By means of third-party utilities, Android has featured the ability to stream to AirPlay devices like the Apple TV for some time now, but no Android device has ever shipped with native AirPlay support in tow. That all changes with the launch of the HTC 10, the first device to ship with officially licensed support for Apple’s popular AirPlay protocol.
As screensavers for their latest streaming device, Apple filmed beautiful slow motion video of cinematic locations and landmarks. Developers have since discovered the public URL for the video files and packaged them up for other uses. Now, there is an Android app that turns the Apple TV’s screensavers into Daydreams for any Android device.
Today we’re comparing the forth generation Apple TV to the NVIDIA Shield. These are quite possibly the two best set top boxes out right now. I won’t be going into every little detail here, but instead the things that are most important for myself. But before we get in-depth with either option, let’s take a look at specifications between the two…
According to recent data released by Parks Associates, Chromecast is the second most popular streaming device. Roku, according to the data, is the most popular streaming media device manufacturer with 34 percent of the market, while Apple TV currently is the fourth most popular streaming media device based on 2014 sales, down from third place in 2013.
Google announced today that it is beginning the retirement process of YouTube’s Data API v2, and that means that some older devices, including older Apple and Google TV set-top boxes, will no longer be able to access the video streaming site. The change is also going to affect users of older gaming consoles and iOS devices as the deprecated built-in YouTube apps will be unable to access the service…
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The 57th annual Grammy Awards are scheduled to take place this weekend on Sunday, February 8th, and CBS just sent over details on the only official live stream of the event accessible through your Android smartphone, tablet or Chromecast connected TV.
Head below for all the details on how to watch official streams for the event on your computer and all of your mobile devices.
CBS has broadcasting of the event locked down this year, and so for mobile users the only official live stream available of the actual awards show will be the CBS app (US only).
It will require a CBS All Access subscription, however, and is also only available in 14 major markets, including: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Baltimore. It’s clear CBS is trying to push its All Access service, which offers next day access to TV shows, live TV in some markets, and on-demand content, but you can watch using a free trial and cancel before it expires…
Normally $6 month, you can take advantage of a free week trial of CBS All Access to watch the show.
The live stream kicks off at 8p.m. – 11:30p.m. live ET/ delayed PT.
The official GRAMMYs and CBS apps will have a live stream of the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony and red carpet festivities starting at noon PT/3 p.m. ET, and the app will offer a second screen experience of sorts for those viewing the awards on TV at home.
Stream the 2015 GRAMMYs LIVE with CBS All Access on February 8th at 8/7c! Get ready to tune in to the GRAMMYs live stream now by starting your free CBS All Access trial.
Again, CBS will be the only source of a live stream online through its CBS All Access service. The good news is you can grab a free week trial of CBS All Access, which will give you access on mobile devices as well. This will probably also be your best bet for streaming to the big screen via the Chromecast extension.
Like on mobile devices, GRAMMY.com and CBS will have a live stream of the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony and red carpet festivities starting at noon PT/3 p.m. ET online, and also offer a second screen experience of sorts for those viewing the awards on TV at home. The main event takes place 8 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. live ET/ delayed PT.
The Apple TV today received a brand new YouTube app, bringing it up to speed and largely mirroring the experience available on other set-top boxes, with new predictive search and recommendations. The previous app felt like something built by the Apple developers internally, whereas this new app seems to be predominantly designed by Google … with rich YouTube branding throughout.
Google’s diminutive and cheap Chromecast is making strong headway against its competitors according to a report today by Parks Associates. Priced at $35 but now going for just over $20, the dongle, which is controlled by Apps on iOS and Android devices rather than a traditional remote has passed the almost forgotten Apple TV and is closing in on the king of streamers, the Roku. Roku and AppleTV represented two thirds of the market last year but with entrants like Chromecast and Amazon’s Fire TV/Stick, the two dropped to around half the market.
The research finds Roku is still the leading brand with 29% of sales, but Google Chromecast (20%) has supplanted Apple TV (17%) in second place. New entrant Amazon Fire TV is in fourth place with 10%. Consumer content choices are also increasing, with Showtime and Sony planning to launch their own OTT video services to compete with Netflix and HBO.
“Nearly 50% of video content that U.S. consumers watch on a TV set is non-linear, up from 38% in 2010, and it is already the majority for people 18-44,” said Barbara Kraus, Director, Research, Parks Associates. “The market is changing rapidly to account for these new digital media habits. Roku now offers a streaming stick, and Amazon’s Fire TV streaming stick leaves Apple as the only top player without a stick product in the streaming media device category.”
Sticks are where it is at it would seem. Conversely, Google’s Nexus Player, introduced in October, has yet to make a blip but it might also show up in results next year.
A new NFL Now app has launched on Android & iOS, offering fans a personalized video stream of their favorite teams.
NFL Now delivers a personalized video stream of your favorite NFL teams, players and coaches right to your phone or tablet. Get exclusive interviews and stories about your team, breaking news on your fantasy players, and unlimited access to your favorites in the NFL Films Archives.
This official NFL product combines all of the intense football you love with a smart, easy-to-use interface. NFL Now learns what you like and delivers a non-stop stream of customized NFL content gathered just for you …
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhKZ0fQhbeg]
Amazon recently surprised us with its Fire TV set-top box, offering a native solution for customers to stream movies, music, and even play games. Fire TV will only set you back $99, and in my opinion, it’s just what Amazon needed. Instead of relying on third-party streaming solutions, Amazon now has the power to take its media services in a new direction. Take a look at our overview video above to see Fire TV in action.
Since its release, CyanogenMod developer Koushik Dutta has been at the forefront of expanding the Chromecas’s capabilities. He first released his AllCast app that allowed users to beam a variety of content to their Chromecast, and now, he’s updated his Mirror for Android app with a few big new features. In a post on Google+, Dutta announced that Mirror for Android has been updated with the ability to mirror your Android device’s screen to a Chromecast or a Chrome browser. Dutta has been teasing this feature for a while, but he finally released it tonight, albeit in a very early beta.
The feature works just as you expect. After installing the app and going through the set-up process, you have the option to mirror your entire Android device’s interface to your Chromecast, Chrome browser, or even Apple TV. Mirror also allows you to create a video recording of your Android screen.
Mirror lets you:
- Create a video recording of your Android
- Mirror your Android screen to Chromecast (Nexus 5 only)
- Mirror your Android Screen to Chrome (Nexus 5 only)
- Mirror your Android screen to an Apple TV
Of course, there are some bugs given that it is still in an early beta. Chromecast and Chrome mirroring is also only supported on the Nexus 5, as it’s the only device that has the required hardware video decoder for the app. You also must have root-access to your device and have the SuperUser app installed.
If you meet all of these qualifications, head over to Dutta’s Google+ page where you can sign-up for the beta and get access to the Mirror for Android app. Dutta hopes to release it, without root required, to the Play Store officially soon. Check out the video demo up above.
Streaming TV is heating-up. Amazon looks set to launch its TV box in March, we’re expecting Apple to announce a new Apple TV box in April, and Google is reputed to be not far behind with a Nexus-branded box.
So-called cord-cutting – people who give up their cable TV subscriptions in favor of streaming content over the web – is growing in popularity. Mobile TV viewing on tablets is increasingly common.
All of which makes me wonder whether we’re witnessing the beginning of the end of live TV … ? 
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Earlier this month, ClockworkMod developer Koushik Dutta made his AllCast app available in beta to people willing to provide feedback on the app. This morning, however, Dutta released the app to the Play Store, making it available to everyone. AllCast is free to download, although there is a $4.99 premium option available to remove ads, splashscreens, and the limit on video length.
Well-known CyanogenMod developer Koushik Dutta is at it again, this time with a new app for Android that allows users to beam their local content to a variety of set-top streaming boxes, including the Apple TV, Roku, Xbox, PS4, and any other DLNA renderers (via Engadget). The app, entitled AllCast, is incredibly simple to operate. Once it is installed, simply go to a video that is local on your device and tap the cast button in the upper right corner and a menu will pop up, asking you where you would like to cast it. Within seconds of choosing a device, the video will begin playing on your TV.
The process works very much like the Chromecast and Apple TV, though with local videos as well. AllCast is huge for Apple TV users, as it was easy for them to cast videos from their Android device to the set-top box. Though, it’s worth noting that it only works with local videos, not videos from streaming services.
In order to download AllCast, first you must join the ClockworkMod Beta Testers Community, then sign up to be a beta tester for AllCast, and then install the actual app from the Play Store.
Check out a video demonstrating the app below:
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This morning we reported that Amazon had trademarked FireTube, and the trademark could serve as a name for the company’s long-rumored TV product. Now, the WSJ follows up by claiming said device is on Amazon’s roadmap for the holiday season. Here are some of the details on the device:
Of course, the device could be shelved at the last minute, but given the uptake in reports about an Amazon TV device, today’s trademark discovery, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s want to expand his company’s hardware portfolio, it seems likely that the device truly is in the imminent Amazon product pipeline.
An FCC filing spotted by Dutch site TabletGuide.nl (via Engadget) suggests that Google may be working on a new streaming media player to replace the Nexus Q, the device Google announced, shipped to pre-order customers free of charge and then withdrew from the market.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is working to expand its hardware offerings, this year, beyond the Kindle e-readers and tablets (like the Kindle Fire). According to the new report, Amazon is working on two smartphones, including a high-end model with a 3D display. Like other smartphones currently on the market, this display could be interacted with via a user’s eyes:
Following in the footsteps of Apple and Google attempts at the set-top-box market, Amazon is planning to release a set-top-box, according to Bloomberg.
They say the box will plug into TVs and give users access to Amazon’s expanding video offerings. Those include its a la carte Video on Demand store, which features newer films and TV shows, and its Instant Video service, which is free for subscribers to the Amazon Prime two-day shipping package. The Amazon set-top box will compete with similar products like the Roku, Apple TV and the Boxee Cloud DVR, along with more versatile devices like the Playstation 3 and the Xbox. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.
The device is reportedly being developed in Amazon’s Cupertino based labs and could launch this fall. The project is reportedly being spearheaded by a former Apple and Cisco employee:
The project is being run by Malachy Moynihan, a former vice president of emerging video products at Cisco (CSCO) who worked on the networking company’s various consumer video initiatives. Moynihan also spent nine years at Apple (AAPL) during the 1980s and 1990s.
Perhaps this future product is the reason that Apple and Amazon have no deal for Amazon content streaming on the Apple TV.
Since Google unveiled its Nexus Q streaming device at Google I/O, more and more details have come out about what is essentially a set-top box (albeit orb-shaped) Apple TV competitor with a built-in stereo amplifier. Google was first to make it clear that the device was manufactured entirely in the United States, and a report from The New York Times later confirmed the Q “was being assembled in a large factory 15 minutes from Google headquarters.”
Today, a report from Reuters quoted Google’s Senior Director of Android Global Partnerships John Lagerling explaining that the decision was based on the ability to innovate faster and not necessarily cost:
“We wanted to innovate fast. This is the first end-to-end hardware product that Google has ever put out,” said John Lagerling, Google’s senior director of Android global partnerships.
The cost of building the orb-shaped Nexus Q, a cross between a streaming video box like Apple TV and a stereo amplifier, “was not the No. 1 priority,” Lagerling said. “We wanted to see if we could do fast (design iterations) rather than having our engineers fly across the world.”
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One feature that Samsung shared today at the S II launch event, which possessed more than a passing resemblance to its iOS counterpart, was “AllShare Cast.” It is a way of slinging video around the house. To go with it, Samsung is adding an “AllCast Dongle” to the mix to catch those videos and put them on an HDTV a la Apple TV.
On one hand, it is pretty blatant copying. On the other hand, it is really useful.
DoubleTwist player, the app that aims to provide the functionality of the iOS iPod in a single Android app, keeps adding features that take it even beyond the functionality of Apple’s iPods. Today, an update to the app adds several welcomed improvements and fixes, and the most notable is support for Google Music. The blog post noted Google Music offline tracks would now appear in the app’s library.
Also included in v1.7.3 are fixes for the latest Apple TV update and downloading album artwork. As always, the app includes several other improvements and bug fixes, and it can be downloaded for free from Google Play. The devs were also able to reduce the size of the app in the update, which is always nice while receiving new functionality in the process.
As promised in their latest horrific earnings report, Logitech has lowered the Revue GoogleTV box to just $99. That’s $200 less than it was yesterday, though sales had it near $150 in the past. Best Buy has dropped the price as well. Other retailers have yet to drop their prices, though that is expected to change soon.
Sony is also deeply discounting their GoogleTVs as well, though they haven’t made a formal announcement on the matter.
Google is expected to roll out a Honeycomb update for the Logitech/Sony GoogleTV by the end of summer which will give the device the ability to run apps on the big screen, a simplified interface as well as numerous other optimizations and improvements. Via 9to5toys.com
Press release follows:
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It is no secret that Google TV failed to hit the ground running as the notion of having to buy another box for their TVs fell on deaf ear with the general public. It is no surprise then to find out that Google TV boxes are not selling very well, just like the Apple TV (picture below). What we didn’t know is how bad the situation is for the search giant’s pet project. TIMN points at a prepared statement from Logitech, the maker of Google TV-powered Revue box, in which the company acknowledged “very modest sales” of the product in the June quarter:
Sales of Logitech Revue were slightly negative during the quarter, as returns of the product were higher than the very modest sales. We believe the significantly lower everyday price for Logitech Revue, reduced from $249 to $99, will generate improved sales.
Google on its part will update the Google TV project with Honeycomb code later this summer, adding the ability to download and run apps on your television. But despite the aggressive price cut which will cost Logitech $34 million in one-time charges and the fact that the Revue now price-matches the $99 Apple TV, ordinary consumers will still be avoiding set-top boxes in droves, regardless of a brand.
Apple on its part could tackle the market with a rumored full-blown television set with the Apple TV functionality built-in. Apple’s op-chief Tim Cook recently in a conference call with Wall Street analysts re-iterrated Apple’s stance that the Apple TV box remains “a hobby” for the company. The comment jibes with Steve Jobs’s argument from the Wall Street Journal’s D8 conference last year when he said set-top box makers like Apple and Google faced a go-to market problem, calling the television market “balkanized” (full quote and video below the fold).
