twonky

How to watch YouTube videos on Roku

Of the 750-plus channels Roku has to offer, there's one big guy missing from the pack: YouTube.

Considering its front-and-center presence on other platforms -- like Apple TV and Samsung Smart TVs -- its conspicuous absence might seem odd. But, Roku's CEO offers a logical explanation, noting that "YouTube insists on using HTML5 for its UI," and seemingly refuses to build a Roku-specific app.

YouTube's absence hurts so bad that even third-party developers have created channels almost exclusively designed to stream YouTube, only to be pulled days or weeks later.

As of this writing, there … Read more

DoCoMo launches waterproof kids' phone

I still see kids in the Tokyo subway actually using payphones (remember those?) to call their parents as they make their way home from school. Telecommunications giant NTT DoCoMo seems to be launching this just-for-junior Android-powered smartphone to convince them to knock it off.

The HW-01D (PDF) comes in yellow, blue, or pink. It's powered by Android, has a 2.0-inch QVGA screen with a 240x320 resolution.

The browser and phone can be restricted to parent-set contacts and sites.

It has a 100-decibel alarm to ward off nasty people, GPS, and can send SMS texts so you can keep … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 19: Google TV is here, do you need it?

Google TV is here, Android Sued again, and all the CTIA news you can handle, All that and more coming up on this week's edition of Android Atlas Weekly.

Google TV http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2370416,00.asp

Microsoft sues Motorola over Android http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/microsoft-sues-motorola-over-android/?news=123

Google spits back at Oracle’s Android suit http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/06/google_answers_oracle_android_lawsuit/

Nielsen report shows smartphone buyers flocking to … Read more

Twonky Mobile: A new kind of universal remote

SAN FRANCISCO--PacketVideo, creator of an interconnected multimedia streaming suite dubbed TwonkyMedia, will officially push out its mobile complement at the end CTIA's Fall 2010 conference on Friday, but that didn't stop the company from showing off the app at a swanky cocktail party in a SOMA loft a bit ahead of schedule.

Twonky Mobile is rather aptly described by the diagram at right, which we swiped off the Twonky Web site. In layman's terms, the app turns any Android phone into a really fancy universal remote for just about any networked media device on the market today, … Read more

Sony's KDL-46Z4100 DLNA capabilities disappoint

We recently tested the network media capabilities of Sony's KDL-46Z4100 flat-panel LCD, and frankly there's not much to look at save for a slide show of colorful photography. Unlike other media-rich televisions we've covered in the past, such as the Pioneer's PDP-5020FD and the Samsung LN46A750, the Sony only supports the streaming of JPEG photos, not music or video, over an Ethernet connection.… Read more

Hands-on testing: Pioneer's new 'Kuro' doles out streaming media

Pioneer has followed the current trend of TV media streaming, introducing an Ethernet jack on the back of its latest line of Kuro televisions, the PDP-6020FD and PDP-5020FD; the latter of which we gave high marks. The set is one of a few HDTVs on the market that are certified as DLNA clients, delivering an interoperability framework that promises to allow you to painlessly stream movies, music, and photos over your home network to your attached television, using Windows Media Player 11, TVersity, or some other media streaming software. If you're not interested in using your computer as a media-hub, it might be worthwhile to check out some of these products, which offer similar streaming functionality without the clunky PC tower.… Read more