Fun Amazon.com Christmas Stats

We generally try to stay out of the press release regurgitation business, but Amazon’s delivered a series of fun holiday sales stats worth sharing. Here’s a sampling: Kindle (Wi-Fi) and Kindle 3G were the best-selling products on Amazon.com this holiday season On Christmas Day, people purchased more Kindle books than on any other day in … Read more

Logitech Halts Revue Google TV Production?

Rumors suggest that Logitech has halted production of the Revue, one of the inaugural boxes providing the Google TV experience. Supposedly, this is a mere manufacturing suspension while Logitech awaits more polished Google software. Which seems to line up of with yet another rumor of new Google TV hardware delays. However, if accurate, the key … Read more

Use Windows Phone 7 as a Media Center Remote

You know what probably would have been a no-brainer for Microsoft? Building a Windows Media Center remote control app into Windows Phone 7, allowing you to use your phone to control audio and video playback on your PC. But Microsoft doesn’t really seem to be paying much attention to Windows Media Center these days, so … Read more

Only 5,000 CableCARDs Deployed In Last 90 Days?

Multichannel News has done the math and concludes that the ten largest cable providers have expanded their CableCARD footprint by a mere 5,000 decoders during the last three months. While I haven’t verified their calculations, I too perused the NCTA’s most recent CableCARD-related filing with the FCC: The five MSOs who are required to report today – … Read more

Got a Roku for Christmas?

Given its low price point, wide array of content “channels”, and easy operation, I suspect quite a large number of folks are unwrapping Roku Christmas gifts this weekend. And we’re here to help.

Based on incoming search traffic, some are having difficulty finding and linking Netflix. First off, the Roku consists of two main areas – your channel list or dashboard and the “Store” of all blessed content. Netflix should appear on your dashboard by default. In terms of navigation, the left directional button doesn’t send you to the prior screen as seen on many other boxes. Instead, use the up button to return to a previous area or menu or, alternately, try can the new back button symbolized by an arrow. Additionally, the OK button in the middle of the remote is equivalent to ‘select’ or ‘enter’. So you’d scroll towards the right using the directional button to highlight Netflix and then click OK. Once the Netflix apps comes up for the first time, it’ll walk you through linking your account – you’ll want to have computer handy to enter an authorization code into Netflix.com.

In addition to the Channel Store, “private” channels also exist. These are often content offerings that have yet to be approved or are inappropriate for a wider audience to stumble upon (think adult or corporate training). Two in particular may interest you…

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Skype iPhone App To Offer Video Chat

It hasn’t been a very good week for Skype, dealing with some serious downtime issues, but it looks like there’s good news on the horizon. Skype offers mobile apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and other platforms which let you make free calls to other users and cheap calls to “real” phone numbers. Skype also offers desktop … Read more

VLC Media Player Coming Soon to Android

The VLC media player is a popular open source app for Mac, Windows, Linux, and even iOS. The best thing about VLC is that it’s capable of handling almost any video format you can throw at it without breaking a sweat — although the iOS version is limited by the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad hardware, making … Read more

Smartphones Of The Minute

There isn’t a week that goes by that I’m not asked which smartphone is best on a given carrier. And, about half the time, the followup question is should they wait to upgrade. Answering in reverse, there is always a newer, possibly more compelling model coming down the pike. However, with CES and Mobile World … Read more