Streaming

Griffin Technology has given visitors to CES 2012 a quick preview of a new audio amplifier that uses Apple's Airport Express to offer untethered digital playback from iTunes through existing non-powered speakers. The low profile amp captures streaming audio from any AirPlay-enabled source, decodes it and then sends the lossless, amplified sound through the speakers. Read More

It's been a week of intense speculation as to the role and future of Spotify within the music industry. On Wednesday of last week the UK-based distributor STHoldings put out a strongly-worded statement (apparently since withdrawn) announcing its decision to pull the catalogues of 238 record labels from the service, as well as from Napster, Rdio and Simfy. The statement reignited the debate as to the role of Spotify and similar subscription-based services within the music industry, and it's a debate that hinges on what Spotify is, or, more crucially, what it replaces. Read More

The tiny Redbox kiosks are sprouting up everywhere, but is the company planning on firing its next shot at Netflix? Its first shot was directly responsible for crippling Blockbuster. Now, it's offering unlimited movie streaming for less than four dollars a month. Read More

LaCie has unveiled a local network-based bridge unit called the LaPlug, that allows users to share any USB-powered storage drive over a local network. It also enables the sharing of private files outside the LAN through an external address, and the wireless streaming of files to UPnP/DLNA-certified products such as gaming consoles, LaCinema Classic HD, or any other compatible equipment. Read More

In April 2010, Steve Jobs’ outlined why Flash would not be permitted on iOS devices in his “Thoughts on Flash” open letter. While Jobs made some valid points in terms of Flash’s proprietary nature, security concerns, and the fact it drains the batteries of mobile devices, the popularity of the Skyfire 2.0 mobile web browser and standalone VideoQ Flash video player showed that there were still plenty of iOS users keen to Flash video on their mobile devices. Now Adobe has finally come to the party with its own solution that will allow Flash video content to be viewed directly within Safari on iOS devices. Because Adobe will use a similar technique to that of Skyfire, users of Android and Playbook mobile devices will also benefit in terms of battery life. Read More

San Francisco's Cloud Engines has announced its first mobile-focused device at IFA 2011. Pogoplug Mobile will allow users to securely stream entire libraries of digital content from connected storage in their homes to their Android or iOS mobile phone and tablet, without having to worry about bothersome monthly fees or storage limits. It will also cater for private sharing of media with family and friends and could well be the perfect companion for Amazon's Cloud Drive and Player or Apple's upcoming iCloud service. Gizmag caught up with Pogoplug's Daniel Putterman in Berlin for a quick look at what's on offer... Read More

I think it's fair to say that many music loving mobile device users are left somewhat wanting when it comes to built-in speakers. Listening to audio either involves having to wear cumbersome earphones or sacrificing device usability to plonk it in a dedicated docking station. You can, of course, just dock your device in Soundfreaq's new Sound Step speaker and top up the battery while listening or you could keep your mobile device where it should be - in your hands. Thanks to Bluetooth connectivity, users can stream audio directly to the speaker while enjoying lots of multitasking action on the device itself. Read More

Canadian-based company UrtheCast has announced a project intended to let a wider audience view the earth from space. A pair of cameras will be installed on the International Space Station, recording videos and imagery of the planet. The project's aim is to create an internet-based video streaming platform, thus allowing for online viewing of the footage being recorded in space. It's "the world's first and only near real time high definition video from space," according to UrtheCast's website. Read More

It's been a good while coming but Google's music streaming service has finally arrived. Called Music Beta, it's available by invitation only and restricted to U.S. users ahead of rollout elsewhere. The service appears to be very similar to Amazon's Cloud Storage and Player, although no music is on sale directly from Google. Rather than measure the size of your collection by the gigabyte, however, Google will allow users to store up to 20,000 music tracks from their personal collection in an online vault, with no restrictions on bitrate. Music Beta offers users instant sync across devices, the ability to play selected music offline and intuitive playlist creation based on the mood of a selected track. Read More