Video

Sony's 4K TV media player to land on retailer shelves July 15

Sony's FMP-X1 4K Ultra HD Media Player will land in living rooms and on retailer shelves in two weeks, the company announced Monday.

The media player, which was unveiled in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, will play ultra-high-resolution content on 4K TVs, which have four times the number of pixels as a regular HD TV.

However, the box, which retails for $699, is compatible only with Sony 4K TVs. Sony is offering owners of its X900A sets a $200 introductory discount on the media player's price. The media player will be bundled with 10 feature films and … Read more

Texas senator's filibuster heats up the Internet

YouTube and Twitter provided blow-by-blow coverage of a long, heated filibuster Tuesday in Texas that the major cable networks failed to carry.

State Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) held the Texas Senate floor Tuesday in a filibuster and session that lasted almost 13 hours, the Texas Tribune reported Wednesday.

Davis was trying to prevent passage of Senate Bill 5, a controversial bill that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It would also have required doctors to have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of an abortion facility, perform abortions in ambulatory surgical centers, and administer drugs that … Read more

BitTorrent: We don't deal in pirated content

It's pretty well established that torrent files can be used for downloading pirated music, movies, games, and more. But, the company BitTorrent wants it to be known that it has nothing to do with such piracy.

The company's vice president of marketing Matt Mason penned a blog post on Tuesday saying that while BitTorrent built the open-source, peer-to-peer technology used for content sharing, it does not endorse piracy in any shape or form.

"We don't host infringing content. We don't point to it. It's literally impossible to 'illegally download something on BitTorrent,'" Mason … Read more

Episode 43: Unboxing the BlackBerry Q10

The past three weeks of Always On showcased the roles tech can play in your summer vacation. In some cases, we determined whether or not your tech can survive your summer vacation. Now this episode doesn't involve snapping photos of spinner dolphins, desert road tripping in a tricked-out RV, or fitness tracking through mud at an average of 8,150 feet of elevation. But just because we're finally back home in the Bay Area doesn't mean we took a break from turning our environment into a tech battleground.

We start things off with an unboxing of the … Read more

Intel's TV 'Black Box Project' poised for big changes in debut

Thousands of Intel employees have exclusive trial access to the company's up-and-coming TV service, but what they're using is leaps away from the final product, CNET has learned.

As CNET earlier reported, Intel in late March started conducting closed trials of its Internet TV service and set-top box with company employees in three West Coast markets. We've now learned more about that test program, code-named the "Black Box Project."

Currently, more than 2,000 Intel employees in Northern California, Arizona, and Oregon are testing the product in their homes, people familiar with the matter told … Read more

Former Twitter lawyer officially joins White House staff

Nicole Wong, Twitter's former legal director of products, is officially joining the White House.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy confirmed Wong's new role as a deputy chief technology officer in the Obama administration Thursday to The Washington Post. CNET first reported in May that Wong was tapped to be the White House's first privacy officer.

Wong, who worked as a vice president and deputy general counsel at Google prior to working at Twitter, tweeted about the change Thursday after saying goodbye to her Twitter colleagues on Wednesday. The Silicon Valley attorney has more than a … Read more

Episode 42: Torture testing the Samsung Galaxy S4

It's safe to say that our expectations of the GoPro Mountain Games, and the entirety of Vail, Colorado, were greatly exceeded. If the gorgeous weather, cobblestone streets, and bouldering world championships weren't enough to generate permasmiles, the Rocky Mountains provide a perfect environment for the Always On crew to do their thing. In fact, many of us around the office have determined that the land-locked, rectangular-shaped state of Colorado wields enough awesomeness to give Hawaii a run for its money.

Unfortunately, we also had extremely high expectations for the Samsung Galaxy S4, based on the performance of its … Read more

Twitter and Viacom announce social video marketing pact

Twitter has signed a deal to begin delivering social video ads built around Viacom's most popular TV shows.

In the announcement, put out by Viacom, the two companies said that the campaigns would center around shows aired on networks like MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, CMT, TV Land, Spike and more. The first ads will appear during the MTV Video Music Awards on August 25. During that show, MTV will tweet a series of the most notable moments, as well as backstage access, interviews, and more, all with integrated advertising.

Bloomberg first reported in April that a deal between … Read more

Video app Squrl pumps up content with redesign

Squrl, the app that surfaces video recommendations for users, rolled out its redesigned iOS app on Monday with promises of a smoother viewing and browsing experience, private messaging, and even better recommendations.

The updated app, which also works on Apple TV, features a new home screen with bigger text and larger icons to display Squrl's functions, which include creating video playlists and viewing channels that are organized by subject matter.

It's all about the content, said Squrl CEO Mark Gray. That content can range from full-length movies on Netflix to Internet clips on YouTube.

The new recommendations take … Read more