BitTorrent launches the open beta version of BitTorrent Live-- a peer-to-peer video streaming service harnessing the power of torrenting while reducing the infrastructure requirements of video streaming.

A 3-year development, BitTorrent Live works the same way torrents do. It removes the middleman in favour of a direct connection between broadcaster and viewer, turning each user into a "miniature broadcaster." As a result the technology is not only easier to use (since it does not demand centralised Continue reading...

Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013 hosted more than just mobile devices-- Samsung revealed the HomeSync Media Hub, the company's answer to STBs of the Apple TV variety at the Barcelona show.

An Android-powered (Jelly Bean, specifically) yet non-Google TV device, the HomeSync carries a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, 1TB of storage and allows one stream content a variety of sources via HDMI, USB, ethernet, wifi and Bluetooth to HDTVs.

Galaxy device owners can also use the STB to view stored media on Continue reading...

Sony fires the starting pistol for the next generation games console race as it unveils the (un)imaginatively named Playstation 4 at the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York.

As a successor to the 7-year old Playstation 3, the console tries hard to impress both consumers and developers-- Sony drops the esoteric "Cell" architecture in favour of a PC-style 8-core x86 processor, an enhanced GPU and 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, a combination producing up to 1.84 Teraflops of processing power.

Interestingly the PS4 will ship with a redesigned version of the Kinect-style Eye camera peripheral. It carries dual camera lenses and x4 microphones, which Sony says will handle log in procedures via face recognition.

The familiar Dual Shock controller also gets a slight redesign through the addition of a touchpad, stereo cameras (to work in tandem with the Eye), headphone jack and a "share" button allowing users to instantly record and share game footage.

The next Xbox Live package will offer customers more than just games and apps of the Netflix variety-- it will also include interactive TV content, thanks to an in-house Microsoft production studio.

Speaking at the D: Dive Into Media conference, Microsoft head of interactive entertainment Yusuf Mehdi claims “all I’ll say about our current and future investment is [that it is] about doing things that are big and premium. Other people will try some lower-end things; what we will do is things that are big and beautiful.”

Set for launch later in 2013, the Microsoft TV service will add " another level of interactivity," with Kinect feature integration and second-screen options via SmartGlass.