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Sonos eliminating the frustrating wired network requirement
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Music, Wireless / WiFi
We've been huge Sonos fans here at Gear Live for years, but if there's one niggle we've heard complaints about from users more than any other, it's that you have to plug in one Sonos component into your wired network. Normally, this would mean buying the Sonos Bridge in addition to whatever speaker components you'd want to place throughout your home, because it's rare that the place you want to put your Sonos device just happens to be where your networking equipment is. The result? You'd have to pay $50 for the Bridge, upping the price of entry.
Well, now Sonos is set to change how it handles creating its SonosNet wireless mesh network, which is the way that Sonos components communicate with each other. "We've found a way to deliver all the benefits of SonosNet without a product directly connected to your router," the company said in a blog post. The best part? All that will be required is a software update, so existing Sonos owners will be able to ditch the wired requirement as well, once the update goes public.
With the new method, you plug a Sonos component in and then fire up the Sonos app on your smartphone or tablet. Then you simply select your Wi-Fi network, put in your password, and Sonos jumps on and takes care of the rest. As long as you don't have a huge house with Sonos components spread so far apart that the wireless signal can't talk to each other (and that would have to be a pretty big house), you are golden. Sonos is launching a beta program to allow those interested to try it out and find any bugs before pushing it out to the masses.
You can check out the Sonos product line-up now.
Read More 
| Sonos Beta
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New features coming to WWE Network, launching on Xbox One & Fire TV this spring
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment
WWE held its 2014 Business Partner Summit in New Orleans, and talked about improvements that will be made to the WWE Network this spring. Here are some of the highlights mentioned:
- Users will gain greater control over their WWE Network viewing experience, with the ability to bookmark a place within a video, save your spot and pick up where you left off across platforms, and use chapter markers to skip to specific parts of a given show.
- Personalized recommendations will suggest content to viewers on other shows they may want to watch, based on their viewing history.
- The WWE Network will launch on the Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, and Smart TV and Blu-ray platforms this spring.
The WWE Network is currently available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Kindle Fire, Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and web browsers.
HBO renews Game of Thrones for two more seasons
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Home Entertainment
HBO has announced that it's ordered two additional seasons of Game of Thrones, which just started its fourth season this past Sunday. It makes sense, as the show was recently recognized as the most torrented television show out there, proving its popularity. Even with the rampant piracy, the season 3 finale was seen by over 5 million people.
If you didn't realize, Game of Thrones is based on A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. It's comprised of five books, which two more to come. This means that Game of Thrones producers have plenty of content to pull from. In fact, Game of Thrones seasons 3 and 4 are based on Storm of Swords, the third novel in the series.
"Game of Thrones is a phenomenon like no other," said Michael Mobardo, president of HBO programming. "David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, along with their talented collaborators, continue to surpass themselves, and we look forward to more of their dazzling storytelling."
The Game of Thrones season 4 premier garnered 6.6 million viewers. To put that into perspective, that is the most-viewed HBO show since the last episode of The Sopranos brought in 12 million viewers in 2007. Game of Thrones is expected to have a 7 or 8 season run when all is said and done.
2014 WWE WrestleMania Reading Challenge wrap-up
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Home Entertainment
Last week, WWE Superstars and Divas visited Langston Hughes Academy Elementary school in New Orleans, LA for the annual WrestleMania Reading Challenge event in conjunction with The Pearson Foundation and the Young Adult Library Services Association. Children in the school gathered in the gymnasium, where they were able to meet AJ Lee, Cody Rhodes, and Stephanie McMahon after learning about the We Give Books ReadMobile and how it travels the country promoting literacy. The Superstars took turns reading a book called Otis by Loren Long, about a little tractor who could.
Click to continue reading 2014 WWE WrestleMania Reading Challenge wrap-up
WWE Network stress testing this week leading in to WrestleMania 30
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Internet
The WWE Network, announced at CES 2014, went live on February 24th--and it crashed hard. The company has had about 5 weeks to fix all the issues (and not all have been fixed as of press time,) and stress test the MLBAM servers in anticipation of what many believe to be the "make or break" event for the unique live streaming service that's paired with a vast on-demand content vault.
On April 6th, WWE presents WrestleMania XXX, which will be the very first live pay-per-view event that is broadcast on the WWE Network. It just so happens to also be the biggest event of the year for pro wrestling, as WrestleMania is seen as the Super Bowl of wrestling. The company has been broadcasting live programming several times per week in order to get a handle on load, but WrestleMania is a beast all its own. To prepare, the WWE Network will be doing daily live shows this week, along with a two-hour pre-show before WrestleMania begins. We've got the full schedule of special events that'll air on the WWE Network this week, below.
Click to continue reading WWE Network stress testing this week leading in to WrestleMania 30
Rumor: Amazon to launch free video streaming service
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Rumors
Amazon has sent out invites to select press to attend an Amazon Video event next week in New York City. Aside from the rumored Amazon Video set-top box, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the company will also launch a free, ad-supported video service that'll be paired up with the device that will allow customers to watch television shows and music videos gratis.
It should be noted that this isn't Amazon taking its current video product and making it free--rather, it would likely be a small subset. All of the Amazon original series, and anything specifically licensed. The company would likely still keep the best stuff for Amazon Prime customers.
What do you think? Would an inexpensive set-top box with free streaming content be enough to get you to buy one?
Amazon holding major video launch event on April 2
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Home Entertainment
This morning Amazon sent out invitations for an April 2nd event that invites us to "Please join us for an update on our video business." In the background is a couch, with a few pieces of popcorn spilled on it. It looks like the company may finally launch the long-rumored Amazon Video set-top box, a product that would compete with devices like the Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku products. Amazon's box may even differentiate itself by offering gaming right out of the gate, as we saw a prototype of an Amazon game controller leaked a couple of weeks ago. There are plenty of Android games that Amazon could see success with with game controller support built-in.
We'll know for sure on April 2, and we'll bring you the full details.
Update: It looks like Amazon may also launch a free video streaming service at this event as well!
Apple TV 6.1 simplifies process of hiding unwanted channel apps
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Home Entertainment, Software
Alongside the iOS 7.1 update, Apple also released Apple TV update version 6.1, which offers a much easier way to hide unwanted app channels from the Apple TV home screen. After updating, all you need to do is highlight an icon, and press and hold the Select button until all the icons start wiggling. Then, head over to the one you'd like to remove, and hit the Play/Pause button, and then select Hide. It's gone! You can re-add any hidden channels by going into the Settings > Main Menu area.
The new method is much easier than the previous, where you'd have to navigate into your Settings menu to hide items. Now, you can do it right from the home screen.
If you haven't yet got the latest Apple TV update, navigate over to Settings > Software Update, and choose Update Software.
You can pick up an Apple TV from the Apple Store Online.
Apple offering free $25 gift card with Apple TV purchase
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Home Entertainment, Hot Deals
Apple has a great deal on the Apple TV for the next five days (a great option to watch the WWE Network on your television.) Between now and March 5th, Apple TV buyers will receive a $25 iTunes gift card, which can be used to buy anything in the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store and can be used to buy iOS apps, Mac apps, music, movies, TV shows, and eBooks. This essentially brings the cost of the $99 Apple TV down to $75 in a way.
Head on over to the Apple Store online to check out the deal.
Read More | Apple TV Product Page
Skip WWE Network signup issues with Apple TV
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Home Entertainment
This morning, the long-awaited WWE Network launched, bringing with it 24/7 live programming alongside an extensive content library from WWE. As is to be expected with any new, big content offering, there are some hiccups due to the rush of demand that the servers are having to deal with. Users are having a hard time getting signed up since the MLBAM (the company hosting the WWE Network content) service has been slammed.
However, there's a simple workaround that'll let you bypass the whole mess for users who own an Apple TV. As with Netflix and Hulu Plus, Apple offers direct subscription access to the WWE Network through iTunes. This means that you are dealing with Apple servers rather than the ones the WWE is using, and therefore, you can sign right up with no problem and start watching immediately.
Click to continue reading Skip WWE Network signup issues with Apple TV
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