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Cisco announces Videoscape IPTV platform and products
As expected, Cisco held a quick CES presser today to launch its connected TV initiative, which it's calling Videoscape. It's pretty ambitious stuff -- Cisco's goal isn't to kick out a single consumer-focused set-top box, but rather to build out an entire video network architecture in conjunction with service providers that allows customers to view any authorized content on any device on any network. That means that in addition to the actual Videoscape set-top box for your TV, there will also be apps for everything from Android and iOS to game consoles and Macs and PCs -- in the end, Cisco thinks your standard premium cable subscription will serve content everywhere, negating the need for supplemental services like Hulu and Netflix. There's also a Videoscape Media Gateway that can serve up local content across all your devices -- the company demoed sharing a quick Flip video with family members just by plugging the camera into the Gateway. Obviously rebuilding entire cable systems around pervasive content delivery won't be easy -- Cisco says "video is the new voice" when it comes to disruptive industry shifts -- and the only partner announced today is Telstra. To really gain momentum the company will have to sell its vision to huge companies like Comcast and Time Warner, who are already working on their own projects. We'll see what happens -- it makes sense for a networking provider like Cisco to take this sort of end-to-end approach, but there's a lot of action in this space right now, and we don't think anyone has the luxury of time. %Gallery-112784% %Gallery-112750%
Yahoo! Widgets opens developer kit to the public, expects a bigger 2010 even with new competition
In the follow up to its surprising 2009 debut, the Yahoo! Widget Engine is making a decidedly more low key 2010 CES appearance, highlighting its penetration across an even wider range of devices and the now publicly available TV Widget Developer Kit. With the rollout of VIZIO Internet Apps HDTVs throughout 2010, plus other manufacturers including them more widely on their line, it expects to reach all new heights in the increasingly crowded television application space. Going beyond just TVs, agreements with chipmakers MIPS Technologies and Sigma Designs are expected to increase its reach into other devices such as disc players and set-top boxes, which could provide that smoother experience we were looking for.
