Hulu Overhauls Web Player, Says They'll Stick With Flash For Now
We're still waiting for this so-called Hulu Plus subscription to go into effect, but while everything's still free, we'll try to pretend that Hulu is just updating their video player out of the kindness of their heart. There's no certain indication that this overhaul is leading up to a paid option for select "premium" content, and it's nice to see a company such as Hulu making it easier for consumers to enjoy content. The company has rolled out a slew of new improvements to their video player this week, with
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Litl's Flash-Based Set-Top Box Plans To Rearrange Your Home Entertainment
Never heard of Litl? That's because they're a rather small (or little, if we should be so hilarious) start-up company, trying their best to compete with the big boys at Google and the like. Last year, the company introduced their version of a convertible netbook, called the Webbook. It runs a special, proprietary operating system (Litl OS), and just recently went to $399 from a high of $699 at launch. Now, Litl OS is about to find its second home, on an upcoming set-top box designed to take on the impending
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Walmart Expands Consumer Electronics Offerings
Walmart is expanding its home entertainment and technology offerings in an effort to keep Americans connected inside and outside the home. Sometime this month, the retailer is planning to carry more streaming Blu-ray players, new Internet-ready HDTVs, LED HDTVs, additional wireless products for home networking, and much more. The retailer will also rollout a dedicated area for pay-as-you-go, non-contract mobile broadband products with offerings from Verizon, Cricket, Virgin, and AT&T. Walmart Adds New Hi-Tech
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Next contest suggestion
Hey Marco and Dave maybe you can talk Microsoft ( BILL Gates) into giving you 10 copies of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit and we can have a contest for them and throw a couple of nice Games in there. Its not like Bill is going to notice them gone that would be like him giving some a dollar he would,nt miss it. Course the fact that I dont have a copy of Windows 7 might have something to do with it but its a good thought. Besides Im sure there might be a couple hundred of members on here that might not have a copy either or am I the only one. LOL.
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Litl's Flash-Based Set-Top Box Plans To Rearrange Your Home Entertainment
Never heard of Litl? That's because they're a rather small (or little,if we should be so hilarious) start-up company, trying their best tocompete with the big boys at Google and the like. Last year, thecompany introduced their version of a convertible netbook, called theWebbook. It runs a special, proprietary operating system (Litl OS), andjust recently went to $399 from a high of $699 at launch. Now, Litl OSis about to find its second home, on an upcoming set-top box designedto take on the impending Google TV.At the upcoming Flash and the City developers conference, Litl will beon-hand to reveal plans for a "new web-connected TV product slated forlaunch in early 2011 and extend the reach of its intuitive softwareplatform by releasing an Adobe Flash 10.1-based software developmentkit (SDK)." In the constant battle between Flash and HTML5, this isdefinitely a win for Adobe. But again, most everyone at this conferencewill probably be support Adobe, wouldn't you think? Chuck Freedman,Litl's chief channel evangelist, had this to say about the forthcoming debut:
"We are taking the simple, intuitive experience that we developed forthe webbook and bringing it to the family room TV. Until now,applications for TVs and set-top boxes have consisted of little morethan widgets. Our platform changes everything by enabling feature-rich,Flash-based apps without the complexity of a desktop environment. Webelieve that our platform's use of Flash will be the best and easiestway for developers to deliver great content and applications to the TV.And with the launch of our SDK, we are enabling over one milliondevelopers in the Flash community to monetize their work by buildingnew apps or porting their existing apps to our store."
It's still up in the air exactly what the Litl box will do, but it'llprobably have a job of handling Web content playback as well as surfingthrough photo galleries and the like. Also, the button-laden remote isquite unique, and could very well revolutionize the way users think ofliving room controlling devices. Then again, Apple and Comcast havealready done that, but there's always room for two revolutions in asingle month, right?
Litl to Launch Flash-Based Web-Connected TV Product
Releases Software Development Kit (SDK) to Flash Community
BOSTON, May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- At the upcoming Flash and the City (flashandthecity.com) developers conference, litl (litl.com) will reveal plans for a new web-connected TV product slated for launch in early 2011 and extend the reach of its intuitive software platform by releasing an Adobe® Flash® 10.1-based software development kit (SDK).
"We are taking the simple, intuitive experience that we developed for the webbook and bringing it to the family room TV," said Chuck Freedman, litl's chief channel evangelist. "Until now, applications for TVs and set-top boxes have consisted of little more than widgets. Our platform changes everything by enabling feature-rich, Flash-based apps without the complexity of a desktop environment."
Launched in November, the litl webbook is an Internet computer for the home. It runs litl OS, an operating system with a revolutionary user interface designed to make computing simple and enjoyable. The company's planned web-connected TV device will also run litl OS.
"We believe that our platform's use of Flash will be the best and easiest way for developers to deliver great content and applications to the TV," said Freedman. "And with the launch of our SDK, we are enabling over one million developers in the Flash community to monetize their work by building new apps or porting their existing apps to our store."
Supporting Adobe Flash Player 10.1, the litl SDK includes a code library, simulator, code samples, and documentation. The SDK will continue to advance in coming months with new APIs, including accelerometer movement, video chat, trackpad gestures, and microphone input that will allow open development of gaming, communication, entertainment and other experiences.
With the litl webbook, users can access web content through custom Flash applications that transform web content to make it more useful and entertaining. Applications custom-designed by litl and currently available to users include Facebook, The Weather Channel, Flickr, Shutterfly, and BakeSpace. With the release of the litl SDK, users will benefit from a much larger selection of applications created by independent developers and partners.
To learn more and get started, developers can visit developer.litl.com to apply for the SDK's private beta package. At the Flash and the City conference in New York from May 14-16, representatives from litl will be on hand to introduce the SDK, share rollout plans, and help developers get started.
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Walmart Expands Consumer Electronics Offerings
Walmart is expanding its home entertainment and technology offerings in an effort to keep Americans connected inside and outside the home. Sometime this month, the retailer is planning to carry more streaming Blu-ray players, new Internet-ready HDTVs, LED HDTVs, additional wireless products for home networking, and much more. The retailer will also rollout a dedicated area for pay-as-you-go, non-contract mobile broadband products with offerings from Verizon, Cricket, Virgin, and AT&T.
Walmart Adds New Hi-Tech Devices and More Ways to Save For the Always-Connected Life
Attractive New Rollbacks, Internet Connectable Products and New Services Rolling Out
BENTONVILLE, Ark., May 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As customers continue to pursue money-saving ways to build a connected life through technology and home entertainment, Walmart today announces a bundle of new products, new Rollbacks and new experiences arriving in its Home Entertainment departments nationwide and online at Walmart.com. Today's announcement introduces more ways to save and new technologies that keep Americans connected inside and outside the home.
"Starting this month, customers will discover more high quality internet-ready home entertainment products, new wireless technologies and new mobile devices in stores and online that offer simple, affordable solutions for creating a more connected life," said Gary Severson, senior vice president, Home Entertainment, Walmart U.S. "We also continue to design a well-defined shopping experience in Entertainment that enables customers to find what they need quickly, learn about new technology, compare prices among top brands, and every day find amazing value. Our commitment to the best price and surprising value is always a top priority."
New Products for the Connected Living Room
- More Streaming Blu-ray Players than Ever Before: Rolling to Walmart stores next week will be a 50 percent increase in assortment of internet content streaming Blu-ray players from brands such as LG, Vizio, Samsung and Sony, hosting internet accessible content from Vudu, Netflix, Pandora and more.
- New Internet-ready HDTVs and LED Technology: In addition to more Blu-ray players, Walmart is expanding its offering of internet connectable HDTVs, and will create a "New Technology" HDTV Center, rolling out to 1,200 stores, to showcase new ultra-thin backlit and edge-lit LED TVs, from popular brands like LG, Samsung, Sony and Vizio.
- Expanding Wireless at Home: Now a dedicated category at Walmart, wireless networking products continue will be expanded to help a fast growing market of customers find ways to simplify their wireless needs at home. New easy-to-use products like Valet and popular Belkin and Netgear offerings, with accessories, will help more customers affordably create multiple wireless connections in the home.
New Products to Connect "On the Go"
- More Mobile Broadband: Walmart will rollout a dedicated area for pay-as-you-go, no contract "Mobile Broadband" products, introducing more savings for notebook and netbook users needing internet access from anywhere. New products from Verizon, Cricket and Virgin, and exclusive product from AT&T, arrive in Walmart stores starting this weekend.
- More Ways to Save on Cellular – Introducing Common Cents:  Building off the success of StraightTalk, Walmart announces with Sprint the arrival of Common Cents – a new pay-as-you-go wireless solution that delivers an amazing value of 7-cent minutes that Round Down™ and 7-cent text messages – rolling out exclusively to 700 Walmart stores, starting May 15.
- More Offerings on Smartphones: Â Walmart continues to expand assortment and selection in post-paid cellular with dedicated wireless centers and associates to help customers compare, select and activate a plan in minutes. Expanding its Smartphone assortment by close to 60 percent from last May, Walmart Wireless continuous to concentrate on offering the best assortment from all major carriers and anticipated products, such as Sprint's HTC EVO 4G phone coming to Walmart in a few weeks.
New Enhancements to Home Entertainment
- New and Blu Movies: Walmart continues to invest in the explosion of Blu-ray, now featuring dedicated Blu-ray offers and properties in special displays within a redesigned movie department, rolling out to all stores this summer and introducing more new movie values.
- Expanding Home Theatre: Walmart's assortment of sound bar home theater systems from brands such as Vizio and Samsung, are now arriving to more than 2,000 stores.
- Larger Screen Sizes: Nearly all Walmart stores will see an increase in 42-inch HDTV sizes and more than half will see increases in assortment of 55-inch HDTVs.
Examples of Rollbacks and Special Values:*
- More than $100 saved, LG 47-inch LED HDTV (now $1,568)
- More than $100 saved, Sony 52-inch 120HZ LED HDTV (now $2,058)
- $80 savings, Sanyo 42-inch LCD HDTV (now $548)
- $50 savings, Sony E-Reader (now $148)
- $20 savings, Magnavox Blu-ray Disc Player ($78)
- 20% savings, Vizio High Definition Sound Bar ($98)
- $20 savings on select video games: Assassins Creed 2 on Xbox360 and PS3 ($39.96) and WWE 2010 on Xbox 360 and PS3 ($39.96)
- $20 eGift Card on video game pre-orders at Walmart.com, including Call of Duty: Black Ops, Halo Reach, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and more
- New photo packages that provide a 50% savings vs. individual prints in 1-hr photo
New Savings Experiences in Stores and Online:
Walmart has amplified its focus on Rollbacks this spring, lowering prices of favorite products and helping customers live better in this "new normal" with more places to learn about savings and electronics choices. These examples include:
- Savings Center in HDTV: Â Rolling out to more than 1,200 stores, customers will see a dedicated space for special buys and the newest Rollbacks on HDTVs.
- BillShrink: Customers can see if they are paying too much or how they can pay less in cellular wireless based on their personal usage through this new online tool, now available at www.walmart.com/billshrink.
- Trade-In for Cash: Walmart's Electronics Trade-in Program allows customers to trade in qualified unwanted electronics and earn Walmart prepaid Visa cards that can be used at Walmart stores and online at Walmart.com. More information is available at http://walmart.gazelle.com/.
- Brand Pages. Because customers continue to do more and more product research online, Walmart.com will begin hosting brand pages so that companies such as LG, Dell and Nintendo can provide more customized detail and education about their products.
- Walmart iPhone App: Launched last year, Walmart's App continues to keep mobile customers up to date on new savings and products in Electronics, with capabilities to search by use, characteristics and price.
- New HP Photo Publishing Solutions: New HP self-serve instant-print kiosks now rolling out to all stores are designed with efficiency-driven features to reduce wait time and deliver higher quality "prints in minutes" at excellent value.
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Intel's Wireless Display Destined For Smartphones And Mobile Devices
Intel's Wireless Display technology is one of the hottest technologieswe have seen in recent years; announced at CES this year, the techhasn't really found a home yet in products. But once it does, watchout. It basically allows products to wirelessly transfer content on ascreen onto some other screen, and it's something that could've madethe iPad a truly killer device (not to mention any other tablet PC outthere that feels like adding it in at the 11th hour).But now,Intel seems to have bigger plans. Not only will this technology findits way eventually into netbooks and notebooks, but handheld devicesare on the roadmap as well. According to new executive statements madeabout the tech, the "Wi-Di" technology will eventually ship onsmartphones, tablets and other "mobile devices." Kerry Forrell,wireless display product manager at Intel, stated that the company"full expects" to take technology to the smaller devices of the world,but he didn't provide a time frame for when it would happen.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini had even more to say on the matter: "What wewant to do is have a better out-of-box usage experience. Whatwe'll be doing over the next few years is take the Wi-Di capabilitythat's in the laptop today and extend that into all the Intelplatforms. Any of the Intel-based devices you have will be able tohandle thatseamless wireless communication of HD video between that device and thebig screen."
Can you imagine a cellphone, that instead of a projector, has awireless module that allows you to project content on the screen to anHDTV without any wires? It's a tech that could easily oust integratedprojectors, and it could easily transform the mobile handset industry.When you run out of pixels and screens cannot be made any larger, justpipe it onto a nearby HDTV. Problem solved.
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WIN AN APPLE IPAD ad.
I see there's a contest to win an iPad by explaining how your job is "The Best Job Ever".
If you're like me, and I know I am, you've seen this advert maybe a dozen times here in the last couple of days. One thing I noticed is that there's no clause about "lying". At least, not in the initial advert... I haven't clicked on it because even garbage men wouldn't want my IT job.
So, if you were going to win this contest with a lie, what would it be? Astronaut? Lamborghini test driver? Angelina Jolie's personal clothes changer?
The person with the best lie wins... well, I'd tell you what, but it would just be a lie.
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Hulu Overhauls Web Player, Says They'll Stick With Flash For Now
We're still waiting for this so-called Hulu Plus subscription to gointo effect, but while everything's still free, we'll try to pretendthat Hulu is just updating their video player out of the kindness oftheir heart. There's no certain indication that this overhaul isleading up to a paid option for select "premium" content, and it's niceto see a company such as Hulu making it easier for consumers to enjoycontent. The company has rolled out a slew of new improvements to theirvideo player this week, with a few changes in particular really settingthe bar high for everyone else to match.The new player is not only more streamlined, but it's actually largerand less convoluted. A lot of behind the scenes changes have happenedas well; using ActionScript 3, Hulu's new player utilizes adaptivebitrate streaming. This allows the player to shift video bitrates andresolution up and down continually to match the user’s bandwidth, whichprovides a better overall user experience. The menu also allows you toforce the player to stream at a fixed resolution of 480p, 360p, or288p, if you'd rather.
There's also the addition of volume normalization, a closed captioningdisplay, and a few of the more interesting features that involvesearching. Seek Preview allows users to hover their mouse over acertain spot in the video and see a brief glimpse of what's there; thishelps users nail the right spot more often, rather than just pokingaround and having to wait through ads to see if they fast forwarded tothe right spot. Furthermore, there's a new Heat Map feature that letsusers see where specifically that other viewers have frequented,enabling you to better guess those "awesome parts" to jump to. Both ofthese are surprising additions; Hulu makes money from ads, which areviewed more if users watch more. Helping users skip to the places theylike could undermine that, but we're guessing that Hulu assumes moreusers will join in now that the experience is better, which should morethan offset the difference.
Hulu closed out the news post with a note on HTML5. HTML5 has been allthe rage of late, as it's a video format supported by Apple and theiriPod touch, iPad and iPhone. It's an alternative to Flash, but Hulu'snot buying in. The company says, basically, that HTML5 isn't advancedenough to handle everything they need it to. Hulu does more thandeliver video; they also log views, send information to advertisers,etc. Basically, they're sticking with Flash partly due to contractobligations. They're still watching developments in the space, though,so don't count HTML5 out yet.
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Great I-Phone Game
When I have few minutes I like to kind of search for games in the app-store and I found one that I would like to share with you guys. Hotfield so far is a pretty descent game and taken the boreness out of me while my kid is sleeping. hope you guys like it is free right now.
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