smartphone

Because the [itvt] editorial team is catching up with a backlog of news--and has also been working on TVOT NYC Intensive 2011--we are covering stories in this issue in round-up/summary format.

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been on the road the past few weeks, we are covering recent news stories in summary/round-up form. We anticipate that it will take a few days for us to catch up with all the recent news: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us. We apologize for any inconvenience to our readers.

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:

Broadcast network, CBS, and action sports programmer, Fuel TV, both announced the availability of free, video-enabled iPhone/iPod touch applications in the Apple App Store Wednesday.

CastUP, a subsidiary of interactive TV and conditional access technology provider, NDS, that specializes in IP streaming media products and CDN systems, on Tuesday announced the launch of an end-to-end video delivery solution for the Apple iPhone.

Fort Lauderdale-based L5 Technology on Monday launched a solution--comprised of a hardware accessory and a free software application--that it bills as transforming any iPhone/iPod touch into a universal remote, capable of controlling TV sets, DVD players, DVR's, cable set-top boxes, audio equipment, and most other products that come with an infrared remote (including, the company points out, ceiling fans and air conditioners).

AdMob--a mobile advertising network which, earlier this month, was acquired by Google for $750 million--on Tuesday announced the launch of a new Interactive Video Ad Unit for the iPhone. The company claims that the new ad unit is "the first to bring true interactivity to mobile video advertising" via in-player actions that enable consumers to browse Web sites, view additional videos and more while the video they were watching plays.

Interactive TV and conditional access technology provider, NDS, contacted [itvt] Wednesday to let us know that it has launched an iPhone/iPod touch app for LocateTV, an online programming guide which it operates and which allows users to search for programming on TV, the Web and DVD (note: according to Quantcast figures cited by the company, the site, which launched in October, 2007, reaches over a million people each month in the US and the UK).

Comcast-owned white-label video management company, thePlatform, has launched a service intended to make it easier for its customers to deliver video content to the Apple iPhone. "As you may know, delivering mobile content sometimes requires specialized development resources," the company wrote on its blog, Wednesday. "And if you're developing a custom application for the iPhone, going through the Apple App Store approval process can add extra work. thePlatform wanted to make the mobile development process easier by providing something that our customers could use to get their feet wet delivering mobile content without having to build a traditional iPhone custom application themselves."

Sigma Designs, a provider of system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for set-top boxes and consumer electronics, announced Tuesday that it is committed to "broad scale support" of the Android operating system on its media-processor SoC's, and also announced the availability of a ported version of Android on its Vantage SMP8654 development platform.

i.TV (pronounced "eye-dot-TV"), a Palo Alto, Calif.-based start-up that offers a popular free iPhone/iPod application of the same name (note: the app is billed as allowing users to browse constantly updated, localized TV and movie listings, as well as a catalog of hundreds of thousands of TV and movie titles available for download; it also includes 1) various social features, allowing users to write reviews, rate shows, and recommend shows to their friends via email alerts; 2) video support, allowing users to watch TV previews and movie trailers; and 3) ecommerce support, allowing users to purchase movie tickets), will today announce the "i.TV Remote Contr

[itvt] has just published in-depth audio interviews with Jonathan Kessler, founder and CEO of Hand Eye Technologies, and with Chetan Damani, co-founder and managing director of acrossair.

US cable channel, A&E, has tapped New York-based creative communications agency, Circ.us, to develop an augmented reality game in order to drive interest in the new season of its magic-themed show, "Criss Angel: Mindfreak" (premieres August 12th). Dubbed "The Five Lives of Criss Angel Augmented Reality Experience" and located on A&E's Web site (http://www.aetv.com/5-lives-of-criss-angel/5-lives-augmented-reality/), the game challenges viewers to navigate a "game piece" that always levitates upwards, through a series of 3D mazes.

MIPS Technologies, a company which, among other things, provides processors for home entertainment devices, announced this week that it has met what it describes as a "key milestone" in its ongoing efforts to drive the Android platform beyond mobile handsets: two months after announcing its port of the Android platform to the MIPS Architecture, the company says it is making the source code publicly available. It has also launched an Early Access Program for a small group of its key customers, which will have access to specific hardware and code optimizations before they are publicly available. It says that participants in the program will work closely with its engineering team and provide it with feedback and market expertise.