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For all the promises that "Smart TVs" make, they aren't really all that smart. Generally, they're just TVs with glorified streaming boxes built into them, plus a few unwieldy bells and whistles nobody wants or uses. So when a smart TV app comes along that actually looks cool, it's pretty shocking.
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-- For more information read the original article here.
Having appeased its core crowd of PlayStation gamers (so far, anyway), Sony is looking to cram everyone else into the proverbial living room—all while doling out more goodies to its devotees. At this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the company revealed plans to release a new version of its PlayStation “micro-console” in North America later this year.
Although the PlayStation TV looks like just yet another $99 Web TV box, looks may be deceiving. Depending on what you want out of your streaming thing of choice, Sony's PS TV packs more bells and whistles than much of the competition and—should it live up to its pre-release hype—stands to please hardcore, casual and perhaps even non-gamers alike.
Let's take a look at how it stands up to its current competition.
Sony PlayStation TV: $99
The PlayStation TV (PS TV) is a handsome little streaming box with a lot going on. The tiny gaming console doesn't need to connect to a PlayStation 4, but if you own one, it will enable you to beam your PS4 play to a different TV in the house—a pretty neat trick for settling battles over sofa real estate.
The PS TV will make good use of Sony's upcoming PlayStation Now cloud gaming network, with plants to support "hundreds" of PS3 titles as well as most PS Vita titles and PS1 and PSP classic games, thanks to the respectable specs it shares with the PlayStation Vita handheld console. Beyond that, the PS TV is expected to come equipped with streaming stalwarts like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, TuneIn and others, all already available on the handheld PS Vita, though its broader multimedia talents have yet to be confirmed.
The console works with PlayStation DualShock 3 or DualShock 4 controllers, and will sell as a standalone device or as a $139 bundle that includes a DualShock 3 controller, an 8GB memory card, and a virtual copy of the Lego Movie Videogame.
Amazon Fire TV: $99
For living room streaming, the Fire TV is a compelling, if standard, choice. Naturally, it works best in Amazon's own ecosystem with Amazon Instant Video, but it also stocks the now-standard streaming line-up (Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Pandora, Vevo, etc.).
With its own custom-designed gaming controller (sold -- For more information read the original article here.
The 2014 World Cup figures to be the biggest television event of the year, with 3.2 billion viewers expected to tune in worldwide.
That audience would be more than six times the size of the 500 million people the International Olympic Committee estimates watched the Winter Olympics this past February.
Here in the United States, the event is an even bigger deal to the television industry, since the majority of the games will be aired exclusively on cable and satellite networks ESPN and Univision.
At a time when more and more consumers are choosing to quit paying for television, it's a huge feather in cable's cap to be the only place Americans can (legally) watch their national team's first three tournament matches.
But now, one of cable television's biggest rivals is crashing the party.
According to a report from Ad Age, YouTube will run an ad during every World Cup game in the Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City markets as part of a campaign that seems designed to persuade the tournament's majority-male viewership to migrate to their computers once the games are over.
The ads will promote two of the Google-owned video-sharing platform's most popular content providers: the humorous hip-hop duo "Epic Rap Battles of History," and the gritty, gonzo journalism purveyor Vice News, whose parent company Vice Media has been in the news recently due to rumors surrounding a potential investment from Time Warner.
The campaign is significant in part because YouTube's expansive, free content offerings have helped give many young people the alternative entertainment they need to feel comfortable skipping out on an expensive cable bill.
And over the past two years, Google has been doing everything in its power to convince major brands like Procter & Gamble and Bud Light to spend their advertising budgets on YouTube instead of television, which currently claims about $66 billion in U.S. ad money annually.
One of YouTube's biggest recent initiatives to woo these big brand advertisers, as opposed to the smaller players that have traditionally filled the coffers of web media properties, has been a wide-scale advertising push to turn its most popular stars into household names.
The strategy serves to alleviate concerns expressed by brands that the company was not giving its content the same amount of promotion that TV networks provide when they launch -- For more information read the original article here.
-- For more information read the original article here.
Next week, Amazon is hosting a product launch in Seattle, most likely to release its long-rumored smartphone. On Friday, the company sent reporters an adorable teaser: A copy of CEO Jeff Bezos' favorite childhood book, "Mr Pine's Purple House."
The book is about a man named Mr. Pine who hates how all the houses on his block look exactly the same, so he decides to try something different. He eventually ends up painting his house purple.
"I think you'll agree that the world is a better place when things are a little bit different," the accompanying note reads.
Check it out:
From what we've heard about Amazon's new smartphone and seen in its teaser video, it looks radically different from anything else on the market. It will likely have motion sensors to track your movement and display images on its screen in such a way that they appear to pop out in 3D.
SEE ALSO: People Have Been Using Amazon's 'Mayday' Button For Marriage Proposals And Other Hilarious Things
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Microsoft is the next tech giant looking to break into the smartwatch market with the rumored Surface Watch, according to a report from
In full, the report:
- Navigates through the current state of wearable apps markets and the devices surrounding them.
- Examines the successes and failures developers have faced in early wearable app development.
- Identifies some of the most popular mobile apps and outlines their wearable crossover potential.
- Pinpoints wrist-worn devices and their companion health and fitness apps as early leaders in the space.
- Considers the scale of Apple's and Google's existing mobile platforms and qualifies their potential to take over the entire wearables market.
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