NBCUniversal launched a TV Everywhere initiative, which lets consumers in markets with NBC-owned TV stations access NBC's live programming and VOD content in and out of their homes on multiple devices, including computers, smartphones or tablets, NBC Owned Television Stations said in a news release Wednesday. To access a full live stream of a local NBC-owned station, customers for example can go to nbcnewyork.com or download a station's app and select "Watch Live TV Now," it said. Customers can download the NBC app or go to nbc.com. Live NBC programming is available through 10 NBC-owned stations, including KNBC Los Angeles, KNSD San Diego, WCAU Philadelphia, WMAQ-TV Chicago, WNBC New York and WRC-TV Washington. NBC affiliates will launch throughout the year, it said.
Dish Network and Epix reached a multiyear renewal agreement for continued carriage of the channel to the DBS company's customers, Dish said in a news release Monday. Dish customers who subscribe to Epix will have access to more than 2,000 VOD titles on DISHAnywhere.com, epix.com and Dish Anywhere and Epix apps, it said.
21st Century Fox completed its buy of video advertising company true[X], 21st Century Fox said in a news release Tuesday. True[X] ”specializes in consumer engagement and on-demand marketing campaigns,” the release said. The companies announced a preliminary agreement in December, the release said.
Google shelved its Glass Explorer program last month, but that’s not stopping Sony from moving forward with its SmartEyeglass project, announced in September. In a news release Tuesday, Sony said it has begun taking pre-orders for the SED-E1 SmartEyeglass Developer Edition ($840) in Germany and the U.K., and that the glasses will be offered for sale there and in the U.S. and Japan beginning March 10 “to explore the possibilities” of the technology and “facilitate the development of apps for the device.” Sony is targeting consumer and commercial availability for 2016. The developer edition glasses will be offered for sale to enterprise customers in Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden beginning March 10 “to promote app development for industrial use,” Sony said. The glasses will be sold through the Sony Developer World application development support website, the company said. In addition to the hardware, Sony also will provide the official release of the software development kit for SmartEyeglass, an upgraded version of the Developer Preview SDK that has been available since September. Beyond glasses, Sony has sights on “the future of wearable devices and their diversifying use cases,” it said. Sony defines SmartEyeglass as transparent lens eyewear that connects with a smartphone running Android 4.4 or later. Sensors inside the 2.7-ounce glasses include a CMOS image sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, electronic compass, brightness sensor and mic, according to specs, and the glasses work with a smartphone’s GPS sensor to provide data “tailored to the user’s immediate circumstances,” the company said. Sony tapped its hologram optics technology for the lens, which achieves transparency of 85 percent at a thickness of 0.1 inch, it said. Consumer applications could include game play, display of social networking service messages during an event and delivery of sightseeing information in a tourist location, Sony said. In a disclaimer, Sony said potential use cases for this device are “under consideration, with app development, market research, and field testing still continuing.” Suggested use cases have not been tested or confirmed, it said.
Sling TV is adding Epix channels to its live and VOD programming, including Epix, Epix2, Epix3 and Epix Drive-In, Sling TV said in a news release Monday. The launch date and pricing will be announced in the next few weeks, it said. Sling TV launched Feb. 9 (see 1502090025).
Yahoo implemented the integrated analytics platform Hunk to “explore, analyze and visualize data from its Hadoop environment, which stores more than 600 petabytes of data,” it said in a Tuesday news release. Yahoo is using Splunk Analytics for Hadoop and NoSQL Data Stores and Splunk Enterprise to “gain insights into all of our data, whether it is streaming in real time or historical data at rest,” said Yahoo Monitoring Architect Ian Flint. “Insights we gain from Hunk help us save millions of dollars per year in hardware provisioning,” he said, while “Splunk Enterprise helps us to maximize revenue by giving product and business teams better insight into our customers, the user experience and any looming issues.”
In a sweeping example of diversification for a traditional audio supplier, Pyle Audio has a Bluetooth infrared ear and body digital thermometer, the company said Tuesday. Using Bluetooth Smart technology, the thermometer wirelessly sends data to a mobile device and syncs with the free Pyle Health app embedded in the thermometer to create user profiles, chart progress and automatically save records, Pyle said. A monitor in the app can store 99 temperature readings for each individual, it said. Data also can be emailed to a care provider for up-to-date records, it said. The thermometer, $64.99, is available for sale at Pyle’s online store.
Canadian CE company Neptune introduced a two-device wristband that combines a wrist-based hub with a pocket-sized display that it says “reinvents the smartphone.” The device reverses the smartphone-wearable relationship, turning the wristband into the master device and the phone into a dummy display. The Neptune Hub -- packing support for 3G/4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC -- works with the Pocket, a five-inch interactive dummy display. Called Neptune Duo, the product is slated for late 2015 delivery. The company is accepting reservations for the device at getneptune.com, with $798 to be paid when the crowd-funded product ships. Consumers can pay $49 now, and then pay $649 at shipment, for savings of $100; pay $199 now and then $399 at shipment to save $200; or pay $498 now and pay $0 at shipment, saving $300, the company said Tuesday. Consumer tech sites generally didn’t take kindly to the concept Tuesday, we found in a scan. Engadget called Duo “a wristband that replaces your phone with a dumber phone” and wondered “why exactly you’d want to do that.” Gizmag said simply flipping roles isn’t a convincing argument for purchase, and that Neptune’s rationale that you’ll always have your personal information with you doesn’t measure up. Most smart watches today have alert features that prompt you when you when you’ve left your smartphone behind, Gizmag said.
Texas Instruments announced availability of two Wi-Fi modules in its SimpleLink family, the company’s low-power platform for the Internet of Things. The CC3100 gives developers the flexibility to program apps using any microcontroller, TI said, while the CC3200 integrates a programmable ARM Cortex M4 microcontroller, allowing customers to run their own code on-chip. By using the modules, developers can benefit from lower development costs, reduced time to market, and simplified procurement and certification, the company said.
EWTN Global Catholic Network is available on Amazon Fire TV, EWTN said in a news release Friday. Amazon Fire customers can watch live streams of EWTN’s TV and radio networks and video-on-demand of its daily homilies, devotionals, live shows and news programs in English, German and Spanish, it said. Customers in Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. can access programming through Amazon Fire or Amazon Fire TV Stick, it said. EWTN is located in the lifestyle category in Amazon Fire’s apps, it said.