IBM announced today that they are developing a chipset that can beam high definition video from PC to TV through an ultra fast wireless signal. This technology will allow full length HD video or TV to be streamed within seconds between devices, without the use of wires or network cables.

The chip uses millimeter wave radio technology (mmWave) to transmit large amounts of data over the highest frequencies on the radio spectrum. The high radio frequencies can handle data up to 100 times the rate of current Wi-Fi transfers. Full length high definition movies, video, or TV could be transferred and ready for viewing within seconds compared with upwards of 10 minutes over a regular Wi-Fi connection.

Any stationary or handheld electronic device could ultimately contain one of these chips, which means that someday you could download movies to your video iPod or other handheld device as quickly as walking by your computer or a kiosk.

Photo: Dano
Source: CRN

Formerly known as Democracy Player, the free internet TV platform has been revamped and renamed ‘Miro.’ They say it’s now more stable and focused on community to “build the open video movement.”

It’s still free and they emphasize open source and open-standards, as the player is compatible with any host that provides video rss, alternate channel guides, and able to search multiple video sites. Miro

On September 20th a 1seg add-on tuner will be available in JApan for an extra $57 USD along with the PSP Slim. Kotaku says to “think what you’ll be doing with your PSP this Fall and what they’ll be doing in Japan. Watching a cruddy digital reception, that’s what!” They may be just teasing. But on a serious note: at least they have this technology implemented on some level where we, in the U.S., aren’t even close to where we should be in consumer technology.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is forecasting that 16 million HDTVs will be sold in 2007 boosting the total HDTVs to 50 million. This would result in a 36% market share for HDTV in the U.S. by 2008. Also interesting is 66% of people receive HD content through cable, 27% via satellite, and 8% from an HD antenna.

More [TG Daily]

Sharp has unveiled what is the world’s smallest digital TV tuner, and it works with Japan’s Seg-1 terrestrial digital broadcast signal. The chip measures 7.3×7.3×1.25mm, it’s obviously lightweight, and Sharp has decreased it’s power consumption.

Production will start in Septembr of this year but a sample will be available on July 2nd,  and Sharp wants to make 1 million a month. Press release [Sharp.co.jp]        

Here comes the Verizon FiOS Fone! And this is Verizon’s FiOS stands for Fiber Optic Service, and Verizon wants you plugged into it. They will offer a bundled or individually wrapped services of TV, broadband Internet, and VoIP telephone at speeds of 50Mbps downstream and 5Mbps upstream in some markets.

As of late, FiOS is available in select markets, see here. But, they should be rolling it out slowly to other markets within the next few years. No availability or pricing announced on the FiOS Fone, so stay tuned.

Via Gizmodo