Smart TVs will be “big-ticket items for hackers” this holiday season, said Symantec threat researcher Candid Wueest in a blog post. The firm researched the various ways a smart TV can be the target of cyberattacks and found that within a short time, a brand new set can be so infected with ransomware as to make it “ultimately unusable,” Wueest said. It found that hackers can easily install malware on the TV because not all its Internet connections make proper use of secure sockets layer encryption, and some that do don’t verify SSL certificates “thoroughly enough,” he said. For example, some TVs accept “self-signed” SSL certificates, “which are easy for attackers to create,” he said. When a user downloads an app to a smart TV, “the attacker could intercept the request and redirect it to another server,” he said. “So instead of the TV downloading the real app from the legitimate server, the request is redirected to a different server, which instead sends down a malicious app to the TV. Once downloaded, the user still has to accept the permissions requested by the malicious app and open it, but since the user doesn’t know the app is not the real one, they will likely accept and install the app anyway.” Though firms like Symantec have “yet to see any widespread malware attacks targeting smart TVs,” that doesn’t mean attackers “won’t target these devices in the future,” he said. To mitigate the threats, smart TV owners need to review privacy policies carefully and “understand the data you are agreeing to share,” he said. Users also should be careful “when installing unverified applications from unknown sources,” and to enable “app verification” in the TV’s settings whenever possible, he said.
In a new twist on the smart TV, Asus is selling a candy-bar-size HDMI-enabled Chrome OS device that it said turns a TV or monitor into a Chrome OS PC. With Chromebit CS10 ($85), users can browse the Web, watch multimedia content and access “thousands” of features and apps on the Chrome Web Store, Asus said. The Chromebit CS10 boots up in seconds, delivers full HD video and has built-in anti-virus software, the company said. Users set up Chromebit by logging in to their Google accounts. The Chromebit CS10 has 2 GB RAM, 16 GB eMMC storage, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and USB and HDMI ports. Customers receive 100 GB of Google Drive cloud storage with the device. It can be used with USB hubs and paired with compatible Bluetooth keyboards and mice. Chromebit can also be used for digital signage, the company said.
New consumer products like the Apple TV box and Amazon's $50 Fire tablet and its updated Fire TV point to a TV future with tablets rather than DVRs or videogame consoles being the foundation of living room streaming, The Diffusion Group analyst Joel Espelien said in a blog Tuesday. Apple TV and the iPad Air 2 share the same A8 processor, while Fire TV's MediaTek MT8173 processor is similar to the MediaTek 8135 behind the new Fire HD tablets, TDG said. That means Apple and Amazon streaming boxes will be on the same annual upgrade cycle as their tablets -- something "unheard of in living room devices," TDG said. It also creates a challenge for Microsoft as it now needs to consider putting out a $99 Surface-based Windows 10 streaming box "to get away from the long product cycles endemic to video console design," TDG said. The new consumer products also indicate that voice search is increasingly a staple of the mobile phone and tablet space operating systems. "Consumers are steadily evolving toward a new paradigm of video consumption based on app stores, device home screens (that show multiple apps), app home screens (that show featured content) and anchored by robust voice search," TDG said, adding that the traditional electronic program guide "is history." Amazon's plan to support 4K streaming video in Fire TV illustrates the likelihood that streaming, not broadcast, will be the driver of 4K adoption, TDG said. The Apple TV hardware platform almost surely will support 4K by next fall, TDG said.
VocoPro introduced a karaoke mixer with an optical input and wireless microphones that’s designed to work with smart TVs. Many smart TVs have access to dedicated karaoke apps such as Karaoke Channel or Red Karaoke, VocoPro said, or users can choose from karaoke tracks on YouTube. The SmarTVOke ($149, minimum advertised price) is compatible with any source that has a digital optical output and sound systems (including analog) with 1/8-inch or RCA inputs, said the company. The two included wireless microphones operate in the 2.4 GHz band, and each mic has volume and effect controls. An optical cable is included.
The BBC took a “simple low cost brainwave reading headset” and developed a “Mind Control TV” prototype for its iPlayer streaming service, Cyrus Saihan, head-business development, said Thursday in a blog post. It allows users to open an “experimental version” of iPlayer and choose a TV program to view “using nothing but their brainwaves,” Saihan said. For now, it’s an “internal” BBC prototype designed to give program creators, technologists and others “an idea of how this technology might be used in the future,” he said. In its first trial run, 10 BBC staff members all were able to launch iPlayer and start viewing a program “simply by using their minds,” he said. Though it was “much easier for some than it was for others,” all who tried it “managed to get it to work,” he said. BBC researchers envision using the technology “to help users with a broad range of disabilities who cannot easily use traditional TV remote controls or other conventional interfaces,” he said. For example, people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis “may increasingly be able to use brain-computer interfaces to get a better experience of digital and media services than they currently do, potentially opening up the online world of information and experiences that the rest of us now take for granted,” he said. “Our proof-of-concept is only an experiment and just a toe in the water, but it helps our initial understanding of how we might be able to control devices using our brainwaves in the years to come.”
Sharp has become the first Japanese brand to sell TVs through the Roku TV platform. It joins Chinese brands Hisense and TCL and Best Buy’s Insignia house brand as TVs that offer direct access to the Roku Channel Store via the Roku reference design and operating system. The Roku TV-enabled Sharp TVs are available through Best Buy stores in the U.S. and Canada, said Roku. The Sharp Roku TV models have HD resolution and a 60 Hz native refresh rate, said Roku. The 43-inch Sharp Roku TV was selling at Best Buy.com Wednesday for $379, which was $20 less than a 42-inch Sharp model listed as an exclusive Best Buy offering. The 50-inch Sharp Roku TV was selling for $499, the same price as a non-Roku-enabled 50-inch Sharp TV, we found. A new feature in Roku TV is Roku Feed, which lets viewers know when shows or movies they’re interested in become available to stream, and at what price, said the company. With the Feed feature, Roku will deliver automatic updates when relevant streaming information is available, including when a movie is first released for streaming, when it becomes available from additional streaming services and when the streaming prices change, it said.
CEA “has some concerns” with the "current version" of a California State Assembly bill (AB-1116) that would limit how spoken words and conversations captured by the voice recognition functions of smart TVs sold in the state can be used (see 1504220065), CEA Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Michael Petricone emailed us Thursday. But CEA is working with the assembly’s Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection "in an effort to address them," Petricone said. The committee approved the measure 11-0 Tuesday, sending it on to the assembly’s Judiciary Committee for further action. “It’s important to understand that voice recognition not only drives the features behind innovative products and beneficial services such as smartphones and car navigation systems -- it’s also a game-changing, accessibility innovation for people with disabilities,” Petricone said. “As more and more of our everyday devices are becoming ‘smart’ -- joining the Internet of Things -- manufacturers are working to help consumers understand how these connected systems work, inform them of the benefits, and explain that consumers have the option and the power to disable their products’ voice command features. Technology companies want to continue to earn and maintain consumers’ trust.”
The California State Assembly’s Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection approved by an 11-0 vote Tuesday a bill (AB-1116) that limits how spoken words and conversations captured by the voice recognition functions of smart TVs sold in the state can be used. The bill would require “notice and consent from consumers” before the voice recognition feature of the TV is enabled and would require smart TVs to have “mechanisms to help consumers actively control” those voice recognition features, said a staff analysis of the bill. The bill would specifically bar smart TVs with voice recognition features from “being used to collect, record, store, analyze, or transmit spoken words for any purpose not essential to the function of the application” with the voice recognition feature that the consumer used, the analysis said. It also would require “a one-time opt-in consent with a separate notice to the consumer” before a voice recognition feature on a smart TV is enabled, it said. It also would require smart TVs with voice recognition features to have “mechanisms” that allow consumers to “affirmatively choose” to use those features, have the ability to start and stop them and understand when those features are activated “and collecting or transmitting” spoken words or conversations, it said. The committee's approval of AB-1116 follows recent scrutiny of the voice recognition features of LG and Samsung smart TVs (see 1502110028). While LG is still reviewing the language of the California bill, "it seems consistent with LG’s approach to protecting consumers’ privacy in relation to the voice command feature on our smart TVs," John Taylor, LG vice president-public affairs, emailed us Wednesday. "LG takes our customers’ privacy very seriously, and we designed our webOS TV’s voice-activation feature with that in mind," Taylor said. "This feature allows users to control their Smart TVs using voice commands. This feature works only after users opt in by agreeing to LG’s privacy policy and a separate agreement that specifically covers the collection of voice information. Even when a customer has accepted those two separate agreements, the TV will transmit voice information only after a user affirmatively activates the feature. To provide this feature, LG works with a third-party which processes voice commands solely for the purpose of allowing the voice controls to work. Under no circumstances are these voice commands used for marketing, advertising, or any purpose other than providing the voice-activation feature, which can be turned off at any time." Samsung representatives didn't comment.
Netflix subscribers “in regions around the world experienced problems for several hours Sunday connecting and streaming on a number of Samsung devices,” a Netflix spokesman said. The issue was resolved around 7 p.m. PDT, he told us, saying Netflix is “working with Samsung to investigate the issue.” Subscribers who visited the website Sunday evening saw a message that read that Netflix was “currently experiencing issues streaming on some Samsung devices” and was working on the problem. Samsung didn’t immediately comment Monday.
Smart broadcast features have the potential to drive sales and connection of Internet-connected smart TVs, according to research conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates on behalf of Sorenson Media. Overall, research showed positive consumer responses to interactive and personalized TV features offered by broadcasters and more interest in buying smart TVs due to smart broadcast functionality, Sorenson said. Smart broadcast refers to the ability to provide interactive, personalized and localized overlays over the top of existing linear broadcast television, and is a "fusing of digital and broadcast capabilities," Sorenson said. The technology is made possible through connected smart TVs, predicted to be in more than 70 percent of U.S. homes by 2018. Smart broadcasting features tested included "Push to Mobile," which enables viewers to push information, such as a coupon or recipe, to their mobile device; "Interactive Viewer Polls & Surveys"; and "Broadcaster Catch-Up Portals,” it said. Consumers based in New York, Chicago and Nashville participated in workshops to view and experience smart broadcast formats through live and simulated demonstrations on smart TVs. The smart broadcast features "resonated positively" both with consumers who don't own a smart TV and with those who own one but have not yet connected it to the Internet, Sorenson said.