Roku and 3M have announced their Streaming Projector — a new Wi-Fi mini projector capable of 60 lumens, that features 800 x 480 pixel resolution and can expand to a 120-inch screen.
“Measuring 7.8 x 7 x 4.5 inches and weighing just a little under 1.5 pounds, the mini-Streaming Projector runs on the Roku Streaming Stick, which contains all your entertainment apps such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, ‘Angry Birds’ and more,” reports Digital Trends.
“You can also access the Channel Store to add more streams, such as CNBC — which will display the live channel as well as stock tickers and news headlines,” adds the post.
A separate $20 remote may appeal to those seeking an intuitive controller with built-in motion sensor (for example, those who want to play “Angry Birds” by projector). And the Streaming Stick is removable for those who want to connect HDMI ports from an Xbox or laptop.
The $300 wireless Streaming Projector has a rechargeable battery and built-in stereo system. It will ship on October 22.
“The entire device is essentially the Roku 2 XS, the company’s top-of-the-line media center, now with a built-in projector capacity,” notes the post.
AT&T announced its plans to carry the Samsung Galaxy Camera, which is expected to be the first combination of point-and-shoot camera and smartphone.
“The Samsung Galaxy Camera is becoming a hotly anticipated item, thanks to its recently announced Dropbox compatibility and next-gen, ultra-connected focus,” reports Digital Trends.
“AT&T announced it will be supporting the 4G (HSPA+, most likely) camera, which will have run Jelly Bean and have access to the full catalog of Google Play apps,” explains the post.
The Galaxy Cam features a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor, 1GHz processor, 21x optical zoom and 4.77-inch HD touch display. Expected to launch within the next few weeks, pricing has yet to be announced.
Digital Trends describes the Samsung Smart camera line as “a pleasant surprise” in regards to Wi-Fi connectivity. “Manufacturers have struggled with implementing this feature in an easy-to-use, simple way for users, but it’s something that Samsung has done incredibly well. And we only expect this to be an even more fluid experience with the Galaxy Cam.”
The device “stands a decent shot at cornering the consumer camera market: Wi-Fi enabled point-and-shoots are a hot commodity, and strapping a Galaxy S3 to one only sweetens that deal,” suggests the post. “It’s cutting edge, especially for an industry that’s been remarkably slow to adopt and adapt to mobile technology.”
It was just a decade ago that digital image sensors replaced film, rocking the world of photography. But that was only the beginning of many new changes.
CNET reports that during the Photokina show, “it was clear a second wave of change is sweeping through the industry. Cameras produced during the first digital photography revolution looked and worked very similarly to their film precursors, but now designers have begun liberating them from the old constraints.”
The article suggests that three major developments are pushing new changes: “a new class of interchangeable-lens cameras, the arrival of smartphones with wireless networking, and the sudden enthusiasm for full-frame sensors for high-end customers.”
CNET writes of the camera’s broadening ecosystem, which includes new lens mounts and mirrorless cameras in addition to “stacks of technology that can include processors, operating systems, app stores, online services, social graphs, and user accounts with accompanying credit card numbers.”
The article features details regarding an “explosion” of mirrorless offerings from Sony, Canon, Fujifilm, Samsung, Pentax and others.
“The result is a new phase of experimentation that’s refreshing but risky,” the article suggests. “Photographers get a wealth of new choices, but they’re betting on camera systems that might not survive as today’s experimentation settles down into tomorrow’s winners and losers.”
“For ordinary people, the biggest change in photography is the arrival of smartphones with respectable if not stellar cameras,” notes the article. “Because people always carry their phones, those cameras are the ones increasingly used to document people’s lives photographically.”
After the Kinect for Xbox took off for enhanced gaming, many have imagined other uses for the motion-recognition technology. But when it comes to personal computing, the Kinect cannot quickly and accurately detect hand and finger movement. 3Gear wants to change this.
The San Francisco startup has created a gesture interface that can track finger movements using two 3D cameras positioned above the user on either side.
“3Gear’s system uses two depth cameras (the same type used with Kinect) that capture 30 frames per second. The position of a user’s hands and fingers are matched to a database of 30,000 potential hand and finger configurations,” which takes only 33 milliseconds, explains Technology Review.
3Gear has made the technology available to developers for free until November 30.
“The hope is that developers will create useful applications that will expand the reach of 3Gear’s hand-tracking algorithms,” notes the article. “Eventually, says Robert Wang, who co-founded the company, 3Gear’s technology could be used by engineers to craft 3D objects, by gamers who want precision play, by surgeons who need to manipulate 3D data during operations, and by anyone who wants a computer to do her bidding with a wave of the finger.”
Interest in gesture-recognition has increased, but in personal computing the technology must compete with the familiar keyboard and mouse.
“One problem with gestural interfaces — as well as touch-screen desktop displays — is that they can be uncomfortable to use,” the article states. “They sometimes lead to an ache dubbed ‘gorilla arm.’ As a result, Wang says, 3Gear focused on making its gesture interface practical and comfortable.”
According to numbers from Twitter, the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney was the most tweeted about political event in U.S. history. Twitter logged 10.3 million tweets about the debate with more than 250,000 mentioning Big Bird (in response to Romney’s PBS comments).
Although Twitter has only been around since 2006, “in that short time Twitter and other social media platforms have fundamentally changed the political landscape,” writes BBC News.
“Anytime you get more people engaged and fired up about politics and the vote they have a right to make, that’s a great thing,” says Clay Schossow, co-founder of New Media Campaigns, a Web design & development firm in North Carolina.
“People are telling [journalists] what stories they want to see,” Schossow adds, noting that trending Twitter themes impact the next day’s news.
But being so engaged in Twitter during a debate or other event could cause some to miss out on key moments, notes Patrick Ruffini, president of Engage, LLC, a Washington, DC political media firm. “I find myself missing big lines,” he points out. “I’m engrossed in Twitter and engrossed in my own personal consumption of the debate itself as opposed to what’s said on screen.”
Some analysts are concerned that the real-time nature of social media will have a negative, perhaps reactionary impact on news coverage and shaping the post-debate narrative. Brendan Nyhan, a professor of government at Dartmouth College, turns off Twitter during the debate and recommends that journalists do the same.
“More and more people are turning to Twitter to discuss their political views, and don’t show any indication of turning back,” suggests BBC News. “Twitter users — and the American electorate — will learn to adapt accordingly.”
Nielsen reports that television viewership for Wednesday evening’s presidential debate jumped 28 percent to 67.2 million, compared with the first debate of the 2008 election.
Broadcast networks dominated, with ABC drawing 11.25 million viewers, NBC 11.07 million and CBS 10.58 million.
On cable, Fox News was the leader with 10.42 million viewers (its highest-rated presidential debate ever). CNN was second with 6.05 million total viewers and MSNBC was third with 4.71 million.
In a related story from AllThingsD, online video streaming also attracted viewers: “This year, you definitely didn’t need an old-fangled television to watch the debates, with online offerings ranging from simple videos to live fact-checking and commentary.”
YouTube’s politics channel carried an array of content from multiple sources and had “millions of live streamed views of the debates, and one of the highest number of concurrent streams ever for a YouTube live stream,” according to a company spokesperson.
Ustream reports 3.5 million views of debate and debate-related videos, while CNN says their debate videos were started about 5 million times with 1.2 million global users viewing live. Streaming was also available from AOL, Hulu, Aereo and others.
Logitech announced it will launch its Harmony Touch remote this month in the U.S. and Europe. Clearly influenced by smartphone design, the device features a 2.4-inch color touchscreen with channel icons.
Instead of surfing through existing channel guides, users simply tap the icon of their desired network to change the channel — and in similar fashion to mobile screens, functions are controlled by swiping, scrolling and tapping.
The screen holds up to 50 channel icons and can display nine at a time. The icons can be positioned based on most watched channels.
Alternate activities can be controlled by the remote as well, such as switching from cable programming to setting up for video game access.
“Consumers that also own the Logitech TV Cam HD will find a Skype function on the Harmony Touch which can be used to place and accept calls, mute the volume during the call or control the camera’s zoom and angle,” notes Digital Trends.
“The Logitech Harmony Touch is compatible with more than 225,000 home-entertainment devices and more than 5,000 brands, and it can control as many as 15 devices,” notes the press release.
The $250 remote is currently available on the Logitech site and will be offered by retailers including Amazon and Best Buy later this month.
University of Edinburgh researchers have developed a wireless networking system capable of transmitting 130 megabits per second using light waves.
The researchers call their project “Li-Fi” and use “LEDs to transmit data to photo-sensor receivers by making changes in the intensity of light that researchers claim are so fast they are imperceptible to the human eye,” reports Ars Technica.
The goal of the system is to use existing light sources to transfer data. This would greatly impact the mobile industry, where the technology could be integrated into the phone’s camera. This would allow for fast download speeds using natural light sources.
Li-Fi has advantages “including its broader potential spectrum for transmissions — over 10,000 times more spectrum than radio — allowing for thousands of signal channels in the same space, as well as its greater transmission speed as a result,” notes the article.
The system also has the advantage of only working within a particular line of sight. This would allow for secure networking within a closed room environment.
The post includes a 13-minute TED video featuring a Li-Fi demo from Harald Haas, University of Edinburgh’s professor of mobile communications.
Traditional e-reader E Ink models were great for reading in sunlight, and for nostalgic readers who preferred the book-like look of the text, but were ineffective for reading in bed because they lacked their own light source.
But Barnes & Noble changed this with its Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, which allows readers to read an E Ink tablet in dark settings.
Now Amazon has countered with the Kindle Paperwhite, a self-lit E Ink e-reader that reportedly has more even lighting than the Nook.
The Simple Touch with GlowLight’s largest drawback was that the lighting system created hotspots, where some text was unevenly lit. The Kindle Paperwhite has hotspots, but only at the bottom of the screen where its bulbs sit. The rest of the screen is lit evenly through a fiber optic cable.
Overall, the Kindle provides a more comfortable reading experience, but the Nook may provide better value.
The Nook comes with a wall charger, whereas Kindle owners must either pay $10 for a charger or just charge the device from a USB port. Also, the Kindle displays advertisements on its screen saver and on the bottom of the home screen, while the Nook never displays advertisements.
Apple has reportedly begun mass production of a smaller tablet, commonly referred to as the iPad Mini in recent press coverage.
According to unnamed executives at component makers, the new tablet will feature a 7.85-inch LCD with lower resolution than the latest 9.7-inch iPad.
The Wall Street Journal reports: “South Korea’s LG Display Co. and Taiwan’s AU Optronics Corp. began mass production of the LCD screens for the new device last month, the people said.”
Last month, AllThingsD reported that Apple has plans to unveil the new tablet in October. The company may need the smaller device to stay competitive.
“Google in July introduced the Nexus 7, with a 7-inch screen and a price of $199,” notes WSJ. “Amazon last month released the latest models of its Kindle Fire tablets, with the entry-level model priced at $159. Apple’s newest iPad, released in March, starts at $499.”
In a related report, Digital Trends suggests the iPad Mini is expected to cost no more than $300 and Apple’s official unveiling may come as soon as October 10.
Since Steve Jobs passed away, CEO Tim Cook has approached Apple with less creativity, but also with more maturity, suggests Businessweek.
Cook has increased the value of Apple, improved working conditions at Chinese manufacturing partner Foxconn and diplomatically worked with investors to provide the dividend that Jobs notoriously refused to offer.
Cook has also improved Apple’s operational capacity, “lining up the company’s suppliers to support the unprecedented scale of the iPhone 5 launch,” according to the article.
Apple stock has risen 75 percent under Cook and has become the world’s most valuable company. “Tim has seemingly pulled off what many people doubted he could, which is to sustain and add to Apple’s incredible momentum,” says Michael Useem, director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the Wharton School.
While Apple has seen initial success under new leadership, it remains a question whether Cook can successfully launch products not yet imagined (arguably Jobs’s greatest asset).
For now, Apple is spending much of its resources on developing laser cutting technologies to create even thinner products, and on the development of its own customized chips. If Apple could develop its own line of chips, it could distinguish itself further from other products that run on Intel chips.
While initial ratings for new and returning TV series have been disappointing for big networks thus far, DVR playback numbers are helping to close that gap.
“The big question raised by the growing influence of DVR numbers is how the increase in delayed viewing may shake up industry practices — in everything from how a show’s performance is evaluated to how and when networks spin ratings results,” reports Variety.
Because DVR playback numbers don’t arrive for a week or two after the original air date, it’s difficult to tell if a show is doing well at first.
“The average DVR lift from viewing done within three days of the initial telecast, or what Nielsen dubs Live-Plus-3 ratings, for Big Four network shows during last week’s premiere onslaught was 26 percent, up from 20 percent during the comparable week last year… and even more viewing will take place later in the week after a telecast, boosting the Live-Plus-7 tallies as well,” according to the article.
More people are using DVRs this season because more people own them. DVR ownership in U.S. homes jumped from 42 percent last fall to 46 percent today. “Among viewers in the 18-49 demo, the rate is 51 percent. And they have clearly learned how to use their machines to full advantage,” writes Variety.
Major Hollywood talent is finding television — especially cable — more attractive than ever due to its improved quality and expanded possibilities in the digital revolution.
“The television business is so much better for the modern digital era,” said Chris Silbermann of ICM Partners, speaking at the Entertainment Business Managers Power Breakfast in Beverly Hills this week. “Really, it is just so much more organically aligned.”
“He said the episodic nature of many TV shows makes more sense in the digital realm, especially as shows that find an afterlife on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and elsewhere,” writes The Hollywood Reporter.
He also said that digital popularity and subsequent revenue are making increased production budgets possible for television series, which means profits are beginning to reach new talent.
“Digital dollars trickle down. We’re seeing a lot of shows, particularly from cable, that would not have had an afterlife in syndication being sold (to digital),” he said.
Silbermann suggests that Netflix’s “House of Cards” will prove to be an important test. “A lot of people have said it will be a watermark show. If they promote it well and it does well, then the flood of talent is going to go there. They have to prove not only that they can make a good show, but they have to prove they can market it.”
Four out of the top 10 scripted broadcast television shows have more activity on social TV startup GetGlue than on Twitter, and for cable scripted TV, the number is even higher at 9 out of 10.
The data suggests that GetGlue, with one million active users, is competing — and in some cases surpassing — Twitter with its 140 million users. But as AllThingsD points out, measuring social TV chatter is complicated.
For example, you can interact with different services in multiple ways (on Twitter, you can tweet, retweet, or ‘favorite’ a comment), not all of which are accurately accounted for.
“The numbers that GetGlue is using here only tell us about the volume of chatter, not the total number of chatterers,” the article states, suggesting much of the activity could come from individual users. Another possibility is that social TV talk just isn’t that popular.
“For instance, a new episode of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ draws around 12 million viewers. But even if you use the most generous interpretation of GetGlue’s stats, the combined active GetGlue + Twitter social audience would be under 65,000 people — much less than 1 percent of CBS’s total,” the article explains. “If you try the same math with HBO’s ‘True Blood,’ the most social show on cable, the numbers might top 3 percent, but that one’s very much an outlier.”
On the other hand, big events like awards shows or sports finals see a large amount of social interaction — mainly on Twitter, and much less on specialty services like GetGlue.
Facebook is introducing a new tool that lets users boost their visibility by paying a small fee to have their content displayed more prominently on the social network, essentially turning users into micro-advertisers.
Fees will reportedly vary, but Facebook is initially charging $7 to promote users’ content in testing that began Wednesday with a limited number of U.S. users.
Facebook claims the move is not a planned shift from its current free-to-use model, but an addition to its line of premium services. The promoted-posts-for-users feature was initially tested in New Zealand, and the company says it has conducted similar tests in 20 other countries.
“With Facebook’s revenue growth rate showing a sharp slowdown in recent quarters, many analysts and investors believe the company needs to find new ways to make money,” reports Reuters.
“Last week, Facebook unveiled a feature that lets U.S. users buy and send real gifts, such as eyeglasses, pastries and gift cards to their friends,” explains the article. “Initially available to a limited number of users in the United States, Facebook Gifts could signal the company’s intent to play a bigger role in e-commerce.”
Roku and 3M have announced their Streaming Projector — a new Wi-Fi mini projector capable of 60 lumens, that features 800 x 480 pixel resolution and can expand to a 120-inch screen.
