An unwillingness to “sleep with the enemy” may be behind cable companies’ reluctance to deal with Apple, but that isn’t stopping the Cupertino tech firm from trying. Their latest round of talks with various entertainment brokers would give their set top box the ability to integrate traditional cable feeds. It’s a matter of compromise. Apple has been trying for years to break into the television industry, even contemplating licensing content directly and competing with cable operators. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em… The walled-garden of the television industry has long been reluctant…

High definition videos have been a hot topic for years. With plasma televisions and HD video recorders filling our houses and hands, we often crave the better quality associated with HD. The challenge is understanding that not all HD is created equal. This great video by the Technology Evangelist breaks down the differences in the formats and shows why 720p is better than 1080i. Related articles Video: Why 720p is better than 1080i (thetechblock.com) HD Video Explained: Why 720p is Better than 1080i (petapixel.com) How to get the best possible picture out of your HDTV (gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com)…

The wagons are circled at the Netflix camp as hundreds of thousands of subscribers cancelled in the last few months, but that doesn’t seem to scare the folks at Disney as they just renewed and expanded the contract between Netflix and ABC. Stocks have dropped by over 70% since the summer after recent debacles and poor decisions by the entertainment provider. That didn’t stop ABC from renewing current shows and adding Alias and Switched at Birth to the Netflix catalog. They also added Lost and Ugly Betty to the streaming segment….

You might think that 2011 will be all about how the amazing the iPad 2 or iPhone 5 will be. However, this is nothing compared to what Hollywood has in store for all of us. The big movie studios are making great strides towards providing consumers with more access to movies and television shows than ever before, and they might actually pull it off this time around. But there is a catch. Ever since the creation of the Internet, the movie studios have been more determined than ever to prevent illegal sharing of their content over the Web. They have gone to extremes — convincing governments to shut down…

Newspapers are not dead, despite every effort by many (including newspaper publishers) to kill them. That may have been the biggest surprise in a recent report by Forrester regarding the way Americans spend their media-consumption time during the last 6 years. For the first time ever, Internet usage equaled television watching with 121% increase since 2005. The numbers may be slightly inaccurate as the increased use of television-based Internet consumption may have confused people. There is a chance that Internet usage exceeded true television watching. Television for its part also saw…

Here’s a weird one. Last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! was all the more live: due to a power outage on-set on Monday, Kimmel, ever-resolute, ever-resourceful, decided to film the episode entirely on his MacBook and air it last night. Hey, the show must go on. Partially, this reeks of shenanigans. In these two clips, most-to-all of the power is, in fact, on. Now, I’m not an electrician or anything, but in the second clip especially, it seems the only thing not working is the cameras. Curious. And what about Kimmel’s laptop? Surely he didn’t tape the whole episode on his battery alone. Hell, maybe he did,…

Now this is interesting. Hey, remember Apple TV? No, I don’t blame you. Man, Apple TV sucked so hard. Apparently, though, that won’t be the case forever – sources of Engadget have whispered some sweet nothings about the next iteration of Apple’s crappiest product (presently), and it’s sounding pretty erotic from where I’m sitting. Like, I’m thinking of inviting this thing back to my place for some drinks. The main point is that for all intents and purposes, Apple TV II will be a screenless iPhone 4, with identical hardware, save for 1080p capability. It’ll even be running the iPhone OS. For a TV experience,…

Japan’s Sharp Corp has announced that the company will begin offering 3D-capable LCD televisions later this summer in Japan. Sharp Corp. has high hopes for the new design and it is expected to be the industry’s next biggest thing. Popular rivals such as Samsung and Sony Corp have already seen large success with their 3D TV models and Sharp Corp hopes to see the same interest in their 3D-capable LCD. The new design features the world’s first 3D TV which uses four-primary-color-technology and offers brighter and more vivid images. “We are now one step closer to such things as 3D displays with the world’s…

I can definitely remember many mornings spent sitting in front of the t.v. It’s flickering glow keeping me warm and shows like ‘Sesame Street’ filling my brain with the alphabet and other things a small child should learn about. My mother was running around the house gathering extra sweaters, preparing lunches and signing field trip forms. She didn’t have time to entertain or educate us every single moment so she plopped us in front of the next best thing: the television. If I had been growing up now, you probably would’ve seen my brother and I, pyjama-clad, sitting in front of the warm glow of an iPad….

The iPad is just one of a series of futuristic devices Apple plans as it stakes an ever-larger slice of the connected home – expect the company to introduce an Internet and iTunes-connected HDTV. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster (one of the better Apple analysts) says the front room Apple-powered television will sell for “around $2,000” and will ship in “two to four years”. “Apple is uniquely positioned to deliver a premium all-in-one solution (different than Apple TV),” Munster wrote….