Tag Archive for LG

| October 16, 2022
Comments Off on Son of PalmOS in Your SmartTV

Son of PalmOS in Your SmartTV

Son of PalmOS in Your SmartTVDo you remember the PalmPilot?  By 1999, within three years of its launch, the Palm had user base of over 5 million users. I was a fan of the Palm. I went thru a series of them in the 2000’s. In 2011 I marked the sale of the PalmOS on the BachSeat. PalmOS has had a number of names since it glory days. It was also known as HP webOS, Open webOS (HP), Palm webOS, and most recently LG webOS.

SmartTVLG (LGLD) has been using webOS in their SmartTV’s since 2014 and more recently in their line of smart refrigerators. LG is updating LG webOS to LG webOS Hub. The LG webOS Hub is a new version of its webOS streaming television platform. The newest version incorporates a new hub for third-party partners to plug into.

Son of PalmOS

The webOS Hub will incorporate many third-party applications that are supported by LG’s streaming operating system. Some of the third-parties including Netflix (NFLX), Hulu, Amazon (AMZN) Prime Video, Disney Plus (DIS) Plus, and YouTube Google (GOOG). It will also include LG Channels, the company’s free, ad-supported streaming service. Support for NVidia‘s (NVDA) cloud gaming service is promised in the near future.

LG logoLG said webOS Hub was developed in partnership with Dolby, Realtek, and CEVA. It has been certified by over 160 broadcasters around the world.

Park Hyoung-sei, the president of LG Home Entertainment Company, told FierceVideo;

We are committed to refining and expanding our webOS Hub ecosystem, which continues to introduce more and more consumers to the unparalleled user experience of LG webOS.

Smart television platforms

More than 120 million devices in 150 countries are powered by some version of webOS. According to analytics firm Omdia, LG’s webOS is one of the more-dominant smart television platforms internationally. LG’s webOS owns around 18.5% of the market. It is bested only by South Korean competitor Samsung, which has nearly 30% of the global streaming platform market.

rb-

Besides the nostalgia of seem Palm resurrected into the media,. There is the creepiness factor of LG, Amazon, Netflix and Google (YouTube) monitoring and monetizing your TV viewing habits. They can data-mine your viewing habits to profit off what you do. 

Do not think they wont use your data to make a profit. Back in 2017 I wrote that Vizio had to pay $2.2 million to the FTC and the state of New Jersey to settle a lawsuit alleging it collected customers’ television-watching habits without their permission.

 

How you can help Ukraine!

Related article

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
| March 2, 2016
Comments Off on Tablets are Doomed

Tablets are Doomed

Tablets are DoomedTechCrunch reports from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that tablets are dead. Six years after the original iPad ushered in the post-pc era, there were no tablets at the premier mobile showcase. Companies and consumers have moved on.

iPadTo be fair, TechCrunch says that if you looked hard enough, you could find an Android tablet or two stashed away in a corner. And Apple (AAPL), the tablet leader, doesn’t come to MWC. They conclude that tablets are not the future for Samsung’s (005930) and LGs (LGLD) of the consumer electronics world.

In fact, the author reports that Samsung, Sony (SNE), HTC (2498) and LG didn’t have any new tablets to announce. They didn’t even mention tablets during their conferences. It’s not just that people don’t care about tablets anymore — the big electronics companies themselves aren’t even trying to release new products for this market anymore. The article lists a number of reasons why tablets have become so unpopular.

Tablets are now a commodity

tablets have become so unpopular

First, tablets are now a commodity. You can find dozens of perfectly fine tablets for less than $200. And there’s no differentiating factor between Android tablets. As a result, companies are not making a profit from them.

You already have a tablet

Second, chances are you already have a tablet at home and it’s working fine. So the author reports that there’s no reason why you should upgrade it — it probably runs Netflix, Facebook (FB) and the Kindle app. It has a browser and your emails. Long replacement cycles mean you don’t need to pay attention to the new and shiny tablets. The Business Insider also observes tablets are more like PCs — you buy a new one only when the old one is worn out or doesn’t run the software you need.

Phones are getting bigger

everybody uses their phones constantly to interact with other people and do everything they’d do on a tablet.Third, phones are getting bigger. The LG G5 (5.3-inch display) and Samsung Galaxy S7 (5.1-inch display) are the two most interesting flagship phones that were announced at MWC. The first Samsung Galaxy Note had a 5.3-inch display, which could be called a phablet. Today, it would be an average phone. According to TechCrunch, big phones are the new normal, and everybody uses their phones constantly to interact with other people and do everything they’d do on a tablet.

BI explains the phenomenon of phones replacing tablets includes Apple. Apple started making larger phones, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, a year ago, which eliminates some of the justification for a bigger touch screen device. Also, consumers upgrade their phones every two or three years, since the carriers subsidize some of that up-front cost (plus, it’s just cool to have a new phone, which you carry with you everywhere in public).

it's just cool to have a new phone, which you carry with you everywhere in publicFor those who need a snapshot of the decline of the tablet, Business Insider presented a chart from Statista based on numbers from IDC. In the last four quarters, tablet sales have been down from the previous year’s quarter. Overall, shipments in the first three quarters of 2015 are down 9% from the same time a year ago.

Business Insider - Global Tablet Market Decline

TechCruch takes a pretty hardcore position on tablets. Tablets had a good run, but won’t be around for much longer. They argue that the iPad is a better tablet than any Android tablet because there aren’t many tablet-optimized apps on the Play Store. This is key to understanding the iPad’s appeal.

rb-

I have covered the issues around tablets since 2011 including the first signs of a decline in Apple’s iPad Teflon armor in 2014.  TC says tablets can still make a comeback. They need to become something else. But something needs to change and soon. Current tablets prove that you should never bet against the smartphone.

Related articles

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Tablet computing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| November 24, 2015
Comments Off on Television Sells Your Viewing Habits

Television Sells Your Viewing Habits

– Updated 03-26-2017 –  Vizio will pay $2.2 million to the FTC and the state of New Jersey to settle a lawsuit alleging it collected customers’ television-watching habits without their permission.

In addition to the $2.2 million in payments, Vizio will now have to get clear consent from viewers before collecting and sharing data on their viewing habits. It’ll also have to delete all data gathered by these methods before March 1st, 2016 according to the Verge.

—

Television Sells Your Viewing HabitsJust in time for the Black Friday consumerism orgy of spending, Help Net Security reports that you are giving away more than cash when you buy a Smart Television from Best Buy or whoever. It turns out that owners of Smart TVs manufactured by California-based consumer electronics company Vizio (VZIO) viewing habits are being tracked and sold to third parties. The Vizio privacy policy says;

Vizio logo… VIZIO will use Viewing Data together with your IP address and other Non-Personal Information in order to inform third party selection and delivery of targeted and re-targeted advertisements … delivered to smartphones, tablets, PCs or other internet-connected devices that share an IP address or other identifier with your Smart TV.

Vizio’s competitors Samsung (005930) and LG Electronics (LGLD) can also track users’ viewing habits via their smart TV offerings, ProPublica‘s Julia Angwin pointed out, but the feature has to be explicitly turned on by the users. The collection of viewing data by Vizio’s Smart TVs is turned on by default, as is the Smart Interactivity feature that manages it.

Data miningAccording to the IEEE, Vizio smart TVs can track data related to whatever TV programming and related commercials you’re watching and link such data with the time, date, channel, and TV service provider. On most of the over 15 million Smart TVs sold, Vizio will also track whether you view TV programs live or later on. Vizio knows what you’re watching even if it’s a DVD being played on a gaming console or a show being watched via cable TV. The identification tracking technology can differentiate between 100 billion data points.

While, in theory, IP addresses are not personal information, they actually can be linked to individuals if there is enough information (specific attributes like age, profession, etc.) tied to it.

Data collectionProPublica‘s Angwin’s sources, tell her that Vizio has been working with data broker Neustar to combine viewing data with this type of information about the user.

Even though users can turn off the spy technology, which will not won’t affect the device’s performance, the problem is that many, many users won’t bother reading the privacy policy or change the default settings once they set up the TV and start using them.

TechHive reports that backlash against intrusive spying has started. Two lawsuits (Reed v. Cognitive Media Network, Inc. (PDF) and David Watts et. al. v Vizio Holdings Inc et. al. (PDF)) have been filed in California against Vizio and their partners about their data collection habits.

The suits accuse Vizio and Cognitive of secretly installing tracking software on the former’s smart TVs in a way that violates various federal and state laws.

Legal systemThe suits allege that Vizio violated the Video Privacy Protection Act. The Video Privacy Protection Act prohibits any company engaged in rental, sale, or delivery of audio-visual content and not necessarily just videotapes from divulging any personally identifiable information about its customer to a third party, except where the customer has clearly consented to such data sharing.

Of course, Vizio has previously argued it’s not a videotape service provider at all, and so this particular law doesn’t apply to it.

rb-

I pointed out as far back as 2011 that Smart TVs are a dumb idea for privacy.

Consumer Reports offers tips on how to stop your Smart TV from spying on you here.

Related articles

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| March 27, 2013
Comments Off on Mobile Patent Troll Sues Everyone

Mobile Patent Troll Sues Everyone

Mobile Patent Troll Sues EveryoneSurprise, surprise there’s another mobile-related patent lawsuit. at GigaOM says this time the plaintiff is an obscure Delaware-registered limited liability non-practicing entity called Steelhead. The patent in question covers ‘mobile radio handover initiation determination’ – in other words, choosing which cellular base station has the best signal as the handset moves from one place to another.

Cell phonesThe defendants are a who’s who of the mobile world: Apple (AAPL), AT&T (T), Google (GOOG), HTC, Kyocera (KYO), LG (LGLD), MetroPCS (PCS), Motorola Mobility, NEC Corporation (6701), Pantech, Research In Motion (RIMM), Sony (SNE), Sprint (S), T-Mobile, Verizon (VZ) and ZTE (763). The article says these firms committed the mortal sin of allowing their mobile phones to act like mobile phones. But the interesting thing about this particular suit is the origin of the suit – or, more precisely, the reporting around that origin.

Mr. Meyer reports that U.S. Patent No. 5,491,834 comes from BT (BT). It was filed in 1993 and granted in 1996. The patent is still listed by the USPTO as belonging to BT. In its court filings provided by the author, (the Motorola/Google example is here), Steelhead notes that it “owns all rights of recovery under the ‘834 Patent, including the exclusive right to recover for past infringement.”

aggressively monetizingThe author suggests that this case may not be BT “aggressively monetizing” its patent portfolio. BT told Mr. Meyer, “BT sold all of its rights to the patents last year. We have no involvement in Steelhead Licensing LLC’s litigation activity.”

BT claims the troll is not a shell front for the firm. A spokesperson for the telecom giant told GigaOM,  “BT doesn’t share in Steelhead’s licensing income”.

rb-

I have covered the mobile patent wars many times here. I don’t know why I find patent trolling so interesting to follow. Maybe it is the same reason I watch NASCAR highlights, for the crashes, or the buy a few Powerball tickets, just in case.

Maybe someday all the money spent on lawyers will actually go back to making things and creating jobs.

Kids squabblingShame on BT if this is a legit patent and they were not smart enough to enforce their claim when they had it. I’m no lawyer, it seems to me that mobiles that can’t find a cell tower to connect to don’t work.

Related articles

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| October 27, 2012
Comments Off on LG Uses TVs in an Elevator to Freak Out Riders

LG Uses TVs in an Elevator to Freak Out Riders

LG Electronics (LGLD) wanted to show off how realistic the image on their new IPS monitors is, so they decided to play a prank and scare the crap out of a bunch of people.

They replaced the floor in an elevator with a grid of nine IPS monitors that look like floor tiles, then the “floor” falls away just as the elevator starts to move, leaving an image of the elevator shaft.

 

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , ,
« Older Entries