Sony, Samsung, Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic and other manufacturers of HD television are introducing sets this year that stay permanently connected to your home Internet network. Apple TV , PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 are devices that already allow online streaming. But these new TV sets will make the process easier and cheaper, and eliminate the need for set-top boxes. Setup is simple as long as the router is in the same room as the TV (Wi-Fi is not an option in most sets).
For example, with Panasonic’s service, called Viera Cast, installed on 42-inch Panasonic PZ850 plasma TV, user see “Internet channels” like Bloomberg TV, Weather Channel, YouTube, and features like Picasa photo-sharing site.
In all TV sets the range of film offering is still very limited. Many manufactures are contracting with studios to stream movies and television shows on demand, or are working with established video providers such as CinemaNow or Netflix.
A significant number of people watch prime time shows online, not on TV
More than 20 percent of people watch some amount of prime tie shows online, according Integrated Media Measurement Inc. Within that group of online viewers, 50 percent are watching programs as they become available and are starting to use the computer as a substitute for a television.
The conclusion of this consulting firm is that “migration of consumption for one platform to another is only a matter of time.”
Gannett invests in Mogulus $10 million
Mogulus.com is getting a $10 million investment from Gannett, according to Silicon Alley. The company, one of the many live video companies searching for a business model, had previously taken $2.7 million over two rounds.
Gannet was already Mogulus most important customer.
Mogulus is a live television studio in a single application: you can broadcast live, scheduled live, or on-demand with real-time graphics. You can stream live from a laptop with a wireless card. It’s also an embeddable player.
Nokia doesn’t cede any ground to chase U.S. tech giants
Nokia is buying for $410 million London-based Symbian, the leading maker of operating system software for advanced mobile phones (known as smart phones), and creating a foundation that will give away Symbian’s software for free. This is an attempt to take on Apple, Google and Microsoft, as a growing number of people tap the Web from handheld devices.
Symbian software is now used in 56 % of smart phones and high-end devices (such as Nokia’s Nsries). But competition in the field is growing fast. Google backs Android operating system. The LiMO Fundation has won wide backing with Linux for mobile phones. Apple with its sleek iPhone gains support among software developers.
Nokia’s move by opening up Symbian and making –and therefore more people likely to use it and improve on- could hurt rivals such as Microsoft that charge royalties for their Windows Mobile software (13% market share; then comes Blackberry, 12 %; Linux, 9%; Mac, 7%).
Expert say that in the end, it is unlikely that one operating system will prevail in handsets, the way Microsoft has dominated the PC business. Big players like Motorola and DoCoMo use Symbian, but they are also involved in both LiMO and Android.
