Skype is now eight years old and continues to grow. The New York Times reports: “300 million minutes of Skype video calls are made a day worldwide, up about 900 percent from 2007, according to data provided by Skype.”
The article highlights how people are increasingly using the service in interesting ways, especially during the holidays, focusing on one family that celebrates “Skypanukkah,” during which members of the family light Hannukah candles while on the video chatting service.
According to the article, “the software — and others like it, including Apple’s FaceTime and Google chat — has become a regular fixture in a growing number of American homes, providing new ways for families to stay connected in an age where generations are less likely to gather around the table on Sunday afternoons to share a meal.”
Additional uses for Skype include grandparents meeting new grandchildren, relatives and friends participating in a baby shower, and children performing routines for their relatives who may not have had the means to take a plane to a recital or school performance. The article notes: “…far-flung families are opening birthday gifts together, reading bedtime stories and even providing brief moments of child care.”
Onkyo has announced that its 2012 line of AV receivers will include InstaPrevue technology from Silicon Image and HDMI ports leveraging Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) technology.
“When consumers connect an MHL-compatible smartphone or tablet to an MHL-equipped AV receiver or directly to an MHL-equipped TV, they can stream 1080p HD video and 7.1-channel surround sound from the mobile device to their home theater system,” reports TWICE.
“The HDMI port of the AV receiver or TV will also charge the portable device, and consumers will be able to use their TV or AVR remote to control the playback of content streamed from their MHL-enabled mobile device.”
According to the MHL Consortium, 23 smartphones currently feature MHL technology including the Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung Infuse and HTC’s EVO 3D. In terms of tablets, the HTC Flyer and EVO 3D View 4G also feature MHL.
“Silicon Image’s InstaPrevue technology will be demonstrated at CES in a private booth in South Hall 2,” notes the article. “Onkyo will demonstrate both technologies at a public suite at the Venetian.”
Last week ETCentric reported that comedian Louis CK was seeing some initial success with his distribution experiment of selling his self-produced show for $5 online. Many were surprised when he reportedly earned $200,000 in three days.
Via the comedian’s event blog, we have an update…
Louis CK has now grossed more than $1 million in 12 days. In a surprise move, he is giving much of the money away.
“So it’s been about 12 days since the thing started and yesterday we hit the crazy number. One million dollars. That’s a lot of money. Really too much money,” he writes. “So I guess I want to set an example of what you can do if you all of a sudden have a million dollars that people just gave to you directly because you told jokes.”
The performer is breaking the revenue into four segments: $250 thousand will cover production costs, another $250 thousand will be divided amongst staff members for a “big fat bonus,” $280 thousand will be donated to five charities, and the remaining amount will go to Louis CK. “Some of that will pay my rent and will care for my children. The rest I will do terrible, horrible things with and none of that is any of your business.”
The comedian has an interesting philosophy regarding this experiment: “I never viewed the money as being ‘my money.’ I always saw it as ‘The money.’ It’s a resource. If it pools up around me then it needs to be flushed back out into the system.”
If the concert continues to sell and makes another million dollars, he plans to give away more of the profits.
“Laptop and desktop computers aren’t always the most high-profile of products shown at CES,” suggests CNET, “but with an influx of new, thin, ultrabook laptops expected, as well as an updated CPU platform from Intel, you’re sure to get a detailed view of what PCs will be on shopping lists for the rest of 2012.”
CNET expects we should see the following trends:
Laptops will get thinner: “…nearly every computer manufacturer will get in on the act with at least one 13- or 14-inch entry.”
Nothing will be close to last year’s evolutionary Sandy Bridge leap: “…the industry is really waiting for Intel’s next-generation CPU architecture, code-named Ivy Bridge, due out in mid 2012.”
The impact of Windows 8: “…we could see ARM-based laptops taking over some of the low end of the market previously owned by Intel’s Atom CPU line.”
Ultraportable crossovers and hybrids, some running Android and others with Windows.
Consumer and business laptops will cross streams with “less distinction between business and personal tools, and you’ll see consumer PC models made available to business customers and vice versa.”
Thunderbolt’s coming-out party: “If Ivy Bridge isn’t going to receive a big push at CES, we also have to wonder about Thunderbolt, the fast new connection standard Intel introduced on Apple’s 2011 Macs. A few PC products already have Thunderbolt ports, but Ivy Bridge will popularize the standard by supporting Thunderbolt at the chipset level. Once that happens, we anticipate an influx of Thunderbolt-equipped peripherals like fast external storage hubs and external graphics cards.”
This year may be Microsoft’s final appearance at CES. The company announced on Monday that it is bowing out of CES 2013 with no current plans to return any time soon.
The company’s involvement has traditionally included a major keynote address, significant booth presence on the showroom floor and outdoor tents.
“In looking at all the ways that Microsoft is now reaching its customers today (its owned events, marketing campaigns, retail stores, etc.) this felt like a natural time to make this transition,” explained a Microsoft PR representative.
As CES has shifted from a PC-centric show to an event focused on a wide array of accessories, cameras, PC components, and mobile devices, TechCrunch notes that Microsoft likely considers itself better served showcasing at the likes of MWC, CTIA and E3.
Los Angeles Times adds that CES, “once a marquee launchpad for some of the biggest new technologies, has struggled to stay in the headlines as big companies increasingly announce new products on their own timeline. In 2011, no eye-openingly new products were announced at the Las Vegas show, and most companies chose to introduce televisions, tablets and smartphones that largely resembled existing products.”
Microsoft has made it a long-standing tradition to kick off CES with its own news, but no longer feels it is necessary due to its product announcements not lining up with the conference’s dates. Much of Steve Ballmer’s talks at past CES shows have been rehashings of previously released products, and the company seems to be leaning toward investing in its own events to prevent this, suggests All Things D.
Ballmer will, possibly for the last time, kick off CES 2012 with his keynote on January 9.
Inventors Steve Isaac and Bradley Melmon have created a transparent keyboard membrane designed to easily fit over the iPad’s screen.
The intended result is a touchscreen keyboard called TouchFire that does not require Bluetooth (most third party keyboards connect via the wireless standard).
“Part of what is unique about the TouchFire is the way Isaac and Melmon have funded its development: rather than drum up traditional investment — or sell the idea to a firm that specializes in computer or mobile accessories — they put the idea into Kickstarter,” reports Digital Trends.
“The TouchFire didn’t actually muster up the first time it was submitted to Kickstarter,” explains the post, “although a second application did the trick — and supporters have now pledged over $200,000 to the TouchFire. Isaac and Melmon were originally looking for $10,000.”
The first run of the TouchFire sold out to those who pledged funds via Kickstarter, but a second production run is expected to have the $44.95 keyboard available by February or March 2012.
The audio team at BBC R&D is actively researching potential next generation audio formats, with an emphasis on investigating 3D sound.
Of particular interest to the team is Ambisonics, which “is different from other surround sound formats, such as 5.1 because it doesn’t rely on a specific speaker layout,” reports Wired UK. “Ambisonics captures the entire 3D sound field as a set of spherical harmonics which can then be decoded for a wide variety of speaker layouts, including stereo and 5.1. This means the audience can pick the sound profile that best suits their listening environment.”
The team has been experimenting with 3D audio capture in real-world live production environments, then returning to a dedicated listening lab that features a 16-speaker set up.
The research involves a spatial audio panner that uses gestural controls via the Microsoft Kinect to move sound around a 3D space. “Traditional mixing desk have a single rotary controller which controls the panning for each channel. When you have control over sounds in 3D space it becomes much more complex,” explains Chris Pike, audio research engineer with the Beeb team in Manchester.
3D audio would complement both 2D and 3D video experiences.
The Wired UK article includes an interesting BBC R&D video about immersive 3D audio systems.
CNET suggests this year’s CES is more difficult than usual to predict what will take shape in terms of home theater trends.
However, the following is expected: 1) The slow death of discs (emphasis on streaming video features more than Blu-ray playback); 2) More Google TV products; 3) New suites of streaming media apps (“The recent Xbox dashboard update definitely showed a way forward for streaming-media boxes and Blu-ray players, integrating voice search and cross-platform search at the same time”); 4) Cheaper AirPlay premiums on more devices; and 5) Less 5.1, more sound bars.
The following is on the CNET wishlist: 1) Cloud music in home theater (“Amazon Cloud and Google Music apps would be excellent additions to Blu-ray players and streaming video boxes this year”); and 2) The ultimate cord-cutters box (“…we’re hoping to be surprised by a totally new product that combines streaming-video and over-the-air HDTV in an affordable box that requires minimal setup”).
Google announced this week it has begun to roll out new features to Google+ for individual and business users.
New features include: Graphical Circle prioritization tool (volume slider), a revamped Notifications tab, multi-manager support for Google+ Pages, Follower and +1 integration, and a revamped Photo Lightbox with new tagging functionality.
The Digital Trends post includes three video demos that illustrate the new features.
In a related post, Mashable reports the social network is being bolstered by Google searches. The company has integrated Google+ brand page information in primary search results, providing great incentives for brands to join up.
As of yet, only some brands — such as Toyota and AT&T — have had their G+ pages among top search results. Content from the G+ page uses the Direct Connect function (typing in the brand name and a “+” in Google search to produce their G+ page), so only those companies that are eligible for Direct Connect will have their G+ pages among their search results.
CNET speculates what trends will emerge at January’s CES regarding networking and storage technologies.
Wireless: “Just a while ago, Broadcom, one of the major makers of networking chipsets, showed me a preview of the new 802.11ac standard that brings the top speed to up to 1.4Gbps, almost 50 percent faster than a Gigabit connection, that is. And if that’s not fast enough, Velocity also recently introduced the first chipset based on WiGig Alliance-backed 802.11ad 60Ghz wireless standard that offers up to 7Gbps ceiling throughput speed.”
“Networking will also be available in more home appliances, such as TVs, refrigerators, ovens, microwaves, and even cars,” adds the article. “Broadcom said it will also be demoing for the first time a new Ethernet-based solution for the rear-view camera, which not only enhances the quality of the image but also makes the whole solution more affordable and lighter.”
In terms of the Cloud, expect to see routers that come with mobile apps for control from smartphones, and personal cloud developments from hard drive and NAS server vendors.
CNET also predicts: “In terms of data transfer speed, hardware vendors will introduce their versions of Thunderbolt-enabled storage solutions.”
Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio service is now available on Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
Users can control their favorite stations with voice or hand gestures via the Kinect. Those without the Kinect can use their controller.
Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers can access more than 800 broadcast and digital radio stations through iHeartRadio, plus custom stations and social features through iHeartRadio’s relationship with Facebook.
“This is the beginning of a long battle with Pandora for integration in consumer electronics devices and the dashboard,” reports RBR-TVBR. “Bear in mind, just on the consumer electronics side, Pandora is already bundled with many Wi-Fi radios, home theater systems, Blu-ray players, TV sets, etc.”
BBC last week broadcast an hour-long documentary titled “Steve Jobs: Billion Dollar Hippy,” in which BBC’s Evan Davis examines Jobs’ “audacious message of revolution” and attempts to answer the question: “How did a drug-taking college dropout create one of the most successful corporations in the world?”
“This is the inside story of how Steve Jobs took Apple from a suburban garage to global supremacy,” explains Davis in the opening.
The documentary is available on YouTube (for now); Forbes has embedded the video into its article covering the special.
Interview subjects include tech insiders such as Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Wozniak, Robert X. Cringely, Steven Levy and John Sculley; friends, colleagues and competitors from Jobs’ early years; marketing and business leaders; Apple executives, technologists and designers from the company’s different eras; and for some added cultural perspective, English author and TV personality Stephen Fry.
Appropriately flavored by the occasional Bob Dylan tune, the documentary examines Jobs’ efforts with Apple, Next and Pixar; his sometimes bumpy relationships; the ebb and flow of a career marked by success and failure; and at the heart of it all, as aptly described by Stewart Brand, “Steve Jobs never left his countercultural frame of reference and so his way of staying forever young was to stay forever hippy.”
ViewSonic will showcase new products at CES including its ViewPad tablet line, the 32-inch tabletop EXOdesk and a capacitive multi-touch universal display.
According to the press release, the company will expand its tablet line to include “new 10-inch business and consumer-focused tablets running Windows and Android operating systems.”
“The ViewPad 7e, an Android-based 7″ tablet offers Amazon services for Android integration, Amazon Kindle for eBook reading and RiteTouch for writing directly on the screen,” explains the release. “The business line of tablets, which include the ViewPad 10pro, run Windows 7 Professional and provide the ability to boot Android as well.”
The EXOdesk, the result of a partnership with EXOPC, is a “10-point touch table top which runs a custom user interface open to HTML5 developers. The desk…will be powered by an Intel Core i7 processor, Intel’s integrated graphics and will run Windows 7 operating system.”
NBC announced yesterday that it plans to stream the 2012 Super Bowl on February 5th.
“In the biggest example to date that Web streaming is becoming a must-do service…the Super Bowl — the most-watched event on television — will be streamed online and to mobile phones for the first time ever,” reports Digital Trends.
In addition to February’s championship, NBC will also stream Wild Card Saturday and the Pro Bowl. The games will be available via NBC.com and the NFL Mobile app, available to Verizon Wireless customers.
NBC will offer additional content such as extra camera angles, game highlights and live game stats. “Because of the added features on the Web stream, NBC found that people weren’t just watching the game on their PCs; they were watching on both the TV and on the website, likely to get the bigger screen view while being able to access the added content,” explains the post.
Last year’s Super Bowl match-up between the Packers and Steelers drew 111 million viewers, making it the most popular broadcast of 2011.
LG is working with Intel to incorporate wireless digital video over Wi-Fi, known as WiDi, into its Cinema 3D Smart TV line.
The WiDi-enabled sets, expected to be featured at CES, will be built into the TVs and will not require a receiver box.
“WiDi was developed by Intel to stream video content from an Intel-based laptop, notebook or other external mobile device to a TV, projector or display monitor,” explains TWICE. “Currently, the system requires a receiver box or dongle be connected to a TV’s video input, but the agreement would enable the system to be built into LG’s Cinema 3D sets.”
“The WiDi system uses point-to-point connectivity and features a wireless interface for instant viewing of content on the wirelessly connected display,” adds the article.
According to LG, the system also supports streaming online content accessible through mobile devices, including YouTube videos and streaming TV shows from broadcast sites.