Headline Feeds|
Microsoft Could Be Saving Xbox One's Best for E3 May 22, 2013 
Microsoft's new Xbox One video game console, announced with fanfare on Tuesday, is certainly a step forward -- but the early reaction has been mixed at best. Much of the massive attention it caught from Twitter users, for example, seems to be anything but positive. There's a perception that Microsoft focused too much on living room entertainment and too little on gaming.
|
Nintendo Scoops E3 With Previews of Upcoming Titles May 17, 2013 
Nintendo has once again gone straight to gamers with its latest Nintendo Direct video to generate hype for its latest offerings. The video game console maker and game publisher announced Friday that popular characters will arrive for the Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo 3DS handheld system. The latest Nintendo Direct primarily focused on games coming out this summer.
|
|
New Google APIs Target Play and Games May 15, 2013 
Google on Wednesday announced new APIs for Google Play services and gaming, new features for the Google Play Developer Console, and a new Android Integrated Developer Environment at the Google I/O 2013 Conference in San Francisco. Google Cloud Messaging, which pushes data from servers to Android apps, has been made part of Google Play services.
|
Microsoft May Pull the Plug on Xbox Points May 15, 2013 
Microsoft may cash in its Points virtual payment system. The company reportedly will discontinue Points in favor of a cash-based system that will accept credit and debit purchases, as well as gift cards purchased at retail outlets. Microsoft Points are the virtual currency for Xbox Live. Players purchase points, which can then be used to buy games and content.
|
|
Google Vows 'Radio Without Rules' With Streaming Music Service May 15, 2013 
Google on Wednesday unveiled Google Play Music All Access, a $9.99 per month subscription streaming music service that allows users to discover and curate music on the company's platform. The company announced All Access during the keynote of this year's I/O Developer's Conference, its annual gathering where it often publicly launches new hardware, software and product applications.
|
Aereo's Audacious Ambitions May 13, 2013 
Aereo -- the lawsuit-embattled company that provides Internet-streamed, live, and recorded over-the-air broadcast television content -- may have started a trend. None other than Time Warner may be considering the redistribution of public broadcast content over the Internet too. What it comes down to is that a bunch of micro-antennas in a Brooklyn warehouse may change everything.
|
|
YouTube Tinkers With Subscription Model May 10, 2013 
YouTube unveiled a new subscription plan this week and announced that it will start allowing select channels to charge for monthly viewing plans. It's the first time the online video hub will charge for content. Channels including Jim Henson's TV will show episodes of Sesame Street for subscriptions starting at $2.99 per month.
|
BlueStacks Horns In on Ouya's Gaming Turf May 09, 2013 
The war for gamers is heating up with BlueStacks' introduction of GamePop, a system that will allow users to play thousands of mobile gaming apps on a TV screen. The GamePop custom console and game controller are being offered free through the end of May to subscribers who sign up for the $6.99 per month service. Gamers can preorder the system now, with the console expected to ship in the winter.
|
|
Sky HDTV Could Make Your Cord-Cutting Decision Easy April 30, 2013 
It's hardly a surprise that cable and satellite television service providers are in trouble. Take decades of complacency, add in mostly awful customer service, mix liberally with resistance to change, and you have an industry heading toward self-inflicted extinction.
|
TV Networks vs. Technology: The Battle Rages On April 29, 2013 
Earlier this month, News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey threatened to pull the Fox network off the airwaves and convert it to a pay-TV channel. This came following a court ruling that allowed New York City-based Aereo to allow its subscribers to view over-the-air TV broadcasts.
|
|
Amazon Droops Following Profit-Light Q1 Report April 26, 2013 
The market digested the earnings report Amazon released on Thursday, and toward the end of trading Friday it was clear investors were less than pleased, with the company's stock down by about 6.5 percent. Little wonder: Amazon reported that its net income decreased 37 percent to $82 million in the first quarter, compared with $130 million in the first quarter of 2012.
|
Amazon Box Could Be Another Ecosystem Building Block April 25, 2013 
The world's largest online retailer, Amazon, may soon challenge Apple, Google, Roku and other set-top box makers with a delivery device of its own. While cable and satellite set-top boxes remain among the most popular content delivery hubs in the living room, they have been challenged by other hardware, including game consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, which can stream a variety of content.
|
|
Netflix Plays Its Q1 Cards Right April 23, 2013 
The market is popping champagne corks over Netflix's latest earnings report. A day after the company delivered boffo results and beat Street expectations for the first quarter, its stock has soared by some 25 percent. Netflix posted net income of $3 million, compared with a loss of $5 million a year ago. Profits were 31 cents a share, far more than analysts' expectations of 20 cents.
|
Magellan SmartGPS Does the Cloud Right April 22, 2013 
With smartphones and an increasing number of tablets becoming GPS-capable, it is easy to write off dedicated GPS players. So many seem stuck in the past -- days when devices needed a wired connection for updates and didn't seem to be aware of Web services they might be ideal for, like Yelp. I think it is time to revisit the dedicated GPS player, and I'll use the Magellan SmartGPS as an example of the current best of class.
|
|
Twitter's #Music Whistles a Happy Tune April 18, 2013 
Long before a tweet was a 140-character post on Twitter, it was a component of birdsong. Now the microblogging site is singing the praises of its new Twitter #Music, an app that will help users find tunes they'll like, based on their current preferences and songs' popularity on Twitter. The app utilizes Twitter activity, including tweets and other engagements, not only to identify the most-popular tracks, but also to detect emerging artists.
|
Kobo's Aura HD Targets Folks Who Want to Curl Up With a Good E-Reader April 17, 2013 
Kobo on Monday introduced the Aura HD, an e-reader that sports some high-end touches such as a one-month-plus battery life. Other features that set the Aura HD device apart from other e-readers in the market include a high- resolution E Ink display and a 6.8-inch screen designed to look and feel more like a book. The Aura HD, which retails for $169.99, became available for pre-order on Tuesday on the Kobo site.
|
|
What We Think We Know About Twitter Music: Presumably Uncondensed April 15, 2013 
Twitter has officially announced its forthcoming push into the digital music space. After weeks of rumors, including one that promised such a service would officially launch over the weekend, Twitter has announced that something, indeed, is coming. On Friday, Twitter made public its music website. Then it slightly revised the wording over the weekend to say "coming soon." There is a link inviting users to sign in.
|
Google, EU Reach Meeting of the Minds April 15, 2013 
In an effort to appease European regulators, Google for the first time has agreed to make legally binding changes to its search results. The changes stem from a two-year investigation into whether Google abused its online search dominance in Europe. The changes will not force Google to amend its algorithm, but instead will require it to clearly label search results from its own properties.
|
|
Next Xbox May Mark the Spot for Home Entertainment April 11, 2013 
All may be revealed on May 21, when Microsoft officially unveils its next-generation video game console and follow-up to its popular Xbox 360. In the meantime, the rumor mill is churning. Xbox executive Adam Orth reportedly departed Microsoft this week after engaging in a controversial Twitter exchange related to the console's rumored "always on" requirement.
|
Fox Gnashes Its Teeth Over Aereo April 10, 2013
While anyone with the right antenna can pick up a broadcast TV station's signal for free, the fact that Aereo allows subscribers to view time-shifted streams of over-the-air television has some broadcasters threatening to go the pay-TV route. News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey this week threatened to pull the Fox network off the airwaves and convert the network to a pay-TV-only channel.
|
See More Articles in Entertainment Section >>
