Although DLNA may have had a significant head start, the streaming media standard available on more than 9,000 devices is about to be challenged in a very big way by Apple’s upstart AirPlay technology. At least it will be if Jordan Watters, BridgeCo‘s VP of Sales and Marketing, is to be believed. BridgeCo as you’ll recall, is the company that makes the silicon for AirPlay devices — currently an exclusive arrangement we’re told. While Apple may have thrust BridgeCo into the consumer spotlight, this ten year old company has a long history of quietly providing networked media processors and connectivity software to a who’s who of audio companies. Here at CES we’ve already seen two speakers from iHome, the Zeppelin Air from B&W, and a trio of speakers from the previously unannounced AirPlay partner Klipsch rolled out. And this is just the beginning.
According to Jordan Watters, AirPlay devices could ultimately dwarf “made for iPod” audio docks by 2x to 4x. Part of the reason for Jordan’s optimism is the fact that so many iOS devices have already been sold and that many audio devices already on the market using BridgeCo chips can add AirPlay functionality via a software update, including the nine receivers just announced from Denon and Marantz. “The ecosystem is already there,” he said smiling. And unlike iPod docks which are usually sold at a rate of one per iOS device, Watters sees consumers purchasing multiple AirPlay devices for every iOS device sold in order to enable whole-home distributed audio. In fact, growth could come as a “step function ramp sucking into the market,” Jordan enthused. In other words, he expects AirPlay growth to be explosive. We’d chalk up the hyperbolic talk to Jordan’s marketing role if it weren’t for the abundance of anecdotal evidence supporting his claims here at CES. To start with, the company’s modest meeting room was packed with interested manufacturers poking around BridgeCo’s AirPlay offering. Jordan’s also booked back-to-back-to-back with meetings until the show ends (and into the coming weeks we suspect). But what really convinced us was an all-in-one speaker prototype from a major consumer electronics company that was quickly whisked away before meeting the sensor beneath our D300′s lens. If they’re involved, well, we expect the rest will follow.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced the Surface 2.0 multi-touch tabletop at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Today Microsoft said that the Surface 2.0 will cost $7,600. Not bad…
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is rumored to be announcing an Apple TV and Google TV competitor at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. Microsoft is said to be developing an operating system…
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
A new service by Axel Technologies will be on display at CES 2011 called Fuugo. This application allows the user to personalize his or her video content from the Internet, as well as mobile and broadcast TV.
You can watch the video and realize that the company addresses a very important issue. After all, I have no idea how to really get the highest quality video on my cellular phone, and honestly don’t want to go through the hassle of getting it.
Fuugo claims that it will be intuitive, and all the streaming video, Internet TV, mobile TV, broadcast TV, and locally stored video will allow users to watch with a touch-interactive screen. They can even share their own personal recommendations on Facebook and Twitter.
I’m not certain of the release date, but it should be available for all kinds of notebooks, netbooks, tablets, smartphones, navigation units, as well as PMPs. for Windows OSX, Android, and iOS operating systems. Full Press Release after the jump.
New Product Launch at CES 2011: Fuugo Enables Easier TV and Video Consumption on Mobile and Portable Devices
Axel Technologies introduces new software to provide consumers easy, intelligent access to broadcast TV, Internet TV and online video on their mobile and portable devices. Award-winning Fuugo’s integrated social media recommendations present a unique user-centric viewing experience.
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Axel Technologies, a pioneer in mobile television and video technologies, will launch the online video version of Fuugo, a new addition to the Fuugo product family, at the Consumer Electronics Show 2011. Fuugo™ is the world’s first TV and video application for personalizing video content from Internet, mobile and broadcast TV. With Fuugo’s tight integration of social media, mobile consumers will have a totally new experience for video consumption, gaining easy access to recommended, relevant video entertainment.
“Today’s consumers are overwhelmed with TV and Video content choices, from many different sources, requiring multiple applications on each and every portable device” stated Petri Kalske, CEO of Axel Technologies. “With the introduction of Fuugo, mobile consumers now have an intuitive TV application that discover and seamlessly display video content from broadcast, Internet and local storage. With the addition of social networking recommendations, Fuugo viewers will always find something good to watch.”
Fuugo is one easy-to-use application that seamlessly integrates all content; streaming video, Internet TV, mobile TV, broadcast TV and locally stored video. This allows users to watch live, on-demand or even video podcasts through the same application. An Internet connection allows users to search for related programs from all available sources and share their recommendations via the integrated social media services such as Twitter or Facebook.
Content discovery from millions of available broadcast and Internet TV programs is a big problem for current video services. Fuugo’s social media recommendations are deeply integrated into the program guide and allow users to easily find exciting new content from their friends’ choices. Fuugo’s related-program search suggests to the user additional programs from all available sources in a totally new way. Fuugo invents a whole new interactive TV and video experience, never previously seen on mobile devices.
Fuugo’s user-centric design was recently granted a prestigious award. “The goal of the TV Innovation Awards is to recognize the most forward-thinking companies who are creating products and services that are driving the new TV paradigm,” according to Ian Weightman, President IMS Research. “With more than 140 entries received for this year’s awards, competition has been intense. Fuugo stood out in the Mobile TV category because of its commercial potential, level of innovation, and likelihood of consumer adoption as assessed by an independent awards panel.”
Fuugo, optimized for touch screens, delivers a simple, consistent and cohesive user experience on all mobile and portable devices; tablets, netbooks, laptops, smartphones, navigation and personal media players.
Fuugo is designed to support the major international mobile and over-the-air broadcast TV standards ranging from North American ATSC and ATSC-M/H, through European DVB-T and DVB-H to Latin American SBTVD-T/One-seg.
Fuugo is currently available on the Windows, OSX, Linux, Android and iOS operating systems. Support for Symbian and Meego will be offered in early 2011. The broadcast TV version is shipping in the first quarter and will followed by the new online version on selected devices in the second quarter.
The unique Fuugo viewing experience will be demonstrated at CES 2011, booth #36824. A video describing the various features of Fuugo can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwC1dXF4wgg. Consumer device OEMs should contact Axel Technologies for Fuugo licensing. http://axel.fi
About Axel Technologies
Axel Technologies is a pioneer in mobile television and video technologies and the inventor of Fuugo™, the new way to watch TV and video. Axel offers software applications for mobile, handheld and portable devices. The company is headquartered in Finland and has sales support offices in Hong Kong, Taipei, and Saratoga, CA, USA. www.axel.fi, www.fuugo.tv
About Fuugo
Fuugo is an award-winning TV and video application for mobile, portable and handheld devices. Fuugo supports all major broadcast TV standards, seamlessly integrating Internet TV, video and social media services. Consumers enjoy a consistent user interface for easy, personalized content discovery, recommendations and sharing. www.fuugo.tv
About Mobile TV Category – 2010 TV Innovation Awards
TV 3.0 is not entirely about providing bigger and video experiences to the home, as it is also includes the ability to view content on mobile devices. This creates an array of new challenges, as programmers, equipment providers and operators attempt to provide users with a compelling experience on much smaller screens. Innovations in this area include TV-enabled ultra mobile devices, applications that enable content to be easily navigated, as well as innovative products, content and solutions targeted specifically at mobile devices. Entries in this category are received from companies with innovative products, content and solutions targeted at mobile TV, as well as those enabling mobile on-demand video experience outside of traditional broadcast TV. www.tvinnovationawards.com
Fuugo and the Fuugo graphical character are trademarks of Axel Technologies. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Wyse Technology recently launched the free edition of their popular app PocketCloud for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Now users can access their home or work computers for free, regardless of what kind of operating system they are on.
“We first released PocketCloud a year ago based on demanding enterprise and IT Professional requirements.” says Daniel Barreto, general manager of the Mobile Cloud Business Unit at Wyse. “With the launch of this new free version we are extending the benefits and capabilities of PocketCloud to any iOS user, while creating a simple and polished user experience tailored to the consumer market.”
As expected, the free version of Pocket Cloud does miss out on some features that the ‘Pro’ and ‘Premium’ versions have, such as Retina Display support, contextual auto zoom, 3G video streaming, and VGA video out, as well as the ever so pesky ads, but at the price of nothing it’s hard to complain.
Even with the drawbacks, the feature list is quite nice. The free version of PocketCloud has:
Remote PC access
Remote Mac access
Auto Discovery: Secure and simple setup
VNC Support
RDP 7 Support
RDP Encryption
Keyboard Auto-Activation
Custom keyboard with short-cuts
Touch Pointer: Intuitive user interface
International Keyboard support
Localized for English, French, German, Japanese and Chinese
Knowledge Base and Forum Technical Support
“I have tried to use several other remote desktop access apps on my smartphone and found them all to suffer from some combination of several different drawbacks. They cost a lot, they are hard to install and configure, they are clumsy to use, or they are lacking essential functions.” says Tim Negris of Cloud Computing Journal. “With Wyse PocketCloud I had none of these problems. The free version does everything I need it to do. I was able to download, install and configure it in four minutes. And, the Touch Pointer is positively addictive. I only wish I could use it with many other apps on my phone, like web browsing, map navigation and picture manipulation. I would pay money for that alone.”
If accessing your critical documents from your mobile device is in order, be sure to download the free version of PocketCloud today.
Wyse Technology recently launched the free edition of their popular app PocketCloud for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Now users can access their home or work computers for free, regardless of what kind of operating system they are on. 
Comments