latest
Play Movies & TV app will disappear from Roku and other smart TVs soon
Roku, LG, Samsung and Vizio TVs will lose the app in June, replaced with access to purchases YouTube
The transition from Google Play Music to YouTube Music has been a rocky and contentious one. But Google isn't finished axing its media apps just yet. According to updated support documentation, the Google Play Movies & TV app on smart televisions is the next one to get the chop. The phone app was replaced with the newer "Google TV" app in October, but the app will disappear from smart TV platforms as well starting in June.
Black Friday has come and gone, but we're not done with pre-holiday deals by a long shot. Cyber Monday is upon us, and the deals refuse to quit. A whole bunch of what we're seeing today is an extension of sales that have been running since last week, but there's plenty of new stuff, too. Here, for your convenience, we've rounded up all the best deals we've spotted.We always try to give you a sense of how good a deal really is by avoiding comparisons to MSRP where they're not useful; if an item's MSRP is $300 but it usually sells for $250, a sale price of $200 is $50 off, not $100. This list is no different: sales are compared to street prices wherever possible, and we explicitly label comparisons to MSRP when we can't.
Black Friday is still weeks away, but retailers are already raring to tell us about their deals. Costco's holiday offerings aren't as jam-packed as, say, Best Buy's; there are no Pixel or Chromebook deals here. Still, there's plenty to chew on, especially if you're thinking about a new Samsung phone.
Much like microSD cards, TVs have dropped drastically in price over the past years. A 65-inch 4K TV would have cost well over $10,000 back in 2012, but one can be had for less than a twentieth of that price today. Case in point: this 4K HDR Vizio 65-incher with built-in Chromecast support is just 9.99 at Walmart right now.
It's Monday! How's work? Well, make it better with some of these tasty discounts. Today we've got money off the first-generation Sonos One speaker, a big discount on a premium Vizio sound system, and AP-exclusive deals on some high quality backpacks for all your tech stuff, among other things.
After roughly six months of slow and steady rollout, the YouTube TV app is now available on all Vizio SmartCast TVs. The $40 per month cable alternative first arrived on a selection of newer, high performing Vizio models about half a year ago, with a YouTube engineer on Reddit noting that the company would add more models after monitoring and fine-tuning playback quality. That process seems to be complete now, as Google has just updated its YouTube TV app help page confirming the support.
LeEco has been nothing short of a dumpster fire for the past few months. Back in May, Jia Yueting stepped down as CEO after the company's botched attempt to enter the US market left LeEco strapped for cash. Not long after, Yueting's personal assets were frozen due to a missed loan payment. If you thought things couldn't get worse for LeEco, you were wrong.
According to The Verge, LeEco has just announced that it no longer intends to buy US television maker Vizio.
Looks like Vizio is pulling itself out of some hot water. The popular television manufacturer (among other products) has been fined $2.2 million, payable to the FTC and the State of New Jersey, for some pretty serious privacy violations. Starting in 2014, Vizio has sold Internet-connected TVs that track what the customers watch and send that data back to its servers.
AMD is a pretty big name in the technology world. The semiconductor manufacturer, which rarely pursues legal action against others (at least publicly), has filed a patent infringement complaint with the U.S ITC against several other entities. It asserts that the offensive uses of those technologies negatively impacts AMD and its licensees.
A little while after LG's announcement that it would add Google Home compatibility to its Music Flow line, Vizio steps up and makes a similar announcement for its SmartCast series of connected speakers, displays, and the like. This will add the strength of voice control to Chromecast-ready devices like the Crave 360 and Pro speakers.
When you hear the name Vizio, you usually would think of TVs. Perhaps some of you may even know of its soundbar product line. Whatever your knowledge of the likely-to-be LeEco-owned Vizio may be, we need to discuss this speaker. The Crave 360 is an odd thing that looks like an Amazon Echo, has Google Cast built in, and tries to be a viable Sonos alternative.But does it succeed in its attempt at the latter? Not quite. However, it is still a nice-sounding, multi-room speaker that has a little bit extra that sets it apart from its run-of-the-mill cousins.
LeEco can't seem to catch a break. Last month, its CEO Jia Yueting sent out a memo days after the company's US launch claiming it was over-extended and suffering from "big company disease," which seemed a clear euphemism for incoming job cuts. A month later, and things aren't any better.
At a press conference in Los Angeles this morning, LeEco announced that it was acquiring the entirety of Vizio's hardware and software businesses for $2 billion. The acquisition, or at least an investment, had been rumored recently, but today it's official. Vizio will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of LeEco, meaning we can expect the Vizio brand to live on in the future, especially here in the US where Vizio is based.
Vizio's P-Series 4K TVs* are about to get infinitely more Google-y. The new second generation models (P-Series Ultra HD HDR Home Theater Display is the full name, but we'll gloss over that) come with Google Cast built-in, meaning a Chromecast or Cast-enabled set-top box isn't needed in order to cast over content.
Google had a hit on its hands from the moment it released the original $35 Chromecast a few years ago, but not everyone who has a TV knows about all the cool things a Chromecast can do or that they can get one so cheaply. Apparently, Google wants to make it easier for people to start casting by simply building cast support into TVs, starting with Vizio.
Vizio's pulled the curtains off two new Portable Smart Audio speakers that are powered by Android 4.4. What makes them special are the touchscreens embedded into the front of each device. Instead of having to pair them with a phone using Bluetooth, users will be free to stream music directly from the likes of Spotify and Pandora or enjoy video from Netflix or YouTube. Think of each version as a bulky tablet that doesn't need to rest in your lap, one with speakers that you won't leave you reaching for earbuds.
If you like Nexus tablets, Vizio is gunning for your wallet. Today, the company announced a duo of tablets running stock Android. The first is most similar to the Nexus 10: a 10" display with the same retina-melting 2560x1600 resolution, only this one is powered by a Tegra 4 processor. Kal-El may not be a slouch, but let's be real. It's hard to not envy the 72 GPU cores that Wayne is packing.
Vizio Co-Star Now Available For Pre-Order For $99, Ships By August 14th
Google I/O has come and gone with nary a mention of Google TV. Disheartening to say the least, but that doesn't mean that the platform is dead. Not while
Google I/O has come and gone with nary a mention of Google TV. Disheartening to say the least, but that doesn't mean that the platform is dead. Not while manufacturers keep making products for it. Products like the Vizio Co-Star. For $99, the Co-Star sits in the right sweet spot for Google TV device pricing. Combine the price with a remote that's smaller than a plank of wood, and OnLive gaming built right in, the little box actually looks like a pretty sweet deal. If Google TV is your thing, that is.