Remember Ceiva? One of the original digital photo frames… that incorporated Internet connectivity (!) to receive pushed pics from remote family as we did about 10 years ago for Mom. Apparently the company is still alive and kicking, having just pushed the Ceiva HomeView widget station thru the FCC. While the Ceiva HomeView (SHR558) is capable of … Read more
Via a most trusted Best Buy source (now on Twitter), comes a planogram of Best Buy’s May shelf reset… featuring the inevitable Amazon streamer and a possibly new Apple TV (reporting over 100 apps, without listing an existing SKU). Amazon details are amazingly light, with only the brand name and a tick in the WiFi … Read more
The Wirecutter is out with a new piece on The Best Wireless IP Camera, having anointed the $200 Dropcam Pro as their top pick amongst the three cameras they put thru the paces. However, in this category, one size doesn’t fit all and the situation remains unsatisfying. We should start by saying that I’ve been fascinated with network video both as a tool and an entertainment medium since the days of the 3Com JenniCam… and I currently possess a number of devices, some photographed above (plus a dashcam), in addition to providing a variety of blog coverage (Logitech, VueZone, Archerfish). What you ultimately buy really depends on your objectives and selection is probably best determined via some sort of flow chart.
By way of the FCC (and Brad Linder), we learn of a new player in the streaming space, the Blackloud PoChannel. With YouTube branding and DLNA promises, the Gemtek-produced device looks similar in size and playlist function to the upcoming Qplay TV Adapter… minus the TiVo founder’s social linkages. But unlike Qplay, while PoChannel will ship with both Android and iPhone … Read more
Amidst mounting losses across the board, Sony’s decided to jettison a few under performing businesses. While their exit from computers grabbed most of the headlines, they’ve also thrown in the towel on eReaders. Early on Sony actually produced the best eReader hardware. However, their success was held back due to pricing, marketing, and distribution. Not … Read more
Beep is latest entrant in whole-home audio. But, unlike Sonos‘ key products, their music streaming technology isn’t currently embedded within a speaker enclosure. And we suspect the potential market of people looking to network traditional speakers is rather modest. The $99 Beep appendage is sharp looking blinky, clicky dial … that’ll ratchet up your clutter … Read more
Bringing tech to the corn fields of the Midwest, gadgeteer and cat lover Adam Miarka contributes to Zatz Not Funny when the overlord allows. When not on ZNF, Adam posts pictures to http://www.adammiarka.com and harasses the public from @adammiarka on Twitter.
Background
Being a Kickstarter for the first generation Simple TV, I’ve always been interested in technologies that could disrupt traditional TV viewing. When the original Simple TV was announced back in 2012, it looked like something that could actually let me break from my current (TiVo) setup while lowering our monthly expenditures.The original Simple TV had one fatal flaw, a single tuner for recording.
Despite this limitation, I decided to back the project to get a feeling for how this new setup might work in our household. The idea of having a device that could basically capture any OTA or ClearQAM signals and then have it playback on a myriad of devices (web browser, iOS devices, Android devices, Roku) was very enticing. You only need to bring a hard drive to get the Simple TV party started!