LG, Unity Technologies team up to bring video games to Smart TVs
Unity Technologies and electronics manufacturing giant LG are teaming up to bring video games to Smart TVs in 2012.
The deal is similar to one LG recently made with cloud gaming service Gaikai and is all part of the company’s plan to market its line of products as all-in-one multimedia systems.
Unity Technologies is the creator of the Unity development platform, which allows users to create and distribute interactive 3D and 2D content to mobile … Continue Reading
iPhone tops US handset sales, Android attracts more newbies, says NPD
Corroborating what just about every other research firm has noted by this pointed, the NPD Group announced today in its latest report that the iPhone has become the best-selling handset in the U.S. during the fourth quarter.
No big surprises there, but the group also pointed out another interesting statistic: Despite the iPhone’s dominance, first-time smartphone buyers still overwhelmingly jump to Android.
In the fourth quarter, Apple overtook LG and Samsung with the iPhone 4S, … Continue Reading
LG’s scanning mouse now connects to Evernote, Dropbox, more (exclusive)
LG‘s mouse scanner might not be the scanner with the highest resolution or the best color stitching, but it is certainly the most fun to use.
LG licenses the technology from Dacuda, which unveiled the product to the US market at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. “Today many people don’t use a scanner because they have no easy access to digitizing the information,” said Dacuda chief executive Alexander Ilic. “The mouse market is really … Continue Reading
In light of Facebook’s huge mobile risk, a “Facebook phone” looks like a smart solution
One of the biggest risks Facebook listed in yesterday’s high-profile IPO filing was “mobile.” The company hasn’t quite figured out what to do with advertising on phones, so it could struggle to bring in the bank as more users choose phones over PCs.
But Chris Silva, mobile analyst for Altimeter Group, told VentureBeat that the company has a possible way to help solve this issue: the highly rumored “Facebook phone.”
“If they are taking this … Continue Reading
IDC: Apple now the world’s third-largest phone manufacturer
Apple has moved up two spots in the world phone manufacturer rankings, with LG and ZTE dropping down a rank and Nokia and Samsung taking the top two slots, according to new IDC research.
IDC’s latest report on the state of the worldwide phone market says it grew by 6.1 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2011. But that growth is actually quite a bit weaker than the 9.3 percent year-over-year gain for Q3, … Continue Reading
The view from CES: The top 10 trends in technology for 2012
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a huge festival of gadgetry, but there’s no better place to get a bead on where technology is going in the coming year.
Among the 153,000 attendees at the show in Las Vegas last week were five VentureBeat staffers who were sniffing out the big trends. This story is our list of the most evident trends among the rows and rows of gadgets at CES.
The convention is like … Continue Reading
The 10 most promising products of the coming year, as revealed at CES
We spent hours combing the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to sleuth out the most compelling tech trends and the most exciting new products of the coming year.
Now that we’ve returned from Vegas, pounded enough Emergen-C cocktails to get us back into a semblance of health, and compared notes, we’ve settled on this list of the show’s top products.
Read on to see the most promising hardware that will be … Continue Reading
The coolest technology and moments from CES 2012 (slideshow)
Last week, four VentureBeat reporters and our videographer braved the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They covered 1.861 million square feet of show floor, visited many of the 3,100 exhibitors, and sorted through the 20,000 new products that were launched at the event to find the most interesting stories and gadgets.
They also took a lot of photographs. Here are some of our favorite images and finds from the CES 2012 floor, including … Continue Reading
LG in talks to produce a “Nexus” Google TV set
Electronics manufacturer LG may create a Google-branded television set that would run an unreleased, future version of the Android-based Google TV software.
The Google TV software — which currently runs on a variety of set-top boxes from Logitech, Sony and others — allows regular television sets to gain access to content on the Internet. It also helps organize that content so it can more easily be found and consumed, and adds support for developers to … Continue Reading
LG signs Android patent licensing deal with Microsoft to cover phones, tablets
Korean electronics manufacturer LG has signed a patent licensing agreement with Microsoft so it can be protected from lawsuits concerning Android and Chrome OS, the two companies announced Thursday.
Microsoft has made similar agreements with 10 other companies, including Samsung, HTC, Acer, Quanta and Wistron. The big M earns a small cut from every Android phone or tablet manufactured by the licensees.
The agreement covers LG’s phones, tablets and any device that features Android and … Continue Reading
The magical (and sometimes ridiculous) gadgets of tomorrow
Brian Lam is the editor of Wirecutter, a list of the very best gadgets.
Hello! I just found a handful of wonderful technology in Las Vegas, an oasis in the desert, at CES, the country’s biggest electronics show.
There are over 100,000 people here to see roughly 20,000 gadgets brought to the light of day in less time than it takes for a rattlesnake to shed its skin.
Without hype, these are the gadgets that … Continue Reading
LG debuts HDTV with built-in Google TV and a new Spectrum Android superphone
South Korean electronics maker LG showed off some cool new gadgets today, including a Google TV-powered HDTV, a high-powered Verizon Android LTE phone and a connected refrigerator that can order your groceries. Company executives debuted the products live at a press conference at CES 2012 in Las Vegas.
The first big item LG showed off is its LG Smart TV with integrated Google TV. Normally, Google TV is an external accessory. The company did not … Continue Reading
The top 5 CES trends that will matter in 2012
If you couldn’t tell by the avalanche of product news hitting VentureBeat over the past few weeks, the next Consumer Electronics Show is almost upon us. The annual trade show, which has been held in Las Vegas for more than a decade, is where many of the world’s biggest electronics companies debut their new products, announce major news, and desperately try to remind us that they exist.
A flood of news is par for the … Continue Reading
Google TV’s second wind: New devices coming from LG, Samsung, Vizio and Sony
As expected, Google TV will get a big shot in the arm at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
LG, Vizio, and Sony will be announcing new Google TV devices at CES, while Samsung will announce its products later in the year, the company announced on the Google TV blog Thursday.
The new devices come on the heels of the Google TV 2.0 launch this past fall, which added apps, a refined interface … Continue Reading
Intel’s first Android smartphone will be made by LG, shown off at CES
Intel has already hinted at its smartphone and tablet processor plans for next year, but it seems that LG will hold the title of the first company to create a modern smartphone with Intel inside.
Intel will be showing off an LG smartphone running Android and its Medfield mobile processor at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which is only a few weeks away, reports the Korea Times.
Intel Korea head Lee Hee-sung confirmed … Continue Reading
Google TV 2.0: With apps and more, it’s finally ready for a close-up (review)
Almost a year after its launch, Google TV owners are finally beginning to receive a major update that will dramatically improve the service with the addition of apps, a cleaner interface and more. But will the update make a dent in the many criticisms — sluggishness, and a lack of web video content, to name a few — lodged against it?
After living with the latest version of Google TV for the past few weeks, … Continue Reading
Google TV and LG may unveil a new TV in January
Google is said to be giving its Google TV operating system another push. The search giant is teaming up with manufacturer LG on a new television that will be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, according to a new Bloomberg report.
The partnership with LG comes right after Google TV’s effort with Logitech crumbled. In Dec. 2010, Logitech released the Logitech Revue set-top box running Google TV. The product performed poorly, and just … Continue Reading
Hitachi & LG plead guilty to price fixing, accept $21M fine
Hitachi-LG Data Storage, an entity owned by Hitachi and LG, has admitted to 15 criminal counts related to price fixing on components for consumer electronics devices.
The judge in the case sentenced the guilty parties to a $21.1 million fine.
The two companies’ joint venture has been under investigation for the past several years due to concerns about price-fixing collusion on optical disk drives — that is, drives for DVD players, CD players and Blu-ray … Continue Reading
iPad 3′s biggest production challenge: that damn Retina Display
The Apple iPad 3 reportedly has a serious challenge ahead of itself when it comes to production: building that blasted pixel-rich Retina Display.
After the completely inaccurate reports about iPhone 5, it’s hard to trust any rumors about upcoming Apple products. But when it comes to the iPad 3, I find the idea of slightly bumping up the screen resolution and internal hardware completely believable. Plus, we’ve already heard similar rumblings from other sources when … Continue Reading
Amazon lists all Verizon phones for a penny, except iPhone 4S
Amazon is selling the entire lineup of Verizon Wireless smartphones for a penny each with a 2-year contract this week — all except for the Apple iPhone 4S of course, which is launching today.
This is an great deal for those looking for a 4G-LTE-enabled Android phone on Verizon, such as the truly awesome Motorola Droid Bionic. If you try to buy the Droid Bionic direct from Verizon’s website, the phone costs $300, while the … Continue Reading
