Time Warner and Apple have reportedly been in negotiations to add HBO GO to Apple TV some time this year, although some users were able to figure our a workaround to get the service on the set-top-box using AirPlay. It looks like the four months of negotiations got somewhere as HBO GO is now available on Apple TV, along with WatchESPN.

HBO GO and WatchESPN aren’t the only content providers being added to Apple TV as Sky News, Crunchyroll and Qello are also being made available starting today. The new services will be made available to all second and third-generation Apple TV owners once they download an update, which is available starting today. HBO GO is only available to HBO subscribers, while WatchESPN will offer live streaming of five different ESPN networks to those who subscribe through certain cable providers.

The three remaining services offer different content to different regions, such as Sky News being a 24-hour news service which is only available in the U.S., U.K. and Ireland. Crunchyroll specializes in anime and J-Drama programming, while Quello provides recorded concert videos, both of which are available worldwide.

RockMelt, a content aggregation and discovery service is launching its Android app which aims at delivering a user experience that is tailor-made for Android devices which often feature large displays (check our Galaxy Mega 6.3 Review to see what “large display” mean). Instead of simply porting its iOS app to Android, RockMelt has developed a new user-interface (UI) that works very well with a single hand, regardless of the screen-size. The principle is to make the UI appear upon a press & hold command, with all the controls laid out around the user’s finger to speed up the next interaction. I have seen this concept used efficiently to save mouse motion in complex computer assisted design (CAD) programs, and it works beautifully in RockMelt. When you don’t need it, the navigation just fades away.
Read full post →RockMelt For Android Launched

It was this past winter when we learned Facebook was preparing to launch video ads within its News Feeds. The new ads were originally expected to roll out in April, but we’re sure you’ve noticed by now there aren’t any video ads on your Facebook News Feed.

According to a report who is citing sources familiar with the product, Facebook has pushed back the introduction of its video ads being included in News Feeds until later this fall. The video ads were expected to launch this past spring, which was then pushed back to summer, and now, its tentative release is expected to occur in the fall.

The reason for the delay is reportedly due to a number of new features Facebook wants to release in addition to its video ads, which currently require more software development. Facebook sales executives would prefer to release its video ads as it currently stands to then add new features later, but as of now, it looks like the software developers are winning this inevitable tug-of-war.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve seen a number of television channels provide their own dedicated application on mobile devices, but there aren’t many that would offer its content to those without an actual subscription to its channel. The CW offers such a service, although it’s only currently available on the Xbox 360 and Apple TV, but starting today, A&E, The History Channel and Lifetime will be offering their content on Android without the need for a subscription.

A&E, The History Channel and Lifetime’s Android applications are all streaming video apps, meaning you can watch such great shows as Swamp People, Devious Mades and Longmire without being a subscriber to any of these three channels. The content these channels provide to their Android apps are limited, although Comcast and DirecTV customers are able to access more content than those without subscriptions. In fact, some shows don’t even have full episodes available, and instead only allow those without a cable subscription to watch clips.

Microsoft has been on roll recently as offers discounts to its Surface RT for schools, even going as far as giving 10,000 of the tablets away to educators which led us to believe it hasn’t been selling as well as Microsoft originally anticipated. But a new report may have unearthed the real reason as to why Microsoft would want to get rid of its current stock of Surface RT tablets.

The report comes from Bloomberg who believes a refreshed version of the Surface RT will ship using Qualcomm processors instead of NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 chipset, although NVIDIA will continue to be a supplier for “some versions” of the tablet. The Qualcomm-powered Surface RT will likely begin to roll out later this year for a number of yet-to-be announced tablets.

Unfortunately, the report doesn’t go into detail as to which Qualcomm processors will make it into the new Microsoft Surface RT tablets, but if Bloomberg’s sources turn out to be true, then we could expect to hear more from Microsoft themselves some time later this year. Until then, we think you should hold off on buying a Surface RT for now, no matter how tempting Microsoft makes them.

As much as we love a good all-in-one (AIO) PC, one thing that would get us to appreciate it more is if they could also serve as an HDTV set which would allow us to watch TV on when we’re not using it as a computer. Toshiba is kind of doing that by featuring an HDMI-in port in its PX35t AIO PC, but it looks like LG has just one-upped them by announcing its latest AIO PC will feature a standalone TV tuner.

LG’s newest AIO PC will feature an Intel Core i5 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GT640M GPU with 3D capability, HDMI and MHL inputs and a 28-inch IPS display with a 21:9 aspect ratio capable of producing a resolution of 2560 x 1080 with 178-degree viewing angles. Its TV tuner will be a standalone feature which can be accessed through the PC’s instant-on, which means you won’t have to boot up the PC in order to view your TV program. You’ll also be able to simultaneously use the PC and TV portions through picture-in-picture and additional split screen modes.

The new AIO PC will be priced at 1.49 to 2.29 million won, which converts to $1,315 to $2,021, based on the PC configuration.

Soon after Dead Space 3 was released, rumors circulated saying its inevitable sequel, Dead Space 4, would be canceled due to the game’s poor sales. Soon after the rumor made its rounds, EA responded saying “the franchise remains an important IP to EA.”

Even though Dead Space remains to be an important series to the company, EA executive Patrick Söderlund confirmed in an interview with Eurogamer Dead Space developer Visceral Games isn’t currently working on the game’s sequel. Instead, Söderlund confirms the development studio is “working on something else very exciting.” Of course, Söderlund doesn’t go into detail as to what exactly this “very exciting” project may be, but he does say he believes Visceral Games needed a break from Dead Space in order to get their creativity back.

Hopefully Visceral Games’ break from Dead Space will result in a much better experience in its upcoming sequel, and who knows, maybe this new project will become the development studios’ bread and butter. Either way, we can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Samsung hasn’t made a wide variety of colors available for its Galaxy S4 yet as customers can only purchase the device in either White Frost or Black Mist. But today, Samsung has made a new color available for AT&T customers called Red Aurora.

As you would expect from the color name, the new Galaxy S4 is completely decked out in red along with silver and white accents found throughout the entire device. The red aurora Galaxy S4 is completely exclusive to AT&T and sells for the same cost as other color variants of the smartphone, which is $199.99 as long as you agree to a two-year contract.

If you absolutely need a red Galaxy S4, then AT&T seems to be your only option at this point, although you may want to hold off picking up the device today considering Samsung has some big news coming tomorrow. The company is expected to announce some new Galaxy and ATIV devices, which one rumor suggest we could be seeing a new Galaxy Camera being announced. Either way, it wouldn’t kill you to wait until this weekend to pick up your red Galaxy S4, would it?

Facebook has been receiving some nice updates over the past couple of weeks, the biggest being its support of hashtags, which is a method of tagging that originated from Twitter and has even been supported by social networking rival Google+ for several months. Facebook has released a new update today, but this time, it’s focusing on updating its iOS application.

Facebook version 6.2 now allows its users to add emoji-style icons to their status updates to share how they’re feeling in addition to whatever they deem important enough to be shared in a status update. This feature was made available on Facebook earlier this year, and has finally made itself available onto iOS. As of now, only the English version of Facebook’s iOS app has the ability to share how you’re feeling.

The ability to share how you’re feeling along with your status update isn’t the only improvement Facebook rolled out into its iOS application as they also now allow users to change their privacy settings on posts they’ve already shared to either include or leave out certain users from reading their updates.

If you weren’t up all night playing The Last of Us on your PlayStation 3, then you may have avoided the drama that occurred overnight in regards to the console’s latest 4.45 system update. The update has reportedly been the cause of a number of PlayStation 3s to become unusable, or “bricked” as most gamers would call it. Fortunately, Sony is aware of the problem and has pulled the update from the PlayStation Network.

Sony’s PlayStation European Twitter account sent out a message earlier today confirming firmware update 4.45 has been pulled, saying they’re “aware of reports that the recent PS3 update (4.45) has caused,” and are currently investigating what could have caused the issue as well as what users are being bricked as a result of the update.

At this time, it’s unknown how Sony will treat customers who have unfortunately had their consoles bricked as a result of its 4.45 firmware update, but we would think the company would offer some kind of reimbursement, especially since its PlayStation 4 is going to be released in just a few months. The last thing Sony needs right now is a PR nightmare over this bricking issue.