Aereo streaming TV expanding to new cities; 'The Drowning' gets global event
Aereo will soon offer streaming broadcast TV in Dallas, Miami and Houston, a novel iOS first-person shooter has just gotten its first global event, and Microsoft is now poking fun at the iPad mini in a new advertisement.
Aereo announced on Thursday that its broadcast television restreaming service will be making its way to Miami, Dallas, and Houston over the next two months. Miami will get access to Aereo starting Sept. 2, while Houston and Dallas will get the service on Sept. 16 and Sept. 23, respectively.
The service will be available in the new markets for free at first. Aereo will give customers a one-month free trial, after which the service will start at $8 per month.
Aereo, which uses small antennas to stream broadcast television content to users' computers, iPads, iPhones, and Internet-connected set-top boxes, has been the cause of much controversy and litigation. The major broadcast companies have sued Aereo, claiming that the rebroadcasting the service does is illegal retransmission of protected material. The courts, so far, have been mixed in their decisions, but the most recent case resulted in a setback for the broadcasters.
Upon launching the game, players will be presented with information on The Toxic Beast Hunt, and from there the game will provide details on the global event. The game will, though, encourage players to buy in-game gold ? an in-app purchase only available with real-world money ? in order to attain weapons necessary to take down some enemies.
The Toxic Beast Hunt multiplayer event will run from Thursday, August 8 through Wednesday August 14. The Drowning is available as a free download in the App Store. The 725MB download works with iPads, iPhones, and iPods running iOS 6.0 or later.
Microsoft has once again enlisted Apple's digital assistant Siri in order to bash the iPad and tout Windows touchscreen devices. This time, the Redmond giant has taken aim at Apple's iPad mini, which debuted last year and very quickly became the standard among smaller tablets.
The new ad showcases Halo Spartan Assault, one of the few games exclusive to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices. It pits the iPad mini against an 8-inch tablet from Acer running Windows, hitting on many of the points that Microsoft has previously tried to drive home for consumers.
In something of a reversal from the days of "I'm a Mac. I'm a PC," Microsoft has taken to attacking the iPad, comparing Apple's bestselling tablet to offerings from Microsoft and its partners. The tactic doesn't appear to have had much impact on consumer perception: Apple's tablet market share is slipping gradually, but that opening hasn't led to tremendous growth for Windows 8 devices.
Aero expanding to new cities
Aereo announced on Thursday that its broadcast television restreaming service will be making its way to Miami, Dallas, and Houston over the next two months. Miami will get access to Aereo starting Sept. 2, while Houston and Dallas will get the service on Sept. 16 and Sept. 23, respectively.
The service will be available in the new markets for free at first. Aereo will give customers a one-month free trial, after which the service will start at $8 per month.
Aereo, which uses small antennas to stream broadcast television content to users' computers, iPads, iPhones, and Internet-connected set-top boxes, has been the cause of much controversy and litigation. The major broadcast companies have sued Aereo, claiming that the rebroadcasting the service does is illegal retransmission of protected material. The courts, so far, have been mixed in their decisions, but the most recent case resulted in a setback for the broadcasters.
The Drowning gets first global co-op event
The Drowning released last week to reviews praising its novel control scheme, which reportedly makes first-person shooter gaming more palatable on Apple's all-touchscreen iOS devices. The game has gotten to near the top of the free charts on iPad in 42 countries and on iPhone in 16 countries, according to Cult of Mac. Now, the game is getting a global in-game event that will let players hunt bosses together and compete for prizes.Upon launching the game, players will be presented with information on The Toxic Beast Hunt, and from there the game will provide details on the global event. The game will, though, encourage players to buy in-game gold ? an in-app purchase only available with real-world money ? in order to attain weapons necessary to take down some enemies.
The Toxic Beast Hunt multiplayer event will run from Thursday, August 8 through Wednesday August 14. The Drowning is available as a free download in the App Store. The 725MB download works with iPads, iPhones, and iPods running iOS 6.0 or later.
Microsoft taps Siri again for swipes at the iPad mini
Microsoft has once again enlisted Apple's digital assistant Siri in order to bash the iPad and tout Windows touchscreen devices. This time, the Redmond giant has taken aim at Apple's iPad mini, which debuted last year and very quickly became the standard among smaller tablets.
The new ad showcases Halo Spartan Assault, one of the few games exclusive to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices. It pits the iPad mini against an 8-inch tablet from Acer running Windows, hitting on many of the points that Microsoft has previously tried to drive home for consumers.
In something of a reversal from the days of "I'm a Mac. I'm a PC," Microsoft has taken to attacking the iPad, comparing Apple's bestselling tablet to offerings from Microsoft and its partners. The tactic doesn't appear to have had much impact on consumer perception: Apple's tablet market share is slipping gradually, but that opening hasn't led to tremendous growth for Windows 8 devices.
Comments
LOL a TV ad with a "T" rating for blood and violence.
Microsoft poking fun....in a mirror.
That Microsoft ad is horrible. Even if I didn't prefer iPad, that ad would turn me off to Msoft.
Same here. They say Tampa will be this fall, I have already calculated my contract break costs with Directv + an extra Apple TV, etc. Add Hulu and Netflix and I still save $600 over the next 15 months. Can't wait.
My only thing I need before I cut cable is a way to watch Rangers baseball. FSN has all broadcast rights. Is there a way I can get MLB and not have my local team restricted? Trick the ATV to think I'm in Atlanta or something?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sflocal
I so hope Aereo gets to San Francisco soon. I'm just itching to get off Comcast and I don't want to put up a huge antenna on my house either. Sounds like just what I'm looking for!
How do you get your Internet? You know in San Francisco all you need a tiny antenna for about $25. You can stick in the garage or the attic or even a closet and the reception is fantastic. Uncompressed HD looks awesome. I have not seen Aereo but I'd be willing to bet it is compressed. You would not believe the difference in picture quality between OTA and cable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sflocal
I so hope Aereo gets to San Francisco soon. I'm just itching to get off Comcast and I don't want to put up a huge antenna on my house either. Sounds like just what I'm looking for!
I'm right behind you sflocal!
I could be wrong but I read recently that Aereo is uncompressed. Plus, with Aereo you can record a show while watching another, plus 60 hours of DVR in the cloud. Not to mention the ability to watch it on the go via iPhone and ipad. All for $12 per month.
It's a cord cutters dream.
Quote:
Originally Posted by allenbf
Damn, Tampa hasn't been shown the love yet. Hopefully next month!
That Microsoft ad is horrible. Even if I didn't prefer iPad, that ad would turn me off to Msoft.
LIke all the others. Touting the keyboard as if it is included, with tiny text it is not. Exclusive content as if that's a failure of the hardware.
i'd like to see Apple's response. Which would be done without showing the other boys, but we would all know what was missing. Show the ipad in classrooms, in airplane cockpits, being used as registers at the local farmer's market. and so on. So what if you could use a Surface etc, no one really does
Edit/ I can't believe I said 'become', as if MS wasn't always!
Microsoft is PATHETIC!
Of course, releasing Halo exclusively on Windows tablets means MS is only competing with… themselves!? (X-Box?)
This ad must be only for the very low hanging fruit amongst die-hard Windows users. That Acer "phablet" is a brick. It's almost twice as thick (almost half an inch thick, compared to just over 1/4" for the Mini), weighs OVER a pound (500 grams, or 1.1 pounds compared to 300 grams/.68 lbs. for the Mini), has less battery life (8 vs 10+), no better screen resolution...
The implication that the iPad Mini is "just an e-reader, since it can't play Halo", is speaking to a pretty ignorant demographic. I'm perfectly happy thinking that particular demographic WON'T be buying iPads, draining Apple's support services bandwidth with an abundance of idiocy, and giving "Apple Users" a bad name in general...
Besides, we do that well enough on our own, thank you!
[EDIT]
Spotted a review at pcmag.com for that Acer brick. They say things like, "It's also light, weighing only 1.1 pound, thanks in no small part to the smaller size, but also due to lightweight plastic construction. Deigned for one-handed use..."
ONLY 1.1 pounds, for a MINI tablet? Thanks to its "lightweight" PLASTIC (aka cheap?) construction? One-handed use…? Yeah in half-minute increments. maybe…
No surprise perhaps that for all the glowing verbiage, the device only got a 3-star review result...
I'm addicted to watching my DVR shows when I want. Still haven't found a good DVR for over the air except maybe TiVo but that still needs their service which runs $15/ month