Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Sennheiser CEO Daniel Sennheiser
Daniel Sennheiser has one of the most familiar names in the world of audio. His family has been in the industry since the middle of the last century, and five years ago, his turn came to take over. We’ll discuss Sennheiser’s consumer division and how the company distinguishes itself in the always-competitive world of headphones.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video
Hulu’s original TV shows for 2014 are a mix of new series, new seasons and foreign transplants
Competing video-streaming services have discovered that just like other TV options before them, original and exclusive content is one of the best ways to attract new viewers. As a result, each one is building up a warchest of shows, and Hulu’s plan to double the amount of original content it has starts with this new lineup for 2014. This year’s highlights include the return of original series like The Awesomes and East Los High plus a few new shows including a reality-TV parody called The Hotwives of Orlando and supernatural comedy Deadbeat. The Behind the Mask documentary series that goes deep into the lives of sports mascots will also return, while Hulu reaches overseas for dramas like the original Swedish version of The Bridge and several BBC collaborations.
These shows are meant to compete with Netflix’s hits and give viewers a reason to pick Hulu’s partially ad-supported streams over Amazon Prime — a service that’s also picking up soon-after-broadcast TV and launching its own series. Will they be successful? We don’t know yet, but you can see a preview trailer after the break.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Hulu Blog
Cambridge Consultants wants to make you a better basketball player through the power of technology (video)
I am a terrible basketball player. But, that should come as no surprise: I’m relatively short and a tech journalist by trade. Cambridge Consultants is confident it can improve my game, however. The company is working on a collection of technologies that can be used to analyze your performance in a particular sport and provide data, tips and coaching to help you fully realize your physical potential. For demonstration purposes, it brought a system it’s calling ArcAid to CES. It starts with three cameras mounted behind a backboard. Two of them are used to watch the ball as it flies through the air, calculating speed, angle and arc; while a third watches to see if you actually sink the shot. If we had been using an actual basketball, the cameras would have even been able to track its spin, but to avoid damaging the booth behind them Cambridge Consultants went with a blue foam ball instead. I took a few tosses and, as you’ll see in the video below, things did not go so well. With each attempt, a giant screen to the right would tell me if I needed to shoot harder, aim farther to the left or lower my arc.
This is, of course, just a rudimentary implementation. The system can support other sensors, like accelerometers, or track movement across a larger field. So, for instance, it could tell you where on the court you’re having the most success, and even help you identify if a particular angle of attack is throwing off your aim. Obviously, the system isn’t limited to basketball. You could tackle tennis, baseball or even boxing with the right combination of software and sensors. Even with a couple of years of tutelage under the ArcAid system, I’ll never make the NBA, but at least maybe I’ll finally be able to beat my little sister at a game of HORSE.
Filed under: Misc
White House agrees to fund International Space Station until 2024
The International Space Station just got another lease on life. The White House has approved funding that would keep the floating lab running until “at least” 2024, as long as other countries also chip in. The additional funding should help both general science research as well as the human endurance studies that NASA needs for voyages to asteroids and Mars. The extension is primarily good news for those who want a long-term human presence in space; it’s the second extension past the original 2015 decommissioning timeframe. It’s also potentially good for business, though, as the deal will give SpaceX and other private spaceflight companies a better chance at growing their fledgling operations.
[Image credit: NASA]
Filed under: Science
Source: White House
T-Mobile ‘Get out of Jail Free Card’ pays contract cutters up to $650 per line
T-Mobile will reimburse entire amount of customers’ early termination fees when they switch from AT&T, Sprint or Verizon
T-Mobile just took the wrapper off its latest Uncarrier initiative, introducing us to its boldest moves yet. As previously rumored, the wireless provider will pay off early termination fees for anyone leaving their current provider. Should you leave either Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint then you could earn yourself up to $650 for jumping early. Called the ‘Get Out of Jail Free Card’ it’s a combination of eligible phone trade-ins and ETF credits.
Up to a $300 trade-in credit comes from each eligible device and up to $350 more comes once the customer sends their final bill (ETF fees). This is per line! We cannot help but imagine this could lead to even more growth for T-Mobile. What’s more, it could come at the expense of other carriers. As to when this all takes effect, customers can head to a T-Mobile store tomorrow.
Carriers like to make you think you’re just signing up for two years with their family plans, but with staggered expiration dates and early termination fees, they’re really locking you in forever,” said Mike Sievert, chief marketing officer for T-Mobile. “Now, families are free to switch without worrying about early termination fees. And by switching to T-Mobile, a family of four can save $1,880 over two years compared to an AT&T shared family plan.”
Note that customers must trade-in their old phone, purchase a new T-Mobile phone and port their phone number to T-Mobile to qualify.
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PlayStation Now streaming game service coming this summer
Sony has just taken the veil off PlayStation Now streaming service which will allow you to stream popular and classic games from their PS3 library. This will initially only be available for the PS3 and PS4, however it will soon come to the PS Vita as well.
You will be allowed to rent specific games or submit to a subscription service to explore many other games. PS Now will also sync across devices, which will allow you to pick up where you left off. The service is also coming to the 2014 Sony BRAVIA lineup and to other Internet-connected devices soon.
PS Now will begin a Beta program in the US at the end of January with an expected full roll-out in the US this summer.
Source: Sony
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Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Fitbit CEO James Park
Fitness hardware is once again set to be all the rage at this year’s CES, and Fitbit’s wrist-worn wearables continue to lead the pack. Join us as we speak with the company’s co-founder James Park about the ways consumer technology is helping get us in shape.
January 8, 2014 4:00:00 PM EST
Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
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Filed under: Wearables
T-Mobile has best quarter in 8 years, added 1.6 million net customers in Q4
In the last quarter of 2012, things were looking down for T-Mobile. The network lost over 500,000 postpaid customers, and had lost well over 2 million customers for the year overall. Now, things are starting to turn around: at CES the company revealed that Q4 2013 was its best quarter in over eight years, and it grew by more than 1.6 million new customers in that time period. Company CEO John Legere didn’t specifically say how many of these customers came from the competition but did call out Sprint has the carrier it ported the most numbers from, followed closely by AT&T and distantly by Verizon. In all, the company gained 4.4 million net customers for the year, an enormous turnaround from its 2012 losses. Naturally, Legere points to the company’s Uncarrier initiative as the secret to its success. “There will never be contracts in our business! 12.2 million customers have come to simple choice.”
Hungry for more mumblings from the magenta network? Check out our CES 2014 Liveblog right here!
Filed under: Cellphones, T-Mobile
OnTheGo Platforms is bringing gesture recognition to Google Glass apps (video)
Google Glass can hold its own when it comes to voice recognition and touch, but its current software doesn’t account for gesture controls. OnTheGo Platforms, however, is looking to fix that. The folks at the Portland, Ore.-based company are baking up an SDK for developers to integrate gesture recognition in apps made for Glass and other Android-based smart glasses, such as the Vuzix M100. We went hands-on with a demo photo-snapping and gallery app to put the software through its paces.
In its current form, the solution recognizes swipes from the left and right, a closed fist and an open hand. A fist aimed at Glass’ camera will fire off a countdown for a snapshot or take you to the app’s home, depending on the current screen. Waving a hand in either direction cycles through pictures in the gallery. This editor was tempted to swipe his hand across the camera’s view quickly, but the software is tuned to pick up slower, more deliberate motions about a foot or so away. The detection was often hit or miss, but the developers say they’re in the process of refining the recognition and that they’ve recently eliminated many false positives.
The sample application displayed lower-resolution video than we’ve come to expect from Google’s wearable, but that won’t be the norm with the team’s development kit, as what we’re glimpsing is just the footage that the software analyzes. In fact, a live video feed doesn’t have to be displayed on Glass’ prism for apps to take advantage of the code. The SDK still needs refining to live up to its full potential, but you can help the devs polish it by contacting them for access to a limited alpha. If you’d rather wait for a beta release, expect to lay hands on it in roughly three months.
Filed under: Wearables
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