Streaming

Though there may be no shortage of free and subscription-based music services, London-based startup Bloom.fm is counting on there being room for one more. It has a trick up its sleeve: a mobile-first approach to market. Not beholden to translating desktop functionality and UI features to the smartphone, Bloom.fm has delivered a distinct take on the mobile music experience. Out today for iOS in the UK, Gizmag takes the first look at the app, and talks to the team hoping to take on the big guns.  Read More

Microsoft may change its hardware strategy, releasing an Xbox set-top box, or "Xbox TV," alongside a fully-fledged next-gen console. The less-powerful system would aim to compete with products such as Apple TV, providing users with both content streaming services and a casual gaming experience.  Read More

Activision announced today that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will support live-streaming of video to YouTube from both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.  Read More

Boxee’s latest set-top box retains its predecessor’s internet TV–streaming roots, but adds live TV and DVR capabilities to the mix. In fact, the Boxee TV’s primary focus is now live TV and its revamped user interface and simplified remote is designed to appeal to a wider audience than the Linux-based Boxee Box. Although the device is primarily a DVR for recording live TV, it comes without any onboard storage at all. Instead, the Boxee TV uploads recordings to the cloud, making the device “the first ever No Limits DVR.”  Read More

The name McIntosh Labs has been synonymous with outstanding audio quality for more than 60 years and its iconic MC275 tube amp certainly left its mark on me when I first encountered one many moons ago. Hot on the heels of the MX121 audio/video control center featuring Apple's AirPlay wireless technology released earlier this year, the company has launched the McAire free-standing personal music system that allows a new generation of discriminating consumers to stream audio from an iTunes library on a Mac or PC - or music from an iDevice - over an existing home network.  Read More

Belkin has announced the launch of its WeMo Baby device that turns any iOS device into a digital baby monitor. Comprising a Wi-Fi connecting baby monitor and an accompanying iOS app, the WeMo Baby lets anxious parents listen to high-quality audio from their baby’s room whether they're in the next room or the other side of the world … though it's probably not a good idea that the baby is left that unattended.  Read More

As big companies like Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft each compete to gain supremacy in the “Post-PC” era, a killer ecosystem is thought key to keeping users locked in to one particular platform. While we can grant Microsoft’s gaming and business pedigree, its music services have been lacking thus far, and to address this, the Redmond company is launching a new music streaming service dubbed “Xbox Music,” which will be available from Tuesday October 16 on Xbox 360, with further platforms gaining support soon.  Read More

B&O Play could be described as the hip, contemporary arm of Bang & Olufsen. That ethos is certainly reflected in the company’s soon-to-be-available streaming wireless speaker, the BeoPlay A9. Unlike traditional boxy speakers, it’s flat(ish), it’s round, and it’s designed to be looked at as much as listened to.  Read More

The world seems to be moving away from projectors. Almost all of the tech-savvy consumer's content is downloaded digitally and streamed to TVs, tablets and smartphones. The projector is kind of lost in the shuffle of all of this. Enter 3M's Streaming Projector, which merges the massive display sizes that only a projector can produce, with the streaming content for which Roku is known.  Read More