LG's third-generation webOS 3.0 smart TV platform to be showcased at CES has landed UL “verification” for its compatibility with IoT devices in the home, LG said Tuesday. The verification means once connected, LG smart TVs with webOS 3.0 “will be able to display the status of a user's various smart appliances, thereby acting as an interface between users and their devices,” LG said. Through the TV, users will be able to control specific home appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners or washing machines that are connected to the Internet, it said. Through the IoTV app, homeowners will be able adjust to the brightness of the lights in the room or change the air conditioner temperature setting with a touch of a button, it said.
LG's third-generation webOS 3.0 smart TV platform to be showcased at CES has landed UL “verification” for its compatibility with IoT devices in the home, LG said Tuesday. The verification means once connected, LG smart TVs with webOS 3.0 “will be able to display the status of a user's various smart appliances, thereby acting as an interface between users and their devices,” LG said. Through the TV, users will be able to control specific home appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners or washing machines that are connected to the Internet, it said. Through the IoTV app, homeowners will be able adjust to the brightness of the lights in the room or change the air conditioner temperature setting with a touch of a button, it said.
LG's third-generation webOS 3.0 smart TV platform to be showcased at CES has landed UL “verification” for its compatibility with IoT devices in the home, LG said in a Tuesday announcement.
Netflix took a playful jab at wearables, giving subscribers instructions to make smart socks that wake up dozing viewers. The company doesn’t plan to sell the socks, but it gives a blow-by-blow account of materials and steps needed. The “sleep detection system” uses an accelerometer that detects when a viewer has stopped moving for a prolonged period of time and triggers a signal that tells the TV to pause Netflix. When it detects dozing, an LED in the sock cuff flashes red to warn that the pause command is about to fire off to the TV. Netflix told us it shared the schematics -- a Fitbit hack created at a Netflix Hack Day for company engineers -- as a fun way to “enhance your viewing experience if any would-be makers are inclined to tackle the project.”
House lawmakers introduced the Wireless Tax Fairness Act Thursday. CTIA praised the legislation, which would ban states from imposing new taxes and fees on wireless. “It’s time to hit the pause button on any further discriminatory taxes,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who introduced the bill with Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. “Exorbitant taxes on wireless customers are discriminatory, adding costly impediments to the success of so many American businesses and affecting low-income and senior Americans who frequently rely on wireless service as their sole means of telephone and internet access,” Franks said. Lofgren posted the text. “For too long, state and local governments discriminated against wireless services by imposing [tax] rates that are often double generally applicable sales taxes,” CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter said. “In today’s information-driven, mobile economy, that just doesn’t make sense.”
Netflix took a playful jab at the wearables market, by giving subscribers step-by-step instructions on how to make their own smart socks that wake up dozing viewers watching a Netflix show. The company doesn’t plan to sell the socks, but it gives a blow-by-blow account of the materials and Arduino programming steps needed to make socks that will alert the TV to pause if viewers fall asleep while watching. “Making Netflix socks from scratch means doing a little knitting and building some electronics,” says the website. The “sleep detection system” uses an accelerometer that detects when a viewer has stopped moving for a prolonged period of time and triggers a signal that tells the TV to pause Netflix. When it detects dozing, an LED in the sock cuff flashes red to warn that the pause command is about to fire off to the TV. Netflix told us it shared the schematics -- a Fitbit hack created at a Netflix Hack Day for company engineers -- as a fun way to “enhance your viewing experience if any would-be makers are inclined to tackle the project.”
House lawmakers introduced the Wireless Tax Fairness Act Thursday. CTIA praised the legislation, which would ban states from imposing new taxes and fees on wireless. “It’s time to hit the pause button on any further discriminatory taxes,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who introduced the bill with Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. “Exorbitant taxes on wireless customers are discriminatory, adding costly impediments to the success of so many American businesses and affecting low-income and senior Americans who frequently rely on wireless service as their sole means of telephone and internet access,” Franks said. Lofgren posted the text. “For too long, state and local governments discriminated against wireless services by imposing [tax] rates that are often double generally applicable sales taxes,” CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter said. “In today’s information-driven, mobile economy, that just doesn’t make sense.”
Not all Democrats on Capitol Hill are fully satisfied with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. The lead Democrat on the House Commerce Committee and four other members criticized Wheeler for his behavior during a three-hour Nov. 17 Communications Subcommittee oversight hearing (see 1511170060), according to a letter obtained by Communications Daily. This gesture shows an uncommon split for senior Hill lawmakers and an FCC chief of the same party.
Not all Democrats on Capitol Hill are fully satisfied with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. The lead Democrat on the House Commerce Committee and four other members criticized Wheeler for his behavior during a three-hour Nov. 17 Communications Subcommittee oversight hearing (see 1511170060), according to a letter obtained by Communications Daily. This gesture shows an uncommon split for senior Hill lawmakers and an FCC chief of the same party.
Comcast will include a national video description pilot program with NBC’s broadcast of The Wiz Live! Thursday, the first U.S. live entertainment program to be accessible to people with a visual disability, Comcast said. The video description narration track is inserted between the natural pauses in dialogue to describe the visual elements of a show or movie, including facial expressions, settings, costumes and stage direction. The pilot program, which coincides with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, is available across the country where SAP (secondary audio program) feeds are available, Comcast said. Descriptive Video Works is delivering the video and audio description.