Win Walter White's Undies

As Breaking Bad draws to a close, the Emmy award winning series that attributes its longevity to Netflix, is auctioning off over 200 props shown onscreen. Amongst the Sony Pictures memorabilia are Walt’s iconic tighty-whiteys, haz-mat suit, and Pontiac Aztek – that’s sold as is, and will require a flat bed to get home. I imagine the relatively … Read more

Cox Pulls The Plug On flareWatch OTT TV Service

Another one bites the dust… Cox Communication’s over the top flareWatch television experiment has come to an end, with customers being notified of service termination and refunds (1, 2) while the landing page indicates “Service Unavailable.” The offering, built upon FanTV hardware, was intended to provide advanced television services, including cloud DVR and VOD, to cord cutters … Read more

Verizon’s TV Talk Chills Cable Relations

Well this could put a damper on Verizon’s currently cozy relationship with the cable industry. According to the New York Post, Verizon – like so many companies – is in talks with “major programmers” about creating a national, Internet-based pay-TV service. The Post says that while Verizon has pursued access to particular shows in the … Read more

Jinni Lands on Microsoft XBox and Comcast X2

We first heard that Microsoft was licensing Jinni’s video search and discovery technology back in 2011. Now, however, the two companies have made their intentions official. Jinni says it has signed a multi-year agreement to power the recommendation engine on “Xbox video game and entertainment systems.” The news comes less than three months before the scheduled … Read more

iOS 7 May Come with a Side of Apple TV

Apple TV with iOS 7

Everyone’s on the lookout for the debut of iOS 7 at Apple’s big press conference scheduled for next week. But GigaOM is reporting that, based on available shipping data from an analytics company called Panjiva, a new Apple TV set-top may also be in the cards.

According to the report, Apple received shipments labeled “Set Top Box with Communication Function” from a company called BYD Precision Manufacture based in Shenzhen, China on August 11th, 18th, and 25th. Panjiva is postulating that since Apple’s last set-top shipment was from a different company, Hon Hai, these latest devices are a new product altogether.

Aside from the timing of the set-top shipments, some of the new features in Apple’s mobile OS update also tie nicely with the idea of an upgraded TV product. For one thing, Apple will support device-to-device connections in iOS 7, which would allow a set-top to communicate directly with other gadgets (including gaming controllers!) without the need for an Internet connection.

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Chromecast Not So Great for Network Television Streaming

Chromecast set-up 3

I spent more time playing with Chromecast this weekend while also contemplating the ongoing CBS blackout for Time Warner subscribers. At the moment, CBS is also blocking access to its shows on CBS.com for TWC subs. However, there is some legal argument that the network shouldn’t be able to discriminate against a specific set of viewers online. If that notion ever gains traction, then online access could be a viable alternative to watching CBS on cable.

Which led me to test out streaming from the CBS website. With Chromecast.

The good news is that casting the CBS stream to your TV is extremely easy. Switch TV inputs, open up CBS in your Chrome browser, click the Google Cast button, and you’re good to go. The bad news is that the video quality is atrocious. I’m not a pixel snob, but I was on the verge of getting nauseous trying to watch the disjointed playback.

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