LG Adds Netflix to HD TVs
January 5, 2009 by Martin Bryce
Netflix and LG Electronics announced that LG will soon introduce TV sets that can stream Netflix movies directly from the Web without an external box. “It’s hugely symbolic,” said Netflix’s chief executive, Reed Hastings. “The holy grail has always been to give the TV an Internet jack in addition to the cable jack. It’s an early glimpse of the long-term future.”
Netflix has been hard at work practically equiping every consumer electronic in the home with the capability of instant movie viewing. From Tivo and DVD players to Xbox 360, Netflix has been fast to lock up as many devices as it can. This partnership with LG is really significant because it is a big step forward in making the TV become a connected device in the home. Read more
Race For A New Game Machine
January 1, 2009 by Oz
Sony’s PlayStation 3 is nothing short of a greek tragedy. There haven been many companies before it suffer similar fates, Magnavox, Atari, and even Nintendo but none have squander their opportunity like Son. But now David Shippy, the “brains” behind the cell processor which powers the PlayStation 3 tells the story of how Sony was part of one of the biggest business failures of all time.
In a new booked called The Race For A New Game Machine, he describes how the project went off the rails, ending up with IBM engineers creating the processing chips for two rival video game consoles. In the process IBM sold parts of the cell processor design to Microsoft for their Xbox 360 and Microsoft benefited from over $400 million in R&D funded by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. The R&D teams worked in the same building and in some cases Shippy met with Microsoft engineers right after meeting with Sony engineers. Ultimately Microsoft benefited a great deal from Sony’s work on the cell processor. Microsoft launched their Xbox 360 a year before Sony launched their PlayStation 3 and the rest is history.
