entertainment

Verizon Fios TV app bringing 26 channels to Xbox 360

Verizon's live-television offering for Xbox Live is coming next month, the company announced today.

Starting in December, Xbox Live Gold members will be able to download a Verizon Fios TV application to their Xbox 360 gaming consoles. Upon doing so, and as long as they're both Verizon TV and Internet subscribers, they'll be able to watch live programming on 26 channels through Verizon's service. Verizon didn't say which channels will be offered, but it did acknowledge that the selection will depend "on the customer's TV package."

Microsoft announced a wide-ranging television agreement last month … Read more

Google working to close music licensing deals

LOS ANGELES--In the days leading up to the launch tomorrow of Google Music, the company has continued to try and close licensing deals.

On Friday, CNET reported that Google had signed a licensing deal with Universal Music Group but had not signed Warner Music Group or Sony Music Entertainment, though those companies continued to negotiate.

All Things Digital reported last week that EMI had also penned an agreement.

The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Google will likely launch with Universal, EMI as sell as Sony. Music industry sources say that Google has labored right up to the finish … Read more

T-Mobile may be part of Google Music launch

LOS ANGELES--A lot of news has leaked out about Google's launch of its upcoming music service but the company may yet offer a few surprises on Wednesday.

Google has invited journalists to a press event here on Wednesday and sources have told CNET that the company will launch Google Music then. But today Google sent a new invitation for a party it is throwing after the press event with the help apparently of T-Mobile.

The title of the invite reads "Experience the world of T-Mobile and Google."

The invite also says that the party will include live … Read more

Sony's music service adds Pandora-esque feature

A big update landed Monday for users of Sony's Music Unlimited streaming audio service, adding custom artist channels and an array of playlist updates for the PlayStation 3 client.

In our hands-on, the new My Channel feature on the Music Unlimited web site allowed me to create a custom channel by simply inserting an artist's name, as does Pandora. It was simple to setup, so I offered Radiohead and Drake to see how things would play out. According to Sony, the channel is created by "analyzing and categorizing musical traits of more than 10 million tracks" and offering an array of tracks relevant to the inputted artist's sound.

… Read more

Porn channel shows Google TV is open, all right--wide open

Vivid Entertainment, one of the largest purveyors of adult films, wants a piece of Google TV.

The Los Angeles porn studio today launched Vivid for Google TV, a service that lets its subscribers trawl for all sorts of explicit content from Vivid through set-top boxes running Google TV. Vivid hasn't created a specific application for Google TV, but rather optimized a Web site for the service using HTML5.

Google declined to discuss the offering beyond emailing a statement that pointed out anyone can create a Google TV-optimized site. Google went on to offer instructions for customers who want to … Read more

Imagining a future with Apple's TV

All the recent speculation about a possible Apple television has prompted Jean-Louis Gassee, an Apple exec from way back who's now general partner of venture-capital firm Allegis Capital, to offer a provocative vision of what Apple's set might do.

For example, Gassee isn't so convinced that Apple will want to develop an "integrated television" that features many of its services. After all, he says, consumers don't typically replace televisions "after 18 months" like they do with a smartphone or tablet. What's more, he's not sure Apple will want to get … Read more

Time Warner's home-video revenue plunges

The alleged increases in Blu-ray sales that Hollywood is supposedly seeing weren't obvious in Time Warner's earnings report.

The conglomerate that operates such media properties as Warner Bros. Pictures, Time magazine, HBO, and Turner Broadcasting, reported today large drops in home-video revenue for the quarter ending September 30.

The New York-based company said quarterly revenue in home video and electronic delivery for television shows came in at $161 million, down from $215 million a year ago--a 25 percent decrease.

In home video and electronic delivery for films, revenue shrank 21 percent, from $534 million for the same quarter … Read more

Vizualogic shows off Android-powered headrest monitors

LAS VEGAS--Vizualogic's Android rear-seat entertainment (RSE) system is not the first of its kind that we've seen, but it may yet end up being the first to market.

The replacement car seat headrest features an integrated full-color, 7-inch capacitive touch screen that allows rear-seat passengers to interact with the Android 2.3 operating system. When asked why Gingerbread was used rather than the newer and tablet-optimized Honeycomb (or Ice Cream Sandwich) versions of the Android OS, Vizualogic stated that the the unit would be updated to version 3.1 or better by the time it reaches production. However, … Read more

MHL demo: Samsung Galaxy II turned home-entertainment system

Around about this time in 2010, I blogged about WHDI and its potential to change the way we entertain ourselves in a big way when this wireless display is implemented in mobile devices. Now a year later, that reality is still in the distant future.

Fortunately, there's something else to take its place. It's already here, and chances are your phone and HDTV at home come with it. It does require a wire, however, but that's a good thing.… Read more