Virgin Media adds YouTube to its TiVo boxes, ensures you cant escape the kitty clips

Annoyed that YouTube had reached Freesat boxes and not just TiVo? Worry not, for Sir Richard and his chums at Virgin Media are on their way with a basket of soothing balms. Your DVR's EPG will soon feature baked-in YouTube results along with regular TV listings, giving easier access to all of those shudder-inducing Harlem Shake videos without resorting to a smartphone. It's been positioned at Channel 198, and you can also access it via the Search and Browse menus on your box -- no matter the paint job.

Read More | 0 Comments

Sony NSZGS7 update brings Google TV's newer voice search and YouTube perks

Someone must have declared it Google TV Update Week without telling us: just days after a Vizio Co-Star upgrade, Sony's NSZ-GS7 Internet Player is getting its own tune-up. The Sony update parallels its Vizio counterpart in focusing mostly on the features from the fall 2012 Google TV revamp, including PrimeTime and the updated YouTube app. Viewers pining for Amazon VOD access can also grab its app through Google Play. Sony mostly claims an edge over Vizio through its support for the equally new voice search feature: owners just have to chat with Sony's remote to get things done, instead of leaning on phone or tablet control. However GS7 owners plan to steer their TVs, they'll just need to check for a software update in the days ahead to rejuvenate their set-top boxes.

0 Comments

XBMC now available for Apple TVs with software update 5.2

Jailbroken Apple TVs with software update 5.2 (iOS 6.1) snagged Bluetooth keyboard compatibility roughly a week ago, and now Cook and Co.'s hockey puck is in store for a heftier perk: support for XBMC. Memphiz, a developer on the entertainment hub project, has managed to tweak XBMC to run on Cupertino's TV box with its latest software release. Ready to load up your hardware with the alternative media suite? Hit the bordering source link for the download and instructions, or check out the "Manage Extras" section if you're running aTV Flash.

0 Comments

Distro Issue 79 examines the rise of the everexpanding smartphone screen

Once upon a time, the future belonged to an increasingly smaller form factor when it came to mobile phones. Now it seems the tide has changed, and larger screens continue to expand their requisite real estate on new handsets. In this week's issue of our weekly, Jon Fingas takes a good, long look at the rise of those big screens, starting with 2002's BlackBerry 5810. Weekly Stat charts a day with an asteroid, Eyes-On has a peek at LaCie's collaboration with Philippe Starck and Brad Molen recounts week two with the BlackBerry Z10. We've just scratched the surface of the latest installment of this e-publication, so navigate to your favorite download link to procure a copy.

Distro Issue 79 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store

Distro in the Windows Store

Distro APK (for sideloading)
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter

0 Comments

0

Nickelodeon releases Nick App for iPad

Kids have it all these days -- tailor-made gadgets, their own little corners in mobile platforms, and of course, loads and loads of content. The latest to hit the wires is the Nick app for the iPad, offering a slew of Nickelodeon programming wrapped in a swipe-driven, tyke-friendly interface. The goodies include animated shorts, videos, games, the ability to mark favorites, plus a smorgasbord of funny interactive elements and a "Do Not Touch" button that promises disruptive fun. Full episodes of the current shows can also be accessed if you've subscribed to Nickelodeon's TV package via any one of eight providers. Seems like a swell way to keep those tech-savvy rug rats occupied between outdoor adventures and some DIY action. The 45MB payload is waiting at the source link, yours for the hard-to-argue cost of free.

Read More | 0 Comments

Jimmy Fallon gets first PS4 handson, plays some Killzone Shadow Fall video

First things first: We still haven't seen the PlayStation 4. That said, if you'd like to see someone other than a Sony rep or developer putting their hands all over that DualShock 4 with touchpad and share button -- we asked, but apparently network TV still trumps internet -- then say no more. Managing Director of Guerilla Games Hermen Hulst came by the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show with a prototype unit (not shown) loaded up with the Killzone: Shadow Fall demo we saw at the press conference. Jimmy and guest Anthony Anderson played a bit, with varying degrees of success and were predictably impressed by the new system, due to release by the end of this year. Unfortunately, there's no new information to be had, unless you wanted to know what the ceilings in the game look like (clearly, Anderson prefers to play shooters inverted). Watch the video embedded after the break, we're going to doublecheck ?uestlove's Instagram to see if he got any backstage or setup shots of the system behind the curtain.

Read More | 0 Comments

The Nielsen Company has monitored TV audiences since 1950, but soon it will expand that definition from solely households with antenna, cable or satellite access, but also those that have dropped those options but still get video over the internet. Reflecting the changing times, the move was first noted by The Hollywood Reporter and confirmed later by company executives to the New York Times and LA Times. Nielsen hinted at changes two years ago when TV ownership dropped for the first time in decades, which may turn around since the new definition includes viewers with internet-connected TVs, and could go further to include viewers with just a tablet or laptop. According to senior VP Pat McDonough, that means views over services like Aereo can be counted, since they still contain advertisements, which is what broadcasters rely on the ratings for, unlike ad-free Netflix or Hulu streams with different ads. Because of that, it seems unlikely the change will boost the numbers of internet darlings like Community or Arrested Development, but we can dream, right?

0 Comments

The DualShock 4 is 'near final' hardware, Remote Play is more than an afterthought, and other notes from Shuhei Yoshida

The only hardware shown on-stage during Sony's PlayStation 4 event was the retooled DualShock controller, the DualShock 4. No box. No PS4 Eye. No new version of Move. As for the console itself, its absence makes some sense in light of today's news from SCEA prez Jack Tretton that the console's internals are "still in development in terms of final specs and design." So, how final is the only piece of hardware Sony was willing to trot out? "It's near final. It's just gonna be small tweaks being done," Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida told us in an interview this morning.

Sadly, he also admitted we won't be able to touch any of it anytime soon. "By E3, I think" was the best he could offer. He blamed Sony's hardware folks for not allowing access, despite him pleading with PR to give hands-on time. "I was just asking our PR team can we just let you touch this stuff. Our hardware guys don't want you to find out some detail that ..." he said, trailing off. "Some dirty secret?" we asked. "Of course," he responded with a smile.

Moving on to Vita and the Remote Play functionality on PS4 (which allows you to play any PS4 game on your Vita, via streaming), Yoshida said that -- unlike with the PlayStation 3's Remote Play functionality -- Sony's asking devs to try their game via Remote Play on Vita before submitting final code for publishing. He also said that, using Remote Play, developers could implement Vita-specific controls. "Some PS Vita games make use of the edge of the screen to add contextual buttons -- that works really well, I think, and it's easy to see. So that kind of thing I'd like to see developers do on PS Vita over Remote Play," Yoshida explained.

He also apologized for not showing the final box, getting out ahead of the inevitable question from the room full of journalists. But hey, we sympathize -- Sony's gotta save something for E3, right? PlayStation Plus on PlayStation 4 may also be on that list; when we asked Yoshida about its presence on the next Sony game console, he coyly answered, "I know the answer, but we're not talking about it. I'm a subscriber, so I'd like to see it." Us too!

0 Comments

Used games will function on PlayStation 4, but there's a mysterious caveat

Sony head of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida is a gregarious, smart, talkative interviewee. And that's exactly why it was so weird that he fully waffled when we asked him to address whether or not the newly unveiled PlayStation 4 will play used games. "That's my expectation, that PS4 games will work on [the] hardware. That's my expectation," he told us in an interview this morning. When we pushed to clarify what he meant, Yoshida stuttered. "Ummm ... yeah. We have to really name our system services to explain more about it," he added.

That's a similar answer to what he told Eurogamer last night at Sony's big PlayStation 4 announcement event, vagueness and all. Yes, used games "can play on PS4," but does it require a license repurchase? Perhaps you have to belong to an as-yet-unidentified PS4 online network? It's not entirely clear, but there seems to be a caveat to the statement, "Used games work on PS4." Sony, however, isn't saying what that caveat is just yet. Of course, current-gen consoles all support buying any used, physical copies of games and playing them on their corresponding game consoles

Yoshida also confirmed that games will launch at retail as well as digital, but, well, you probably already guessed that from the included Blu-ray disc drive.

0 Comments

Despite showing a variety of games running on the newly announced PlayStation 4, Sony PlayStation's US head Jack Tretton says the console's "still in development in terms of final specs and design." He told All Things D as much in an interview this morning; the PlayStation 4's specs were detailed in a press release by Sony last evening, which detail the internals as an 8-core 64-bit x86 "Jaguar" CPU built by AMD, a Radeon GPU comprised of 18 "compute units" which push out 1.84 TFLOPS, and 8GB of GDDR5 RAM.

Tretton also said he "hopes" that the PlayStation 4 won't cost $599 at launch (the PlayStation 3 launched in two models, at $499 and $599). "When I think about the console, you open it up, you look at it, you certainly look at it when you insert a disc, but for most people, it's behind a cabinet or on a shelf somewhere and you spend all your time looking at the screen," Tretton said.

Sony's focus last night, however, was all games. As for when we'll see the elusive box? "There will be multiple opportunities to share the look of the console between now and launch," he said, "We just didn't choose this first event as the time to show it." In speaking with Sony president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida this morning, we confirmed that we'll get to go hands-on with the PlayStation 4 "by E3," which goes from June 11th to the 13th.

0 Comments

Sony isn't cutting the Vita price in North America due to international exchange rates

Despite the PlayStation Vita getting a recent price cut in its home country of Japan, Sony says it isn't getting a similar price adjustment in North America. The Vita recently dropped from 30,000 yen (3G) and 25,000 yen (WiFi-only) to 19,980 yen, but Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida tells Joystiq that that same price drop won't happen in the US. He cited exchange rates as the primary reason -- Japanese Yen has dropped in value to (currently) 0.93 cents to every US dollar, meaning Sony actually loses money in exchange on products sold outside of its home territory.

The Vita launched in February 2012 and has suffered from poor sales throughout the past year -- Sony's hoping to revitalize that a bit with PlayStation 4 connectivity. Via Remote Play, Sony hopes to ensure that nearly all PlayStation 4 games are streamable on Vita. Whether that'll be a feature that consumers use is another question altogether; Remote Play exists on PlayStation 3 already, and it's not what we'd call a great experience.

0 Comments

The PlayStation 4 outputs in 4K, but not games

Yes, the PlayStation 4 is capable of pushing out a 4K video signal. Sony president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida confirmed as much to Joystiq in an interview this morning, where he said that the PlayStation 4 will play video that was recorded in the super high-def resolution, but the games currently being made for it aren't in 4K.

Sony made a big 4K push at CES 2013 -- it was all Sony president Kaz Hirai would talk about in our interview, and Sony's booth reflected the company's 4K initiative. It seems that the company's not getting too far ahead of itself, however, recognizing that few consumers buying a PS4 this holiday will own the still-nascent TV tech.

0 Comments

Netflix for iOS v30 brings the zoom icon back, adds more UI improvements

Sony's now obsolete PS3 may be the Netflix streaming device of choice, but that doesn't mean the popular streaming service will ignore other platforms. The Netflix app on iOS, which saw its last big refresh back in September last year, has just been bumped up to v3.0 -- bringing with it a slew of UI changes aimed towards improving your movie-watching experience. The zoom icon that was removed previously is now back for easier access to full-screen viewing, while a tap displays video titles if you're using the app on the iPad. The three-point change log also includes a relocation of the playback controls. Nothing profound, but hey -- could be worth your while if it keeps you away from reality just a little longer.

0 Comments

Sky cuts a deal with Disney for exclusive access, launches Sky Movies Disney

In Sky's latest bid (after getting Sony and Warner on the hook) to corner premium viewing content in the UK before rivals including Lovefilm and Netflix get traction, it has announced an extension to its 24-year agreement with Disney. Beyond guaranteeing Disney -- which means Lucasfilm, of course -- Pixar and Marvel flicks will be on Sky (plus Sky Go, and 3D movies on Sky 3D) a year before any other service, it's also creating a new Sky Movies Disney Channel in its lineup that launches March 28th. In order to reach those not with the typical TV package, the deal also brings Disney's movies to Sky's Now TV internet video service for users with a monthly movie pass. We're sure 24 years ago, such deals didn't cover so many devices or avenues of access but snagging exclusives to gain a market advantage has stayed exactly the same.

Read More | 0 Comments

HBO Go on an Android tablet

HBO brought some of the content walls down when it opened up AirPlay support in the HBO Go app for iOS users, proving that it wasn't going to protect TV viewing at all cost. It just removed some more barriers: the premium channel has quietly rolled out an update to its Android app that enables HDMI video output. Provided a phone or tablet supports the connection (sorry, Nexus 7 owners), it too can pipe video to the big screen. The solution still doesn't let us watch HBO without a pricey TV subscription, but it will give us fewer qualms about catching up on Girls when we're at a friend's place.

[Thanks, Carl]

0 Comments