hillcrest

Japanese electronics manufacturer Murata has developed a bendable remote control that can change TV channels, adjust the volume and perform other functions by twisting, bending or shaking the device. 

• DirecTV is banking on 3D video of women surfers to help differentiate its programming lineup from pay TV rivals. The DBS provider signed Union Square Agency to produce a 3D TV series that will take viewers behind the scenes of the professional female surfing circuit. "Gone Until December" is scheduled to debut this summer on n3D, DirecTV's 24-hour 3D network. More

• After hitting the milestone of 1 million users, social-TV check-in service GetGlue is comparing itself to Web giants IMDB, Fandango, TV Guide and Amazon.com. The company boasts that it has also hit the milestone of generating 100 million data points, which represent "connections between people and the entertainment they've consumed, revealing insights about tastes and dynamics of entertainment consumption." GetGlue says it generates as many as 10 check-ins per second during primetime, and that it sees 500,000 new unique data points on an average day. More

• Miso, another social-TV check-in service, upgraded its iPhone app. Users can now use a five-star rating system for TV episodes and movies. It also added a push notification system that allows viewers to receive emails when their friends check in to a show, and it updated the navigation bar on the app. Miso recently struck a deal with Starz to help promote its "Camelot" series. Viewers that use Miso to check in to "Camelot" can earn badges based on the show.  

• Motion-control technology firm Hillcrest Labs raised another $5.5 million, according to an Securities and Exchange Commission filing. While Hillcrest hasn't yet struck deals with pay TV providers to deploy its Loop remote, it has licensed its Freespace technology to LG Electronics, Universal Electronics, Logitech and other CE manufacturers for use in connected TVs and devices. Hillcrest, which in 2009 settled a patent infringement suit filed against Nintendo for allegedly using its technology in its Wii controllers, didn't name its new investors in the filing. 

• Among the "TV Everywhere" technologies Akamai Technologies and Synacor touted at a joint demonstration at the NAB convention in Las Vegas this week is a "viewing continuity" feature – or allowing viewers watching video on a PC to pause a scene, and resume play on a tablet. But the companies don't yet have a joint multiplatform video product to pitch TV programmers and distributors, noting in an announcement that the new features "are not yet commercially available." Synacor operates a Web video portal for Charter Communications, and has been shopping a TV Everywhere authentication and authorization solution to other providers. More

The blog Engadget reported last week that it had received a tip--which it said had been confirmed by "a source very close to Apple"--about the next generation of Apple TV, a platform whose current incarnation has been famously described by CEO Steve Jobs as a "hobby." According to the blog, the new version of Apple TV has been in development for some time now (i.e. before Google announced its new Android-based Google TV platform) and will:

Rockville, Maryland-based Hillcrest Labs (note: last year, the company announced that it had secured $25 million in a fourth round of funding--see [itvt] Issue 7.58 Part 1; it has raised a total of approximately $50 million to date) announced Monday that it is now selling its Loop remote control (or "pointer," as Hillcrest prefers to call it) directly to consumers as an "in-air mouse for TV," targeting what the company says is the growing number of people who are connecting their PC or Mac to a television set in order to access over-the-top video (n

--Launches Reference Kit, Secures Deal with Kodak