Sony kills its pay-per-view streaming service on PlayStation 3

Planning on watching this year’s UFC and WWE specials on Sony’s Live Events Viewer app? Hope you have a PlayStation 4, then — the company has announced that its killing pay-per-view streaming for PS3 users. After January 10th, the PlayStation 3 version of the Live Events Veiwer will no longer function. On-demand and live content will still be available on the PS4 version of the Live Events, but the app that started it all will be retired. Don’t have a PlayStation 4, but have some left over purchases you need to watch? Carve out some time before Tuesday morning and marathon through. Unless, you know, you want to upgrade.

Sony Xperia Projector Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

You won’t have to unlock your phone ten times to follow online recipes as you cook.

Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

The next time you want to share a hilarious video around the dinner table, you could all lean in and crane your necks to see the tiny phone screen, or instead, you could beam Sony’s Xperia Projector directly onto the table.

That’s because the projector, which is pretty close to its official launch, is basically an Android phone, minus the part where you make cellular calls. The neat thing here is that you aren’t just viewing things on a counter or wall. You can interact with them, too. An infrared sensor makes the projected image a virtual screen that you can tap and type on.

The projection is touch-capable at 23 inches, and view-only at larger dimensions up to 80 inches.

You can use the Xperia Projector to:

• Browse the internet
• Stream music and videos
• Beam a movie onto the wall (I’m envisioning using it in a kid’s room instead of a TV.)
• Video chat (it’s got camera on it for that)
• Play games with the PlayStation 4 controller
• Play multiplayer Android games
• Trigger Google voice search (“OK, Google”)
• Connect to a Bluetooth speaker (for enhanced audio quality)
• Make a shared family wall calendar
• Research and follow recipes
• Plan trips with others
• Carry around for work presentations

It took me seeing the Xperia Projector in Sony’s demo space at CES to understand why you might want to have one. And a major part of that is the sharing-is-caring nature of a screen you can easily and conveniently turn off an on, move around, and beam anywhere flat. You aren’t closing people off by staring into your own small screen, so it makes the experience more social.

See how Sony Xperia Projector turns any table,…
See full gallery

1 – 4 of 20

Next
Prev

But I also liked the format because it gives tired thumbs a break from using a mobile phone. It’s more natural to tap and type with more of your fingers.

It isn’t all rainbows and moonbeams, though. For most people, it’ll be an extra gadget that doesn’t fill an essential need. It works better in the dark, and won’t ever be as crisp as a TV, laptop or phone display. And if you move it, it takes a few seconds to recalibrate the image.

All the cool new gadgets at CES 2017
See full gallery

1 – 4 of 50

Next
Prev

Sony doesn’t have exact pricing or availability information yet, but keep an eye out for the official launch to come as early as next month’s MWC phone show, where the Projector prototype made its debut last year.

Brydge 12.3 Keyboard Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The Surface Pro 4 is our favorite Windows tablet, and there are many keyboard accessories out there that allow you to use the device like a laptop (including Microsoft’s own Type Cover). Most of these products make use of the Pro’s kickstand on the back, which allows you to lean and prop up the display.

But the kickstand can be limiting. Though it can tilt at any angle, the whole setup sits very tenuously and clumsily on your lap if you use it as a laptop.

Brydge lets you type on the Surface Pro 4…
See full gallery

1 – 4 of 7

Next
Prev

Enter the Brydge 12.3 keyboard cover for the Surface Pro 4 and Pro 3. Announced at CES 2017, the accessory has two special hinges that clamp onto the edge of the tablet with the kickstand closed. This allows the setup to act more like a laptop with just as many viewing angles (its range of motion is 180 degrees).

No kickstand, no problem.

Sarah Tew/CNET

When I checked it out briefly, the hinge felt strong and stiff, and the keyboard itself was comfortable to type on. Its matte, island-style keys have a backlight so you can type in the dark. There’s also a 5-inch touchpad at the bottom, and the keyboard’s lithium battery charges via a Micro-USB port on the side.

Compared with the superthin and light Type Cover, the Brydge 12.3 seems bulkier: It’s made out of aluminum and is 0.7 inches thick (17mm). As such, it will add more bulk and 3 extra pounds (or 1,361g) to your tablet.

It’s also pricier than the $129 (or £109 and AU$199) Type Cover, though not by much. Official US pricing is set at $149 (that converts to about £121 and AU$204). Brydge also mentioned that a 12.3 model with additional storage is on its way, so expect that variant to cost more as well.

Click here for more of CNET’s coverage of CES 2017.

All the cool new gadgets at CES 2016 (pictures)
See full gallery

1 – 4 of 48

Next
Prev

Whirlpool Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Close

Drag

How hard is it to heat a frozen meal in your oven or microwave?

The Scan-to-Cook feature will work with Whirlpool’s new line of cooking appliances.

Chris Monroe/CNET

According to Whirlpool, it’s a challenge. That’s why the appliance manufacturer created Scan-to-Cook, a new feature in Whirlpool’s app that will send instructions to your oven or microwave so it can cook your frozen dish correctly and automatically. Whirlpool had plenty of empty boxes of DiGiorno Pizza, Marie Callender’s pot pies and Alexia frozen fries on display this week at CES in Las Vegas, where company reps used an iPad to demonstrate how Scan-to-Cook works.

The feature in the company’s Android and iOS app will work with a line of new Wi-Fi-enabled products Whirlpool will release this summer in the US: two new ranges (one gas, one electric), a double wall oven and a microwave.

Amping up the way you cook convenience food comes at a steep cost: $2,400 and $2,500 for the electric and gas ranges, respectively, $2,600 for the wall oven and $1,000 for the microwave. Converted, that’s about £1,950 or AU$3,300 for the electric, £2,035 or AU$3,430 for the gas, £2,115 or AU$ 3,570 for the wall oven and £815 or AU$1,370 for the microwave.

Let’s say you’re about to heat up some frozen tater tots. If you have one of the compatible products, you use the app to scan the bar code on your package of tots, and it will pull up the heating instructions from a database of frozen foods. The app will then send those instructions to your oven, range or microwave, and the appliances will automatically set the correct cooking temperature and set timers for your food.

More from CES 2017

• Razer’s new gaming laptop has three (!) screens
• All the smart home products at CES 2017 (so far)

Jeff Stoller, who works in Internet of Things strategy at Whirlpool, said the automation is especially helpful if you have a dish that has multiple steps, such as a dish you have to stir after 3 minutes and then return to the microwave for another minute.

We’ve seen more products and programs like Scan-to-Cook popping up around the CES floor. These scanners are using an existing piece of information (the bar code) to add more convenience to your life, such as the GeniCan that scans your empty food boxes to automatically build shopping lists and order more groceries. But Scan-to-Cook forces us to ask: Is heating frozen food a big enough challenge that you’d throw down $1,000 or more? I don’t know if the pizza rolls crowd will be on board.

Check out all the smart home products at…
See full gallery

1 – 4 of 57

Next
Prev

Nutrismart Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

You can put produce, meat and milk on the Nutrismart scale, and it will weigh and recognize the food to give you info about its nutritional value.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Devices that scan bar codes on your food packages were popular at this year’s CES in Las Vegas (just take a look at what happens when you scan an empty bottle of syrup on the GeniCan). But all of these products focus on packaged products rather than fresh food. French manufacturer Terraillon has taken a different approach: The company created a kitchen scale that can do a visual scan of your food and tell you its nutritional information.

More from CES 2017

• Razer’s new gaming laptop has three (!) screens
• All the smart home products at CES 2017 (so far)

The Nutrismart isn’t available yet, but a Terraillon rep said the company wants to begin selling the product in Europe later this year and in the US in 2018. The price will be about $200 (roughly £160/AU$275).

The Nutrismart will weigh your produce or meat like a normal kitchen scale, and a small, built-in camera will scan the food. It will send that info to an app that will show you the nutritional information such as calories and water content.

The product sounds like it could be useful for folks who have to be very careful about what they eat and want exact calorie counts. But Terraillon will have to prove that a $200 scale is worthwhile when apps like MyFitnessPal will give you that info for free.

Check out all the smart home products at…
See full gallery

1 – 4 of 57

Next
Prev

Canada finds Apple’s carrier deals don’t hurt competition

France may think Apple is up to no good with its carrier deals for the iPhone, but you won’t hear similar gripes from Canada. The country’s Competition Bureau has determined that there isn’t “sufficient evidence” to show that Apple had illegally strong-armed carriers into deals that gave it preferred treatment. While there’s no question that the iPhone is a “must-have” for carriers, the regulator says, the terms only have a minor effect at most — there’s plenty of competition, and ditching Apple’s agreements wouldn’t significantly change the playing field.

The investigation started in 2014 after the Bureau received info hinting that Apple was placing a heavy burden on providers. As in other countries, there were concerns that carriers had to buy a minimum number of iPhones, agree to up-front retail subsidies and give Apple a “most favored nation” clause that prevented rivals from getting better treatment. What evidence exists suggests that carriers could easily “mitigate” these terms, according to the decision.

From first-hand experience, the findings appear to hold up. The Canadian market is big on the iPhone, but you’re just as likely to see carriers push the latest Samsung phone or the Google Pixel line. You’ll frequently see other flagship devices get more prominent treatment, or discounts that aren’t offered for Apple’s handsets. While this doesn’t rule out the possibility of overly strict deals, it’s clear that there’s no international consensus on Apple’s competitive stance — it largely depends on individual markets.

Via: AppleInsider

Source: Competition Bureau

Climate change could bleach most coral reefs within the century

The Great Barrier Reef’s massive loss to coral bleaching last year might have been just a taste of things to come. According to a study by a team of marine scientists, 99 percent of the world’s coral reefs could undergo severe coral bleaching before the century ends. The culprit? Climate change. When sea water in a certain location turns warmer than usual, corals in that area expel the algae living in their tissues, effectively turning them white. That’s what bleaching is. It doesn’t instantly kill the corals, but it makes them much more vulnerable to fatal diseases.

The researchers believe coral reefs around the globe will start going through annual severe bleaching by mid-2050s. Since reefs serve as whole ecosystems, their deaths will also kill a lot of other organisms. In their paper, the scientists call for “adaptive resilience-based management of reefs,” which involve “shaping human-environment interactions through management actions that reduce sensitivity to climate threats.” In other words, there’s really no solution other than to do what we can to mitigate the impacts of climate change. You can read the scientists’ study that’s backed by UN Environment, World Wildlife Fund and the University of Miami on Nature.

Via: Miami Herald

Source: Nature

Sony’s flagship soundbar kicks out room-filling audio

CES is filled with Dolby Atmos-spitting audio equipment, but Sony’s HT-ST5000 stands out. Sony has improved this model with the ability to scale audio properly no matter what size your room is. Just adjust for the height of the ceiling and where you’re sitting (using its onscreen GUI) and it can provide impressive positional audio.

The combined soundbar and wirelessly-connected subwoofer pack enough ins and outs (3x HDMI in, 1 HDMI-ARC out, USB-in on the side, plus optical digital and analog audio output) to make it a reasonable receiver surrogate. Even then, support for multi-room with Google Home helps take it to the next level. With control via the “OK Google” voice command, it can sync up with other speakers in the house, or just control playback in one room.

It’s always hard to assess audio quality on the CES floor, but the HT-ST5000 filled the demo room and made each effect sound like it was coming from a specific place, including overhead or from behind. We didn’t get any specs on the subwoofer, but suffice to say it seemed up to the job. The entire system is rated at 800w, and the inclusion of two angled speakers to project audio upward give it the 7.1.2 channels Sony claims. Naturally, it’s capable of passing through 4K and HDR video. It probably won’t pull you away from a full surround setup, but when it arrives later this year it will be a way to fill a room with audio without having to move too many things around.

Billy Steele contributed to this report.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Source: Sony

Presenting the Best of CES 2017 winners!

We debated. We argued. One of us even yelled. After a long night of going through our list of finalists, our editors have finally settled on our winners for the official Best of CES awards. Below is our list of winners for each category, including our Best of the Best and our People’s Choice winner too. Congratulations to all our finalists and winners!

Best Accessibility Tech: Whill Model M

Whill’s Model M is an electric wheelchair meant to boost mobility for people with disabilities. Powered wheelchairs have been around for decades, but this new version from Whill has a compact, sturdy design that allows people to move across different surfaces independently. The patented omni-wheel technology enables maneuverability and makes this wheelchair a clear winner in this category. — Mona Lalwani, Senior Editor

Best Startup: Amber Agriculture

Plenty of startups promise solutions to problems that are either overblown or don’t really exist, but we can’t say the same about Amber Agriculture. With Amber’s array of sensors, farmers can more easily check the quality of their stored grain and get their wares to the companies that make our food at the right time. Beyond ensuring these farmers get the biggest return on their crop yields, the ability to monitor for the conditions that lead to spoilage could eventually help whole countries deal with food supply issues. Long story short: Amber’s is a savvy approach to a pressing problem most people don’t even know about. — Chris Velazco, Senior Editor

Best Digital Health and Fitness Product: Willow smart breast pump

The technology world is so dominated by men that it’s so rare to see a gadget designed to solve a problem that’s wholly the preserve of women. Willow has crafted a bra-worn breast pump that tackles an issue you rarely hear discussed here at CES. But this prize isn’t just about rewarding a startup for helping destigmatize a sensitive topic; it’s to recognize a company building something that could make many people’s lives easier. In addition to being portable, with no outlet required, the device has a companion app that lets parents monitor their baby’s nutrition — ideal for when you’re sleep-deprived and dealing with a hungry newborn. — Daniel Cooper, Senior Editor

Best Wearable: Willow smart breast pump

Too many wearables exist for gimmicky reasons; only a few actually make our lives more convenient. Willow’s smart breast pump belongs in the latter category. This thoughtfully designed device is for mothers who want to avoid being chained to a wall outlet while breastfeeding and instead have more time to themselves or to spend with their babies. — Cherlynn Low, Reviews Editor

Best Automotive Technology: Honda Riding Assist

Once again CES has transformed itself into a de facto auto show. But amid all the future-looking, AI-based vehicles, it was the self-balancing Honda Riding Assist motorcycle that ultimately made the biggest impression. Using research from the automaker’s UniCub mobility scooter and Asimo robot, the bike stays upright on its own without any help from the rider. It’s a potential game-changer in terms of safety: Anything that keeps riders from tipping while preserving the thrill of cruising on two wheels is a spectacular invention indeed. — Roberto Baldwin, Senior Editor

Best Home Theater Product: Dish AirTV

The Engadget team spent a particularly long time debating this category. In the end, though, AirTV’s blend of streaming and over-the-air broadcast television won us over. The Sling TV guide neatly organizes live channels alongside Netflix, Android TV apps and whatever networks you can receive for free with an OTA antenna. Conveniently, there’s also voice search built right into the remote. At $130, it’s competitively priced too, and it’s already available for purchase. What’s more, you don’t have to pay for Sling TV to use it. That means users get a whole lot of options in one place. — Billy Steele, Associate Editor

Best Connected Home Product: Whirlpool Zera Food Recycler

The Whirlpool’s Zera Food Recycler makes home composting not only easy, but efficient. For urban gardeners or folks who just want to reduce the amount of waste they send to local landfills, the fertilizer-making device is one-button simple, turning food scraps into compost in about a week. While the modern smart home is filled with devices that ultimately just keep people on the couch, the Zera gives people the satisfaction of knowing they’re making the world a better place, one banana peel at a time. — Roberto Baldwin, Senior Editor

Best Innovation (Disruptive Tech): Honda Riding Assist

For the second year in a row, automotive technology is taking our Best of CES Innovation award. Honda’s Riding Assist is one of those rare pieces of technology that feels like magic when you first see it. And unlike much of what you see at CES every year, Riding Assist is genuinely new and has the potential to make things safer for motorcycle riders. This year often felt like a very iterative CES, which made the sheer “wow” factor of Rider Assist stand out even more. — Nathan Ingraham, Senior Editor

Best Mobile Device: ASUS ZenFone AR

The ZenFone AR is the first phone that doubles down on the future, promising both virtual reality (with Google’s Daydream platform) and augmented reality through Google’s Tango technology. No other smartphone does both. To do both features justice, ASUS has crammed in 8GB of RAM, three camera sensors and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 processor, all wrapped up under a 5.7-inch AMOLED display. In addition to everything else, the ZenFone AR is also very stylish, thin and light. With this phone, ASUS has a head start on the competition as it kicks off 2017. — Mat Smith, Senior Editor

Best TV Product: LG OLED W-Series

LG’s flagship OLED is our Best TV winner for the third consecutive CES. Even as the technology is popping up across other brands, as and LCDs continue to improve, this is still the best display we’ve seen during this show. Shifting its smarts and inputs to its Dolby Atmos soundbar enabled the “wallpaper-thin” design that makes it seem more like a window into another world than any TV we’ve seen before. With that, LG once again remains a step ahead of the competition. — Richard Lawler, Senior Editor

Best Gaming Product: Razer Project Ariana

It won’t be for everyone, but Razer’s Project Ariana is an exciting option for gamers looking for more from their home setup. It’s an extension of the gaming company’s Chroma lighting project, but instead of just brightening up a keyboard, this is a 4K projector that expands your game outside of a monitor. Though Project Ariana is just a concept for now, Razer hopes to make the idea a reality by the end of the year. In a sea of laptops, mice, monitors and game streaming services, Project Ariana stood out. — Aaron Souppouris, Senior Editor

Best Offbeat Product: Fisher-Price Smart Cycle

Given the breadth of the category and the sheer number of potential contenders, the offbeat category is always a difficult one to judge. This year, however, a single product stood head and pedals above the rest. We are, of course, referring to the Fisher-Price Smart Cycle. The bike’s combination of activity tracking and STEM-based edutainment means that kids can exercise their bodies as well as their brains — regardless of the weather outside. The ability to train the next generation’s hearts, bodies and minds, all at the same time, makes for a potent learning tool and a clear winner. — Andrew Tarantola, Associate Editor

Best Maker-Friendly Technology: Lego Boost

If we want people learning how to build for themselves, we might as well start when they’re young. Lego has been doing that for decades, but its new Boost set lets you build five different motorized creations and program their actions with the accompanying tablet app. It’s similar to Lego Mindstorms but much simpler — created with younger builders in mind. Naturally, too, you can augment your creations with any other Legos you have tucked away in the closet. While this kit seems great for kids, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in checking it out myself. — Nathan Ingraham, Senior Editor

Best PC: Dell XPS 13 2-in-1

The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 has everything we want in an ultraportable. It retains the refined style of the previous XPS 13, which itself was the best Windows laptop of both 2015 and 2016. This 2-in-1 can be folded over like a tablet and, thanks to Intel’s latest CPUs, it’s more powerful than similarly thin machines. If you’ve been waiting for the ideal convertible laptop, you’ll want to seriously consider this one. — Devindra Hardawar, Senior Editor

Best Robot or Drone: UVify Draco HD

At CES this year we’ve seen a slew of drones, but UVify stood out for a number of reasons. Drone racing is becoming increasingly popular, but there are still many challenges for new pilots to get into the sport. UVivy’s Draco dissolves many of those, with a modular, easy-to-repair design, high-quality live video feeds from the camera and assisted flight modes for learning. All of this, without compromising on race performance. — James Trew, Deputy Managing Editor

Best of the Best: LG OLED W-Series

It’s rare that a product truly blows us away at CES, but LG’s W-Series OLED TV did just that. At just 2.6 millimeters thick across its entire body, it’s the slimmest TV we’ve ever seen. It’s not quite paper-thin, but it sure is close. And this isn’t a case of style over substance either. Its picture quality is better than last year, and the TV also supports more HDR standards and comes with a Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar (which also handles all of your inputs). The only downside? You need a flat wall to mount it; there is no stand.– Devindra Hardawar, Senior Editor

People’s Choice Winner: Razer Project Ariana

Razer is, yet again, the winner of our People’s Choice award! This time it’s for Project Ariana, a 4K projector that expands your game beyond the confines of your monitor. The company has now won this category for four years running thanks to a remarkable get-out-the-vote effort and an ardent fan base. It won first place handily with over 40 percent of the vote, while NVIDIA’s GeForce Now game-streaming service came in second and the LG OLED W-Series finished third. — Nicole Lee, Senior Editor

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

AT&T and Time Warner have a plan to dodge merger review

AT&T has indicated how it may avoid FCC scrutiny over its proposed $85.4 billion Time Warner merger. At issue are Time Warner’s FCC broadcast licenses — if were to transfer them to AT&T, that would require FCC approval. However, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), AT&T said “it is currently anticipated that Time Warner will not need to transfer any of its FCC licenses … after the closing of the transaction.”

The merger is strongly opposed by consumer groups since it would give AT&T control over Time Warner properties like CNN, HBO and the Harry Potter franchise. It could then favor that content on its DirecTV cable and internet platforms by offering them at lower rates.

Time Warner needs FCC licenses so that HBO and other stations can transmit programs to satellites and back down to pay-TV distributors. However, according to Bloomberg, it has been trying to sell them to another broadcaster, after which it could simply contract with a third party for satellite uplinks and other chores. AT&T could also just drop the licenses and transmit data by land.

That would leave Time Warner with no licenses to transfer to AT&T, and therefore no need for FCC approval. In that case “it would be very hard” for the commission to gain jurisdiction, analyst Craig Moffett told Bloomberg, leaving the decision to the Department of Justice, which is about to fall into Republican hands.

That said, President-elect Donald Trump opposed the merger during the Presidential campaign, saying it “concentrates too much power in the hands of the too and powerful few.” Some pundits think he has changed his mind, given his recent appointments, but Bloomberg reported that he’s still against it. Anyway, it’s not clear if he’d be able to affect the deal one way or the other anyway, since both Republican and Democrat senators are opposed to it.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: AT&T (SEC Filing)