Germany's OpenPandora will begin shipping a handheld UMPC/gaming console in February. The device has been in the works for nearly four years, having suffered through production and shipping delays. It still carries no name and there are 4,000 units slated for shipping in February. The company did ship 2,800 units to date since May, 2010.
At a pre-CES event, RCA showed off a new sound bar that connects to the web to let subscribers access their Netflix, Pandoara, Vudu and other services. The 37-inch RCA Wi-Fi Home Theater Sound Bar (model RTS739WS) is paired with two satellite speakers a subwoofer to deliver surround sound. There is an HDMI output and an optical audio input for adding audio from a TV or other source such as a set-top or receiver.
Boxee marked a swansong for its desktop app with the launch of 1.5. The app has a newly refreshed interface with quicker access to the browser and the menu appearing as an overlay with quicker search. Movie and TV sections have been given their own updates, such as easier navigation by genres and sources, more details, and a better way to check for unwatched video episodes.
The 3D HDTVs Vizio introduced at the CES expo in January are now shipping, the company said Wednesday. The M-series sets use passive glasses technology that's cheaper to run, but still have Vizio Internet Apps. All have edge-lit LED backlighting, and some sets include up to four pairs of the battery-free glasses, which are lightweight and more comfortable than active shutter glasses.
Amazon on Wednesday confirmed that it will bring a plethora of existing Android apps to the Kindle Fire when it begins shipping next week. They will number in the thousands and include such popular ones like Netflix, Facebook, Pandora, Twitter and more. Games from Rovio, Electronics Arts, Zynga and other established developers will also be instantly available.
Sony has announced that its Music Unlimited service has been overhauled with a number of tweaks and improvements. Users can now customize their own channels, constructed using favorite artists. The custom channel is then filled with songs from the favorite artists and content from related artists.
Music service Pandora has posted a new version of the Pandora Radio iOS app, v3.1.15. The update makes several significant changes, for instance allowing upgrades to the Pandora One tier from within the Settings tab. This costs $36 a year, but strips out audio and visual ads from the app as well as the web player.
Roku hoped to lower the price floor for networked media hubs Tuesday with the Roku LT. By shedding the Ethernet, SD card slot, and Bluetooth used for the Roku 2's gaming on many models, the box drops to just $50, or half the price of an Apple TV. It can still output 720p video streamed over Wi-Fi and has all the channels of regular Roku players, such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and Pandora radio.
TiVo is now shipping its Premiere Elite set-top box, which was officially introduced at the start of September. The premium offering has four digital tuners and a built-in 2TB hard drive. Meant for home theater enthusiasts, it's also THX-certified for picture and sound output.
Comcast will bring its Xfinity video-on-demand service to consoles other than just the Xbox 360 as well as other TVs and set-tops. These include Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PS3, as well as LG and Samsung TVs along with the Roku media hub. Comcast Converged Products president Sam Schwartz revealed these plans at a panel on Thursday.
Western Digital on Tuesday brought out its next-generation WD TV Live media box and companion WD TV Live Hub. The new version has a revamped, tray-based interface and now has Spotify music. Listeners with a Spotify Premium account can stream at the full 320Kbps with support for making playlists, sharing, and getting access to others' content through profiles and the song inbox.
Pandora Wednesday publicly launched a totally revamped website. The New Pandora site uses HTML5 rather than Flash and is said to be more responsive, easier to use, and comes with improved social integration. The team also previewed the site over the last two months to listeners for feedback and bug fixes. Perhaps most importantly for some, Pandora removed the 40-hour listening cap for free users, and it's now unlimited.
Sony as part of its home media push Wednesday unveiled a rearchitected Dash and brought the N200 streaming media player to the US. The Dash HID-B7 and HID-B70 are now PC-free, having their own setup processes, and have a simple web browser for a quick information check. The B70 adds a built-in lithium-ion battery to let it serve as a traveling clock radio.
Netgear made inroads to home networking Wednesday headlined by a self-proclaimed high-speed router. The N900, also known as the WNDR4500, is part of a still-rare group that can run Wi-Fi up to 450Mbps concurrently on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Wireless sharing is atypically faster as well: the USB controller is more powerful than on most rivals and estimated to be 30 percent faster for sharing an external hard drive or a printer.
Spotify, the music streaming provider, now has a radio style web interface through unofficial means. Known as Echofi, a listener can now specify a group or band that they like, and then listen to similar music for as long as they like. This capability, similar in function to Pandora, was created not by the company, but by a third party, coder Andy Smith.
Ford has reached a deal with Spotify to integrate its Internet music streaming into AppLink. Drivers with Sync-equipped cars will have the option of controlling at least some parts of Spotify through the car's center stack and voice commands rather than having to use an iPhone or Android phone. The two haven't said when it will be ready.
Chumby has announced the NeTV, an appliance that turns a conventional TV into a "smart" TV. The device, placed between the TV and any video source, inserts additional content. Using it, a viewer can browse the web, view photos sent from an Android-based smartphone, or access over 1,500 apps including a personalized internet news crawler, Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, or Flickr.
Sony opened up the CEDIA home theater show with both new and newly US-bound gear. The HMZ-T1 wearable 3D viewer is now coming to the US and should be available in November for $799. The headset has a unique dual-panel OLED that outputs 720p to each eye more naturally than active shutter glasses.
Sony picked Wednesday to revamp its in-car head units with a much heavier influence on digital sources in eight new devices. The CDX-GT565UP, DSX-S210X, and DSX-S310BTX all stream Pandora's Internet radio from a connected iPhone and go beyond just basic USB or Bluetooth audio. At least on the S210X and S310BTX, all the Pandora controls shift to the receiver, including the thumbs-up/thumbs-down to tune the recommendations.
The recently leaked Google TV Android 3.1 revamp has had its first trial runs through video (below) and reports from those on GTVHacker willing to experiment. A run-through from Channel Android on a Logitech Revue has shown more of the interface than what was seen at Google I/O in May and shows that virtually none of the original interface is left over, and much of it is now devoted to apps and widgets. Android Market is the most relevant as it's now known to have a "featured for TV" section much like that for tablets as well as a clearly TV-native interface.
Pioneer wrapped up the week by adding two new Elite receivers with a heavy emphasis on their iOS links. The 7.1-channel SC-55 and 9.1-channel SC-57 hubs revolve chiefly around their new, Class-D3 amps. The two have quicker response times and reduced total harmonic distortion even as they consume less power and generate less heat.
More details on the upcoming Sirius XM 2.0 technology have been revealed. It will arrive near the end of the year with two radios that support the tech. By mid-2012, a 2013 model year car from an unnamed manufacturer with an OEM radio that supports the tech will be released. The Android-based platform aims to compete with Internet radio and will have built-in support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Internet access as a whole.
Verizon on Wednesday added the Pandora streaming Internet radio service to its FiOS TV subscribers in California, Texas and Virginia. In the process, it becomes the first TV service provider to do so, and promises Pandora will come to other FiOS TV subscribers over the next few months. Current Pandora subscribers can log in from their Motorola HD or DVR set-top boxes or create a new account and stream music to their TV or connected home theater system.
Pandora on Tuesday unveiled a redesign of its website built around escaping the limitations of Flash. The new page is built entirely on HTML5 and takes advantage of dropping Adobe's plugin to improve its speed and interface. Stations now load in about a third of the time, and there's now a persistent music playback bar borrowed from the iPad app that lets listeners explore artists or other parts of the site without interrupting play.
Pioneer shipped and priced its AppRadio car head-end unit. The iOS-aware AV equipment is now in stock immediately at Amazon and other outlets. Pricing is better than Pioneer's original sub-$500 goal and sees it sell officially for $399, although a handful of stores are selling it for slightly less.
The mSpot cloud music service on Thursday will add a Radio Spotter beta feature. It will match songs users uploaded to their locker with Internet radio stations based on genres and artist searches. The metadata in a user's uploaded music collection will be used to offer new Stations Suggestions tab in the applications portion of the interface.
Pioneer showed its hand following earlier leaks and unveiled the AppRadio on Wednesday. The in-car system centers on a hinted-at 6.1-inch capacitive touchscreen as its interface, the first of its kind in a car, but is now known to lean almost exclusively on iOS apps for its real strength. Both an official AppRadio app and third-party apps with the relevant code can share the Internet connection, pipe music or video, or navigate the car using Google Maps.
Toyota and Salesforce on Monday teamed up on a social network for cars. Nicknamed Toyota Friend, it would put out micro updates similar to Twitter either between fellow drivers or even updates from a car. An electric or plug-in hybrid car could automatically post when it's low on battery, Toyota gave as one example.
A session at Google I/O on Wednesday afternoon showed off the regular interface of Google TV using Android 3.1. The platform will have its core apps at the bottom like a tablet and will make room for widget up top; a calendar widget was one of the examples. Search is also now cleaner and includes a separate "more results" section for third-party apps, such as a track in Napster or a Pandora radio station.
Apple, The Weather Channel and music site Pandora are together facing a lawsuit over intercepting personally identifiable data, reports say. The case is being handled through the US District Court for Puerto Rico, and was filed on behalf of Lymaris M. Rivera Diaz. Documents leave space to name up to 10 other defendants at a future date.
A second lawsuit over the Unique Device Identifier (UDID) number in Apple's iPhone -- and how certain third-party companies are illegally using it to track users' online activities and location -- has been filed in southern New York State, according to AdWeek. Orange County resident Jarret Ammer has filed a class-action, suit naming Apple, Pandora Media and Backflip Studios (best known for the popular game Paper Toss), charging that the latter two companies illegally obtain and use the UDID code to track users and uniquely identify them in order to serve targeted ads, and that Apple is aware of the problem and will not correct it.
An unnamed source has shed some light on a new Satellite Radio 2.0 release from Sirius XM due this fall, CNET reported. This will bring with it a time-shifting, DVR-like recording feature, more storage in portable devices and channels with on-demand content. This last one will allow users who miss a show to catch up before the next episode, the source inside Sirius claimed.
Sharp this week has showed off the largest LCD HDTV on the market with the 70-inch LC-70LE732U. The company was quick to point out the set is 62 percent larger than 55-inch TVs, and it offers the company's signature Quattron four-color pixels with yellow to improve some scenes. It centers on a 120Hz, LED-backlit panel with a native 1080p output.
Pandora in an SEC filing on Monday revealed that a federal grand jury was investigating the privacy of Android and iPhone apps. A subpoena earlier this year had asked it for data on how it was sharing information as part of a larger look at Android and iOS. The Internet radio provider wasn't a subject of the investigation, but it was inclined to believe there was an investigation underway on an "industry-wide basis."
Roku made one of its biggest pushes into retail on Wednesday and landed a key deal with Best Buy. The big-box stores will carry the mid-range Roku XD both in retail and online. The move represents the first time one of the company's networked media hubs is available at stores across the US without a forced rebranding.
Sharp this week announced the upcoming release of three new 3D Blu-ray players. They include the BD-HP75U, BD-HP35U and BD-HP25U, all of which can play back 1080p 3D content at 24FPS and support for Dolby True HD and DTS HD audio formats. More importantly, however, will be support for Netflix, Vudu, Pandora and YouTube streaming.
Panasonic has revealed prices for its range of 2011 HDTVs and home theater systems. At the same time, it has added two LCD LED TVs with the 37-inch TC-L37DT30 and 32-inch TC-L32DT30. Either has a 240Hz IPS AlphaLED panel and the VIERA Connect feature that brings with it access to Netflix, Amazon VOD, CinemaNow, Hulu Plus, Napster, Pandora, Facebook, Gameloft and access to sports sites MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS, among others. They are also DLNA compatible for local media sharing.
Xtreamer has just introduced a new media streaming hub called the Prodigy. The advanced device sports a Realtek 1185 chipset and has USB 3.0 ports. A sharp break, however, is its unique combination of seemingly conflicting technology. It combines an Adobe Flash-based user interface with support for Apple's remote AirPlay streaming as well as Mediafly, Google Talk, Netflix, Last FM, Pandora and Facebook, among others.
Chevy tonight kicked off GM's own alternative to Ford Sync. MyLink is designed to pair up with smartphones and will stream audio and handle calls from smartphones over Bluetooth. Like its challenger, it uses voice commands (here handled using Nuance's engine) and will directly control smartphone apps aware of the interface, starting with Internet radio from Pandora and Stitcher.
Internet radio's early competitor Pandora on Friday said it had put forward an SEC filing for an initial public offering of stock. The company said it hadn't determined the share price but in a disclosure suggested it wanted to raise as much as $100 million. It also didn't say when it expected the IPO to go live.
Last.fm on Monday said it was switching to a pay-only model for its Internet radio on Android and iPhone devices on February 15. The strategy will drop the free, ad-supported service and will instead require $3 per month in the US to get the stream on a mobile device, albeit ad-free. Media hubs such as the Logitech Squeezebox and Sonos ZonePlayer line, will also need a subscription, either immediately or by mid-summer.
Haier has revealed its new line of Internet connected TVs, highlighting a notable trend in televisions launched at CES this year. With built-in Wi-Fi capabilities, the new TVs can wirelessly connect to the Internet to stream movies, music and other entertainment. During their CES announcement, Haier outlined their new partnership with Yahoo! Connected TV. The service delivers access to over 50,000 TV shows and movies on demand. Through the partnership, Haier TVs can now run Yahoo! Connected TV apps including Amazon VOD, Facebook, Twitter, CBS, Showtime, NBC, eBay, YouTube, Pandora and Flickr among others.
Among other debuts, Sharp brought a production-ready 70-inch Quattron-series LED TV to CES this year. It uses Sharp's own Quad Pixel technology that adds yellow to the red, green and blue color gamut. The LC-70LE732U is the largest in the series thus far, outdoing the previous 60-inch flagship.
Grace Digital hoped to get in updates on its radios before a wave of CES news with the launch of three new Internet radios. The Bravado X, Mondo and Solo Touch now have color, higher resolution displays that provide a much clearer and more image-driven interface. All three can be controlled either from buttons or from the company's iPhone remote control app (free, App Store).
Apple is allowing iOS apps to broadcast private data to advertising networks without consent, a recent lawsuit alleges. Filed on December 23rd in a federal court in San Jose, California, the suit notes that iOS devices transmit at least a basic amount of information without permission by way of their UDID (Unique Device Identifier). Advertisers are seeing what apps people are downloading, how often they're run and for how long, say lawyers acting on behalf of plaintiff Jonathan Lalo.
A surprise leak on Thursday has revealed what's likely to be the second-generation Chumby. The shot shows a device with a larger screen than the 3.5-inch original and a more serious look than the plush original, possibly inspired by the Chumby-based Sony Dash. The version spotted by Gizmodo would be considerably thinner than either, resembling more a photo frame with a large base and speakers built into the sides.
Pioneer hoped to seize on last-minute Christmas shopping Wednesday by shipping its promised 3D-capable Blu-ray players. The regular BDP-430 as well as the Elite BDP-41FD and BDP-43FD all have HDMI 1.4a both for stereoscopic 3D and for 36-bit color when the source and the TV support it. The electronics giant's iControlAV iOS app (free, App Store) will also stand out by giving iPhone and iPod users a way to steer the player over a local network, although this needs a firmware update.
Ford tonight acted on a promised upgrade to Sync and launched AppLink. The framework lets third-party smartphone apps talk to and control Sync with only the app, not the car, having to know the tasks. An updated Pandora Radio can stream audio from its 3G connection to the car, give the dash display track ID, and support thumbs up or down through spoken controls; the Twitter client OpenBeak can feed updates and read them back with text-to-speech.
Pandora has updated its Pandora Radio app for Android. The latest version (1.5.3 for all Android versions) adds support for Ford SYNC AppLinkin addition to bug fixes and performance enhancements. The Ford SYNC AppLink functionality allows the users of an Android phone to share information with their installed Pandora app through the car and its controls, rather than having to interact with the phone itself when driving.
Through a series of tweets, Internet radio app maker Pandora let it be known it may not bring out an app for the Windows Phone 7 platform. While reasons remain unknown, Pandora was listed as a Microsoft Windows Phone 7 launch partner, hinting at a possible change. That Pandora will never develop the app isn't certain as the company wouldn't commit in either direction.
