U.K. sports fans will get 24 live streams of the action once the Olympic Games unfold in London this weekend. The BBC is relying on Adobe to deliver these streams, and the company is using it as a big test case for its new Project Primetime. Read more »
Google is working on bringing AirPlay-like functionality to its Google TV platform. The company will bring second-screen features developed for its Nexus Q music streaming device to Google TV devices, and developers will be able to make use of them for their apps as well. Read more »
Roku removed about two dozen channels from its channel store this week to give Dish exclusivity for foreign-language content on its platform. The move led to a backlash from developers and could foreshadow the future of online TV. But Roku insists that customers will benefit. Read more »
Google’s Nexus Q music streaming device officially went up for sale on Google Play this week. The device wants to compete with Sonos, btu also stream videos from YouTube and Google Play. How well does it work? Check out our video review. Read more »
BitTorrent Inc. is offering three MP3s from DJ Shadow’s upcoming album as a free download through its popular uTorrent client – and the popular turntablist is actually making some money with the downloads, as long as his fans also agree to install some bundled software. Read more »
GetGlue is getting ready to launch an updated second screen experience dubbed GetGlue HD that adds media from numerous sources as well as a programming guide to the app. GetGlue founder and CEO Alex Iskold stopped by our office to tell us all about it. Read more »
Thousands of people are now making six figures on YouTube, the company revealed during its Q2 earnings call Thursday. YouTube had previously put that number in the hundreds. Google’s Chief Business Officer, Nikesh Arora, said that the company has found its model for YouTube. Read more »
YouTube is sending golden play buttons to any partner that has surpassed one million subscriber on his YouTube channel. The company is also honoring partners with more than 100,000 subscribers, and released some interesting new stats about these audience magnets. Read more »
This week, public radio’s Blank on Blank successfully raised more than $11,000 in funding on Kickstarter. It’s not the only radio show looking to crowdfunding as a new way to connect to its audience, and it could foreshadow huge disruptions for public radio. Read more »
Want to watch the world’s best golf players compete against each other at the Open Championship, but don’t have a TV nearby? No worries, much of the tournament is live streamed online, viewable either on your PC or mobile device – with no cable subscription required. Read more »
YouTube is starting a series of educational workshops this week that aims to teach video makers how to produce better clips – and it wants to reach as many of them as possible: YouTube’s new summer workshops are held as Hangouts on Air, viewable by anyone. Read more »
Your TV isn’t just for watching the World Poker Tour anymore: Starting this fall, poker fans will be able to actually play the game, thanks to a World Poker Tour-themed smart TV app. However, the game won’t be available on every device. Read more »
Live Nation Labs has acquired the social mobile music start-up Rexly, and will use team Rexly to open up an office in San Francisco. The new office will be used primarily for mobile development – but the Rexly app also isn’t going to disappear. Read more »
Second screens don’t have to always be tablets: A new Chrome extension called Chromemote turns your computer’s browser into a remote control for any Google TV device. Especially neat and useful: You can fling websites you’ve opened on your laptop to your TV. Read more »
Roku just started rolling out a firmware update to its media players that includes a translation of its user interface to Spanish and German. This comes just days after we broke the story that Roku is eyeing Germany and Span as its next foreign markets. Read more »
Google is finally giving users the option to transfer their circles from one Google+ account to another, which is a big relief for anyone with a private Google+ profile and one connected to their Google Apps account. However, the account transfer process is a little tricky. Read more »
Adobe introduced the two Olympics mobile apps it made for NBC this week, explaining among other things how authentication for live video streams will work. Viewers will have to prove that they’re subscribers of a pay TV service, but there will be a short grace period. Read more »
Full episodes of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report have disappeared from the internet as a result of the spat beetween Viacom and DirecTV. Viacom wants to mobilize DirecTV customers against the operator, but the blackout affects everyone. Meanwhile, talks betwen both parties have resumed. Read more »
Zeewe TV is using HTML5 instead of native apps to bring mobile video to audiences in Brazil and other parts of Latin America. The company would love to do the same in the U.S., but hasn’t secured deals with mobile carriers here yet. Read more »
Roku’s web developers left some hints in the code of the company’s website that suggest an expansion to Germany and Spain. What does this mean for Netflix, which has traditionally been the most popular service on Roku, and closely tied to its previous international expansions? Read more »
Google just released a native Google+ app for the iPad, which includes support for Google’s Hangouts group video chats. The video chat service is also coming to the iPhone, and both devices are getting limited support for Google+ Events. Read more »
A few years back, Netflix produced some test footage for its device partners. The company simply added the footage to its regular catalog, where customers turned it into a cult hit, rivaling Internet memes like the Three Wolf Moon t-shirt. Read more »
Google’s Hangouts group video chat service just got more accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing people, thanks to a new app called Hangout Captions. The app allows users to caption conversations in real time or use professional transcription services. Machine-powered transcription could be next. Read more »
Peter Sunde, co-founder and former spokesperson of The Pirate Bay, doesn’t want to go to jail. In a plea for clemency filed this week, he argued that the case against him was full of irregularities. Sunde also shared a few more details about The Video Bay. Read more »
HTC has come clean on how much it spent on MOG, and it ain’t that much: The cell phone maker told his investors that it only forked over $14M for the music subscription service. The question is: Why did MOG sell for so little? Read more »
Netflix streamed one billion hours to its subscribers in June, according to a note posted today by its CEO Reed Hastings. BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield calculates that this makes it cable’s biggest TV network, with viewers tuning in 80 minutes per day. Read more »
Popular electronics repair site iFixit just launched its Android app on Google Play, making it possible to use your mobile device as the repair manual for your Macbook while its internals are spilled all over your kitchen table. Read more »
The future of TV is like pizza, believes Marvell co-founder Weili Dai. Different people like different toppings, and different companies may have different recipes for their tomato sauce – but Marvell wants to be the dough that holds it all together. Read more »
Google has been cracking down on sites and services that make it possible to convert videos into MP3 files, but now some of its users are firing back with a petition. Their logic: YouTube is a broadcast site, so it should also allow recording. Read more »
Thought iPads and Android tablets were bad for netbooks? Wait until they replace TV sets. Vizio CTO Matt McRae believes that consumers are beginning to choose tablets over small TVs. Luckily, his company is making both – and a new set-top-box that further blurs the line. Read more »
HBO is coming to Hulu… in Japan, that is. Japanese subscribers of the service now have access to some catalog HBO shows, including Sex and the City, Entourage and The Sopranos. Overall, content has grown 300% since Hulu’s launch in Japan. Read more »
Google’s Chrome browser is coming to iOS devices: The browser will be available both for iPhone and iPad via iTunes later today. This brings cross-device Chrome synching to iOS – and for Google represents a significant step towards capturing the mobile browser market. Read more »
Google has Google Talk for text, voice and video chats, Hangouts for group video conferencing and Messenger for mobile messaging. All of these properties could one day merge into a more unified experience, the Google+ Hangouts team said at Google I/O Wednesday. Read more »
Google doesn’t mess around: The company demoed its Project Glass hardware with a live skydiving demo at Google I/O Wednesday. It also announced that developers are going to be able to pre-order Glass for $1500 – but said little about what Glass will actually offer. Read more »
Google took a first step towards music hardware Wednesday with the introduction of the Nexus Q, a device that aims to bring cloud music straight from Google Play to your living room. Here are all the facts you need to know. Read more »
Google just unveiled a completely new mobile search experience called Google Now at Google I/O. The new search modus makes extensive use of push and is a key part of Android 4.1 – but really, it has Project Glass written all over it. Read more »
Want to play music from Rdio or podcasts hosted on Soundcloud on your PS3 or Xbox 360? Now you can – provided you also own an Android phone or tablet. The new Skifta Android app adds support for both services, as well as streaming to the Xbox. Read more »
Skype is taking first steps towards a browser-based future, and key to these efforts is a technology originally open sourced by Google: WebRTC could allow Skype to run video chats int he browser without any plugins, and finally make the company open up its walled garden. Read more »
Google TV is going to play a bigger role at this year’s Google I/O developer conference, will is happening this week in San Francisco. There is going to be a bunch of new devices, possibly additional partners, but no major overhaul of the core platform. Read more »
Want to watch all the action from Wimbledon, without calling in sick for two weeks? No worries, tennis fans can watch much of the action online, thanks to multiple live streams. Apps for Android and iOS even make the prestigious tournament available on the go. Read more »
