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Samsung’s latest ad promoting the gesture controls for its Smart TV line are the perfect combo of hilarity paired with sexiness — and not just of the TV itself! Watch what happens when dozens of men see a pretty girl gesturing at them through a window. Read More »

MHL promises to turn your mobile phone into a portable set-top box, capable of playing photos, videos and games on the TV screen via a cheap five-pin cable. It’s already supported by more than a dozen handsets — but hardly anyone knows about it. Read More »

 
 

Video ad network YuMe confirmed it has raised $12 million in funding led by Samsung Ventures and Translink Capital. The funding comes as the startup looks to expand from serving up ads on web video to serving up ads on connected TV platforms. Read More »

The TV app market is incredibly fragmented, but Adobe’s Flash won’t provide a solution. The company confirmed that like mobile, it will no longer focus on porting the Flash plugin into web browsers on CE devices, but thinks developers should build native apps instead. Read More »

There are a ton of development frameworks for creating apps on various connected TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, set-top boxes, tablets, smartphones and the like, which is more than most publishers can reasonably be expected to develop for. Enter SyncTV, which hopes to solve that issue. Read More »

PlayJam raises $5M to bring casual games to your TV

TV gaming startup PlayJam has raised a $5 million Series A funding round from GameStop Digital Ventures, Adobe Ventures, Endeavour Ventures, London Venture Partners and others. The financing comes as PlayJam sees a massive opportunity to bring new games to connected TV platforms. Read More »

Pay TV operators are increasingly enabling viewers to browse, navigate and watch their programming on third-party devices like connected TVs and game consoles. But when they do that, are they ceding control to CE manufacturers? And who ends up really owning the consumer relationship? Read More »

SnagFilms is rapidly expanding both its content and distribution. As a result, it’s announcing its first slate of fictional titles, as well as availability on more connected devices like Android tablets, as well as sales channels through DirecTV, Vudu and Amazon. Read More »

With its latest Free the TV Challenge, Samsung is looking to extend its influence beyond just the TV with apps that create converged experiences among multiple devices. That could improve the experience for consumers and give them reason to buy some of its other products. Read More »

Yahoo TV is one of the oldest connected TV platforms still around, but it continues to innovate. Its broadcast interactivity feature offers new ways for broadcasters and advertisers to reach consumers. But with some of its OEMs looking at other platforms, can it fulfill its promise? … Read More »

The NBA’s effort to increase the amount of video available to fans in the latest season, with the league reporting more website visitors and video streams watched over the course of the 2010/2011 season and postseason than ever before. Read More »

Comcast has partnered with Skype to bring its video chat service to subscriber living rooms. With an adapter box and HD video camera, Comcast subscribers will soon be able to video chat with any other Skype users from the comfort of their living rooms. Read More »

More Must Reads

Microsoft is trying to position its six-year-old Xbox 360 less as a video game console and more as an “all-in-one entertainment device.” But it might have difficult getting content providers on board, unless it makes its platform easier to develop for. Read More »

Comcast could soon make its video services over IP, EVP of Strategy & Development Sam Schwartz wrote in a blog post. The Xcalibur initiative, as it’s called, could revolutionize the way that Comcast customers browse, search and discover content. Read More »

Which tablet records better HD video, the iPad 2 or the Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1? We took both devices for a spin, simultaneously recording some indoor and outdoor footage around our office and then combining the footage to a side-by-side video. The results may surprise you. Read More »

Google’s open video format WebM has some new backers, with companies like Cisco, LG and Samsung joining a cross-licensing initiative to insure themselves against patent-related litigation. However, the need for such an initiative also shows how serious Google has to take any threats of patent lawsuits. Read More »

Today on the Net: Apple & Disney may just be a tad too cozy, HBO Go is coning to Samsung TVs and U.S. viewers only like Al-Jazeera if they’re told it’s CNN. Read More »

Samsung is rumored to be considering creating Google TV products based on chips from ARM rather than Intel. A move to ARM could not only boost distribution of the Google TV platform, but could also help lower the cost of products running the connected device OS. Read More »

Bong.tv allows its users to record shows from dozens of TV networks in the cloud with no pay TV subscription necessary. While TV networks are trying to stop Bong.tv in court, that didn’t stop Samsung from highlighting it as one winner of its TV app challenge. Read More »

Through a variety of TV apps and widgets, consumer electronics manufacturers will be able to choose what content viewers see when they turn on the TV. This has broad implications cable companies and TV programmers, who could soon lose the ability to control audiences. Read More »

Today on the Net: Boxee strikes an international VOD deal, Apple TV and iPad users can now install XBMC on their devices and Samsung sees growing demand for its TV apps. Read More »

The consumer electronics industry is always looking for transformative technologies that can drive entirely new product generations. And while smart TV is still in its early stages, the ultimate promise of the transforming the TV to a service platform holds much more promise long-term than 3-D. Read More »

Cable companies and TV programmers are faced with a startling new reality: They are no longer the gatekeepers that decide what consumers see on their new Internet-connected TVs. In this new app-based world, their content is increasingly being placed against options from online services like Netflix. Read More »

Today on the Net: Amazon wants to ramp up its video offerings but it has to play catch-up with Netflix, Samsung quietly launched two Google TV devices and Orb Networks turns any Blu-ray player into a media streamer. Read More »

Soon you won’t need a set-top box to watch cable TV, as Time Warner Cable is moving to make its video services available over broadband. That will not only help it compete against Netflix, but could let it roll out video services on other ISP networks. Read More »

Today on the Net: Samsung will announce their plans for Google TV devices in January, the BBC is working on a global version of its iPlayer, MLB is having YouTube take down videos, and more. Read More »

Televisions have been in homes for decades but only in the last three years has Samsung rolled out broadband connected TV, so Olivier Manuel, director of content at Samsung Electronics America says his company has to straddle the line between early adopters and a wider audience. Read More »

Today on the Net: Google TV is getting push-back from broadcasters like ABC, CBS and NBC that are blocking access to their content, Samsung is developing an app framework for TVs and mobile devices and Vevo is turning up the heat on MTV. Read More »

Samsung will soon be pushing its new Galaxy Tab as a competitor to Apple’s iPad, and rolling out its own video portal as a competitor to iTunes. The new Media Hub will make TV episodes and movies available on the tablet and Samsung Galaxy S handsets. Read More »

Samsung could build TV sets with the Google TV Internet and video platform built in, despite concerns about the high cost of components necessary to run the software. The decision could come down to which content providers Google brings on board for the Android-based OS. Read More »

Today on the Net: Apple’s new TV set-top box being announced tomorrow will reportedly have Netflix streaming available, Samsung plans to spend $70 million marketing connected TVs with apps and components necessary to run Google TV platform could increase the price of those devices by $300. Read More »

Owners of Samsung’s Blu-ray players have been unable to play dozens of Blu-ray titles from Warner and Universal due to copy protection gone awry. Some have been struggling with these issues for months, and Samsung’s customer suport told one caller a fix could take a year. Read More »

For web video old-timers, the premise and cast of the series FCU: Fact Checkers Unit may seem familiar — and that’s because there’s a strong chance they’ve seen it before. But the celeb-featuring show is still clever fun, even three years later, sans Bill Murray. Read More »

Samsung announced this morning that it’s launching a contest in the U.S. to find innovative new apps for its connected TVs and Blu-ray players. Through the contest, Samsung will give away $500,000 to developers who come up with the best new TV apps. Read More »

Samsung and Roku are going to pay for TV applications that work on TVs, Blu-ray players and broadband-connected set-top boxes, with both running developer contests that offer up prizes for innovative new apps that were created on their respective connected TV platforms. Read More »

Hulu’s subscription service has finally arrived in an invite-only beta, and a number of news sites have gotten early access to the service, which means the early reviews are in. The response has generally been positive, but is it positive enough for people to pay? Read More »

Samsung may join Sony in building out televisions based on Google’s Android operating system, according to a report in the Korea Herald. An executive at the company, which is the largest manufacturer of TVs worldwide, said that Samsung is “examining the business … Read More »

Are you expecting, elderly or prone to have a few beers while watching a soccer match? Then you shouldn’t watch it in 3-D, according to a warning label Samsung is distributing with its 3-D TV sets (hat tip to High-Def Digest). The … Read More »

Panasonic started to sell its new line of 3D TVs through a partnership with Best Buy today, offering a bundle of a of 50-inch plasma TV, a 3D-capable Blu-ray player and a pair of glasses for around $2900. Consumers will … Read More »

Skype announced earlier this year that it was looking to bring video conferencing into the living room, with deals to embed its software onto HDTVs from LG and Panasonic. Now it’s expanding the number of TVs that will carry it, adding two … Read More »

The BBC’s popular iPlayer service is coming to Samsung TVs, according to a report from The Telegraph. The iPlayer will be made available as an app through Samsung’s Internet@TV platform. New HDTVs featuring the iPlayer app should become available in the … Read More »

Sony, Samsung Show Off 3-D Products; Sony Electronics unveiled its first 3D-enabled Blu-ray disc players and TV sets during a press conference at CES. (Video Business) Samsung trotted out a wide array of 3-D products, including a 3-D Blu-ray player and several 3-D TVs at … Read More »

Well how about that. We knew 3-D would be a big topic of discussion at CES this year, but with new 3-D capable HDTVs and new cable programming slated for release this year, it looks like 3-D could be the topic of the show. Consumer electronics manufacturers … Read More »

Brightcove Hires David Mendels as President/COO; current board member and former EVP and GM of Adobe’s enterprise software division will be responsible for Brightcove’s international expansion efforts and operations. (paidContent) Samsung Chooses RealD’s 3D Technology; Korean CE manufacturer has reached a deal with RealD to help … Read More »

Motorola Looks to Unify 3-D TV Experience; company talks up set-top boxes that could convert 3-D TV video into any 3-D format. (Multichannel News) CE Manufacturer Earnings; Sony got roughed up with a net loss of 26.3 billion yen ($289 million) as opposed to a 20.8 … Read More »

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