March 17, 2008
Today Microsoft and Adobe announced that Flash Lite will be licensing Flash Lite and Reader LE for Windows Mobile devices. Flash Lite may not be able to accommodate everything that the desktop Flash player can do, but its inclusion should open up the door to more content viewable on Windows Mobile devices. Of course, Microsoft has its own competing standard for such content in Silverlight, but with its arrival on mobiles not slated for some time and with Silverlight still not able to read Flash content for some time, so I see it as more than a stopgap measure.
Adobe has seen a number of operators, such as Verizon Wireless here in the U.S., use Flash Lite as a platform for user interfaces. Enabling Windows Mobile to include such functionality should make that operating system a more viable contender for mainstream handsets.
Tags: Adobe, Flash Lite, Microsoft, Silverlight, Windows MobileJanuary 4, 2008
Just when you thought your 3G network could comfortably handle low-resolution video, Sling Media has finally gone hi-def. Of course, it intends to position this primarily for moving content around the home to PCs and other televisions (once the SlingCatcher hits next year), but the timing couldn’t be a better fit for my presentation of high-def beyond the television as part of a presentation that I’ll be giving at CES. Sling must have a fair percentage of users that use the streaming function within the home or a strong belief that those numbers will increase once the loop is closed. It seems it’s not just for expats and road warriors.
This is also the best looking Slingbox to date. The company has definitely stepped up its industrial design from the early days of the funky Chunky bar.
Tags: slingbox pro HDNovember 26, 2007
Back in April, I wrote a couple of columns about the Squeezebox, now offered by Logitech. In the first one, I mentioned that it and the Roku SoundBridge were generally acknowledged as the best in their point-to-point class, but I hadn’t gotten any hands-on time with the SoundBridge until recently when I checked out the SoundBridge Radio. There’s a lot to like here. The all-in-one design eliminates the clutter of separate speakers although sound quality won’t compare with the best table radios.
That said, it has dual alarms and a generous snooze bar. And I also liked that there’s an SD slot if you’re nervous that some interference will prevent your favorite tunes from streaming you from your dreams. Older SoundBridges had a Compact Flash slot, but the Squeezeboxes have been constrained to local network and broadband music sources. Roku, unlike Slim Devices/Logitech and Sonos, has been relatively quiet on the deal-making side with broadband music service providers.
The user interface is also pretty easy although text entry is less efficient than on the SqueezeBox. A great setup feature, though, is that it recognizes iTunes playlists without needing to install separate software like the geeky SlimServer. For that reason, it is a better fit for people who place the most emphasis on simplicity in accessing music from their PC.
Tags: Roku, SoundBridge RadioNovember 8, 2007
News comes this morning that Logitech will acquire WiLife, makers of the simplest to install digital video home surveillance system in the market. When I tried the product last year, I had some struggles with its HomePlug underpinnings, even though I’d previously had good results with HomePlug. In any case, the software is very well-done and this will fit well into Logitech’s product portfolio.
Logitech has a strong track record of building acquisitions such as Intrigue, which developed the Harmony remote, and Connectix’ QuickCam business, which greatly accelerated its webcam business. Indeed, Logitech should leverage the QuickCam brand with its new acquisition.
Tags: cameras, Logitech, Lukwerks, security, surveillance, webcams, WiLifeSeptember 5, 2007
Engadget has ferreted out the FCC approvals for the Slingbox Catcher and Slingbox SOLO. We’ve already heard a wee bit about the former when it was called the SlingCatcher — it will have Wi-Fi, an optional hard drive, and be able to receive Slingbox broadcasts, closing the loop on the Slingbox’ place-shifting capabilities. But, hmmm, what could this SOLO device be? Well, were I to speculate based slowly on the name, it might be one device that would encompass both transmission and reception capabilities. Guess we’ll find out soon enough.
If so, and Sling has added digital media receiver (aka, Apple TV) capabilities to both devices, it will have effectively conquered a holy grail of being able to send practically any kind of media to practically any kind of TV in the home (and beyond). This is no mean feat. Months ago, I tried a product that attempted this kind of whole-home video bridging and it was one of the worst product experiences I’ve ever had (although in fairness, the product was really aimed more at new construction with high-speed connections and, no, I’m not going to say what it was). But given Sling’s performance over humble 3G cellular networks, I like its chances.
Update: Dave Zatz writes to tell me that it’s still called the SlingCatcher, not the Slingbox Catcher. Actually, though, maybe it should be called the Slingbox Catcher because “Slingbox” has probably attracted more brand recognition than the company brand.
May 29, 2007
Over at CrunchGear, Mike Kobrin opines that memory card usage in MP3 players and music-playing smartphones, which is that they will be the key to sharing your media across your various devices. With this, he reveals Sony’s aspirations for Memory Stick circa 1999. And alas, this dream wasn’t even realized by its more popular and capable rival SD. Mike could counter that things are different now since the cards are getting much bigger; 8GB microSD will be here before long. Still, not many MP3 players support removable memory although SanDisk certainly has its reasons.
As I suggested when I criticized Motorola’s promotion of these cards as bringing the ROKR Z8 up to par with standalone MP3 players,. I disagree. Memory cards haven’t even emerged as the primary way that digital cameras — their most popular host device — exchange photos with other devices, and any removeable media is simply doomed to be out of date within minutes in this age of constant content acquisition.
Mike decries Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for this kind of sharing, but it’s not a problem with the networks. It’s a weakness of there being any kind of reliable cross-platform, cross-device synchronization. Indeed, this is a holy grail of consumer technology and something I plan to bring up the next time I speak with the DLNA.
GigaOm compares the approach of WeFi to two other startups attempting to create a quilt of Wi-Fi from the patches of consumers’ homes. Wasn’t this the original business model of Sputnik and now-gone Joltage Networks in the Wi-Fi mini-bubble circa 2002? Fon seems to have been the most successful of these so far, but I have a lot more faith in service-provider initiatives from MetroFi, EarthLink and others; even these will require some fresh thinking to make the numbers work.
May 24, 2007
My friend and fellow Engadget columnist Jeremy Toeman takes HP to task for promoting “HDTV 2.0,” a marketing sobriquet for the notion of a television connected… to home networks and the Internet at least. What does this have to do with “HD”? Not much, except that the higher resolution makes it easier to display text and the more generally available digital inputs facilitate the attachment of computing devices. (Tracing the tortured history of digital television in the U.S. through Grand Alliance days, it looks like Microsoft in retrospect won the war over progressive scan.)
Does having another marketing term such as “HDTV 2.0″ add to the confusion? Yes. Does “full HD”? Yes. How about contrast ratios and refresh rates and three different microdisplay technologies? In terms of impact, HP will be lucky if the notion of connected television becomes important enough in consumers’ minds to raise any fear, uncertainty or doubt. This is particularly true for tasks other than receiving on-demand video over IP, where the goal is to emulate the familiar, evolving mainstream cable experience. But HP is still free to compete in the marketplace of ideas. The TV, so often a big piece of passive glass for which intelligence extends only to image processing, has a timely opportunity to play a larger role in the home network as consumers seek to minimize the clutter of the home theater.
April 12, 2007
Nintendo has been a bit cagey picking and choosing its convergence, or at least non-gaming functionality, battles. Today the company announced the “final” version of the Wii Web browser, including functionality that has struggled as a standalone device (or maybe it’s been that subscription-fee bugaboo again). The Wii may even be muscling in on MSN TV’s core audience.
On the other hand, while the company has offered limited photo viewing via its SD card slot, there are no DMA features, which the Xbox 360 is including as an obvious Trojan Horse play. Wii has all the hardware on board to be a decent DMA though I doubt we’ll be seeing the “Wii Elite” (Weelite?).
Of course, at the other end of the horsepower spectrum, Sony has eschewed DMA features on its PS3 as well. This could also be remedied with a simple firmware update, but Sony has shied away from streaming from its PC to the television (but is going the other way), going straight to the Internet in terms of its upcoming Bravia module. On the other hand, Sony’s PC line is now unusual in that it makes only laptops and media center PCs intended to be directly connected to televisions.
Incidentally, Next Generation reported yesterday in the continuing consumer frustration with Wii supply despite its retail success. You heard it here first, folks.
April 10, 2007
I received a fair amount of feedback on my Apple TV vs. TiVo column from a few weeks ago, but none on the headline. Come on, people! Doesn’t anyone remember the famous New York Post headline? Anyway, some readers have suggested that Apple TV is really more competition for cable itself than simply TiVo. For that argument, I will consider cable as coming without DVR service, since cable DVRs are unavailable without cable, and we’ve already considered Apple TV vs. TiVo, which is one of the best retail options for those who would want DVR service without cable or satellite.
TiVo’s business model was initially designed to make it an attractive partner for cable, but such is not the case with Apple TV. Apple TV dips its toe into what some regulators have been asking for in “cable a la carte” but goes even further. Whereas cable a la carte advocates would like cable providers to offer only the channels they want, iTunes sells content by the series or even the episode.
Apple claims that it now offers 70 percent of the primetime offerings of major broadcast and popular cable networks such as Bravo. Of course, cable and satellite providers offer over 1,000 hours per week of programmed entertainment, even though we’ve all heard the complaints about there being “500 channels and nothing on.” When asked in an Engadget Mobile interview about broadcasting TV to cell phones a la MediaFLO, Helio CEO Sky Dayton responds rhetorically, “When was the last time you watched linear programming?”
Nonetheless, there’s still a lot on broadcast and cable that isn’t on iTunes, or isn’t on iTunes until the followiong season. As was the case for TiVo, if your tastes don’t wander outside iTunes’ selection (which will certainly grow), buying your content from iTunes may make sense, but for now Apple TV can’t compete with the breadth of cable or satellite television that most consumers value.
