The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Not only will your our TV remote soon get smarter and more usable, but it will also feel more natural to use. With controls based on gestures rather than directional buttons, the new controls will change the way viewers find and interact with content. Read more »
Navigating a browser with a plain old TV remote is no fun. Hillcrest Labs wants to improve that experience with point-and-click input devices, and the company just secured an additional round of funding to deal with the increased demand for a different kind of remote control. Read more »
Today on the Net: Disney and Warner Bros. sue ad provider Triton Media for its alleged ties to pirate movie websites, Hulu Plus expands to the desktop, YouTube learns Tagalog, and more. Read more »
Google unveiled Google TV at its I/O conference on May 20, promising to revolutionize the TV ecosystem by giving people “the power to experience what they love on TV and on the web on a single screen,” while turning the living room “into a new platform for innovation.”
It’s a promise made by others (including no-less formidable innovators such as Microsoft and Apple) but never delivered on. Much has changed since Microsoft failed with Web TV, however, and even since Apple introduced (and has since largely ignored) its Apple TV. The amount of premium video content available on the Internet has grown exponentially, while faster broadband connections have made delivering high-quality video over IP networks feasible. In this research note, we look at why the time is ripe for Google’s offering to succeed, what it si, and its potential impacts on the TV ecosystem, including users, hardware providers, app stores, content providers, distributors, and competitors (including Apple, Microsoft, and independent IP video platforms). Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Kylo, the web video browser software from Hillcrest Labs, was blocked from accessing Hulu just hours after it launched back in March. Now the software been updated with a new workaround that will allow users to watch Hulu videos. But how long will the hack work? Read more »
TV apps — interactive, web-like applications meant to “enhance” the TV viewing experience by supplementing programming content with additional material and activities — are evolving quickly from a novelty feature on some Internet-enabled HDTVs and a few cable systems to a standard capability. Their rise is driven by rapid growth in the number of Internet-connected devices in consumers’ living rooms, growing consumer familiarity with mobile apps and strategic competitive forces that influence video service providers. In this report, we look at the market dynamics, key players, and provide forecasts for the market, including network-connected televisions, embedded app marketplaces, app downloads, paid TV apps, and revenue from the sale of paid apps to consumers, which will grow from $10 million in 2010 to $1.9 billion by 2015. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
