Intel has created yet another new and innovative gadget. It’s a new chip, but it won’t be being added to any computer system. That’s because the Intel company’s latest chip invention is actually a tiny computer itself. It’s called the Compute Stick, and at CES 2015, Intel revealed this new sophisticated and extremely compact computing device.

While many “sticks” on the market right now are mainly plug-in internet streaming media devices, Intel’s new “stick” invention is a literal plug-in Windows PC. The pocket-sized mechanism can be plugged into any HDMI port on a TV or PC monitor, and Compute Stick will instantaneously turn your TV screen into a desktop PC experience.

Features of the new Intel Compute Stick are an Intel Atom processor, 32 GB of storage, Wi-Fi capabilities, a USB port, and external micro SD card slot for convenient expandable storage. Two separate versions of the Intel Compute Stick will be made available on the market: a Window 8.1 version and a Linux version. The Windows 8.1 Compute Stick will be priced at $149, while the Linux version will be offered at a much lower price of $89.

Intel plans to target this new gadget at those who are looking for a bigger screen for their computing needs. The Compute Stick will ultimately be a double-device, combining the streaming of videos, music and other digital content with the ability to run numerous office applications. The Compute Stick unit will also be able to play a few uncomplicated video games as well.

Users of the Compute Stick will need to connect either a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard or wireless USB peripherals in order to operate its PC functions. With Intel’s new Compute Stick, all you need to do is add a keyboard, mouse and a monitor or TV screen, and you have yourself a whole computer system.

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Google TV has failed to take off as expected when it launched in 2010. Issues such as poor customization options, laggy apps and disappointed customers have led Google to discontinue the product. It’s developer tools and libraries will also no longer be supported and unavailable.

Google TV had been successful to an extent in gaining developer support. It incorporated Chrome and Android features in a 10-foot interface and a QWERTY remote which allowed users to use games, apps and play online video content.

“While the Google TV libraries will no longer be available, we’ve made it really easy to transition apps to Android TV using familiar Android development tools, as well as our new Leanback support libraries,” said Google and Android TV teams.

Android TV was announced only last year, showcased on the Nexus Player set-top box by Google. This week at CES 2015, Sony announced that all of its Bravia TVs will be featuring Android TV. More companies will be partnering with Google to bring Android TV devices. Google has already identified Sony, Sharp and Philips among them.

“We expect to see an exciting lineup of Android TV devices in the coming year, including TVs from Sony, Sharp, and Philips, as well as other set-top and over-the-top boxes,” added the teams.

Favourable reports have been coming in from CES 2015 in Las Vegas that the Android TV hardware has been featured on several TV manufacturers. Sony, Sharp and TP Vision have expressed support for Android TV. Support for the platform has also been confirmed by chip makers including Qualcomm, Nvidia, MediaTek, Intel, Broadcom and ARM.

Bugs may still appear sporadically on the Android TV, but there is little doubt that it is still far superior to the discontinued Google TV. It’s better hardware features make that possible alongside its simplicity and newer software to make Internet TV streaming advance even further.

Other manufacturers like Huawei and Razer have also expressed willingness to support the product.

If you happen to be a Comcast Infinity customer who also owns a Roku streaming device, you’ll be happy to hear that the two companies have recently made an agreement that will allow both HBO and Showtime subscribers to download and run the HBO Go and Showtime Anytime apps from the channel store on their Roku players. Roku updated its blog post with a confirmation of the deal on Tuesday.

Before this new conformity between Comcast and Roku, the cable access company had allowed its subscribers to use their mobile devices (i.e. smartphones and tablets) to access HBO Go, but not any TV-connected devices. Verizon Fios, ATT U-verse and DirecTV were just some of the many major TV providers who were already supported on the Roku when the agreement was ultimately reached.

Apparently, The HBO Go app has been available on the Roku streaming device since 2011. However, in order for users to actually be able to run the app, it had to be authenticated with the channel’s coinciding TV provider. Until now, Comcast had denied that authentication ability to its customers.

Recently Comcast has been looking into merging with Time Warner Cable, a TV provider who is already supported by Roku. This fact along with Roku’s complaint to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may have led to the cable company’s decision to join the growing list of TV providers whose are already supported on the streaming media player.

Sony PS3s, Amazon Fire TVs and Samsung smart TVs are still on Comcast’s “blocked” list, although the cable company claims they are in the process of conducting product and platform evaluations for those particular streaming devices. They will likely be forming a similar deal with the cable company in the near future.

A spokesperson for Roku stated that company is glad to be able to bring the long-awaited feature to Comcast Xfinity TV customers.

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Source URLS:
1.) http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Roku/Comcast/XFINITY/Cable/HBO_Go/showtime-anytime/Game_of_Thrones/homeland/shameless/true-detective/comcast-customers-can-now-stream-hbo-go-showtime-anytime-on-roku-devices/20105
2.) https://gigaom.com/2014/12/16/comcast-customers-can-finally-watch-hbo-go-on-their-rokus/
3.) http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/12/comcast-to-stop-blocking-hbo-go-and-showtime-on-roku-streaming-devices/

Research firm Sandvine’s bi-annual report has revealed that Netflix accounts for more than one-third of peak internet traffic in North America during evening hours.

Netflix was reported to have a 34.21% share of traffic in the first half of 2014. This number has now risen to 34.89% in the second half of the year, according to Sandvine. This is the highest figure for Netflix.

Internet Service providers, like Comcast and Verizon, have long argued that Netflix pay for the dominating bandwidth it uses attributed to heavy internet usage.

Netflix is not the only tech company to see gains in internet usage share. Facebook had an increase from 1.99% to 2.98%. Netflix’s biggest competitor, Amazon Video, also increased their share from 1.9% to 2.58%. YouTube saw an gain of 13.19% to 14.09% in traffic share. iTunes and bitTorrent on the other hand saw both their shares lower to below 3%.

These figures don’t include Internet usage on mobile devices using cellular data networks. In that department, YouTube is in the lead with a 19.75% share, closely followed by Facebook having a 19.05% share.

Although Amazon like to run a closed shop, and they have their own dedicated streaming services with Instant-Prime. It has been reported that their new TV media set-top box will offer rival streaming services at launch.

The set-top box which hade the working name Cinnamon, is rumored to launch later this month and is expected to not only offer online TV, but also double up as a games console. Although Amazon would probably rather not, offering rival streaming services will be demanded by the consumer.

So rather than just having access to Amazon’s library of streaming video products, the stb will also open up the world of rival services and apps from the Android development community, so says the hardly surprising news from GigaOM.

The Amazon TV Box will run on a forked version of the Android operating system, just like the Kindle Fire tablet range, although the report says that because of this Google may not allow YouTube to run from the hardware.

The box which will compete with similar offerings from Roku,  Apple TV, and Google’s Chromecast, is also said to be getting a dedicated Bluetooth gaming controller as Amazon push the gaming capabilities of the device. The report shows the leaked image looking similar to the Ouya console controller, the device has triggers and buttons hat would make a PS4 or Xbox 1 owner happy.

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