A recent survey shows that Google’s Chromecast media dongle is now more popular among U.S. households than the Apple TV set-top box. The small Chromecast device simply plugs into a TV’s HDMI slot to play streaming media content from the Internet. At just $35, Chromecast continues to gain momentum with consumers looking for an affordable means of playing video on their TVs from services such as Hulu, Netflix and YouTube. Despite Chromecast’s new position in the rankings, it remains second to Roku. Continue reading Chromecast Numbers Surpass Apple TV, Roku Holds the Lead

The company behind the LINE messaging app is the latest to join the crowded music streaming business. LINE will launch “LINE MUSIC” in collaboration with recording labels Avex Digital and Sony Music Entertainment. The new venture is backed by about $4 million, but it will have to compete with established streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, and Google. LINE has achieved success with its messaging app, which now has over 500 million registered users. Continue reading LINE Messaging App Plans to Start Subscription Music Service

E-commerce service eBay has remodeled its mobile app to meet the shopping preferences and habits of its customers. The company is starting with a new app for the iPad available now in anticipation of the holiday shopping season. The iPad app displays a page of curated content that reflects a user’s current and previous item views in addition to a list of recommendations to match user preferences. Collectively, the page is a Pinterest-like display of new items to discover and buy. Continue reading New eBay App Intends to Improve Mobile Shopping Experience

Amazon is taking on the likes of DeliveryHero, GrubHub and Seamless with its new Takeout & Delivery, the latest service available to those in search of a convenient way to order food from local restaurants. A live version of the service recently launched in Seattle and other cities are expected to be added soon. Amazon’s Takeout & Delivery allows users to charge food orders to their existing Amazon accounts. It follows the success of Amazon’s door-to-door grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh. Continue reading Amazon Expands its Offerings with Takeout & Delivery Service

According to insiders at LG, the company’s new 8K display has been airlifted to Las Vegas for next month’s 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show. LG Display engineers will accompany the prototype to its CES booth. Codenamed “Mabinogion,” the 55-inch display features a resolution of 33.2 million pixels, more than 20 display driver integrated circuits, and a brightness of 500 nits. LG Electronics (LG Display’s largest client) is rumored to be adding an 8K TV to its UHD lineup next year. Continue reading CES 2015: LG Expected to Unveil its New 55-Inch 8K Display

According to research from Strategy Analytics, the average U.S. home with broadband service now has 1.9 connected TV devices, up 28 percent from Q3 2013, and up 5 percent from the second quarter of 2014. The report indicates there are now 168 million connected smart TVs, Blu-ray players, IP-enabled game consoles and streaming devices such as Apple TV, Roku and Google Chromecast. Samsung maintained a 35 percent share of smart TV shipments during the third quarter. Continue reading Connected Televisions in U.S. Households Jump to 168 Million

Apple and IBM released 10 apps this week designed for businesses and governments. The apps are the first to come out of the tech companies’ new partnership and target sectors such as air travel, banking and retail. Apple is looking to put new life into its lagging iPad sales by drawing business users, while IBM hopes to catch up in the mobile space. The two companies are working with 50 corporations to create apps for Apple mobile devices; the next round is slated for release early next year. Continue reading New Apple-IBM Partnership Unveils First Apps for Enterprise

Publisher Hearst is paying $81.25 million for a 25 percent interest in DreamWorks Animation’s AwesomenessTV. Announced yesterday, the deal will help Hearst leverage a younger audience, while DWA will use the cash infusion to help develop the fast-growing AwesomenessTV business. The pact plans to help AwesomenessTV expand into new content channels, broaden its audience and expand its geographic reach. AwesomenessTV will also gain access to Hearst’s subscription VOD platform. Continue reading Hearst Makes a Major Investment in DWA’s AwesomenessTV

Google released an end-of-year rundown that measures the most popular apps on its Play Store. This year’s fastest growing app category has been health and fitness, led by diet tracker MyFitnessPal. With 100,000 mobile health apps available now for Android and iOS, the global health and fitness app market is worth about $4 billion. In other categories, Facebook topped social, Netflix was the leader in entertainment, Pandora was the most popular music app, and Flipagram led the photography category. Continue reading Health & Fitness is Fastest Growing Category on Google Play

A project called “Maui” being developed internally at HBO to launch the company’s standalone streaming video service next year has been terminated. Instead, HBO has opted to outsource the development of its service to MLB Advanced Media, a company with experience in streaming media technology. As a result of Maui’s cancellation, HBO has also parted ways with its chief technology officer, Otto Berkes, who had been with the company since 2012 and oversaw the project.  Continue reading HBO Outsources its Streaming Tech Development to MLBAM

Instagram — the photo- and video-sharing app owned by Facebook — announced yesterday that it presently has 300 million monthly active users, up 50 percent in nine months (more than 70 percent of its users are now outside the United States). The new numbers suggest that the social service is more popular than Twitter today (Twitter recorded 284 million monthly active users for Q3). Instagram is looking to leverage its meteoric popularity to engage users in new ways, and draw advertisers at the same time. Continue reading Instagram Now Bigger Than Twitter, Looks to Brand Advertising

As the Internet of Things grows, the creators of OpenSensors.io believe that the public could benefit from sharing data from the many sensors that collect information around the world. OpenSensors is like a social network, where people can publish their data and subscribe to other people’s data. The software brings all of the info together, making it easier to route it to the appropriate locations. The open source nature of the data means anyone could use it for their own research or app. Continue reading OpenSensors.io Lets Anyone Share Data from Smart Devices

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have created a camera that can capture how light moves as it goes through and around objects. The camera may be used to observe body processes, study quantum phenomena, and eventually develop invisibility cloaks. Compressed Ultrafast Photography (CUP), as the technique is known, achieves an incredible speed by converting photons to electrons and recording the time and space data needed to create an image. Continue reading Fastest Camera Ever Captures 100 Billion Frames per Second

Amazon’s latest experiment with its delivery service promises one-hour deliveries. The Amazon Prime Now service is being tested across New York City using a fleet of bike messengers. The program has plans to implement drop-off drones in the future. Amazon’s drone carriers, which could cut the one-hour delivery time in half, has yet to receive approval from the FAA for domestic use. Amazon joins companies such as Postmates, WunWun and Uber in the market for expedited delivery services. Continue reading Amazon Tests Delivery Options via Bike Messengers, Drones

Amazon Prime members who enjoy free two-day shipping and unlimited streaming of music and video can soon add Ultra HD to their subscription perks. Amazon announced yesterday that it is releasing a catalog of television shows and movies that stream in 4K, joining Netflix in a move that may provide consumers with another reason to consider a UHD TV purchase. Current UHD models offered by LG, Samsung and Sony feature a built-in chip capable of decoding 4K video streamed from Amazon. Continue reading Amazon Announces Streaming 4K Content for Prime Members