smart tv

Samsung takes smartphone battle to the storefront

DALLAS -- Samsung has opened a new front in its battle for smartphone supremacy: the storefront.

The Korean electronics giant plans to set up mini Samsung stores inside all U.S. Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile venues within the next couple of months -- just in time for the Galaxy S4 launch. The "Samsung Experience Shops," which start rolling out Monday, will be in 500 big-box Best Buy stores and all 410 Best Buy Mobile locations by early May. Best Buy's remaining 550 large-format Best Buy stores will feature the shops by early June.

A larger … Read more

Cheerleader assaults centurion? Must be a new Samsung ad

Selling TVs is hard.

Especially if the medium at your disposal is, well, TV.

Most look somewhat the same. Most seem to do very similar things, which is make "American Idol" look and sound better than it really is.

So one can understand Samsung feeling a touch hamstrung in trying to make its Smart TVs look astoundingly intelligent.

In this case -- thank you, Business Insider for finding this -- not only is the budget seemingly enormous, but so are the ambitions.

There are two ads that feature so many themes and special effects that you have come … Read more

How Samsung might actually get featuritis under control

Editor's note: This article was originally published January 9 during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It was updated March 15 with information about the Galaxy S4.

Samsung has a serious case of featuritis, but it's trying to get better.

The Korean electronics giant has long been known for its push to include more and more features in its products, whether it's new capabilities like NFC in smartphones or software like smart TV apps. Samsung uses such features as a way to differentiate its new gadgets from those of rivals and from its older products, and … Read more

Pair your YouTube app with an Xbox 360

Want to toss YouTube videos from your phone to your TV? You got it. It's called "Send to TV," and it's a feature of Google's YouTube app that Android users have had for some time.

But now that Google has rolled the feature out to Apple's iOS devotees, and expanded support for more streaming devices, the feature is seeing a second wind.

But how do you do make it all work? Well, I gave it a shot with an iPhone 5 and the YouTube App for Xbox, but it could just as well have … Read more

Ultra HD TVs are big at CES 2013

Tuesday's CNET Update from CES 2013:

The show floor has officially opened at the International CES, and here's a quick breakdown of the highlights so far:

Televisions and home entertainment tend to be the star of the show. This year, LG announced shipping and pricing details for the 55-inch OLED TV that everyone was gawking at last year. The buzz now is more focused around Ultra HD resolution, also called 4K. You need a very large screen to appreciate that extra resolution. Sharp showed two Ultra HD TVs. Samsung unveiled an 85-inch Ultra HD TV with a floor stand. … Read more

Samsung's video search tool for TVs will be coming to tablets, too

LAS VEGAS -- Samsung's new video search tool, which the company unveiled yesterday for its TVs, will also be available for certain tablets this spring, a Samsung executive told CNET.

That means users will be able to use one app to navigate all of their different video services, and use their tablets as a remote to control their TVs, TJ Kang, senior vice president of Samsung's media solution center, told CNET in an interview after Samsung's press conference yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In his role, Kang oversees new services and apps made … Read more

Enter the Hidden Hashtag Sweeps

We decided to make this year's CES even more interesting. We've partnered with our friends at Sprint to bring the CNET audience a chance to win big in the Hidden #Hashtag Sweeps.

In the From the Floor series I'll be bringing an exclusive pass to the CES 2013 show floor for all of you who can't be there. We'll show you the big screens and the bright lights that you'll find only at CES. Plus, we'll get you a first look at products, and throw you right into the center of the action … Read more

Panasonic joins LG's Smart TV Alliance

LAS VEGAS--Panasonic has joined LG's Smart TV Alliance, which was set up to develop and use a single connected platform for televisions from 2013 onward.

The Smart TV alliance was announced by LG in June 2012 in conjunction with Philips (TP Vision), but it has now grown to include Toshiba, Panasonic, and chipmakers such as Qualcomm and IBM.

LG's Smart TV interface is arguably one of the best on the market, and this agreement goes some way to creating an industry-standard platform, which is a boon for customers and developers.

The new platform allows for 3D video, MPEG-DASH … Read more

Ubuntu OS coming to smartphones

Thursday's CNET Update is disturbed:

Rumors come and go quickly in the tech world. A report from TechCrunch stirred up rumors that Apple was planning on buying the navigation app Waze. But CNET has learned that Apple has no plans to acquire Waze. It wasn't a radical idea, since Apple already works with Waze as a partner for Apple's mapping software.

Apple is, however, addressing a bug in the Do Not Disturb feature of iOS 6. The company said it won't be fixed until January 7. Do Not Disturb will silence incoming calls, alerts and notifications … Read more