on more platforms, so Apple TV is probably not the last. In a note to MacRumors The CW confirmed it will mirror the experience on other platforms, with episodes available the day after they air, no cable TV authentication required and supported by advertisements. Les Moonves is president of CBS (which is a part owner of The CW, along with Warner Bros.) and previously remarked on turning down participation in an Apple subscription service funded by advertising revenue. Of course, CBS now does full episode streaming on mobile iOS devices, so we’ll see if this a sign of more changes on the way, although with no release date we don’t know how long we’ll have to wait.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Apple

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Via: MacRumors, 9to5Mac

Source: Deadline

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TCL announces MoVo UD 4K television with Google TV coming later this year

May 16th, 2013

TCL announces MoVo UD 4K television with Google TV coming later this year

Google just announced it will be upgrading Google TV units to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and China’s TCL has announced it will have the first 4K TV built on the platform. We got a look at TCL’s custom-skinned MoVo Google TV platform and 4K TVs separately at CES (pictured above, and in the gallery) so it only makes sense they’ll be combining the two. Part of TCL’s MoVo customizations include a motion sensor to recognize each user and personalize offerings based on their habits. Called Personal Box Office (PBO) or “Lazy TV” searches the available content and makes a recommendation without the need for a remote or even voice command. The press release indicates it will be available “later this year” although whether that includes a US release like Seiki’s 50-inch Ultra HD set remains to be seen. According to the company it’s being demonstrated at Google I/O this week, we’ll see if we can get some hands-on time tomorrow.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD, Google

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Google TV will receive Android 4.2.2 update as well as latest version of Chrome

May 15th, 2013

Google will update its Google TV platform to Android 4.2.2, the company announced on Google+ Wednesday. The update will be rolled out to existing devices in the coming months, and it will bring all the major features of the latest version of Android and Chrome to TV screens.

From the announcement post:

“Today, Google TV is moving to the latest version of Android (Jelly Bean, 4.2.2), and we’ve refactored Google TV so that our TV OEM partners can update to future versions of Android in a matter of weeks rather than months. For developers, this means you can build TV experiences using the latest Android APIs, including the NDK.

Today Google TV is also moving to the latest version of Chrome, and from now on Google TV benefits from Chrome updates on the same six week cycle that you’ve come to expect from Chrome. In Chrome on Google TV, we’ve added support for hardware-based content protection, enabling developers to provide premium TV content in HD within their web apps.”

Some Google TV hardware partners have been working with the new version since February.

This will be a big step for Google TV, which has been based on Android 3.2, or Honeycomb, since the last major OS update in late 2011. However, some Google TV owners won’t be able to take advantage of the update: A Google spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that it will only be available for ARM-based Google TV devices, and not on first-generation Intel-based Google TV set-top-boxes and TVs.

Coming next to Google TV: video games?

The update could bring a number of new features to Google TV that owners of newer Android handsets take for granted, including a better performance, a much-needed UI-update and an all likelihood some form of Google Now integration. It should also help developers by making it easier to port their Android 4.x-optimized apps to Google TV.

But there’s another aspect that’s interesting about this step: Google also announced Google Play games services, a cloud gaming service that makes it possible to develop multi-player games and save game plays across devices, at I/O Wednesday.

With Google TV switching to Android 4.2.2, it’s reasonable to assume that Google TV devices should have access to Google Play Games sooner or later as well. This could give the smart TV platform, which has so far only seen modest adoption, another leg to stand on, and potentially enable future Google TV devices to function as full-blown game consoles as well.

This post was updated at 1:35pm with additional information about the devices that will receive the update.

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Google TV officially updated to latest versions of Android and Chrome, faster updates promised going forward

May 15th, 2013

Google TV officially updated to latest versions of Android and Chrome, faster updates promised going forward

It apparently wasn’t big enough to garner a mention earlier today, but Google has now followed up its slew of I/O keynote announcements with the news that it’s moving Google TV to the latest versions of Android (that’d be 4.2.2) and Chrome. What’s more, it also says that it’s “refactored” Google TV so that its OEMs can update their devices to future versions of Android faster than they’re currently able to — in a “matter of weeks rather than months,” according to Google. Likewise, Chrome for Google TV will now be on the same six week upgrade cycle as its desktop counterpart going forward, and it’ll also now come with support for hardware-based content protection.

As for those with existing Google TV devices, though, the company’s only saying that they can expect to see updates in the “coming months.” We’ve yet to hear from most Google TV manufacturers themselves yet, but LG has chimed in to say that it will be updating its devices to Jelly Bean sometime in the third quarter of this year. You can get a look at what the update will bring in the video after the break showing off high performance apps enabled by NDK support, and an LG remote control app that has two-handed control for games and updates reflecting the action on-screen.

Update: Some have asked what this means for the future of Flash on Google TV. We’ve confirmed with Google that this does mean the end of Flash on Google TV since it’s no longer supported on the newer versions of Android, and the build that was in Google TV was already out of date. The update will bring more enhancements to HTML5 streaming and interactive content — hopefully the sites some users frequent will expand their technology platforms just as quickly.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google, LG

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Source: Google TV Developers, LG

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