Vudu is adding some free video content to its set-top box. Streaming video from providers such as YouTube, MSNBC, CNN, MTV, PBS, and National Geographic will be available, as will access to Flickr and Picasa photos and a handful of casual video games. The new content will be available via a free firmware update that’s scheduled to hit all Vudu boxes over the next 24 hours.
The new services will be available as part of what Vudu is calling the Rich Internet Application platform, or RIA. (It’ll be available on a tab called “Vudu Labs” on the set-top box’s main home screen.) Vudu hasn’t signed deals with any of the above-mentioned content providers; instead, the RIA is using freely available Web content and feeds. Vudu is planning to open up its RIA platform to third-party developers in the first half of 2009. The company is also noting that the platform is optimized for fairly low system requirements (“a 300 MHz embedded processor with 128MB of RAM”), suggesting that the Vudu Rich Internet Application platform could be ported to other set-tops as well.
Vudu gave CNET a sneak peek of the RIA features a few days early. We think it shows promise, but–as always–content is king, and there’s not yet a wealth of must-see TV there. …
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(Credit: SCEA)If all goes according to plan, PlayStation Home will be opening its doors to the public later today. The PlayStation 3-exclusive allows gamers to interact with one another using avatars in a virtual environment via text or voice chat (think Second Life, but on the PS3). The free …
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(Credit: TiVo)Netflix streaming is now available on TiVo Series3 DVRs. The feature was announced a several weeks ago, but the idea of a TiVo/Netflix partnership dates back to September 2004.
The service is effectively identical to the Netflix feature available on the LG BD300, Samsung BD-P2500, BD-P2550, Roku Player, …
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(Credit: iLuv/Jwin)Earlier in 2008, iLuv made news with its release of the i168, one of the most affordable tabletop HD Radios to date (currently available for less than $100). Now the company is turning its sights toward online audio with the iNT170. The bedside clock radio employs the …
(Credit: CBS Interactive)As expected, Samsung has added support for HD streaming of Netflix video to its BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 players. The upgrade is available as a free firmware update (players should automatically prompt users to install the software update, or DIYers can download it from Samsung’s support site …
Continue reading about HD streaming added to Netflix-compatible Samsung Blu-ray decks
(Credit: TiVo)TiVo is launching a cell phone-friendly Web site that will allow users to search programming and set their TiVo DVRs remotely. TiVo Mobile will be a free service available “with any Internet-enabled phone through any network, regardless of carrier,” according to the company. Any user will have access …
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(Credit: Blockbuster/2Wire)When 2Wire introduced its MediaPoint set-top box just two weeks ago, we told you that “it’ll be a matter of weeks–if not days–before you see a yet-to-be-named service provider offering its own version of the MediaPoint, possibly at a sub-$100 price point.” The curtain has been pulled back, and that initial provider turns out to be Blockbuster Video. For a limited time, the once-dominant movie rental chain is offering its version of the MediaPoint box for just $99, which includes a credit for 25 movies–effectively making it free.
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(Credit: CNET)The 2.3 firmware update for the Apple TV is now available, but it delivers just a select few feature enhancements. According to Apple’s support Web site, here’s what you get:
- Music can be streamed via AirTunes to Airport Express speakers or other Apple TVs in
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(Credit: CBS Interactive)As someone who’s never been a big fan of AM/FM radio, I never really saw the advantage of HD Radio. At first, the all-digital format promised little more than CD-quality digital transmission of existing stations. Then the broadcasters added multicasting, offering “HD2″ stations that weren’t available at all on analog hardware. They even sweetened the deal by temporarily reducing or suspending commercials on those HD2 stations (though that program has recently ended).
But the thing that most retarded the growth of HD Radio adoption was the price of the hardware. The earliest tabletop HD Radios, for instance, cost upwards of $500–not exactly an impulse purchase. In the years since, prices have tumbled: tabletop and in-car models hit $200 last year, and newer HD-enabled clock radios can be found for under $100 now. Still, as far as in-home options none of the models we’d tested had really blown us away.
That’s finally changed with the Sony XDR-F1HD. …
Continue reading about Sony XDR-F1HD: The best home HD Radio we’ve tested–and it’s under $100