With Apple TV not really selling well and now facing new competition from Google TV (which, incidentally, Sony is one of the loudest supported of, and has released the first HDTV with Google TV built-in), buying Sony would give the company an instant leg-up in the home entertainment market.

It would also mean Apple could integrate the iPhone with the PSP (something that Sony Ericsson are rumoured to be doing with their next Android phone) and turn Sony’s entire Hi-Fi line directly towards the iPod and iTunes.

Although Apple have obviously denied any of this, the rumours have sent Sony’s shares up by 3%. Apple are sitting on a $51 billion pile of cash, and Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying “…we do feel that there are one or more strategic opportunities in the future,” with Sony, Adobe and Disney all being identified as potential targets.

Of the three, Sony makes the most sense. There can be no love lost between Apple and Adobe, with Jobs laying into Adobe’s Flash and refusing to support it on either the iPhone or the iPad, and no real need for the company to buy it. Disney would move Apple into a distinctly different market, although with Pixar under the Disney banner, there’s an obvious affinity and history there. But it’s with Sony that any deal makes the most sense, simply because its brand, its range of home entertainment gadgets, and the brains of its staff, would all perfectly align with Apple.

[Source: Reuters]

The South Korean electronics giant is working on bringing its developing a single software platform for both its smart TVs and mobile phones, thereby seamlessly merging its powerful smartphones, tablets and TVs into one Samsung-powered eco-system.

Samsung’s strategy

Both Google and Apple have already doen this to a degree. Google has just released Google TV through its partners Logitech and Sony, which puts Android on the telly, and lets you control your Google TV with your Google smartphone (or your iPhone for that matter – Google’s very open about these things!)

Apple, too, has Apple TV, which you can also control via your iPhone.

Now Samsung have joined the frey, although it’s nto clear whether their new platform will be their own Bada or Google’s Android.

“What’s Bada?”, I hear you cry…!

Samsung’s Bada

Bada is Samsung’s own mobile OS, developed specifically by the company to give it maximum control over its phones after it decided to drop Nokia’s Symbian. First released on the Samsung Wave phone back in June 2010, Bada hit a huge roadblock in the shape of the massively successful Samsung Galaxy S – another Samsung phone that’s much better than the Wave, but which runs on Google’s Android.

Embarassingly for Samsung, they built an Android-powered phone that’s much better than their own phone running on their own OS! Thuis doesn’t augur well for a Bada-powered TV!

However, the company is undeterred.

“We have a plan to have a single platform for Samsung TV and phones,” Kyungsik Kevin Lee, vice president at Samsung’s Visual Display Division, told Reuters in an interview. They have the power to do it, as well, as they, LG and Sony are the only companies that are big players in the TV and mobile market.

I doubt if it can succeed, though. Although I don’t doubt that the TVs will sell, a Bada-powered TV platform will never be able to establish itself as the dominant platform, as Bada will never be able to compete with Android or Apple.

Still, competition’s never a bad thing!

[Source: Reuters]

We know a fair bit about Google TV – enough to know that’s a seriously sexy bit of kit thaty genuinely could revolutionise TV (and how often have we heard that?!). But until now, we haven’t known that much about the TV itself.

This has been largely due to most of the attention bein gon Logitech’s Revue, which is Google TV in a Set Top Box, and thus able to bring Google TV to any telly.

Having Google TV built-in to the TV itself, though, offers both pros and cons – one of which could be the picture quality! Fortunately, it’s a Sony Bravia, so the picture shouldn’t be a problem.

And although we haven’t seen the picture quality first hand, now we know a little more about the GT1, we cna start to get a feel for what’ll be on offer when it’s announced officially on October 12th.

Sony Bravia NSX-46GT1 Google TV details

First up, it’s a 46″ LED TV that uses LED edge lighting. Black front, white back, chrome stand and rather sexy looking, as you’d expect from a Sony HDTV.

There’s a USB slot in the back, which the TV can use to pull pictures, videos and other content from a USB stick. There’s also an Ethernet connection, at least 2 HDMI ports, WiFi and a plethora of other ports.

You can use Google TV to search for programmes to watch, either via the usual cable or satellite, or from the Web, via YouTube, NetFlix or even videos stored on your PC.

You can control the GT1 either through Sony’s remote control, or through an Android or iPhone app, which has “seriously cool” written all over it (not literally, but let’s face it, it does!)

There’s also the Google Chrome browser built-in, so you can surf the Web and your TV at the same time.

Google TV release date – imminently!

But we know all this already! What we to see is the actual service and the actual TV, live and up and running!

Fortunately, we won’t have too long to wait. Logitech are expected to launch the Logitech Revue Google TV sTB tomorrow (6th october), with Sony following next week on the 12th October with the GT1. Then we’ll get a real feel for whether or not TV really is about ot be revolutionised.

And then we in the UK just have to hope that Google TV is launched in the UK before Christmas, because I really really want one!

[Source: HDGuru]

“It’s a foregone conclusion that the personal computer of the future is this size,” said Huang, holding up his smartphone. “You could add wireless HDMI to it someday, and it could also be your set-top box.”

That day may not be too far away. With DLNA-equipped smartphones already able to control DLNA-equipped HDTVs, and with 4G technology maturing nicely, 1080o HD video streams will soon be able to be streamed directly onto your smartphone in a couple of years’ time.

All you’ll need then is for the phone to route the stream through to your TV, and you have the vision that Huang predicts.

Nvidia’s vision for the future

That wasn’t all Huang foresaw at his company’s annual conference, though. Recognizing the impact of the smartphone, he tipped ARM (the company ultimately responsible for nearly all the chips in current smartphones) to replace Intel as the “…most important CPU architecture of the future…”

I don’t think this is idle speculation, either, even though Nvidia in currently in a patent dispute with Intel. Think of all the different media devices we blog about here on MediaMentalism, and nearly all of them are getting mobile. Indeed, if you look at Samsung’s latest cameras, with their touchscreens, GPS and WiFi, and it’s hard to tell them apart from of their mobile phones!

As these gadgets adopt more and more of the same features and components as mobile phones, they’ll soon start using beefy CPUs – and most mobile CPUs use ARM’s architecture, not Intel’s.

So an increasingly mobile phones, driven ultimately by ARM not Intel. The world’s changing as ever, but the scale of this change could be huge!

[Source: EETimes]

Places offers an array of Web content, from news and weather, to photos from Flickr and videos from sites such as YouTube.

OK, so that’s nothing new – every Internet TV solution has been doing this for the past few years. So what makes Toshiba’s effort so different?

Internet TV on your desktop

Places offers a new twist over standard Internet TV in that it can be accessed not only from forthcoming Toshiba TVs, but also from a regular browser. Yes, that’s right – Internet TV, which brings the browser to the TV, can be seen through the browser on your PC.

So is it just a Web site then? Well, sort of! In fact, it’s more a media portal, optimized for use on TVs, laptops, PCs, and, of course, Toshib’a forthcoming Folio Android tablet. You can therefore see whatever media you want on whichever screen you happen to be using.

This makes a lot of sense, as it frees your content from your TV, allowing you not only to see it on different sceeens across the house, but also on different screens across the world (i.e. wherever you have Web access).

Places placed on an STB

But that’s not the most interesting bit – Toshiba will also be releasing Places as a set-top box, compatible with any regular HDTV, letting you get in on TV on the web without buying a whole new screen.

You can, if you want, buy an HDTV with Places built-in (such as the forthcoming and utterly superb Toshiba 55LZ1 Cevo), but you don’t have to. Simply buy the set-top box and plug it into any HDTV.

It’s not clear at this point if the set-top box has any tuner at all or if in terms of video content this will simply be streamed, but it does have an attactive interface and the set-top box approach is novel.

Just how this will stand up to the competition and the impending Google TV, we will have to wait and see. Toshiba’s Places set top box is confirmed for France and may well come to the UK, as the test device has been running iPlayer.

[Source: Pocket-Lint]

Top of the rumour tree is a new iPod Touch, and this fourth generation is whispered to be the most social of iPods yet.

Apple iPod Touch Rumours

The recent leaks of a supposed case and the digitiser for the new device all show it to have a hole in the top that’s roughly tiny camera sized. Given that Apple somewhat oddly stuck a camera on the iPod Nano (maybe Del Boy Jobs got a job lot) it would make sense for them to incorporate one into their premier PMP.

This would no doubt introduce Apple’s FaceTime video calling to those without an iPhone 4 and will allow iOS apps designed for the front camera to run on cheaper hardware. So will we see Skype video calling on the iPod Touch? You never know.

Apple TV Rumours

The other big rumour in Appleland is a(nother) revamp of the ailing Apple TV device. Currently only popular with a few consumers and techheads willing to hack it, Jobs is still backing the device long after the general public and are not.

The word is that Apple TV will return to its original moniker of iTV (um, may not happen here Steve) and will run iOS instead of a cut-down and skinned OSX, allowing access to the all-important App Store.

Certainly this would appeal to the iCrowd and if it can out-Google the forthcoming Google TV system with plenty of social interaction and syncing with iPods and iPhones, it may well find itself a niche in the living room, especially at the rumoured price of $99

[Source: Techwhack, Appleinsider]

One such developer is Notion Ink, who have revealed a prototype tablet featuring Google’s Android operating system running on top of an NVIDIA Tegra2 chip.

The big draw of the Tegra2 is that it supports full 1080p HD, so all you need to do is to hook up an HD source and a screen, and you have an instant HD-capable device. This is pretty much what Notion Ink have done in order to show off their Pixel Qi screen’s capabilities.

The ease with which they were able to do it, though, really demonstrates the power of these devices and gives a tasty glimpse into the new tech that’s just around the corner.

Because of the Tegra2′s 1080p performance, NVIDIA are expecting many new devices that will make existing HDTVs Internet capable.

Just like the Boxee Box, a new set top box can be developed easily with Tegra2 inside that will bring the Web to your TV.

But not just the TV. With Tegra2, 1080p HD can come to any device with a screen. That means photo frames, smartphones, Internet tablets, even in-car entertainment systems (obviously for the passenger only!)

It seems that HD content and the Web are finally coming together and NVIDIA want to be right in the middle powering it all. If what we’ve seen at CES 2010 is anything to go by, they’ve most probably will!

You can see a video of Notion Ink’s tablet over at JKOnTheRun.

Android, I’m sure you know, is Google’s open source operating system that’s been installed on dozens of smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Never, though, has it found its way on the humble Microwave oven!

To be fair, Touch Revolution aren’t actually selling the machines – they’re showing what can be done with Android and their own teccie skills.

But it’s an interesting concept, and one that I’m sure will see the light of day before too long.

Just picture it. Rather than watching the seconds count down as you microwave your baked potato to death, you can view your friends’ tweets instead.

As it’s a complete Android OS running the show, you can also keep track of what you’ve cooked, how many calories it contains, how may calories you’ve eaten over the past few weeks, and the nutritional content (or distinct lack of it!) of the meals you’ve been eating.

Actually, this could go even further. Equip the microwave with WiFi, and you can share the contents of your meal with your friends. Or the microwave could tweet to your friends what you’re about to eat, which, if it’s laden with calories, could cause them to tweet furiously back at you telling you not to do it!

Or you could crowd-source the perfect baked potato. Put the spud in the microwave, cook it for a set amount of time, eath the thing, and then give it a rating.

The microwave could send the rating to an online app, which would aggregate thousands of other users’ ratings. Averaging the ratings, the microwave could then tell you what the perfect cooking time is for any weight of potato.

Hmmm – I started this post off humourously, but the more I think think about it, the more a social microwave seems to make sense!

What other uses can you think of for an Android-equipped social microwave? Answer in the comments below, or let me know via Twitter.

Now what can you do with a social washing machine…?!

[Source: Pocket-Lint]

The gorgeous looking sound system you see here could have come straight from the pages of an old 1970s B&O catalogue on how the music systems of the future (i.e. 1995!) might look. It’s called the TRIA, and it’s an oddly shaped wireless sound system designed to stream your tunes from your PC over Wi-Fi, but with one curious twist – it’s actually a wireless record player!


The large slot in the front of the TRIA is designed to take your 12″ and albums. The TRIA will then play them, as you’d expect, or rip them onto its internal 500GB hard drive, or an external drive via USB.

It looks fantastic, blending old ’70s style techno looks with modern contemporary styling. Alas, though, looks is all the TRIA is about, as it’s nothing more than a concept. The closest thing you’ll get to the TRIA in real life is one of the USB turntables that are designed to rip your old records onto MP3 via a USB port and your PC.

The TRIA probably won’t go on sale, simply because there it’s designed solely to play or rip your vinyl tunes. You can’t DJ with it, so its target market is people who refuse to go digital, and let’s face it, if you’re as resistant to change as that, you’re unlikely to want a sound system as unconventional looking as the TRIA!

Still, designer Ricardo Baiao at Mola Ativism must be congratulated both for the looks of the TRIA and the highly novel concept.

[Source: Yanko Design]

Now, all this is fine, but I can’t ehlp but feel that such a device is playing catch-up, and not just with the iPod Touch, either. The new Walkman sports many of the features that the latest mobile phones have had for months (incuding, ironically, Sony Ericsson Walkman phones!)

As such, Sony isn’t just competing with the iPod Touch, it’s competing with the entire mobile phone industry, including its own Sony Ericsson division. I’m not sure what the Sony Touchscreen Walkman offers that the other devices don’t already offer, and given that you can get the phones for free, whereas the new Walkman won’t exactly be cheap, Sony’s gong to have a tough time on its hands getting it shifted.

Still, that said, I’m looking forward to seeing exactly what Sony have in store for us at CES next year, and it certainly makes January much more exciting than it would ordinarily be!

[Source: Electronista]