Streaming
For the very first time in human history, a human voice was streamed from the surface of another planet and traveled some 168 million miles (267 million km) into space before it was heard on Earth. The audio was a pre-recorded message from NASA administrator Charles Bolden, who sent a congratulatory message to the engineers involved in the US$2.5 billion mission to safely land the Mars Science Laboratory – better known as the Curiosity rover – on the surface of Mars. Read More
Connectify, a company known for software that can turn your computer into a wireless hotspot, is at work on a new project called Dispatch that will turn all internet connections available to your device into one glorious (and hopefully faster and more stable) stream of high-speed bandwidth. Read More
Internet movie-streaming service Netflix announced today that it has hit the million-subscriber milestone in the United Kingdom and Ireland within seven months of launching in the region, faster than any other region in which it has launched. Read More
When Google unveiled its Nexus Q streaming media player at this year’s Google I/O conference, it claims the device’s spherical form factor was met with positive reviews but that many felt the functionality of the device was lacking. Based on this feedback, Google has decided to postpone the Nexus Q’s launch indefinitely while it works to add to the device's functionality. But it’s not all bad news for the early adopters who pre-ordered the device, as they’ll be getting one of the original models for free. Read More
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) announced today that it has acquired cloud-gaming company Gaikai for approximately US$380 million. Sony further confirmed that it is to employ the newly acquired technology to launch a brand new cloud service of its own, perhaps pointing toward the tantalizing possibility of PlayStation Vita integration in the near future. Read More
With Sony's NSZ-GS7 Internet Player and Vizio's Co-Star, this week has been a big one for Android-based media streamers. Not to be outdone, Google has announced its Nexus Q media-streaming device at its I/O conference. The device, which is powered by an OMAP4460 processor, is something Google hopes will change the way people share their entertainment in the home. Nexus Q will stream HD movies, YouTube clips, music and Google TV content from the cloud. Read More
Hot on the heels of the announcement of Sony’s NSZ-GS7 set-top box, Vizio has unveiled its own Google TV-based device that merges live TV with streaming entertainment in the form of the Vizio Co-Star Stream Player. Connecting the device to a HDTV will turn it into a smart TV capable of surfing the Web full screen using Google Chrome with support for HTML 5 and Flash content, accessing Google Play apps, streaming online video content, and – in a media streamer first – playing games via the OnLive cloud gaming platform. Read More
Zoom has announced a smaller brother to the company's excellent Q3HD handycam. First shown at Frankfurt's Musikmesse 2012 in March, the new Q2HD shares many of the feature set with its bigger sibling, but sports something called Mid-Side stereo microphone technology instead of an X/Y pattern. Mid-Side stereo audio recording was first introduced in Zoom's H2n Handy Recorder and offers precision control over the width of the stereo field, allowing users to decide how much of the surrounding noise/ambient sound gets through to the recording. Read More
Microsoft has announced the world's first game console with subscription-based pricing, making the Xbox 360 more accessible to those interested in gaming on a budget. The new package will cost US$99 up front, with a two-year contract of $15 a month, much like your average cell phone contract. This is an entirely untested price model for videogame consoles, and may prove to be a stroke of genius for Microsoft, whose Xbox 360 is closing in on its seventh anniversary. A new price model could breathe life into the system for years to come. Read More
Microsoft has announced plans to scrap native DVD playback from Windows 8, instead focusing on improving video streaming abilities by making it easier to access services like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube. Citing a decline globally in physical media sales, Microsoft is investing in a future without discs, and is hoping to keep costs down by removing DVD licensing fees. However, those interested in having access to their collection of DVDs do have options, as Microsoft claims that third party DVD software will be readily available to fill the void where Windows Media Player once was. Read More
