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Russia hacked the Olympics and tried to pin it on North Korea
Now that the 2018 Winter Olympics are over, we're now learning who was responsible for hacking the games' systems... and the culprit won't surprise you at all. US intelligence officials speaking anonymously to the Washington Post claimed that spies at Russia's GRU agency had compromised up to 300 Olympics-related PCs as of early February, hacked South Korean routers in January and launched new malware on February 9th, the day the Olympics began. They even tried to make it look like North Korea was responsible by using North Korean internet addresses and "other tactics," according to the American sources.
Robots had their own skiing competition at the Winter Olympics
The Olympics aren't just an event for the most talented athletes to strut their stuff on the world's stage. No, The Games are where robots can find honest work and leisure, too. Some 85 robots (spread across 11 different models, humanoid and otherwise) have been serving drinks, cleaning floors, swimming around fish tanks, guiding lost visitors at the airport and even skiing according to regional publication Korea JoongAng Daily. "We applied three yardsticks in choosing the robots to use at The Games -- how stable, new and useful they are going to be," Park Hyun-Sub, of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said.
Olympics officials confirm cyberattack during opening ceremony
Officials saw suspicious activity on Olympics systems during the 2018 winter games' opening ceremony, and now it's confirmed: it was a cyberattack. PyeongChang organizers have revealed that someone compromised services (including internet and TV) while athletes were on parade. Everything had been "resolved and recovered" by the 9th, spokesman Sung Baik-you said. He added that they knew the cause of the attack, but were "not going to reveal the source" after talking to the International Olympics Committee.
Recommended Reading: The excess of the Olympics
How the Olympics got Disneyfied Michael Weinreb, The Atlantic No matter which country hosts the Olympics, the Opening Ceremony is always jam-packed with over-the-top futuristic visuals and tons of culture. It's a display "financial and cultural excess," as The Atlantic's Michael Weinreb describes it, and it all got started in the US during the 1960 Winter Games in Squaw Valley.
How to watch the 2018 Winter Olympics
With the opening ceremonies completed and the torch lit, the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea are officially underway and will run through February 25th. Viewers have plenty of options to stream events this time around -- and while you can watch almost everything on NBC with your cable subscription, there are several internet TV providers that include some or all of the network's coverage through their own service subscriptions.
Samsung's Olympic Galaxy Note 8 isn't for sale, but I wish it was
In addition to the honor of representing their homelands, this year's Winter Olympic athletes will also receive something else: a limited-edition Galaxy Note 8. Unlike Samsung's first Olympic phone, though, it's unlikely that this version will ever go on sale to the public. To own one, you have to be a world-class athlete or an Olympic staff member whose job is to support world-class athletes. To play with one, though, you just have to write things on the internet, so here we are.
Hulu adds 60fps support for select live TV channels
Just a few days after Hulu added a new way for sports fans to customize their Olympic coverage, the company is back with another bit of news for sports fans. Subscribers to Hulu's live TV service will be able to watch their favorite games at 60 frames per second (fps) on select channels. The higher frame rate, common on video game platforms, will help you follow the quick action in broadcasts like March Madness and the Winter Olympics. "This was one of the most-requested features by our viewers," the company wrote in a Reddit announcement.
DJI will create no-fly zones around Olympic venues in South Korea
Days ago, South Korean authorities announced that they'd capture any drone that got too close to Olympics event facilities. If you have a DJI-made craft, you won't even be able to get close. The UAV maker is releasing a software patch that creates a no-fly zone around Olympic areas.
DirecTV offers 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos for Winter Olympics replays
Comcast and Hulu may have already revealed plans for Winter Olympics coverage, but today, DirecTV is letting us in on what it has in store for the next several days. In addition to the regular prime time coverage anyone with access to NBC's family of networks is privy to, the AT&T-owned company has a few other things up its sleeve to enhance your viewing experience. We're talking 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos, for starters, when the festivities kick off this Thursday.
Drone catchers and face-detecting planes will guard the Olympics
South Korean authorities are adopting some pretty high-tech security measures for the upcoming Winter Olympics, including the deployment of drone-catching-drones and a tactical plane with facial recognition. The drones they're using to patrol the event won't chase away rogue drones that get too close to the venues: they'll cast nets to catch any UAV that shows up on the the security team's radar.
Hulu Live TV subscribers can customize their Olympic coverage
The 2018 Winter Olympics are just around the corner and while anyone with access to NBC channels will be able to watch the competitions and events, those with Hulu Live TV will get to build a personalized viewing experience tailored to their interests. Starting today, Hulu will let those with a Live TV subscription pick which Olympic sports they're most interested in and from there, it will customize users' UIs based on those preferences. For example, users selecting luge and freestyle skiing as their favorites will see coverage of those events appear up top in the Olympic Winter Games section of the Hulu UI. They'll also see replays, highlights and athlete profiles surfaced.
Xfinity customers will get a ton of Winter Olympics content next month
The Olympics offer a unique technical challenge for TV broadcasters and cable companies every few years. With the 2018 Winter Olympics just a few weeks away, Comcast has announced its plans to offer a pretty huge variety of coverage for its Xfinity TV subscribers. While other cable providers get access to the same content from NBC that Comcast does, the company is enabling some solid features and packaging it in ways that are exclusive to Xfinity subscribers.
NBC brings two Winter Olympics preview shows to Netflix
You won't have to stay glued to NBC to watch all of its Winter Olympics coverage -- although it won't necessarily be the coverage you want. The network is offering a two-part PyeongChang preview series, Go For the Gold and Meet Team USA, that will be available on Netflix between January 15th and the end of the Olympics on February 25th. The episodes will explore the American team's athletes and their stories, including well-known competitors like Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White.
NBC's Winter Olympics VR streams will work on almost any device
The Winter Olympics is getting a virtual reality makeover. NBC will present over 50 hours of VR coverage from the games in South Korea next month, using Intel True VR technology to create 360-degree immersive environments. It's the same style of tech that's been adopted by BT Sport, MLB, UFC, PGA and NBA, and it made an appearance at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio, but it's the first time the Winter Games has been given the treatment (they only happen every four years, after all, and VR has only taken flight in recent times).
Visa swaps payment cards for NFC gloves at the Winter Olympics
Visa is very fond of showing off its tap-to-pay technology at the Olympics, and that's truer than ever with the 2018 Winter Olympics around the corner. The payment giant is selling a trio of NFC-equipped gadgets to help you shop at the PyeongChang games, most notably a set of winter gloves. Yes, you can pay for that souvenir without freezing your hands as you reach for a credit card or even your phone. You won't have to use them or the other devices at the games, but they'll come with prepaid values of between 30,000KRW to 50,000KRW ($27 to $45) to encourage shopping in South Korea. Visa hasn't offered pricing.
Ubisoft's 'Steep' will soon take you to the 2018 Winter Olympics
Ubisoft's extreme sports, open-world game Steep is getting its first full expansion pack later this year. The "Road to the Olympics" add-on will, as the name suggests, take you into an experience tied around the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. You'll have the chance to represent your favorite country across different competitions, including the snowboard slopestyle and halfpipe, as well as ski cross and slalom. Based on the trailer released today, it looks like Steep's Road to the Olympics could be a good time killer, especially since it's an officially licensed product.
NBC will finally air all of the Olympics live, across time zones
Today NBC announced that for the 2018 Winter Olympics, it will finally back off of its hated policy of tape delaying significant portions of the games. In 2016, it streamed much of the competition live, but segments like the Opening Ceremony and each day's prime time programming got the tape delay treatment on TV. In a world connected in real time by phones, Facebook and Twitter, splitting up viewers makes less sense than ever, and NBC is finally acknowledging that instead of just pointing to the ratings or encouraging that viewers "move back east."
Must See HDTV for the week of February 17th: Winter Olympics, Daytona 500 and Strider
This is the final week of the Winter Olympics, with the closing ceremonies scheduled for Sunday night. Bob Costas is back (with less creepy demon-possessed eye infection stare) plus plenty of action including bobsled, short-track speed skating, hockey finals and of course, curling. Game of Thrones season three will hit the shelves on Blu-ray, so whether you're looking for a recap or just getting your first look in 1080p, now is the time. Racing fans can also look forward to the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season with the Daytona 500 on Sunday, while gamers can enjoy a remake of the classic game Strider on current and next-gen systems this week -- although honestly, many of us are just trying to finish off House of Cards before the spoilers become impossible to avoid or filter out. Usually we don't point out the late-night weekly shows, but tonight Jimmy Fallon takes over the Tonight Show chair from Jay Leno. Check after the break for trailers plus our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and gaming.
Comcast is bringing its online Olympics coverage to Xfinity TV subscribers
By its nature, conventional TV offers limited coverage of large sports events like the Olympics -- much to the chagrin of fans. Comcast's Xfinity TV subscribers won't have that problem with the Sochi Olympics, though. The cable giant is bringing its NBC Sports Live Extra app to X1 set-top box owners for the first time, giving them 1,000 hours of live Olympics video streams that would previously have required a desktop browser or a mobile app. Comcast is augmenting its regular coverage with recent technology as well. X1 users in some regions will get to watch prime-time coverage through Xfinity On Demand as soon as the programming begins, and all Xfinity TV customers can use SeeIt to switch to an Olympics broadcast when it's mentioned on Twitter. While we'd like to see the NBC app available through other TV providers, it's still good news for athletics enthusiasts who insist on big-screen viewing.
Must See HDTV for the week of February 3rd: Walking Dead and Winter Olympics
After the Super Bowl, we will have to fill the hours with non-football things (until the NFL Combine, at least) and right on time we have the return of AMC's The Walking Dead this weekend. If you prefer the rush of sports action (and the thrill of high speed crashes in various downhill events) however, the 2014 Winter Olympic Games from Sochi also begin, with the first competition set for 3AM ET Saturday. In the US NBC is broadcasting hours of coverage across its channels (check out the schedule here), and streaming every event live online (if you have a cable TV subscription). Football fans can get their last taste of the game with the season finales of Inside the NFL and NFL Turning Point, while gamers can check out the Fable Anniversary collection. Check after the break for trailers plus our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and gaming.
