With all the competition from streaming video and sexy competitors, Tivo may seem like an outdated relic. However, its new partnership with smart TV app startup Flingo may change that.

As of today, Tivo owners can “fling” video content from the web to their TV screens using Flingo’s technology. Say you spend time finding videos from services like YouTube and Vimeo on your desktop or mobile devices. When you find a video online, you’ll use a bookmarklet via a web browser to send it to the Tivo box. The process is similar to what Boxee has done in the past, but with a greater focus on specific devices.

“Discovery should not be done on a TV screen,” Flingo CEO and co-founder Ashwin Navin said in an interview with VentureBeat. I’m inclined to agree, because trying to navigate through the billions of videos on a native YouTube smart TV app using only a simple TV remote is both aggravating and fruitless.

Under the new partnership, Tivo owners also gain access to Flingo apps for a variety of premium content providers, including TMZ, A&E, History, Showtime, and TV Guide. Additionally, Tivo owners get exclusive interactive apps via a new “Launchpad for Tivo” platform.

“The cost of setting up an app within Tivo on the platform [for broadcasters] is almost negligible at this point if you’re already got that content available on the web,” Navin said. Presumably, that means more content providers should jump on the Tivo bandwagon in the future, which is good news for the set-top box company’s customers.

While it’s not in the immediate future, Navin said Flingo eventually wants to add more interactivity to what’s being watched on Tivo via its SyncApps technology. The SyncApps tech can detect what you’re watching in just a few seconds and communicate that information to your television, smartphone, or computer — sort of like a location-based service for what you’re watching. You can then use that tech within smart TV apps to pull up social content or services related to whatever it is you’re viewing, thus cutting down on multitasking.

Founded in 2008, Flingo has previously raised $8 million in funding from August Capital, Mark Cuban, and others.

Drool now or drool later, but LG just announced more details about its 2013 TV lineup, which it will unveil at CES in a week.

For 2013 the Korean company is focusing on smart TV enhancements like Smart Home, melding TV and web with quick access to apps, content, news sites, and weather; and Magic Remote, which enables you to control your TV by pointing, Nintendo Wii-style, or scrolling, or gesturing, or simply talking to your TV to change the channel or search for programming.

LG is also enhancing what it calls Smart Sharing, which enables owners to transfer, mirror, or share content to and from smartphones, tablets, and other devices; and LG Cloud, which enables streaming content from just about anywhere.

All of which is interesting. But the real lust-worthy item on display is its 84-inch Ultra HD television, which just launched in late October.

This TV isn’t just room-dwarfingly gargantuan — it’s also got four times the resolution of standard high-definition TVs, with 3,840 horizontal pixels combining with 2,160 vertical pixels to provide a very sweet 8,294,400 pixels of silky-smooth video pleasure. That’s 3.1 million pixels more than in an Apple 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (although, of course, on a much bigger screen).

But get ready to hit up the boss for a raise — that 84-inch Ultra HD TV will set you back a budget-busting $20,000.

To drive all this wealth of pixels and new intelligence, LG is updating the brains of their TVs, boosting CPU speeds by 120 percent and GPUs by 300 percent, which it says will translate to clearer images.

You’ll need that extra power, since the new Ultra HD resolution is completely unsupported by any content recorded at such high quality, so the TV depends on upconverting to provide a semblance of what higher high-def would look like.

A couple other welcome notes: LG’s new “Cinema Screen” design ethos means smaller bezels, providing more TV with less frame, and a better 3D experience with less flicker.

We’ll have more on all the latest CES announcement as the VentureBeat team CES team hits the road for Las Vegas shortly.

Aereo is rolling out new support for its streaming broadcast TV service on web browsers, the company announced today.

The service, which has come under constant fire from several major entertainment companies, allows users to view a live stream of programming from major TV broadcast networks (including ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox) on a variety of devices. So basically, anything that you can watch for free using an HD antenna is available through Aereo. The service costs also features a DVR function to record up to 40 hours of content. Until now the service focused on watching TV programming in the New York City area through mobile devices.

The company is now opening up its service to most major browsers, including Chrome, IE9, Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Provided you sign up for the $12 per month service, you don’t need to download any additional software or addons to view your saved content on Aereo’s website.

“The vast majority of American households own laptop or desktop computers – it’s only natural that we expand the universe of internet browsers that can access Aereo,” said Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia in a statement.

Smart TVs have the dumbest input devices, don’t they? From sliding through a carousel of apps to searching letter by painstaking letter for your favorite shows, it sometimes seems like the whole process was designed to induce mass outrage among early adopters.

Face it: TV remotes weren’t made for modern TV usage, and keyboards and mice weren’t made for TVs, either. What’s the alternative?

Check this out:

That up there is called MoveEye. It’s a smart piece of eyewear that works with software to let you control computers with gestures. It’s from Tarsier, a startup presenting today at DEMO, and it’s intended to make pain-in-the-butt interfaces like Smart TV screens a lot easier for us consumers.

“Computers aren’t as easy to communicate with as they should be,” explained Tarsier co-founder Shafa Wala in a recent email exchange with VentureBeat.

“For each person accessing the quality learning and information sources computers provide, six remain in the dark. We think the world is a better place when people are informed and using computers. … MoveEye has the ability to bring computing to the masses in a way no other technology has since the mouse.”

MoveEye is specifically designed to let humans interact with computer screens (including TV screens) from any viewable angle and distance.

The MoveEye product includes the Google Glass-reminiscent glasses seen above, as well as software that maps out the areas of the screen you’re controlling. The software also includes a gesture library. Unlike Kinect, MoveEye devices see what the user sees and are able to operate from the user’s perspective rather than solely from the device’s perspective.

Here’s a pic of the team showing off an early prototype device today onstage:

Microsoft’s Kinect controller is a step in the right direction when it comes to UI and navigation. In fact, the popular gaming device is now being brought into broader use cases such as education and retail thanks to Kinect for Windows. But the Tarsier team thinks Kinect doesn’t go far enough.

MoveEye’s creators also see it as a great tool for experiencing immersive 3D, interacting with the interface using depth cues. Can you imagine how useful that might be for, say, surgeons?

“With new computer designs like the Raspberry Pi, the barrier to entry is no longer the cost of the computer itself; it’s the skills to be able to use it,” Wala continued.

“We think the technology we have created has the foundation to be one of the most intuitive ways to communicate with computers the world has seen.”

Tarsier, founded in St. Paul, Minn., in 2010, has currently taken a small $55,000 round from local investors and is seeking more funding. Next up, the startup team hopes to grow its employee headcount.

“Once we have the right personnel, our engineering team will be working to transition the prototype to a consumer-ready device while our business team seeks out potential licensees and strategic partners,” said Wala.

Tarsier is one of 75 companies and 6 student “alpha” startups chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Fall 2012 event taking place this week in Silicon Valley. After we make our selections, the chosen companies pay a fee to present. Our coverage of them remains objective.

Photo credit: Stephen Brashear. Top image courtesy of Kiselev Andrey Valerevich, Shutterstock

You’ve likely played Angry Birds across several different platforms by now, but you haven’t played it like this: Samsung today announced that it will be bringing the uber popular game to its Smart TVs with motion controls.

On Samsung’s Smart Interaction television sets, you’ll be able to send off those irate avians by making a slingshot motion with your hand. Additional motions will let you use every bird’s unique power.

In short, there’s no way this won’t look absolutely ridiculous.

Samsung says it’s been working with Rovio for a year to implement the motion controls. Angry Birds will be available for free on Samsung’s LED 7500 TV and higher models, as well as on the Plasma 8000, later this month.

Samsung initially announced that it would be offering Angry Birds back at CES, but there was no mention of motion controls back then. The company will also soon be offering an Angry Birds animation channel.

Additionally, Samsung announced its most baller television set yet: a 75-inch behemoth that retails for $9,999. The ES9000 3D LED set (below) brings Samsung into big-screen territory that’s typically reserved for DLP sets from Mitsubishi and a dwindling number of other manufacturers. The TV includes all of Samsung’s Smart TV functionality as well as a new feature called “Sound Share” that lets it connect wirelessly to Samsung’s home theater speakers.

The ES9000 will be available at retailers in August.

Police departments are using data-driven predictive analysis to combat crime before it occurs. After Memphis police began analyzing crime-related data, violent crime went down 26%. Big data helped the dairy industry create the “perfect milk machine,” quadrupling the amount of milk the average cow produces in a short amount of time. Even Rugby clubs are analyzing player data signals to help reduce injuries and improve peak performance.

The data revolution uses real-world metrics to inform business-critical decisions. The result is reduced costs, added value, and additional revenue.

So why is this the age of Big Data?

Dr. David Haussler, who is using Big Data to fight cancer at the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering at UC Santa Cruz, chalks it up to a powerful new symbiosis between data and devices:

The scale of what we’re doing is far beyond anything anybody’s been able to put together before. I think you’re going to start to see this sort of big data effort on several fronts — partly because of supercomputing capabilities that we haven’t had until recently and also because of wireless devices that are increasingly being used to transmit data.

Haussler is most interested in how Big Data relates to medicine, but the benefits he describes are applicable to all industries. We’re talking more devices delivering more data that drives more actionable business intelligence.

Welcome to the New TV

In the field I’m in, video technology, we’re seeing big data dramatically impact the way people watch TV online.

As the TV industry evolves from a traditional broadcast experience to a mobile, multi-screen online environment, networks, broadcasters, and service providers will be able to leverage viewer data to create more personalized and profitable media experiences. Big Data is the key to personalizing media.

Imagine having highlights from your favorite sports team sent to your mobile device as they happen. Now imagine being able to watch individual player highlights to bring your Fantasy Team to life. Big Data makes this new TV experience possible.

Movie junkies can tap into a broad interest graph of like-minded cinephiles to discover, share, and rant about films from all over the world. Politicos could get a stream of commentary, news, and analysis tailored to their tastes and locations. The possibilities extend to art, fashion, food, and virtually every other area that people are passionate about.

Intelligent media distribution powered by Big Data will mean that your TV (and tablet, and phone) will know what you like, when you like to watch it, and what you will want to watch next.

With Big Data delivering the right media to the right screen at the right time, viewers become more engaged and publishers earn more digital dollars.

Advances in content discovery technology are turning smart media into smarter media. Sophisticated algorithms developed with advanced collaborative filtering and machine learning techniques connect online viewers with content suited to their specific tastes. The result? Viewer engagement skyrockets and abandonment rates (the number of people who stop watching videos) plummet. That means longer viewing sessions, more plays, and more advertising opportunities.

That’s found money, earned by carefully analyzing viewer data and using those insights to deliver highly targeted streaming media to all screens.

Jay Fulcher is CEO of video technology company Ooyala. You can follow him on Twitter @jbfulcher.

[Top image credit: PeterG/Shutterstock]

Uppleva went on sale June 14 in Sweden and is set to go on sale in Berlin, Germany on July 2, GigaOM reports. Ikea has said select stores in Italy, Poland, and France will also get the TV, but it won’t reach the U.S. until 2013.

Ikea released a few more specs on the TV as it went on sale for the first time. It offers full 1080p HD video, is compatible with MP3, MP4, DivX HD, and JPEG files, and comes equipped with video-recording capabilities.

An eight gigabyte drive records videos DVR-style, so you can fast-forward and rewind live TV. It doesn’t have nearly as much room as a TiVo, but it’s a handy feature when you want to briefly pause a show. An optional wireless adapter that connects the smart TV to streaming services and Internet apps is sold separately for now but may become a standard feature in future models.

While the TV’s specs are all well and good, most of us want to know if the TV is an impressive electronic, or a hunk of junk. It looks like Uppleva falls into the latter description.

The TV’s quality is poor, with reviewers complaining of a noisy image and bad black levels, according to Swedish tech publication M3 (parsed by Gizmodo). The TV’s “smart” interface is slow and clumsy, and it struggles to respond to the remote control.

M3′s overall score for Uppleva is a five out of 10, not great for a TV and furniture set that costs $1,000. For $1,000, you could buy a much nicer TV and a decent piece of furniture to place it on, M3 and Gizmodo both point out.

Uppleva isn’t a complete disappointment though; the furniture piece is sturdy and easy to assemble. M3 also points out that the sound system is quite good. But sound without a clear picture is like Ikea meatballs without gravy and mashed potatoes — it’s not as complete or satisfying.

After months of rumblings, new details have emerged about Intel’s new plans to launch a smart TV platform — and it actually sounds pretty cool.

Back in March, Intel was rumored to be working on producing its own set-top box as well as a subscription-based TV service/platform that could launch by late 2012. Intel was previously thought to be done with the smart TV market, having ceased production of its high-powered (and expensive) chipsets for Google TV and D-link’s Boxee Box in October.

Now, we’re hearing that the new smart TV platform may have quite a bit in common with Microsoft’s Kinect technology, according to a Reuters report this morning. The platform is said to display targeted ads based on facial recognition, gender, age range, etc. It won’t capture information down to the individual level (for example, it won’t see Sally from Wisconsin creepily smiles at laundry detergent commercials involving stuffed bears).

This is very much like the technology that could be employed by Microsoft’s Kinect-based NUads, which I pointed out as something that could save the ailing TV industry from declining ad revenues.

The main problem Intel is having, according to AllThingsD, is signing partnerships with the high-profile media companies. The idea that your TV can watch you while you’re watching it isn’t a comforting thought for most people, so content producers getting on board is a must. Also, those media companies aren’t really showing interest in Intel’s plan, which would rely on consumers paying for channels on an à la carte basis rather than getting a bulk of channels for one price.

The lack of media company participation is also what’s holding Google’s Google TV platform from seriously taking off. I believe it’s also why Apple has declined to open up the full App Store within its Apple TV set-top box. Apple seems to understand that it has to win several smaller battles before taking on something as big as its own TV content subscription service.

Still, Intel’s TV platform does have plenty of potential. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

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 create TV-specific applications.

Both LG and Google are currently in talks about the deal, but no final decision has been made, according to a Bloomberg report that cites anonymous sources familiar with the LG and Google TV project.

The potential Google-branded LG TV set (not to be confused with the line of products LG debuted at CES 2012, which run the current version of Google TV) will mimic the partnership Google has previously forged with Samsung on the Nexus line of smartphones. This basically means that the Google-branded “Nexus TV” would run a pure version of Google TV software, without any bloat or add-ons from the manufacturer. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard news about Google working with a partner to produce a “pure” GTV set either. Back in November Google was rumored to be in talks with Samsung on a similar TV set agreement.

I have to admit, I really like the idea of a “pure” Google TV set and I’d probably end up spending a bit more money to buy one. Ultimately, my decision would come down to whether or not that television set would be able to upgrade to newer versions of Google TV, which would undoubtedly extend the life (and usefulness) of the TV. Yet, with people already replacing their TVs less frequently, I’m sure TV manufacturers are probably nervous about that prospect.

Samsung has announced its new line of Smart TVs will let DirecTV customers access their TV service without the use of a set-top box. The company announced the feature addition at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

At Samsung’s press conference yesterday, the company showed off its latest set of smart TVs with heavy emphasis on taking TVs to the next level of connectedness. Its updated Smart Hub (pictured above) will add in all sorts of features and apps, including the ability to play mega-popular game Angry Birds and watch free Angry Birds cartoons.

But DirecTV integration takes the Smart TV idea a step further by helping you clean up your living room. All of the typical set-top abilities, including DVR and live pause, will be accessible through the Home Media Center on the Smart TV.

The DirecTV integration is handy in another way: if you have a DirecTV box in one room, a Samsung Smart TV in another room can connect to that box as if it was a DirecTV set-top box. Stephen Goldstein, vice president of Samsung America, explains in a statement:

Many homes today have more than one TV to cater to the different needs of everyone in the family. By working with a leading provider like DirecTV, we’re able to offer consumers enhanced convenience in access so they can enjoy the content they desire from any room in the home, any time they choose.

Samsung’s new Smart TVs will be available in Spring 2012.

Gaikai says it has spent three years building the fastest interactive cloud network in the world, instantly capable of delivering cutting-edge games without the need for any extra custom hardware. The company’s cloud platform will be a part of LG’s game portal service within the Smart TV ecosystem and will allow consumers to use their Smart TV log-ins to seamlessly play a broad range of games, including some of the lastest award-winning releases.

“We care passionately about delivering the best content and most premium experiences possible for our valued customers,” said Taeg Il Cho, VP of TV Product Planning Group at LG Electronics. “The ability to have award winning games that run on much more powerful hardware in the cloud than today’s PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 made this a must-have feature for our televisions and future devices.”

Gaikai has recently scored some big deals with other retailers and game publishers – including Best Buy, Capcom, Ubisoft, Walmart, and Electronic Arts – by offering the ability to stream games directly to Internet users. By adding a small amount of code to a website, a retailer or publisher can offer streaming game demos to interested consumers, who can then purchase the game on the same page.

A prototype version of the LG Smart TV gaming service will be demoed live from the CES 2012 show floor in Las Vegas.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

The deal extends Angry Birds, which became a cultural phenomenon as the most downloaded mobile game in history with hundreds of millions of downloads, from the mobile realm to the emerging platform for apps on TVs. Samsung is one of many TV companies creating Internet-connected TVs that are capable of running apps, or programs developed to run on TV screens.

Smart TVs are just in their infancy, and apps may be the way to make them more popular. With the animation channel, Rovio is taking the game brand and extending it to animated shows and movies as well. Samsung made the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. When Samsung officials showed an animated short of an Angry Bird character, it drew chuckles from the crowd of thousands of journalists.

For more gadget news, be sure to check out VentureBeat’s live coverage from CES 2012.

Photo by Sean Ludwig

Samsung is quickly beginning to generating Apple-levels of hype at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Last year’s Samsung’s CES press conference was a complete madhouse, and this year was no different. Today at the Las Vegas tradeshow, Samsung showed off a major update to its Smart TV lineup, which will bring a slick new interface, as well as motion and voice controls to the platform.

Boo-keun Yoon, president of Samsung’s consumer electronics decision kicked off the press conference with some bold pronouncements about where the company’s Smart TVs are headed. He said eventually they’ll be able to “Listen, See, and Do” without any interaction with a remote control.

The company then played a quick demo video that showed off motion control capabilities — bringing Kinect-like controls directly to the TV.

Tim Baxter, president of Samsung America. introduced the Samsung ES8000 Smart TV, which sports a dual-core processor and support for multitasking, as well as a built-in camera and microphone. It’ll also sport a revamped Smart Hub with a “cleaner, more intuitive design” for navigating and finding apps. Oh, and there’s a new U-shaped stand as well, which managed to get a few gasps from the CES crowd.

Baxter also announced that the Angry Birds game will be available on its Smart TV platform, as well as a free channel featuring Angry Birds cartoons.

Samsung is introducing new signature services, like Family Story, which will let families collect photos and memories across mobile devices. The aforementioned voice and motion recognition will be part of the company’s “Smart Interaction” services, which also includes face recognition capabilities. Samsung will offer an API for the Smart Interaction controls that will let developers create apps that take advantage of them.

The company’s 2012 lineup of televisions will also feature rear upgrade slots, which will allow you to plug in faster hardware down the line. Baxter said the upgrade hardware that plugs into the TV sets will be available in 2013, but otherwise he didn’t have many details to share on how the upgrade process works.

Last, but certainly not least, Samsung showed off its “Ultimate TV,” a 55-inch set running eye-blistering Super OLED technology. The company says it produces 90 percent of all OLED displays at the moment, and the Ultimate TV will be among the first at such a large size.

For more gadget news, be sure to check out VentureBeat’s live coverage from CES 2012.

Photos by Sean Ludwig

Not content to sit around and let Apple beat it to the TV market, Lenovo introduced its first television today at the Consumer Electronics Show, which is also notable for being the first TV to run the Android 4.0 operating system, “Ice Cream Sandwich.”

Called the Lenovo K91 Smart TV, the set will initially be available only in China. It’s a sign that even unlikely computer makers can step into the TV business — though we don’t yet know how successful Lenovo’s attempt will be.

It’s also worth noting that the TV isn’t running Google TV, a sign that Lenovo would rather create its own custom interface, rather than deal with the beleaguered Google TV platform. Lenovo calls its interface “Sandwich” because it’s comprised of three smart-TV pieces: video on demand, apps and standard TV functionality.

Under the hood, the K91 is also the first TV to be powered by Qualcomm’s 1.5 gigahertz dual-core SnapDragon 8060 CPU. Lenovo says the TV will have access to “thousands” of apps from the Android Market and the Lenovo Store, but it’s unclear how the company will highlight TV-optimized apps.

Lenovo plans to offer two models initially, a 42-inch and a 50-inch 3D LED unit, reports GigaOm. The TV will also sport a 5-megapixel webcam, which will open it up to the world of video chat and facial recognition. Its remote will feature a touchpad and integrated mic, and there will be a gamepad with 3-axis gyro available as well.

The Stick, which is about the size of a USB flash drive, plugs into your TV and gives you access to Roku’s more than 400 apps. It packs in Wi-Fi capabilities, a processor, and storage — you can think of it as a miniaturized version of Roku’s set-top boxes.

The device will likely be embraced by consumers who want access to TV apps but don’t want to sully their home entertainment system with yet another box, with its requisite wires and remote. Since it can turn pretty much any HDTV into a Smart TV (with one caveat, listed below), Roku says it will also bundle the Streaming Stick with some televisions, which means TV manufacturers won’t need to worry about bundling their own Smart TV software.

A Roku representative tells me that the Stick will output 1080p high-definition video, and it won’t be different functionally than existing Roku set-top boxes.

The Streaming Stick connects to an HDMI port on your TV — but the rub is that your TV has to support the MHL protocol, which will allow the stick to draw power and be controlled by your TV’s remote. Newer HDTV sets made within the past five years should support MHL, but sets older than five years could be more problematic. You’ll be able to update the Stick’s software, just as you would any Roku device.

Roku says the Streaming Stick will cost between $50 and $100 and will be available in the second half of 2012. Given that Roku’s set-top boxes start at $60 and top out at $100, the company would be better off keeping the Streaming Stick as cheap as possible.

Zynga is finally bringing its mega-popular Texas HoldEm poker game to the living room TV set, but it’s not going through a major video game console manufacturers to get there.

In addition to its social media and mobile gaming apps, Zynga is now offering Texas HoldEm as a Google TV app — the first set-top box platform to feature the game. The game has almost 30 million active monthly users across all platforms (Yahoo, Google+, iOS and others), according to AppData.

Technically speaking, Google TV’s support for Flash-based web sites means players can already play Texas HoldEm Poker and other Zynga games through the web browser. However, the new Google TV version announced today is “especially optimized for playing poker from the comfort of your own couch,” and easily controllable with the Google TV remote, Zynga said.

The announcement comes after Google recently updated its struggling TV platform with support for the Android Market, granting users access to TV-optimized Android app games like Droplets as well as many other useful features.

But the additions might be too little too late for Google TV. The platform has previously had trouble gaining a foothold in the market due to interface problems and a lack of content availability. Major Google TV hardware supporter Logitech announced last month it was giving up on the platform after losing $100 million on its Logitech Revue box since last December.

Other video-streaming-focused set-top boxes have also made small moves into gaming. For instance, Roku’s addition of support for Angry Birds on its devices earlier this summer. Integrated smart TV platforms from manufacturers including Samsung, LG, Sony and Panasonic have also dipped their toes into gaming, with support for simple titles, like Tetris, that can be downloaded directly to the television set.

And device manufacturers aren’t the only ones that realize the potential in set-top box gaming. In October, startup PlayJam announced it had raised $5 million for what many see as a burgeoning Smart TV gaming market as well as a way to get around the established console makers’ control of the living room TV.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

Ever since Yahoo Connected TV launched at CES in 2009, there has been a steady stream of TV app platform launches, including Google TV, Samsung, Broadcom/Adobe, Boxee, Blu-ray players, MythTV, and even Microsoft Xbox. However, there haven’t been any breakout apps for Internet-connected TVs — so-called “smart TVs.”

And the dirty secret? The TV apps out there are rarely used. I know this first-hand: At Transpond, the social apps-developer I founded and sold to Webtrends last summer, we made a couple of connected-television apps for one of the major broadcast networks, and the apps had almost no traction.

So what happened? It’s pretty simple. TV apps are cumbersome and awkward to use. Using a remote control to navigate across a bunch of app features is slow and confusing. In the process, you annoy everyone else watching the TV. This is the reason that Apple is not supporting apps on the Apple TV, even though it is essentially an iPod Touch with an HDMI port instead of a touchscreen. Games are the only apps that people want to run on a big screen, and they usually want to run highly interactive, multiplayer games that are well beyond the capabilities of connected televisions. In addition, delivering TV apps required implementing a ragtag assortment of quirky APIs from players ranging from Yahoo Widgets to proprietary offerings from Blu-ray manufacturers.

Instead, people are using their smartphones, tablets, and notebook computers for all of the much-ballyhooed interactive TV scenarios. Who’s that actress on Entourage? Let’s look it up on IMDB. What’s that song at the beginning of Gossip Girl? Let’s Shazam it. What are people saying about this episode of Glee? Let’s search Twitter for #Glee. Even the onscreen guide, the one staple interactive unit that you’d expect to run on the TV screen, is moving to your palm, with apps such as the Comcast’s Xfinity Remote iPad app (show above) that lets viewers browse TV listings and even program their DVR.

There is an entire category of TV engagement apps emerging on mobile devices. ABC has launched iPad apps that can identify what TV show you are watching, using audio soundprinting technology from Nielsen that works like Shazam but for TV shows, and offer up options to interact with the show. GetClue lets viewers “check in” to TV shows and offers a recommendation service based on people’s expressed preferences.

The only popular connected-TV apps are the ones that let you select video and audio content on demand, such as Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, and Pandora. Even these apps are now being replaced with a new generation of mobile devices that can transmit what they are playing onto television screens. Much like using the iOS Remote app to play iTunes music on a stereo with an AirPort Express, Apple’s AirPlay will stream video from any iOS device to a TV with an Apple TV set-top installed.

It is not a huge leap to assume that Google will iterate on its failed Google TV launch and make it so that Android devices can easily stream video to TVs. Vizio already announced at CES last month that their new tablets will be able to seamlessly hand video streams over to Vizio TVs. Even Intel got in the game at CES, and launched WiDi 2.0 which will enable mobile devices and notebooks to stream full 1080p HD video to any TV with a WiDi adapter.

With flat panels relatively commoditized, TV manufacturers attempted to differentiate with connected-TV features and 3D. However, the market has moved and the real differentiation is offering interactive features in the remote control. When the core differentiator for TVs becomes the controller you hold in your hand, Apple becomes a very scary competitor — and Google looks more like a friend. TV manufacturers should seriously consider bundling Android-based controllers that can run engagement apps and transfer streams to their large screens. It’s either that, or watch their customers change the channel once and for all.

Ty Braswell, founder of Creative Digital Strategies, is a consultant specializing in growing mobile TV revenues for companies including the NHL and Major League Soccer and was Virgin Records VP of New Media during the early Napster years.

Working for the very hip Virgin Records back in 1999, I saw first hand how the Napster phenomenon decimated the old school music label model. It made me a keen observer of how digital disruption evolves as broadband access gets better. Disruption for radio and print followed music. And now television is headed for a big reset. 2010 was the first year of declining US cable subscribers.

As pundits debate the SNL Kagen report that estimated over 300,000 people canceled their cable subscription in 2010, the bigger concern is the Credit Suisse survey that estimated that 30% of Netflix subscribers aged 18-24 are using Netflix in lieu of cable. Think about the ramifications. We saw a similar trend in the music biz when college students were the primary audience for Napster. Like a generation of people who abandoned $16 CDs, these young Netflix subscribers might never use cable. For the cable industry, they are the new lost generation.

Netflix has over 19 million subscribers in US and Canada, with a majority choosing to stream video over 250 different connected devices. Netflix users generate over 20% of US peak broadband usage. Where Netflix is headed is clearly stated on its website: Every TV in the world to be sold with a Netflix app.

Analyst Brian Marshall estimates that Apple currently only sells about 475,000 video rentals daily through iTunes, compared to the 5 million daily rentals seen by Netflix. But add to the mix the fact that the new Apple TV sold 1 million units in the first 3 months, 3G iPhones are coming next month on Verizon, and that the next iOS 4.3 upgrade will enable apps on iPads and iPhones to stream video via Airplay, and Apple gets more mojo to grow that rental business. If Apple can grow rentals like Netflix, Marshall believes TV and movie rental revenue from iTunes could exceed $1 billion annually within 5 years.

Samsung is claiming 1 million app downloads to its connected TVs, and Roku has sold over 1 million internet boxes for TVs. Hulu TV has more than doubled its revenues from last year to $260 million. Microsoft and Sony are also locked in an aggressive battle for the living room with xBox Live and Playstation Network competing to deliver TV and films. Google clearly wants in on this market too. Its Google TV had a rough launch, but don’t count it out of the race.

All of these new offerings are enabling whole new ways to watch TV that are more flexible than just sitting on your couch. With Netflix, for example, I can easily start a movie on my iPhone, pick up where I left off with my iPad and then finish the movie on my big screen via my Apple TV when I get home.

Telecom carriers are also rolling out faster mobile broadband in 2011 via 4G networks, which will deliver a better TV experience on mobile devices. As a result, users will expect even more control over how and when they watch video content.

These changes pose a difficult hurdle for some TV executives. Acknowledging that the audience is now in charge is a 180-degree turn in their business model. Many executives just don’t get it, which is creating enormous opportunity for innovators. Smart executives will become bilingual and develop robust conversations with their customers.

Raising prices on CDs when the Napster revolution was in full swing was just one of the missteps of the music industry. Getting a price hike this Xmas from Time Warner cable just after I bought my Apple TV and connected my Netflix and YouTube accounts in my living room gave me déjà vu of my last years at Virgin Records when the world was changing beneath my feet.

The first salvo of the major television disruption will happen around sports programming. If you want to pick one content category to watch where television is going, it’s always sports. Sports built the conventional television networks, cable, satellite, online and now mobile. It’s a key reason why folks pony up to get cable, and without it, the cable operators will have a hard time keeping subscribers.

ESPN gets a $4 monthly bounty from every cable operator. Imagine if the anti-cable backlash reached a fever pitch with sports fans organizing a Groupon + Kickstarter style protest to deliver an enticing financial proposition: Millions of fans promising to pay ESPN directly $12 a month if they can get all the ESPN programming on any screen without being a cable subscriber.

Sounds far-fetched? Not really. Imagine if the NFL does have a lock out on March 3. This could be a perfect storm to change the behavior of the television audience and drive millions of new viewers to discover TV content online. According to the New York Times, “Of the 50 highest-rated programs during the 2010 calendar year, 27 have been NFL games, including 8 of the top 10.” And don’t underestimate what the Facebook nation can deploy, especially if the protest is targeted globally to avid and displaced sports fans.

2011 will be the most significant year in the history of television. We are days away from the tipping point. Industry leaders who fail to organize with their competitors will see their business evaporate. Digital natives are already becoming comfortable and savvy getting TV and movie content illegally.

2011 will be a very good year for people in the business of television if they realize that television as we know it has gone away. For the start-ups and their investors, a tremendous opportunity has been created: Whoever teaches the television industry how to monetize content and make it easy to access will become the next big thing. The audience wants the content, but they want it their way, not dictated by a cable operator, a TV scheduler or even a DVR. It needs to be seamless and reasonably priced. Netflix and Apple already have a head start in the distribution channel but there is money to be made in a variety of areas of this $500+ billion global TV business, from digital distribution to content licensing. The future is now for the new TV.

If you’re an innovator, this is a great time to be in the television business because, as Stanford economist Paul Romer said, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”

This post is sponsored by Samsung Electronics America. See samsung.com/apps for information about which apps are available on specific models. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Samsung Electronics or its partners. VentureBeat applied its usual strict standards of editorial independence in writing this post.

As our televisions are getting smarter, TVs are quickly beginning to parallel the development of smartphones. Consider the app: Just as with smartphones, we’re beginning to see apps take off on TVs with platforms like Google TV, Yahoo’s Connected TV and Samsung’s Apps. At the same time, many websites are choosing to develop TV-friendly interfaces instead of going the app route — take, for example, YouTube’s LeanBack and Vimeo’s Couch Mode.

With Couch Mode, which is built using HTML5, Vimeo also brings up an issue that many companies have faced in the smartphone world: Should they develop a native app, or opt for a website written to the HTML5 standard and optimized for mobile devices?

The situation is slightly different when it comes to TVs, where full Web access isn’t as common as apps. And even apps are only available with certain television brands, or require an external set-top box like Logitech’s Revue with Google TV.

But with smart TVs on the rise — adoption grew 124 percent this year over last, and they’re expected to account for 54 percent of the total flat panel TV market by 2014 — more companies will need to figure out how exactly they want to approach this market.

The case for TV apps

As with mobile apps, there are a variety of different platforms for Smart TV apps. Yahoo has been in the business for perhaps the longest time with its Connected TV widgets, which are available on TVs from Sony, Samsung, LG and more. Samsung is pursuing a Smart TV initiative of its own on newer sets, and the budget brand Vizio is bringing apps to its sets as well. And of course, there’s Google TV, which brings apps and Web access together with live TV.

Why build a TV app? For the longest time, it was the only way to get your service on televisions. And at the moment, it’s still the most surefire method, since not every TV platform offers a Web browser. TV apps have been around for some time, but they started out slow — early smart TVs just offered simple apps for sites like YouTube and Flickr. They had nothing in the way of app market places, so there weren’t many apps to choose from, and third-party developers were shut out for the most part.

Now that’s beginning to change. Yahoo has a wide collection of widgets available on its Connected TV service, and developers can submit their own and charge users to use them. Samsung also has many apps available and is open to third-party developers. Google has a few apps built-in to Google TV, and it says that a full app marketplace is coming early next year. Apple will likely bring apps to its new Apple TV as well, but it’s uncertain how long that will take.

TV apps generally have more capabilities than optimized websites. Netflix’s streaming service, for example, is available as an app on pretty much all Smart TV platforms. This allows Netflix to include all of the licensing software required to give users access to its content, something that isn’t possible via an optimized website.

Of course there are downsides to the app route. For one, since there are so many different platforms, companies will have to develop individual apps for each of them. With apps, you’ll also have to deal with the quirks and limitations of every Smart TV platform, while also being beholden to the companies who own the platforms.

The case for optimized websites

Instead of building a special YouTube application for Google TV, YouTube developed LeanBack, a couch-friendly interface for viewing high-definition YouTube videos. That alone speaks volumes to the power of the TV-optimized website. Not only is LeanBack a great solution for Google TV, it’s also accessible by any computer (making it ideal for home theater PCs), as well as the latest version of Boxee’s media software via its web browser (including its set-top box).

Unlike TV apps, building one TV optimized website could easily serve multiple smart TV platforms. While not every smart TV platform gives users access to a web browser, that will likely change over the next year. And if all else fails, companies could technically turn their TV optimized sites into TV apps without much trouble.

It’s worth noting that YouTube LeanBack is built with Adobe Flash, while Vimeo’s TV-optimized Couch Mode instead relies on HTML5. In my testing with Google TV, I couldn’t find any discernible performance difference between the two sites. But given that HTML5 is quickly rising in popularity — it now accounts for 54 percent of all Web video, according to video-tracking service MeFeedia — I suspect that it will become the standard for future TV-optimized sites.

Thus far, we’ve only seen TV-optimized sites from Web video sites — but that doesn’t mean that’s all they’ll ever be limited to. As the capabilities of Smart TV browsers increase, and optimized sites begin to take advantage of even more HTML5 features, they could potentially begin to rival the capabilities of TV apps.

Making smart TVs smarter

With the advent of Smart TVs, apps have yet another platform to conquer. But I suspect we’ll see the same battle play out between apps and optimized sites as we’re seeing on smartphones. At least this time around, we have the added wisdom of seeing how the smartphone app ecosystem has built up. It’s clearer now what sort of services work better with apps, versus those that just need a TV-optimized site.

No matter the method, they both serve to make our TV’s smarter.

Peter Yared is founder and CEO of social and mobile app infrastructure company Transpond. [Disclosure: Transpond is announcing support for Android-based televisions.]

Everyone’s buzzing about Google’s new TV platform. But the real battle in your living room is Apple vs. Sony.

Over the past few years, Apple has muscled its way past Sony as the top purveyor of premium, high margin consumer electronics products. Sony has long had a deep culture of NIH (Not Invented Here) ranging from Betamax in the 1980s to the Memory Stick in the 2000s. But the iPod replaced Sony’s Walkman, the iPhone replaced Sony Ericsson handsets, and the resurgent MacBook and iPad have leapt past Sony’s Vaio PCs.

Apple’s unique blend of software, hardware, content relationships and rich developer ecosystem has eviscerated Sony’s core markets. The television set, Sony’s last bastion of premium consumer electronics, is already undergoing a relentless assault by Samsung. Now it’s facing a rumored Apple TV upgrade.

Upcoming: Apple TV

Apple’s much maligned Apple TV mini set-top box has long been due for an upgrade. Even Apple executives call the product a “hobby”. The next step for Apple is to start producing actual TVs. A lot of people who live in small apartments or dorms already use 24″ and 27″ iMacs as their primary TV viewing device. This trend has been widely rumored in late 2009 and early 2010 (although I think I was the first to publicly blog about it back in August 2008).

Apple doesn’t actually produce parts like its own display panels. The 27″ iMac screen is manufactured by LG, for example. Display panels, even large ones, are commodities. Instead, Apple specializes in beautiful packaging, excellent integration of hardware/software, and a seamless user experience.

Imagine a stylish, aluminum TV with a lighted Apple logo that comes in sizes ranging from 37″ to 60″. It automatically connects to the Internet and streams all of your iTunes video and audio content. It is CableCARD compatible so you can still get HBO until they finally decide to let you stream it direct. It has an iPod Touch based remote app that lets you easily find content and control the TV. It can easily install apps such as weather, sports, and games just like an iPhone, so your family can play Monopoly together.

Do apps on TVs even make sense?

The TV is the last frontier in Silicon Valley’s relentless drive to computerize every screen. With the price of fully Internet-enabling a screen at below $300, everything that people see and touch is being turned into a computer: mobile phones, billboards, price displays, and with the iPad even magazines, books, and newspapers.

Some say that running apps on a TV is silly. The same people said that running apps on a phone was silly. TVs that can run content apps make a lot of sense when coupled with the trend towards unplugging from cable and streaming all content from the Internet. Apps like Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, and YouTube are incredibly useful when integrated into a TV. Add to that pulling up the weather, sports scores, horoscopes, and games and all of a sudden apps on TVs make a ton of sense. Most modern TVs already include an integrated computer with chipsets from Intel and Broadcom that run the Linux operating system in order to control onscreen guides and decode digital media signals in real time. So the incremental cost is not that high to add a full fledged platform like Android to a TV.

Many newer high-end TVs already include app frameworks, such as Yahoo Connected TV and Flash Lite. Content companies are likely to only support apps on a few platforms, so Sony needs to partner with a platform that will offer content companies scale, reach, and developer infrastructure. Pictured below, for example, is a CBS app Transpond has delivered running on a Yahoo Connected TV.

Sony’s Google TV bet
Stylish, high-end TVs is the last consumer electronics frontier for Apple to dominate, and it will make apps as much of a differentiator on TVs as they were on smartphones. In order to survive, existing TV manufacturers like Sony need an open platform with an apps ecosystem, and will flock to Google’s Android TV platform just like existing smartphone manufacturers had to flock to Google’s Android phone platform.

Google, with partners like Intel, Logitech and Sony, is launching a smart-TV platform that fully computerizes TV screens, replacing cable boxes as well as integrating an Android-based app store. Apple has been successful in consumer electronics because it created both well designed products and iTunes — an end-to-end user experience around discovering, purchasing and enjoying music, TV, movies, and apps.

If Google TV is going to be a successful consumer electronics product, Intel, Sony, Google, and Logitech will need to deliver both a great Android-based consumer electronics product and a compelling end-to-end user experience that supercedes the functionality of cable boxes and delivers the broadest and best consumer media consumption experience.

Peter Yared is the founder and CEO at Transpond, which has delivered numerous connected television projects with partners such as CBS, Brightcove, Rovi, and Yahoo. Peter has 15 years of experience helping companies adapt new technology platforms and was most recently the founder and CEO at ActiveGrid, a commercial open source company delivering the LAMP stack to the enterprise. Previously, he was CTO of Sun Microsystems’ Liberty Network Identity initiative. Peter was also CTO of Sun Microsystems’ Application Server Division. Before its acquisition by Sun, Peter served as CTO of NetDynamics, which pioneered the then-leading J2EE application server. Earlier, he was founder and CEO of JRad Technologies, an enterprise Java company acquired by NetDynamics.