Tipped as tech hot potatoes for Christmas 2010, neither of these hyped products sold as much as expected..

Apple's iPad has done well on sales since its launch in Feb but Christmas didn't provide it with much of a boost, most likely because its £429 price tag (minimum) kept it out of most people's present-giving budget. Costing the better part of £500, it's hardly a stocking-filler. It's probably safe to say that most iPad owners are wealthy people who bought them for themselves [an elite as this blog post named them]

Kindles on the other hand, did do well. Probably because they are just a bit more within the range of an impulse buy at £99

We all went out to watch Avatar, but 3D TV sales just didn't take off this Christmas, partly because of the price range - at John Lewis they're a minimum of £899 and much more likely to be double that. There's also some evidence that people are put off by having to wear glasses and just that they are still unsure about the technology. Watch this space though, CES looks like it will be another 3D product bonanza that could fuel demand.
[telegraph]

Toshiba are set to be one of several TV manufacturers to show off a 3D TV set that doesn't require glasses at CES this year. We've seen these glasses-free 3D screens before on pocket devices, and Toshiba gave us a glimpse of this tech back in October with the 20 inch TV Toshiba Regza. The glasses-free technology is more user-friendly - there's less hassle with clunky eyewear but is said not to have the *pop* of glasses-enabled 3D - it has a more subtle effect. On the plus side, it has better all round viewing angles compared to 3D TVs that use glasses.

The special screen uses multi-parallax picture transmission to get the 3D effect, (employing a lenticular lens setup) that sends out two slightly different images for the left and right eyes.

[via the Telegraph]

The explosion of tweets and facebook posts about the X-factor final, and the last episodes of Strictly Come Dancing and The Apprentice prove that people really do like to talk about the TV. Despite people now spending more time on the internet than on the TV people still really like to watch it - specifically big event shows like the X-Factor - the final of which got the biggest crowd ever for a UK TV show last Saturday..

It not a surprise that Social TV is set to be one of the trends of 2011.

Whether it's shows designed to produce good opportunities for tweet feedback, or perhaps a stronger social media output from popular shows (behind the scenes pics etc) or even new TV formats that might stream chat windows down the side of the screen there are a number of ways that TV can become more interactive and more social..

Any fan of Spotify social will know how much more fun that can be.

The new iPlayer setup is a great example of this where it integrates a chat function into live TV, though it's only compatible with Windows Messenger accounts which not everyone has. Really, it needs to be tied into Facebook, the way Spotify is, because that's where everyone is.

iPlayer - at the forefront of TV tech - also has the neat function of being able to sync your player to your friend's player so you're both watching the same thing at exactly the same time despite being in different places. Hulu - not yet available in the UK has a similar function (see above).

A big change will come about too when people start hooking their TVs up to the internet, as Google and Apple hope they will. Then TVs will start to have keyboards attached to them, and you'll be able to slump in front of the sofa and flick on Youtube and be able to comment about the six o'clock directly onto the screen you're looking at..

Expect more apps, social recommendation functions and probably a host of ways to monetise this increased interaction with content.

We think it's the future.

Further reading:
The Social TV forum
Wikipedia on Social TV

The Sky 3D channel has netted the biggest 3D thing going - box-office-busting film Avatar - to show on its new three-dimensional channel this Christmas.

It's TV premier of Avatar, but you'll only be able to appreciate it in its full glory if you have a 3D-ready set and a subscription to Sky.

For those of you that do, the world of the naked blue people beckons. However, it still doesn't quite answer the question of what will be shown on the 3D channel the rest of the time, get ready for lots of nature documentary and three-dimensional swimming. Or to be more accurate: Sir David Attenborough's Flying Monsters 3D; The Prince's Trust Rock Gala 3D; and Alice in Wonderland.

Avatar will show this Christmas Eve on Sky 3D (channel 217) at 8pm.
Sky 3D is available to all Sky+HD customers who have a 3D TV and Sky's top TV package.

Over half of the American public have bought High Definition TVs, but the expensive sets are mostly being used to watch standard broadcasts.

56% of Americans have TVs that support High Definition, but only 13% of TV watched in the US is actually in HD.

As Nielson put it: "Despite the billions of dollars that Americans have spent buying high definition TVs, more than 80 percent of television viewing is still a standard definition experience."

The reasons for the lag seem to be that while people have sets capable of playing HD, they aren't picking up HD broadcasts for various reasons. Most cable broadcasters do have HD output, but it tends to be restricted to people on the premium subscriptions and though people may buy new TV sets, they won't always upgrade to the HD services. In other cases, getting the HD stream onto your TV requires tuning it and many people don't seem to be bothered.

Okay, and call me a cynic here - but I'm still not won over by HD: lovely for nature documentaries, but just not necessary for most other content - news, soaps, current affairs or
It's quite an unforgiving technology as the camera bears down on every crevice and blemish on human skin.

Maybe the output of TV will change to show more smooth glowy things with intricate details that I will love to see in high definition. Till then, I don't need to see every pore of every X-Factor constestant.

[via TVbroadcast]

A little lesson to be learned from the first version of Google TV: keep it simple. Or at least, keep the remote controls simple.

Buisness Insider spotted this little tale of woe yesterday...

"I tried Google TV yesterday. Flying a Cessna is easier and has fewer controls than the Sony remote," tweets Jon Steinberg, President of BuzzFeed.

Google asked Sony to make a custom TV set for their new TV software. The specs are dizzying and the functionality is impressive. Problem is, the remote looks like the control panel of the Starship Entereprise.

See Google TV: Is it Too Geeky For the Masses?

Business Insider

Only days after the announcement of bubblegum-coloured, aviator-style 3D TV glasses from iWoot, Samsung have annouced prescription 3D glasses for watching the telly.

This means that those of us who are squinty and short-sighted won't have to perch two pairs of glasses on our delicate noses when we want to watch some film in 3D.

We assume you'll be able to use them at the cinema and anywhere that the 3D technology uses passive glasses..

Obviously you won't want to get these replaced everytime your prescription changes, and of course this pair would just work for you, so you can't share them. But maybe that's a good thing.

So far Samsung are only selling the specs in Korea. You drop your prescription off at the Samsung shop, and within a month you've got a corrective 3D pair waiting for you. As 3D adoption spreads, we could see this spreading around the world...

Well these pretty little things should clear up any lingering doubts you had about 3D television. Okay the sets still cost something on the wrong side of £500 but any problems you had about wearing 3D enabling eyewear that looks like medicinal sunglasses should now be swept aside.

iWOOT have released aviator shaped 3D glasses, compatible with any 3D TV that uses passive glasses technology - the one down the pub for example. They come in four colours - bubblegum pink, brilliant white, tomato red and jet black - and one distinctive shape.

Okay, so you will look a little bit like a twat, but hey until they bring out that carefully chosen pair of off-white Raybans that you love, this will have to do..

Moshka Aviator 3D glasses are now available at www.iwantoneofthose.com

Samsung tried to get us all excited about the potential of apps on TV today. And to extent they succeeded.

The iPlayer app looks great, LoveFilm and music video site Muzu.com will be excellent. But what all those apps have in common is that they offer content that was always intended for TV in an easy-to-manage format. They're just like better-organised television.

But beyond that, I'm still not convinced about the need for other apps on the Television. I just don't see how things like SuDoku or even Facebook will be improved by having them up on the big screen.

In an attempt to prove how TV apps and the web-enabled Smart TV will work their way into our everyday lives John Green from Samsung talked us through a day in the life of the Smiths, a family with 2.4 kids and a Samsung-manufactured Smart TV.

To me this presentation raised more questions than it answered. In fact, rather than selling a new enhanced lifestyle it uncovered 18 hours of an almost nihilistically banal existence.

This was largely the fault of the presenter - who wasn't exactly Steve Jobs - and heaved deep sighs in between every new description of what the Smiths got up to in their daily life and sounded more like he needed Prozac than any thing the Samsung app store could offer him.

I'm digressing, but here's how it goes... my notes in square brackets.

A DAY IN THE LIVES OF THE SMITHS AND THEIR SMART TV WITH APPS

- Let's consider a family unit of 4, the Smith family - and lets consider a day in the life of the Smiths.

- Mr Smith likes to see what the weather is when he gets up 7am. He wants to see the weather in London.. [pause] and in Paris. [sigh]
[The presenter clicks through several menu options to add the city of Paris to the weather app. Nice, but I'm not wowed by the amount of clicking required to get the info you want..]

- After Mr Smith has caught up with the weather, he likes to check the news so goes to USA Today, most of all he likes the sport so he looks at the sports headlines.
[we all look at the sports headlines]

- Then Mr Smith looks at Google Maps and leaves for work. Mrs Smith has the day off so does a Sudoku puzzle at 11am in her coffee break.
[I'm too jaded these days to expect positive gender stereotyping from tech companies, so lets just accept that Mrs Smith does indeed get days off work, and does spend those days playing number games. Would she really want to do them on a TV app though?]

- The teenage daughter gets back from school. After school she goes to the TV because she "likes watching Facebook with her friends".
[I'm not convinced about social networking on TV screens and the use of the word "watching" only confirmed my doubts about it. You never "watch" Facebook, you go on it to chat and check messages and for that you want a keyboard. Also - Facebook on the big screen? Would you want your chat with your friend splayed across 65 inches? What if mum walks into the room. I just don't think this big screen idea works for personal platforms like Facebook.]

- And so the day moves on... the boy plays a bowling game, Ms Smith looks at a picture of pier on the Picasa app, reads comments on the picture of a pier and translates one of the comments that is not in English, into English. Then she looks at a slideshow of pictures of flowers.

- Mr Smith comes home and watches Masterchef on iPlayer.
[well, this all sounds a bit better - but iPlayer on TV has always sounded great

In conclusion - I'm not thrilled by the possibilities here at all. Of course the conference was all about asking developers to get creative and make the apps that will make this platform stand out. In the meantime, the choice of TV programes sound good, but I still need to be inspired by this.

We grabbed a quick video interview with two Samsung execs at the launch of their Smart TV Apps platform. We had just been sold the brave new world of apps on the telly and so we asked these guys just why we should be so wowed. They also tell us how you pay for TV apps, how they felt about competiton from Google, and what their favourite apps were.

Watch out for the surprise statistic on the percentage of people who buy internet-enabled TVs but don't actually activate the internet..

Apps will do for TV what they did for smartphones - said Samsung UK Vice President Andy Griffiths today - and change it forever.

He announced a sheaf of apps that would appear on the new Samsung Smart TVs - iPlayer, LoveFilm, Muzu.com, Facebook, Skype and Twitter - explaining how they'd all been optimised for Samsung's giant 55" screens.

And these aren't just a few new toys, Griffiths claimed, the apps will fundamentally change how we interact with the TV. It's not really news to say that the old broadcast model has been replaced by systems that put more control in the hands of the user, where content used to be pre-packaged, it's now available when and where the consumer wants it. But Griffiths sketched out how that would change what people do with their TVs..

Here are his four predictions for the future:

1) Making your own channels - active users will go about making up their own channels by mixing and matching programmes
2) TVs will learn what you like and recommend what you should watch based on what you have watched before
3) People will upload their own content: videos etc and will watch their friends' videos on the TV
4) There will be lots of integration with social networking sites, making TV social and providing lots of user-generated content for display around big live event TV shows.

See more about TV apps on Samsung's site

Google TV was announced open on Monday promising a brave new world of content on demand, full-screen YouTube and apps for TV. Key to the appeal of the idea is the simple plug-and-play box that will bring full internet functionality to a normal TV.

The Google TV box is manufactured by Logitech and as they put it.. it "makes it easy to get the full experience of Google TV". Sounds great right? but some journalists over at Cult of Mac who had the opportunity to play around on it, claim that it really isn't as easy as it sounds.

In fact, they say it's actually fiddly, geeky and doesn't look destined for mass appeal. And when it comes to selling something for TV, that's actually a big problem.

With smartphone or say gaming controls, it's not so critical if set-ups are difficult because there you have a bunch of more determined, tech-savvy people. With internet on TV it's more of a problem because this is aimed at the masses - the TV-owning non-geeks who want to flick it on and fall on the sofa. A complicated interface and set up could put them off the idea from the get-go.

Er, the interface and the price - the Logitech Revue Google TV box costs $299, where Apple TV costs $99.

You get more punch for your money: the Logitech runs Anroid, connects to satellite and cable TV as well as all video on the web. You can search using your voice and even turn your smartphone into a remote control, oh yes and there are apps and HD video conferencing.

Still, says Leander Kahney, "It's overly complicated. It's less of a TV-watching device than a mini-computer for the living room." The TV remote is like a keyboard - just a little more complicated than you want when you slump on the sofa - see a picture of the accessories below...

And having search as the centre of the TV watching experience requires just a little too much active thought in his opinion.

Okay - it's not very surprising that Cult of Mac has come down on the side of the $99 Apple product over the $299 Google one. But till we get a chance to try them both out, we're pretty convinced by his arguments...

Tech companies still have quite a long way to go to get people to understand what internet on TV is and why we'd want it. And they'll have to keep the easy to use instant gratification nature of TV strong when designing the user interfaces...

[via CultofMac]

Logitech Revue Google TV box is $299 on Logitech

German audio-makers Bose revealed their first TV today, out in time for the Christmas shopping punters. With an LCD screen, 6 woofers, 7 element speakers and a "sound radiator" built in... they claim that their VideoWave is not just a TV but "an entirely new category of product".

One thing it definitely is though, is quite pricey, the recommended retail price for the Bose VideoWave entertainment system is £6,000 including VAT. They do claim it will provide all your home entertainments ever though - with their new Click Pad gadget acting as a remote control for all the devices in the house.

It's the audio that's the deal-maker though, and you best believe it's good. They say it truly is "cinematic" and have packed a lot of audio tech into the screen. This is what they tell us about it:

"For the impact of deep low notes, a cluster of six high-performance woofers is carefully matched to a new, powerful acoustic Bose waveguide. For the spacious, immersive quality of home theatre, a new invention -- Bose PhaseGuide™ sound radiator technology -- is combined with a seven-element speaker array and advanced Bose® digital signal processing. Together, they deliver sound well beyond the screen. Discrete sound is aimed -- and heard -- in places where there are no speakers."

Oh and they're chucking in a detachable table stand and an iPod dock too...

The VideoWave entertainment system will be £6,000 in Bose stores and selected dealers beginning October 14, 2010

Sky claimed today that their new 3D channel would not just bring an extra dimension to television, it will change how people watch TV.

3D TV will be about big events - about sports matches, about concerts and big movies. While TV today is something on in the background, an experience people dip in and out of while chatting on the phone, texting or doing the ironing, 3D will change that because the more engaging experience will demand a lot more attention.

They announced today: "Friday 1st October will see the next step in television history delivered to living rooms across the UK as Sky launches Sky 3D - Europe's first in-home 3D channel. Sky 3D brings 'Event TV' in to the home, with big sporting events, big movies, big performances and big documentaries, enabling people to enjoy a new immersive viewing experience."

You wouldn't want to be doing the ironing while wearing 3D glasses would you? You'd probably catch yourself hurling the hot metal at an approaching virtual shark or something.

Event TV is already a popular concept - live shows like the XFactor which get lots of people sitting in, watching TV at the same time. In an age of on-demand anytime content on the internet, the idea of everyone gathering round the set and getting an immersive live experience is gaining some traction. It's what TV needs to make it special again now we've got many other screens in our lives.

And 3D is what will make TV special again, and make it the centre of attention once more.

The 3D channel will be available at no extra charge to Sky+HD customers with Sky's top TV package, though you will need a 3D ready TV.

Related: Can 3D TV make you feel a bit sick?
3 Sports that look good on 3D TV, and 3 that don't...

Samsung have caught the spotlight at IFA this year for their tablet computer the Galaxy Tab which, if Ashley is to be believed, is setting the agenda for the next iPad. But they have another show-stopper product this year and it's in an equally hot area - 3D TV.

It's huge. With a 65 inch screen, it is officially the world's largest LED television. The C8000 3D TV comes with Wi-Fi connectivity and web-connected TV apps - a nice touch.

They've put a bit of effort into the screen too, as you'd expect. It has precision dimming technology for deeper black levels, and a little something they call 800 CMR motion clarity processing, which is probably to do with making the picture clearer.

According to Samsung, it "provides superior picture quality with Samsung's proprietary 3D processor".

The price is on the hefty side too - take a breath - 5995 Euros.

It's all about 3D for Panasonic's 2010 IFA line-up and they're releasing three additions to their glamourous flatscreen VIERA TV range. All show three dimensional images and they're all are huge - two at 42 inches and one at 46 inches. There's a pair of LCD screens and then one plasma panel in their current offerings.

LCD models first - the 42" (42VT20) and 46" (46VT20) models promise crisp and immersive 3D images and come with two sets of 3D eyewear. Obviously you'll need to buy a few more if you want a third or fourth person to watch it too. Hard work has gone into a technology which smooths blurring.

Panasonic's third new 3D TV is a plasma one - the 42inch TX-P42GT20 - offering most of the same features, just with the advantages of a plasma panel. Unlike the other models in the VIERA VT20 series, the TX-P42GT20E does not come with 3D eyewear.

They've also updated all their range with their NeoPDP technology - it offers very high visual contrast and speedy response time making it perfect for fast sports scenes, action movies and games.

Panasonic have also taken on board how big 3D will be for the gaming community and have partnered up with game-makers Ubisoft to get some top-quality three dimensional games on their customers' screens. First up will be Shaun White Skateboarding coming out sometime in December.

See more on the TX-P and VT20 ranges at Panasonic

At last we're getting some top-flight interior designers paying attention to fitting gadgets into furniture.

Often gadgets get in the way of interior design. Very few high-concept sitting rooms are designed with TVs in mind even though watching the box is the main thing people do in them. We're all used to just plonking TVs in, but it could all look a lot better.

Anyway, there's been some movement at the top end with designer Karim Rashid producing a TV stand for Omnimount. Omnimount is a company that specialises entirely in support stands for audiovisual devices. Here are two of their more aesthetically-pleasing TV stands...

1) The Link Series
2) Prism 50

When people talk about 3D TV, they talk about how amazing sport broadcasts and nature documentaries will look. Think of the ball shooting into the back of the net looking like it's about to burst out of the screen, think of a beaver swinging its tail round and THE TAIL LOOKS LIKE IT'S COMING OUT OF THE TV. These are the promised wonders. But leaving the nature documentaries to one side for the minute, lets just focus on the sports.

Some sports, it is reckoned, look better than others.

Things like football (that's soccer to Americans), which relies on a lot of camera shots taken from high overhead, won't benefit immensely from the 3D thing. Of course, corners will look great, goals will look great, and we imagine Ronaldo's pecs will too when the cameras decide to do close-ups. But overall it's not a wow! thing.

It's going to be much harder with games that cover a broader area and that are more unpredictable, or that need to be shot from the side, like swimming. That doesn't work so well with the way the 3D cameras need to be positioned.

Camera placement is a bit different when shooting sports in three dimensons. 3D TV requires two cameras taking shots from two different angles to create the effect. So crews have to scurry to get them both into place, which can be a bit problematic with things like sailing.. Camera movement changes a lot too. Shooting 2D sports cameramen will often swing the camera around to capture some exciting ball movement. But with 3D you want to keep camera movement slow so the person can be allowed to view the movement unfurling in the shot. Slower movements are picked up better.

Three Sports that look really good in 3D:
Golf - well this was a surprise to me too, but apparently it's true. As long as the two cameras can be positioned near where the the ball is about to be struck, it all looks pretty good apparently

Boxing There's movement but it's not too fast, it's all based in a small area, cameras can be located all round. You can see muscles bulge and be right in the thick of the action. For similar reasons, gymnastics is also slated to look fantastic in a third dimension.

Formula 1 It's about speed and some close-up shots could be really exciting. TechRadar reckons: "The scope for excitement is endless with cameras placed trackside, in the pits and on the cars. Overtaking manoeuvres could look sensational"

Three that don't look so great:
Tennis - this is a shame. Apparently the ball moves just a bit too fast to make a great 3D shot, following something moving that quickly can get a bit headachy, so the camera view is likely to stay on a more sedate overhead view. Still s

Swimming - sports where the cameras are placed to one side, like swimming or running don't really allow for the two camera angles that 3D shooters need to have.

Football - the world's biggest sport is a bit so-so on 3D TV. Goals are good, everything is a bit better but the wow factor only comes a few times a match. Techradar says: "strangely the most compelling shots seem to be of the crowd." - that's no compliment.

ITV will launch paid-for HD channels on Sky in a deal that sees ITV charging for content for the first time.

ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD, and ITV4 HD will launch as part of Sky+HD's subscription
package of channels in autumn 2010. The channels will be available to all homes
subscribing to a Sky+HD subscription.

While ITV will maintain all their free channels, this marks a move towards paid-for content. The launch assumes that customers are prepared to shell out for high definition.

The channels will show all the top ranking ITV shows including Britain's Got More Talent, The Xtra Factor and I'm A Celebrity....Get Me Out of Here Now! ; original drama such as the third series of Secret Diary of a Call Girl; and acquired content including Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl, and a range of top movies.

The deal is with Sky of course, part of the Murdoch empire, who are pioneering the charge for content model online with The Times newspaper.

ITV Chief Exec Adam Crozier said: "Pay television has seen continual growth over the last decade and this deal is a great example of how a new, subscription-based launch, can complement ITV's existing free-to-air channels."

ITV HD will come bundled with the Sky HD+ subscription for anyone buying the HD box
There are currently 43 channels available with the box.

see more on ITV HD

Sky's 3D TV channel will start broadcasting from the 1st October. Those with a 3D HDTV set and the Sky HD+ box will

Pubs will be one of the main beneficiaries of the channel launch, 1500 of them got 3D TV sets when the Premier League final was shown in an extra dimenson in the Spring.

Sky subscribers with the top-end HD package will get the new 3D channel at no extra cost.

Sky will kick off with a 3D golf tournament - the Ryder Cup - Premier League football will be shown from the launch and some major 3D Hollywood films will be shown in the run up to Christmas.

Are you excited?

Register here: Sky.com