Amazon reportedly plans to get into the set-top-box game this fall

Mark Gurman

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Following in the footsteps of Apple and Google attempts at the set-top-box market, Amazon is planning to release a set-top-box, according to Bloomberg. 

They say the box will plug into TVs and give users access to Amazon’s expanding video offerings. Those include its a la carte Video on Demand store, which features newer films and TV shows, and its Instant Video service, which is free for subscribers to the Amazon Prime two-day shipping package. The Amazon set-top box will compete with similar products like the Roku, Apple TV and the Boxee Cloud DVR, along with more versatile devices like the Playstation 3 and the Xbox. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.

The device is reportedly being developed in Amazon’s Cupertino based labs and could launch this fall. The project is reportedly being spearheaded by a former Apple and Cisco employee:

The project is being run by Malachy Moynihan, a former vice president of emerging video products at Cisco (CSCO) who worked on the networking company’s various consumer video initiatives. Moynihan also spent nine years at Apple (AAPL) during the 1980s and 1990s.

Perhaps this future product is the reason that Apple and Amazon have no deal for Amazon content streaming on the Apple TV.

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CES 2013: Hands-on with the Archos TV Connect Android 4.1 set-top box (Video)

Jordan Kahn

9to5Google gave you a demo yesterday of the Archos Android-powered GamePad coming to the United States market in the next couple of months. While at the Archos booth on the show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center for CES this week, we also got the rundown on its new “TV Connect” Android 4.1.1-powered TV product. The set-top box packs a 1.5GHz “Smart Multi Core” CPU, 8GB of storage (microSD card slot up to 32GB), and 1GB of RAM, and it comes with a hybrid game controller/QWERTY keyboard that also includes Wiimote-like gesture support. The TV Connect will retail for $130 this February.
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Check out this video showing off Google Fiber TV’s features

Jake Smith

Currently available in Kansas City, Kan., Google Fiber has proved to be a disruptive new service from the folks out of Mountain View. The service not only offers groundbreaking Internet speeds “100 times faster than broadband,” but also a radical new television service that offers content from a slew of sources: broadcast TV, cable, Netflix, and other Internet services. Google offers three plans: free Internet with a $300 construction fee, $70 per month for Gigabit Internet, and Gigabit + TV for $120 per month that includes a Nexus 7 to use as a remote control.

While we’ve seen brief encounters with the service, BTIG Research (via AllThingsD) has now given us a solid hands-on of the Google’s Fiber TV offering. The research group uses still shots to explain the features; but nonetheless, by the end of it, you’ll probably wish Google Fiber was available in your area. You can check out the video below to see the 905.28mbps down and 794.59mbps up speeds and how the Nexus 7 and TV interfaces work off each other.

Full video below:

Google TV update adds Voice Search & ‘PrimeTime’ TV & Movies app, hits LG devices this week

Jordan Kahn

Yesterday, we told you about the updated YouTube apps for Google TV and Android that bring a new synced experience, but today Google announced two other big new features for Google TV: Voice Search and PrimeTime.

On the Official Google TV blog, Google walked us through the new features that will roll out to LG devices first starting this week. The most notable new feature is the addition of voice search, allowing users to not only perform Google searches with their voice, but also open apps, press play on a YouTube video, or speak a command, such as “CNN”, to navigate directly to a channel.

Google also explained that questions, such as “how to tie a bow tie,” would bring up instructional videos on YouTube. Part of the new voice search experience is a new visual search results page:

Try “search movies with Jeff Bridges” and see results in our new, more visual search results page.

Google is also introducing a new app called “PrimeTime” in the update that is essentially a rebranding of the old TV & Movies app it added last year: Read more

First porn app to hit GoogleTV, probably not the last

E. Betters

Google TV is all grown up: Adult video-subscription service FyreTV announced the launch of its first porn app for Google TV today.

As first reported by GigaOm, the app is not available through Google Play. Google does not permit adult content on its store, but it is allowed as a native third-party app. FyreTV’s website has a direct download for Google TV devices.

A Fryer representative told GigaOm:

“We saw how Android went from last to first in terms of mobile market share and we are expecting a similar result here. Plus with their international rollout it allows our users from a wider range of countries to experience FyreTV the way it was meant to be experienced, on the TV.”

FyreTV’s app offers subscription packages of adult content. It is not the first porn company to launch on Google’s TV platform, though, as adult studio Vivid released an HTML 5-optimized website just last year. FyreTV is working on an HTML 5 version, too.

“We do see HTML5 as an important factor in providing FyreTV access to a wider user base, particularly on TV devices that would never allow us to go native,” the representative confirmed to GigaOm.

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Big Google TV news reportedly being announced at Google I/O this Wednesday

Jake Smith

It would not be too far-fetched to claim Google TV is a lackluster affair— even after it has been on the market for close to two years. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said one of the issues with Google TV is that it is not embedded in enough set-top boxes. That could be the problem—or maybe it is just the software. I guess that is up-to personal interpretation. However, at this year’s Google I/O conference, we may get a closer look at a totally revamped Google TV platform that could change the direction of the platform.

Clayton Morris of Fox News, who cited “people familiar with the keynote,” reported that Google would announce a slew of updates for the platform. Morris pointed to the biggest announcement being a joint live TV, DVR, and Netflix interface that will allow you to see all of your content in one place. It is said to let you watch the content you want anywhere without having to dig to find it. Other features that will be shown-off include an AirPlay-like interface for watching content between the smartphone and TV, with a focus on getting third-party apps on the Google TV platform. It should certainly be interesting, along with the tablet and Jelly Bean news expected to unveil.

Last December, Schmidt made some bullish comments. He claimed Google TV will be “embedded in the majority of new TVs by summer of 2012. ″ Time is certainly running out on that promise, Mr. Schmidt. In February, GigaOm said Google TV device sales only looked to be in the 500,000 to 1 million-unit range. Ouchies. Google also launched a new Google TV website design this evening:

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