Blog articles from 12/2008

2008 was full of all kinds of Web TV and Web CE announcements, about which I dutifully blogged as I could. I think that 2009 will include some similar focus, where not only premium Web video is made available, but also stripped-down Internet applications (a.k.a. "widgets"). So, what's the outlook for the CE industry in 2009? The Web TV Market The challenge for HDTV manufacturers is how to differentiate and add value to their displays in a rapidly-maturing...

The incoming administration has made clear their intentions to put the U.S. back in the top 10 for broadband penetration. While the U.S. ranks number one in terms of the number of subscriptions, it comes in at number 15 behind France and Germany in terms of penetration per 100 inhabitants. In that regard, the legislative activities in Washington are setting the stage for another move in the chess game between the cable operators and the Telcos. The cable operators have been offering...

Viacom and Time Warner Cable are in a dispute over carriage fees, as Viacom wants an increase in fees for their channels. In response, Time Warner has threatened to no longer show programming on any of Viacom's cable channels, starting at 12:01 a.m. January 1'st. Unfortunately for many Time Warner Cable subscribers, Viacom carries some of their favorite programming. No more Viacom channels on Time Warner Cable means no more Nickelodeon, no more Comedy Central, no more MTV, and no...

Today's Wall Street Journal has a couple of articles about cable's power struggles with cable TV programmers. First, is the battle that is playing out between Viacom and Time Warner Cable. We posted this news item earlier today, noting that this is a classic example of the problem that cable providers have with their rather uneasy alliance with the programmers. The power lies with the programmers, who have enormous flexbility to charge not only carriage fees, but get the lion's share of...

CNET is reporting that LG Electronics will expand online video content relationships in 2009 to include CinemaNow and YouTube. This video will be available at the TV through their connected Blu-ray players.

From the EE Times , some of the major players in streaming media, including device and receiver makers, radio broadcasters and music service providers, have joined forces to launch an industry forum dubbed the Internet Media Device Alliance to develop and promote a set of open, interoperable standards and device profiles to drive the market for Internet-connected media devices. Initial member companies and organizations include Frontier Silicon, Audiovox, France Telecom, Reciva,...

HP announced some updates to the MediaSmart Servers on Monday (the ex485/ex487). I can't find the official release on their Website to provide a link, but PCMag.com did a nice write-up. The big stuff is the support of Mac back-ups and iTunes streaming, but I got to see the MediaSmart Server in action at a special workshop in November, and I liked some of the media centralization capabilities it brings, as well as the ability to publish photos to sharing sites straight from the Server...

Interested in savings? Of course you are...who isnt? Wouldn't you like to monitor your energy consumption (including electric, gas, water, wind, solar panels, etc.)? An Angilewaves System could be your answer! With a usage readout including details with by hour, day, month or year, you can monitor your energy consumption and review any savings from alternative energy systems (solar, wind and/or geothermal heating). You can even go back several years to view savings if you change...