One of the main questions that arose with Hulu’s announcement of its premium service, Hulu Plus, was whether or not the $10 per month subscription fee would provide for a commercial free viewing experience. It does not. The monthly fee basically gives subscribers access to entire back catalogs of shows from participating networks.
Home Entertainment
YouTube ‘Leanback’ Promises Effortless Video Viewing
YouTube’s new Leanback feature is pretty much just like it sounds. You fire it up (youtube.com/leanback) and lean back in your chair. Do NOT lean forward! You’ll be treated to a non-stop barrage of YouTube videos that play in full screen, one after another “based on your YouTube settings and preferences, including content from your …
Settlers of Catan in Development for Microsoft Surface Machines
Hmmm, where to find a quick $12,500? Looks like my love for the Settlers of Catan will soon necessitate the purchase of a big, fat, expensive computer-infused table running Microsoft Surface.
According to CNET, an early Surface version of Catan will be shown off at the Origins Game Fair in Ohio this week with the finished version …
Logitech Names Its Google TV Box ‘Revue’
Google TV will be here in the fall and hardware partners are hard at work on their own set-top boxes. Logitech’s box has just been officially named “Revue,” though few details beyond the name have been revealed.
The idea is that you’ll purchase the Revue box and then use your Android phone or iPhone to run a remote …
Google’s Rumored Music Store and Why It Just Might Work
Rumors of a Google-backed music service aren’t necessarily new by any means but CNET has recently re-fanned the flames by citing “multiple music industry sources” as saying “Google could launch a music service that offers song downloads and streaming music as early as this fall.”
The search engine giant has several things …
Apple Working on Cloud Based AppleTV With $99 Price Tag?
Engadget has received a tip “which has been confirmed by a source very close to Apple” that appears to suggest Apple hasn’t given up on AppleTV just yet. Apparently we may see a new revision of the device based on the iPhone’s operating system that contains only 16GB of storage but is capable of streaming full 1080p video with …
TiVo TVs Coming From Best Buy Won’t Include DVR Functionality
When you think of TiVo you think of recording television shows, right? In a move that seems odd at first but begins to make more and more sense as you sit on a pier bench gazing out over the vast ocean, alone with your thoughts, this recently announced Best Buy/TiVo partnership might just work.
The basic idea is that Best Buy will …
Poll: Are you Gaga over Google TV?
Google just unveiled its new Web-integrated TV platform Google TV, said to be available by fall, 2010. From what we saw during Google’s presentation, the TV will sync directly with all Android devices to allow mobile app access via your TV screen, Internet streaming/browsing and a pretty swanky search function that will scan your TV …
Google To Debut Smart TV Tomorrow?
The LA Times is reporting that Google will unveil their Internet TV tomorrow at the I/O conference in San Francisco. It’s unclear what the service will entail but Sony, Intel and Logitech are expected to join Google on stage to announce Smart TV.
Like any Google product, Smart TV is probably half cooked and Google will release dev …
Verizon Working With Google On Android Tablet
Put your credit card back in your wallet, purse and/or murse. There is no timeline or manufacturer attached to the Android tablet that Verizon is working on with Google. There’s really nothing surprising about this quasi announcement.
Yes, we get that everyone is scrambling to get a tablet out into the market to compete with the …
Sony Dash Personal Internet Viewer Now Available for $200
Sony’s going the Chumby route (remember Chumby?) with its Dash Personal Internet Viewer. At $200 it’s a tad on the expensive side, but you get a big 7-inch 800×480 touch screen and over 1,000 apps to choose from. Oh and speaking of those apps, they’re actually Chumby apps. UPDATE: While the device uses Chumby apps, it’s also got …
New Netflix Deal Delays Fox And Universal Movies 28 Days
Netflix just hammered out new deals with both Fox and Universal movie studios. The big news is that new-release DVDs from those two studios won’t be available right away on launch day any more. Instead, there will be a 28-day window in the interest of granting the studios “a dedicated time period for sales of its physical and digital …