televisions

A popular TV show and movie discovery app just got a major update during CES that adds social components to its already full-featured cable listing arsenal.

Peel Personal TV Show Guide (free) is an app that changes the way you watch TV by gathering your personal preferences and giving you recommendations on your iPhone based on the data.

The polished interface of Peel asks you a few questions upon launch so it can deliver the type of shows you'll want to watch and tell you when they will show in your area. On first setup, the app has you choose your cable service, and then lists out several categories like Drama, Comedy, and Kids, and asks you to reorder the list by your personal preference with your favorites at the top. You'll then reorder a list of sports in the same fashion. When you're finished, you'll see the main interface of the app, with recommended shows that are currently playing in your area based on your preferences.

What we really like about Peel is how it lays out movies and shows by category so you can browse based on your mood at the moment.… Read more

Just because you bring out a superstar like Justin Timberlake doesn't mean anyone is going to care about what you announce.

At the end of a long and droning CES press conference today, Panasonic tried to pull off a little Steve Jobs "One more thing" magic by announcing its partnership with and support for what's being called MySpace TV.

With rock and movie star Timberlake taking the stage to explain the service, the audience laughed at the mere mention of the MySpace name. Still, what the service--and Panasonic--is attempting is ambitious: a truly social integrated TV … Read more

At CES today, Sharp went big. Really big.

The company said during its press conference this morning that it plans on putting out 17 new TVs this year that are 60-inches or bigger. Leading the pack is its new 80-inch 3D TV, which it will release in April. The TV features a new technology called "3D X-Gen."

All its other new TVs will begin shipping this month.

During the press conference, the company covered a wide variety of technologies, including its new Aquos Board screens, which provide users with collaboration tools that it says are essentially a next-generation, … Read more

Those who have long depended on dusty old whiteboards can get rid of them, Sharp says. At CES here today, the company unveiled its Aquos Board--80-, 70-, or 60-inch screens that offer an all-new "touch solution" and give users new ways to share content.

The Aquos Board gives workers similar high-quality display technology to what they already have at home, and allows for sharing all kinds of content between co-workers. The device can capture notes, and has a connected PC and touch technology.

Users can employ a pen or even use their fingers for marking up displays and sending information to remote workers. The device, which is essentially a huge smart board--not a television--works with Microsoft Windows 7 and Office, and Touchpad applications. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--A phalanx of deals involving the commanding general of torrent protocols, BitTorrent, and next-generation hardware marched into CES 2012 today, the unofficial Day Zero of the show. BitTorrent also announced that more than 150 million people used sibling programs BitTorrent and uTorrent last month, making them by far the most popular torrent clients around.

Following up on the announcement from CES 2011 that it would partner with hardware manufacturers to ship their devices with torrent support built in, BitTorrent revealed four companies based in Europe, Russia, and Asia that have prepared new hardware that automatically works with the current BitTorrent program. BitTorrent-certified devices from these companies will carry the BitTorrent logo. … Read more

Couch potato iPad users need some social love, too. Dijit is giving it to them. Dijit is an iPad TV guide app that's been taking social steroids.

Dijit hooks up with your Facebook account and spies on what shows your friends like. You can blame the Facebook peer pressure for making you watch "The Real Housewives of Orange County" rather than "NOVA" on PBS.… Read more

Apple's much-expected TV set effort could truly be a big-screen affair, with a new report that says the company is gunning for a set beyond 40 inches in size.

In a story tracking the landscape of connected TV sets, ahead of next week's Consumer Electronics Show, USA Today notes that all eyes are on Apple to jump in the race, despite the fact that the company doesn't plan to be at the annual event.

The interesting tidbit comes from an unnamed source who worked at Apple, and told USA Today that "Apple is said to be … Read more

Netflix ended an exceedingly difficult 2011 by announcing a big number.

The company said earlier today that during the fourth quarter of 2011, more than 2 billion hours of television shows and movies were streamed by users across 45 countries.

Unknown, however, is how that compares to prior quarters. "We haven't made that comparison but suffice it to say 2 billion hours is a big number and a high mark," a company spokesman said.

In October, Sandvine reported that Netflix accounted for nearly one-third of peak downstream traffic in the U.S., making it a bigger bandwidth … Read more

Looks like LG has already given up its TV goodies for CES 2012.

First, it said it's bringing the world's largest (at least for now) 55-inch OLED TV, and now along for the ride is an 84-inch 3D ultra-defiinition 4K TV, another world's largest.

The 3D UDTV has four times the "resolution clarity" of a full HDTV (3,840x2,160 versus 1,920x1,080 pixels), which is nice and it apparently will make LG's 3D experience that much better. The extra resolution won't matter much for consumers right now, though, because you'll … Read more