New UHD TVs have been announced by companies including Samsung, LG and Vizio. Samsung is touting its quantum-dot-like color tech, and LG is pushing OLEDs and its quantum-dot “ColorPrime,” while Vizio is emphasizing affordable sets with full-array local dimming. Sony just announced pricing and availability of its new Android TV-powered 4K sets. The line features 10 models ranging from 43-inches at $1,300 to 75-inches at $8,000. With its new offerings, Sony is focused on razor-thin panels and HDR features. Continue reading Sony 4K UHD TV Line Features Thin Panels, HDR and Android

Five film companies are forming an antipiracy coalition called the Internet Security Task Force with plans to mobilize small businesses in the gaming, music, software, film and TV industries against online theft of intellectual property. The alliance — comprised of Bloom, FilmNation Entertainment, Millennium, Sierra/Affinity and Voltage Pictures — is considering a range of initiatives, including the launch of a media campaign, more political lobbying efforts, and placing pressure on companies that advertise on pirate websites. Continue reading Film Executives Form Alliance in Effort to Combat Online Piracy

Cloud communications company Twilio provides developers with the tools they need to integrate texting, voice calls, photo messaging, and now videos into their applications. Video capabilities would make it easier to video chat with customer service representatives on service apps, for example, or interact with other players on gaming apps. Twilio’s video service is a more affordable and easier option for developers to incorporate communication functions into a variety of different software. Continue reading Twilio Helps Developers Integrate Video into Software and Apps

HBO recently announced it plans to stream the second season premiere of “Silicon Valley” on Twitch, Amazon’s streaming service for game enthusiasts. The episode will stream free of charge starting next Wednesday, April 8. Cast members are expected to participate in a live stream discussion, which will be made available on Twitch before the episode begins streaming. The partnership not only helps Twitch expand its content offerings, but also allows HBO to reach a wider, younger audience.  Continue reading ‘Silicon Valley’ Season 2 Premiere to Stream for Free on Twitch

Sony has teamed with streaming music service Spotify to allow gamers to listen to their favorite tunes while playing games. Originally announced in January, Spotify officially joined PlayStation Music this week. While many users may be drawn to the Spotify-powered service, hardcore gamers may be turned off by the idea of replacing a game’s soundtrack and immersive audio effects with unrelated music. However, the companies are targeting the gamers who regularly play their own music in the background while gaming. Continue reading Spotify Streaming Music Service Now Live for Sony PlayStation

Facebook has introduced a new technology that will someday allow Facebook users to explore immersive, 360-degree videos from their News Feeds. The company unveiled the technology at its annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco this week. The content is created with a 24-camera rig, and it can be viewed in a browser or a smartphone screen without a headset. Facebook envisions users will also use an Oculus Rift headset to view the 360-degree video in the future. Continue reading No Headset Needed to Watch 360-Degree Video via Facebook

One ongoing study is testing a potential solution for nausea-inducing VR content, and so far, a virtual reality nose has proven effective. Simulator sickness is believed to be caused by an asynchrony of the body’s movement and the visuals. Researchers suggest that a fixed visual reference, like a nose, can help reduce vertigo and nausea. The study participants who had a virtual nose didn’t even notice the added facial feature and could play more than a minute longer than the control group. Continue reading Study Finds That Virtual Nose May Reduce Simulator Sickness

Improbable Worlds has created a distributed computing platform that allows developers to build large-scale, 3D, real-time models, and now the London-based startup has $20 million to bring this tech to gaming, urban planning, biology, and numerous other industries. The modeling system is unique because it draws upon the computing power of its users and redistributes the computing, while enabling collaboration. Prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is the investor. Continue reading Improbable Worlds Raises $20 Million for Simulation Platform

Nintendo has teamed up with Japanese mobile game company DeNA to bring Nintendo’s popular characters to smartphones and tablets. DeNA and Nintendo plan to build an online gaming service that will be introduced this fall. However, Nintendo has not completely abandoned its strategy to build games for its own hardware. The company is also working on its next game console, codenamed the NX, which may be unveiled next year. It may possibly incorporate VR or media services offerings. Continue reading Nintendo Will Make Mobile Games Through New Partnership

We recently reported that HTC partnered with Seattle-based gaming company Valve to develop Vive, a new VR headset with plans to compete with the Oculus Rift and Sony Morpheus. Valve is the developer behind Steam, the social platform for distributing and managing games. The Vive headset was unveiled at last week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, and is already generating positive reviews for its tech advances, including low latency and a fast refresh rate that reduces the incidence of “Sim Sickness.” Continue reading Vive VR Headset Unveiled at Game Developers Conference

Palo Alto-based BetterWorks, a company with funding and public support from venture capitalist John Doerr, has developed software that not only measures worker performance but also helps employees set individual goals to become more efficient in the workplace. The company’s software makes use of tactics and practices found in social media, fitness trackers and video games to encourage employees to set and accomplish goals in a process that is transparent to bosses and co-workers. Continue reading BetterWorks Designed to Track and Improve Work Efficiency

Once a top seeded player in the educational toys and games industry, LeapFrog is having trouble competing with app developers in today’s highly tech driven market for children’s toys. In 2011, it became one of the first companies to launch a successful tablet for kids, only to be pushed out of the market a few years later by the ubiquitous presence of the iPad and other tablets. Since then LeapFrog has had no choice but to drop prices on a device that once made up half its annual revenue. Continue reading LeapFrog Struggles in Tech Driven Market for Children’s Toys

Beau Cronin, co-founder of Prior Knowledge and current senior manager of predictive products at Salesforce, recognizes that VR is in the process of transforming from a specialty technology where innovation is driven by small groups of experts, to a general-purpose technology that will tap into a huge, broader market of users and hackers. In a recent article, he postulates that VR today is where the Internet was in 1993, just before Netscape. At that time there was a re-evaluation of all the rules, often done by outsiders. Continue reading Virtual Reality Poised to ‘Cross the Chasm’ to the Wider World

The most recent prototype of Avegant’s Glyph video headset could possibly illustrate what the future of media consumption will look like. The headset allows users to plug in any HDMI video source to watch movies or play video games. The image is crisp because of a new micromirror projection technique that eliminates the problem of seeing individual pixels. Glyph also has a head-tracking feature so that users can immerse themselves in 360-degree video, but the real world is still visible above or below the eye line. Continue reading Avegant’s Upcoming Glyph Headset Plays Music, Movies and VR

In an attempt to improve its understanding of e-sports enthusiasts, Eventbrite conducted a survey of those that used its site to purchase tickets for live multiplayer video game competitions. The company discovered that e-sports fans are generally male, between the ages of 18 and 34, as well as active gamers themselves. E-sports are typically held in large arenas and draw thousands of fans who typically attend as an opportunity to be part of the larger gaming community. Continue reading Eventbrite Study Provides Breakdown of E-Sports Demographics