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Boxee Box ditches NVIDIA's Tegra 2 for Intel CE4100, pre-orders start today at $199
The wait for the Boxee Box is nearly over -- pre-orders begin today -- but before you drop a stack of change on D-Link's half-sunk cube, know that there's no longer an NVIDIA Tegra 2 under that tiny hood. At the last minute, Boxee switched to the Intel Atom CE4100, the same up-to-1.2GHz Sodaville chip powering Google TV. That's not all, as manufacturer D-Link told us our good friend Avner Ronen may not be able to keep his promise -- though the company still expects the Box to hit the streets at under $200, we're now looking at a $229 suggested retail price. What could possibly have happened to make these drastic changes? We visited Boxee in person to get an explanation, and you'll find the surprisingly simple (yet NVIDIA-damning) answer right after the break. Update: We just learned that Amazon will be selling it for $199, though the MSRP will remain $229. %Gallery-101976%
Boxee's new browser is built on Webkit and HTML5 ready
Expect to see some changes to Boxee when its $199 D-Link-built Box ships in November, as Lead Apps Developer / Community evangelist Rob Spectre tells NewTeeVee that among them will be a new Webkit based browser. The current Mozilla based browser is clearly useful for some quick & unblocked Hulu viewing, but still doesn't render many sites properly. According to Spectre, HTML5 "absolutely should be the future for the browsers you use on your TV," with competition from Google TV we can see why he'd say that, and it should be ready to stream video from even more sites that don't build Boxee apps. The desktop versions of the software will get the new browser in version 1.0 after the Boxee Box is released, so make sure your comparison charts are appropriately updated.
Boxee Box priced at $199, Avner Ronen says it'll give users 'freedom to watch what you want'
Well, what's this? Our homey Avner Ronen from Boxee just posted up a little response to Apple's $99 next-gen Apple TV announcement, and he's letting it slip that the much-anticipated Boxee Box will be $100 more than Apple's device, or $199. Avner says Boxee has a "different view of what people want in their living rooms," and that while his device might be more expensive, it'll let you watch anything you can watch on your computer on your TV in 1080p -- the ATV is still limited to 720p. We certainly know a lot of passionate Boxee fans who agree -- now all Avner's got to do is ship the damn thing and let this play out in the actual market. P.S.- Yes, we will cover almost anything that includes a YouTube embed of "Rudie Can't Fail." Well played, Mr. Ronen. Well played indeed.
Boxee Box QWERTY remote hits the FCC, its innards splayed asunder
It's been a long, long time since we first got our hands on the Boxee Box QWERTY remote. Since then the device went through something of an existential crisis before suffering a sad delay. Now we have some encouraging news for its planned November release date: the QWERTY remote has hit the FCC. Called simply the "Remote controller" (model numbers DSM-221, DSM-22), it looks to have passed with flying colors, the FCC celebrating by ripping it to bits and photographing every piece of exposed silicon. Want to see the cruel results? We have a taste after the break, but for the rest of the grisly photos you'll have to hit that source link.
Boxee's first production Box gets shown off to the world (video)
Looks like the first production Boxee Box must have slipped through customs alongside those Popboxes that went out yesterday, shown off in this video by Chief Product Officer Zach Klein. Other than a new fingerprint-resistant outer casing there's not a lot new to learn after our time with prototype hardware during CES, but check the video (embedded after the break) to see what the team is so excited about before it ships in November, and find out more about that box of Wheat Thins on the table. Mmm, Wheat Thins. %Gallery-82343% %Gallery-81572%
Boxee, RoxioNow integration means premium movie options on the way
We'll probably be able to add some new content partners to the Boxee list shortly, now that the media streaming company is teaming with Sonic Solutions. Best known as the company behind the online movie stores for Best Buy and Blockbuster, that predictably means Boxee users should be able to easily purchase and/or rent movies from Sonic's partners in the future. So far the blog post only promises RoxioNow integration by the time the Boxee Box launches, lucky there's a little more time for that to happen, huh?
Boxee Box delayed until November
We were starting to think something was up with the Boxee Box as Q2 started to fade away without any word on the scheduled launch, and unfortunately we were right: Boxee has just confirmed to us that its hotly-anticipated media streamer will be delayed until November in the US and Canada. Boxee says the original launch plan has proven to be "overly ambitious," and that the delay is purely software-related -- the Tegra 2 based hardware we saw at CES will remain the same. If we had to guess, we'd say at least part of the delay can be attributed to Adobe, since Flash 10.1 just went final yesterday and Boxee is depending on it as a core feature, but either way, the company's goal to provide the full PC Boxee experience complete with full-res 1080p video playback from virtually any local or remote source on a small embedded platform is an ambitious one -- we've got our fingers crossed, let's hope we hear good news from Avner Ronen and crew come November.
World struggles to find a reason for the existence of the Juke Boxee Box
Modders love making things really, really small -- or ridiculously large. It's arcade game consoles that fit on your bookshelf one day, and the Juke Boxee Box the next. When the interface designers at Feng GUI decided they couldn't wait for their Boxee Box, they built their own -- at five times the height. Essentially a PC, speakers, IR receiver, and monitor crammed into a wood box, this is definitely one of the more pointless mods we've encountered in a long time -- but we'll be damned if it doesn't look good! Hit the source link for plenty of glamor shots.
The Engadget Show Live! With Avner Ronen, WP7S demo, and more...
Keep your eyes tuned to this post -- because at 5:00 PM ET, we'll be starting The Engadget Show live, with Avner Ronen of Boxee, Aaron Woodman showing off Windows Phone 7 Series, plus much, much, more! You seriously don't want to miss it! Of course, if you're in NY we'd love to have you attend the show in person at the Times Center. It's absolutely free! We'll start handing out tickets at 2:30PM, open the doors for seating at 4:30PM, and the show itself starts at 5PM. There will also be giveaways from Boxee and Microsoft after the show, but you obviously have to be here to participate! All the info about attending can be found here. Can't make it? We forgive you, and there's a live video stream that can be found after the break. In the spirit of awesome, we've enabled tweeting directly to the live stream! To be a part of The Engadget Show broadcast, just include the hashtag "#engadgetshow" and watch for your tweet on the ticker at the bottom of the screen. One thing to note, The Engadget Show is a family program, so any single instance of swearing or trolling will force us to turn off the ticker... and it won't come back on. So, keep it clean and have fun! Click "read more" for the stream!
The Engadget Show tapes tomorrow... snow or shine! (plus livestreaming!)
Can't wait for another Engadget Show to roll around? Well you're in luck, friend. It's happening tomorrow at 5:00pm ET. We'll be doing giveaways at the show taping only, so brave the weather and join us in person for a chance to win great prizes! Josh will be sitting down with Avner Ronen of Boxee to discuss the upcoming (and hotly anticipated) Boxee Box, as well as his strategy for taking on Big Television and their army of Jeff Zuckers. Microsoft will also be on hand to demo Windows Phone 7 Series and the company's own Aaron Woodman will be sharing stories about the major changes Redmond has made to the Windows mobile OS. Also expect an out-of-this-world performance from Nullsleep complete with stunning visuals from Outpt and Paris, as well as some other big surprises... As you may have heard, livestreaming is back by popular demand, and we're rolling out some cool new features! You will now be able to tweet your comments directly to the livestream! During the show, just include the hashtag "#engadgetshow" and look for your tweet to show up on the ticker at the bottom of the stream. One thing to note, The Engadget Show is a family program, so any single instance of swearing or trolling will force us to turn off the ticker... and it won't come back on. So, keep it clean and have fun! The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's all the info you need: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2:30PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. Update: As you guys may have noticed, New York and the surrounding areas got hit with a little snow. Never fear, because we're still doing the show, but we're going to make it easier for everyone to come out and enjoy it. If you want to see the taping today, don't worry about showing up at 2PM or standing in line -- if you come anytime before 4:30PM you will definitely get a seat! We don't want anyone standing around in the snow, and it's likely that not everyone who was going to come will be able to make it, so we should be able to accommodate everyone that does show up.
The Engadget Show returns this Saturday, Feb. 27th... now with live streaming!
We've heard your pleas, citizens of Engadget, and we are pleased as punch to announce that The Engadget Show taping this Saturday, February 27th at 5pm will be streaming live, direct to you via the internet! We'll be sitting down with Avner Ronen, creator and CEO of Boxee and taking a look at the forthcoming (and very anticipated) Boxee Box. Not only that, but we'll have a Windows Phone 7 Series device on hand for a demo and discussion, you'll be meeting our new investigative correspondent Rick Karr, and we'll have more of the classic Engadget Show shenanigans you've come to know and love. You can also expect good, clean music from Nullsleep, and stunning visuals from Outpt and Paris. We'll be doing giveaways at the live show only, so make the trek and join us at The Times Center in person! If for some reason you live in not-New York, you can catch the show streaming live, right here on Engadget -- and you'll be able to tweet comments directly to the show stream! Like Josh said, if you miss this one, you'll basically have zero good stories to tell your grandchildren. The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's all the info you need: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2:30PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
The Engadget Show returns February 27th with Boxee's Avner Ronen, Windows Phone 7 Series, and more!
If you're a fan of entertainment of the digital variety, you'd be a fool to miss the next live taping of The Engadget Show. We'll be sitting down with Avner Ronen, creator and CEO of Boxee and taking a look at the forthcoming (and very anticipated) Boxee Box. We'll also be discussing Avner's strategy for taking on the networks and cable providers, and the best methods of defending oneself from Jeff Zucker. Not only that, but we'll have a Windows Phone 7 Series device on hand for a demo and discussion, plus the regular kind of Engadget Show zaniness you've come to know and love. You can also expect good clean music from Nullsleep, and stunning visuals from Outpt and Paris. If you miss this one, you'll basically have zero good stories to tell your grand children. The Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's all the info you need: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2:30PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
Ask Engadget HD: Boxee Box vs A-200 NMT vs. Popbox, which media streamer to choose?
Three mini media streamer boxes are arriving in the early days of 2010, and only one will likely end up bringing video to your HDTV. Of the A-200 NMT, Popbox and Boxee Box, only the A-200 has actually reached the most early adopters yet, but we'll assume you've perused spec sheets and considered the possibilities carefully. Our friend Dilip's question is very, very simple: "With the A-200 already on sale, I'm not sure if I should pick it up, or wait for the Boxee or Popbox to ship later." So, as a discriminating buyer, what are you planning to do? Sticking with an existing media streamer setup or do you think any of the new hardware coming down the pipe will coax you into a purchase? Let us know about your early impressions of these products in the comments, and check out a video sneak peek of the new UI coming to the C-200 and A-200 embedded after the break. Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.
Boxee unleashing one-click Payment Platform this summer
Free (legal) TV, minimal advertising and a slick, usable interface... too good to be true? Yes, of course. Boxee's solving for the future with its newly announced Boxee Payment Platform, which will arrive this summer. Users will be able to buy shows, movies and channels with "one click on the remote," with content owners having control over package types (pay-per-view, subscription) and prices. Boxee will naturally be taking a cut, but says it's lower than the now de facto 30% cut of app stores. Boxee sees this co-existing with free, ad-supported content, authenticated stuff like TV Everywhere, and of course regular Cable, Satellite and IPTV providers. We suppose the real testament to Boxee's success in pulling this off will be the variety, quality and price of the content it obtains -- we can already get a smattering of shows and movies on iTunes, Zune and PSN, but if Boxee can get us more, make it easier, or charge us less, it's going to be hard to complain about that funky little Boxee Box taking up valuable shelf space in our living room.
Boxee Box interface demo video
We're already gone hands-on with the Boxee Box and its sweet QWERTY RF remote, but now that we know there's a dual-core Tegra 2 in there it's time for a little interface demo with founder Avner Ronen. First things first: yes, it ran Hulu in the browser -- but the network connection on the show floor was acting up, so we couldn't demo it very well. Avner tells us the built-in browser IDs itself as essentially standard Mozilla, so we'll have to see if Hulu goes out of its way to block it --it's definitely still possible, but it'll take some work. Apart from that minor drama, we've got to say we're incredibly impressed -- the interface was lightning fast, the remote's keyboard felt great, and we're liking the Facebook / Twitter integration, which mines your feeds for videos posted by your friends and displays them on the home page. Avner tells us he thinks D-Link will be "aggressive" with that under-$200 price point when the Box launches in Q2, and there'll be tons of content partners at launch. Video after the break! %Gallery-82343%
Boxee Box confirmed to have Tegra 2, Boxee Beta now open to all
We had a hunch that it might be the case, and Boxee has now finally come out and confirmed that the Boxee Box is indeed powered by Tegra 2. What's more, while you can't get your hands on it just yet, everyone can now finally the Boxee Beta, which first became available to a select few exactly one month ago. Right now, that's available for Mac, Windows and Ubuntu, and Boxee is promising to make a version for Apple TV available at some point. Hit up the link below and scroll down a bit to find the download link.
Hands-on with the Boxee Box
It looks just as small in real life, but not only that, the Boxee was sporting a new double sided remote. The usual suspects are on the front, but on the back is a full qwerty keyboard for searching for your favorite shows. The remote felt great in our hands and was as pleasant as any thumb keyboard to type on. We really wanted to get some video of the new UI in action, but the TV wasn't connected up just yet, but don't worry, we'll swing back around. %Gallery-81572%
Boxee Box officially announced: under $200, Flash 10.1 support
The Boxee Box has already been semi-announced once, but it's making a much more grand debut here at CES -- and it's coming with a spec list this time. Just as we'd heard, the asymmetrical streamer will be sold by D-Link for under $200, and it'll support a wide range of formats, including DivX, VC-1, WMV, H.264 MKV, and Flash 10.1. Service support is equally broad, with Pandora, Last.fm, Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, and Flickr all integrated -- and there's obviously Boxee's app platform for additional apps, plugins, and games. Unfortunately we don't know what's powering all this under the hood just yet, but we've got a sneaking suspicious there's some NVIDA action going on here -- we'll keep digging. Full PR after the break.
Boxee Box pictured in the wild: it's small!
Whoa, we sort of guessed the Boxee Box was going to be small from those press pics we saw the other night, but we didn't know it was going to be freaking tiny -- check out this shot of the asymmetrical set-top next to a Coke can just posted up on the Boxee blog. Sadly, neither Boxee nor D-Link has updated us on what's actually powering this little guy, but we do now know that it'll have an RF remote control and S/PDIF and RCA audio outputs in addition to HDMI, SD, USB, WiFi, and Ethernet. Sounds like a tiny little chunk of awesome -- we're looking forward to finding out way more at CES.
Boxee Box coming Q2 2010, D-Link revealed as hardware partner
Like a good one-two punch, now that Boxee Beta has been unveiled, here comes a glimpse of the company's first hardware unit, the Boxee Box. D-Link takes the honors of being the inaugural hardware partner and Astro the designer. The Box, more like a submerged cube, boasts HDMI, SD card slot, two USB 2.0 ports, WiFi, and ethernet for old school internet connectivity. Unfortunately, we don't know at this point what's powering it under the hood, but we're hoping that NVIDIA collaboration on the beta software might suggest some Ion here. Target release sometime in the second quarter of 2010 for about $200. %Gallery-79796%
