Angry Birds land on Samsung Smart TVs, wage war with gestures

Samsung Electrics releases a popular mobile game Angry Birds as a smart TV app in July. The Bird Sling Shot game produced by Finnish mobile game developer Rovio for smart phones back in Nov 2009 has been downloaded for more than 1 billion times. Now Rovio has brought its most popular game to the Samsung’s Smart TV platform which allows the viewers to enjoy the game by controlling the sling shot to fling angry birds using the motion control features of the Samsung Smart TV.

via Samsung flickr

[My Take]
On which Smart TV would you want to play the popular smartphone games? Fruit Ninja 3D on LG Smart TV? Or Angry Birds on Samsung Smart TV?

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LG Electronics' First-Ever Appearance At Comic-Con Showcases Groundbreaking 3D And HD Technology

     PRNewswire via COMTEX

Alliance With Legendary Entertainment Brings Blockbuster Movies To Life

LG HD TVs, Mobile Phones Create Unprecedented Cinematic Viewing Experience For Legendary Movie Reveals

SAN DIEGO, July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- LG Electronics USA and Legendary Entertainment are joining forces to deliver a once-in-a-lifetime entertainment experience for visitors to the Legendary booth (#3920) at Comic-Con International, the nation's largest gathering of film, gaming and comic-book fans, running from July 12–15.

As more than half a million Comic-Con attendees descend on San Diego this week, many will be treated to an awe-inspiring entertainment phenomenon when Legendary provides a sneak peek of future films and other content exclusively on LG CINEMA 3D Smart TVs and premium LG smartphones with 3D and True HD displays. In this groundbreaking event, LG will prove it's possible to bring a movie-theater-quality viewing experience into the living room—and even into the palm of one's hand.

"Legendary and LG share a common vision of delivering an unparalleled entertainment experience," said James Fishler, senior vice president of marketing and go-to-market operations, LG Electronics USA. "Legendary's highly acclaimed film and media catalog takes Comic-Con attendees to the front line and into the action on LG 3D and HD devices, allowing them to experience their favorite heroes and villains like never before."

Legendary content will be shown exclusively on LG displays, such as the popular LM7600 and LM6200 LED CINEMA 3D Smart TVs, and on LG HD smartphones, including the LG Spectrum and LG Nitro. These viewing platforms are expected to thrill attendees with amazing HD picture quality and LG Cinema 3D technology for TVs.

Legendary fans attending Comic-Con also will have the opportunity to experience "The Pass," a fun and interactive contest in which participants are challenged with a set of tasks and rewarded with a Legendary T-shirt and the chance to win a VIP ticket for access to two exclusive screenings, shown for the first time on the LG CINEMA 3D Smart TVs and LG smartphones with True HD displays. Winners also have a chance to get a first-look at upcoming films such as "Pacific Rim" and "Seventh Son," and get up close and personal with some of Legendary's directors and other talent.

For more information about how to participate in the contest, show attendees can "Like" Legendary's Facebook page or follow @LegendaryEnt on Twitter where real-time clues will be provided during the convention.

For more information about LG, please visit LG.com or "Like" and follow us on www.facebook.com/lgusamobile and @LGUS.

For complete information about Legendary's Comic-Con schedule, please visithttp://www.legendary.com/events/event/san-diego-comic-con-2012/

For official rules, please visithttp://www.legendary.com/uploads/promotions/the_pass_official_rules.pdf

Designs, features and specifications subject to change without notice. LG LED TVs are LCD TVs with LED backlighting.

For a small percentage of the population, the viewing of stereoscopic 3D video may cause discomfort such as dizziness or nausea. If you experience any of these symptoms, discontinue using the 3D functionality and contact your health care provider.

About LG Electronics USA

LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $49 billion global force and technology leader in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a range of stylish and innovative home entertainment products, mobile phones, home appliances, commercial displays, air conditioning systems and energy solutions, all under LG's "Life's Good" marketing theme. LG Electronics is a 2012 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year. For more information, please visit www.lg.com.

About Legendary Entertainment

Legendary Entertainment is a leading media company with film (Legendary Pictures), television (Legendary Television) and comics (Legendary Comics) divisions dedicated to owning, producing and delivering content to mainstream audiences with a targeted focus on the powerful fandom demographic. Legendary is building a library of marquee media properties and has established itself as a trusted brand which consistently delivers high-quality, commercial entertainment including some of the world's most popular intellectual property.  Among the wholly-owned projects that Legendary Pictures is currently developing in-house are the upcoming Seventh Son, directed by Sergei Bodrov; the Jackie Robinson biopic 42; an adaptation of the phenomenally successful interactive game universe Warcraft; Godzilla, based on Toho Company's famed character; Warren Ellis' Gravel; and Mass Effect, based on Electronic Arts' and BioWare's hit videogame franchise. Upcoming Legendary releases with partner Warner Bros. include the highly anticipated Pacific Rim, as well as Hangover 3, Man of Steel, Jack the Giant Killer, 300: Battle of Artemisium, and this summer's The Dark Knight Rises.  Previous successful Legendary and Warner Bros. releases include the critically acclaimed Inception, which has been a box office smash grossing more than $823 million worldwide, as well as the global blockbusters The Hangover, Parts I and II (over $1 billion worldwide total), Clash of the Titans ($493 million worldwide), The Dark Knight ($1 billion worldwide), and 300 ($456 million worldwide). The Legendary Comics division is releasing The Tower Chronicles this fall, created by Thomas Tull and developed by Tull and Matt Wagner. For more information, please visit www.legendary.com.

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Report: iPhone 5 Will Be Announced August 7

[Wired]

Tim Cook closes the 2011 ‘Let’s Talk iPhone’ event. Photo: Brian X. Chen/Wired

If the latest report ends up proving true, we could be seeing the next iPhone launch sooner than expected. A “reliable industry source” told KnowYourMobile that the next iPhone will be unveiled during an August 7 Apple keynote. The next iteration of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 6, is also expected to be officially released at the same time.

Last year, the iPhone 4S debuted October 4 and went on sale a week later. The iPhone 4 was launched in June at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference the year before that. This year, Apple has largely been expected to unveil the next-generation iPhone in either September or October.

A late-September to early-October launch puts the iPhone in a good position for holiday sales, giving Apple the full span of its holiday quarter for beefy profits and sales numbers. An August launch feels a bit early for us, but Apple shook things up with the launch date of the iPhone last year, so it’s certainly in the realm of possibility.

Forrester analyst Charles Golvin told Wired that the main benefit to an August launch would be to take advantage of the back-to-school buying period. But given Apple would still need to get FCC approval by that time, Apple could face more challenges in making the new iPhone available in its stores and through operator channels to tap this opportunity. “I believe that the more likely scenario is that Apple will release the new iPhone in September-October and focus on the Christmas selling season, which is the most significant sales opportunity,” Golvin said.

Regardless of when the iPhone does officially debut overseas, enterprising sellers on a Chinese website are letting iPhone fans pre-order or order an iPhone 5 even though it hasn’t been announced yet.



This article originally appeared on Wired.com: Report: iPhone 5 Will Be Announced August 7

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How to Start Chirping through Twitter Smart TV App

We have to admit that tweeting can sometimes be annoying when you have tens of thousands Twitter users to follow so it's an amazing idea to read massive tweets in a big screen. I found a useful video on how start chirping through Twitter LG Smart App.

Let's listen to this TV expert.

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LG and Samsung top secret panel tech leaked

[TechEYE.Net]

Israeli spooks with credit card shaped USBs are being blamed for key display panel production technology of Samsung and LG leaking overseas.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office has fingered the collar of three Korean workers at the Korean branch of Orbotech.

Orbotech is an Israeli company which supplies display testing equipment.

According to the Korea Times, the three have been charged with leaking the technologies of Samsung Mobile Display and LG Display to China.

The technology included Samsung’s active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) and LG’s White-OLED (WOLED) displays, including circuit diagrams.

Another three employees of the subcontractor were also charged but were not immediately jailed.

All six were also charged with violating a contractual agreement with Samsung and LG to keep any secrets obtained through business.

Orbotech’s Korean branch will be charged as a corporation.

Amongst the shopping list of tech taken was that for 55-inch television production. The data was saved on USBs that looked like credit cards.

While they checked the testing equipment at Samsung and LG’s panel production lines, they filmed the diagrams for 55-inch tellies.

They saved the information on the USBs, which they hid in their shoes, belts or wallets.

They allegedly delivered the technology to employees of Orbotech’s Israeli headquarters.

Prosecutors think that the data may have been sold on to China.

[My Take]
The guys behind the LG and Samsung OLED TVs are restructuring the pricing of the excessively priced OLED TVs. The next questions would be how much will the OLED TVs cost when they come out? And will they come out sooner?


Related Article:

LG OLED EM9700 - A TV Thinner than your Pinky Finger 

http://newtech-modern.blogspot.com/2012/06/lg-oled-em9600-tv-thinner-than-your.html

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Netflix streaming tops 1 billion monthly views for first time

[ZDNet]


At this time last year, Netflix was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. A lot of investors and customers became scared the online rental giant was falling apart just as things were getting good, but it was very arguable that much of the criticism was unneccessary fear.

In fact, Netflix has reached a new milestone as the Watch Instantly digital streaming service saw 1 billion hours viewed last month.

CEO Reed Hastings announced the good news via the following message posted to his Facebook page this week:

Congrats to Ted Sarandos, and his amazing content licensing team. Netflix monthly viewing exceeded 1 billion hours for the first time ever in June. When House of Cards and Arrested Development debut, we'll blow these records away. Keep going, Ted, we need even more!


There are a number of factors that have contributed to the success of Netflix's latest achievement. Certainly the international expansion across Latin America as well as a foot in the door in Europe with launches in the United Kingdom Ireland have helped.

Furthermore, the $7.99 monthly plan is continually more appealing to younger consumers who don't want to shell out anywhere between $50 to $100 each month for cable when they can access plenty of on-demand TV shows and movies on nearly every electronic device they own from gaming consoles to smartphones.

(And even though it applied to DVDs, it also doesn't hurt that Qwikster was squashed before it could happen.)

Nevertheless, this also proves how necessary it is for Netflix (and its competitors) to continue ramping up the amount of content available for instant digital streaming.

With these kinds of solid figures being tossed around and bragged about, it also has the potential to give Hollywood studios more leverage in signing away the rights to content knowing just how many people are turning towards the online, on-demand medium. This is where the market is going, much to the chagrin of traditional cable providers.



[My Take]

Aside from the number of contributing factors that gave Netflix the said streaming growth, along with the international expansion in Latin America and launching in Europe by introducing it first in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the debatable fact that many tech analysts think that 2012 is the year of Smart TVs could be the factor that contributed the most. Netflix is now enjoying the benefits after deciding to partner in 2009 with TV makers to instantly stream movies directly to their high definition televisions. Since then, Netflix has been embedded into different TVs and apparatus like LG and Samsung smart TVs and the LG Google TV.


Now considering the popularity of smart TVs like the LG Google TVs that offer not only premium content like Netflix but also the ubiquitous Google services, Netflix can surely take advantage its position and may see another billion views in the succeeding months as it has already made itself an indispensable content provider to all movie entertainment media hardware manufacturers.

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Samsung Acclaim

Though the big four civic carriers accept enjoyed assorted Android phones for some time now, abate bounded carriers accept been missing out. That ends with the Samsung Acclaim, the first-ever Android handset accessible for U.S. Cellular. Surprisingly, the Acclaim is no second-rate smartphone, though; it comes with OS 2.1 out of the Bordeaux and we begin its achievement to be accelerated and reliable. The Samsung Acclaim is accessible for about $100, which we anticipate is affordable.

Design

Compared with the contempo Samsung Galaxy S models, the Acclaim ability assume rather dowdy. On its own, however, the Acclaim has a simple common appeal. It measures 4.49 inches continued by 2.32 inches advanced by 0.6 inch thick, and it has arced corners and a angled button breadth with argent adorning its sides; its attending is not clashing added Samsung touch-screen handsets. The Acclaim is captivated in a harder bright artificial shell, and weighs a adequate 4.59 ounces.

By far the brilliant of the appearance if it comes to the Acclaim's architecture is its 3.2-inch HVGA display. It's not as active as the AMOLED displays we've seen, but for a $100 phone, it looks fantastic. Thanks to its capacitive screen, we begin the affectation to be actual responsive, additional there's pinch-to-zoom support. You can aswell toggle the accelerometer to bang in whenever you authority the buzz sideways, which is advantageous for applications like the browser. The Acclaim aswell has a adjacency sensor.

As an another to the blow screen, the Acclaim aswell has a aboveboard baddest key that doubles as an optical trackpad beneath the display. It provides a nice way to annal through Web pages after accepting to annoyance your feel beyond the screen. Surrounding the optical pad are the accepted Android hot keys to the pop-up menu, home, back, and search. The controls are laid out in a aboveboard rather than the added archetypal individual line. It acquainted roomier, which led to beneath adventitious presses.

The Samsung Acclaim has a abounding QWERTY keyboard.

When you accelerate the phone's affectation to the right, you'll acquisition a abounding QWERTY keyboard. The sliding apparatus is absolutely bland and locks deeply into place. The keyboard is ample enough, but we acquainted the keys were a bit too flat, with not abundant curve amid them. Still, the keys had a appropriate feel if pushed, and we managed to blazon out argument with few mistakes. The Acclaim aswell provides an onscreen keyboard if you would rather not use the concrete one.

The Samsung Acclaim has a 3-megapixel camera and LED beam on the back.

On the larboard aback are the aggregate rocker and a microSD agenda slot; the charger jack and camera key are on the right. On the top is the awning lock key and a 3.5mm angle jack, and there's a camera lens and LED beam on the back.

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