Cisco Systems has announced that they are building a suite of Linux-based products under the “Videoscape” brand to rival the likes of Google and Apple in their STB offerings. Very much like the Google TV or Apple TV, the Videoscape devices will have capabilities of accessing cable TV as well web video content.

The device will consist of a media gateway, an IP set top box and other Linux-based components which will enable consumers to not only access web content, but also search and manage cable TV, Internet video and video-conferencing . Furthermore, the consumer will able to watch their subscribed content from any of their devices like smartphones and tablet PCs.

Cisco plans to unveil two versions of their set-top-box. The first one, a Cisco TES301 IP Managed Services Gateway, will be an application-centric gateway that would integrate voice, high speed data, online video and routing. Other services like home monitoring and security will also be available as additional offerings.

The second and more advanced device , Cisco DRG 7000 Series IP Video Gateway, will be able to stream high-definition video to multiple devices through conversion of MPEG4 video from multicast to unicast. It will support industry standards like MoCA and DLNA.

Integration to social media websites will also be included enabling the user to share the content he’s watching with his friends.

Withholding the price of the device, Cisco has decided not to make these devices available off-the-shelf, for direct consumer consumption. Instead, Cisco plans to tie-up with service providers and make them available through cable operators. Currently only Australia’s Telstra has decided to offer these high-end STBs to their customers.

Are you still paying for cable? No, this isn’t going to turn into an ad for satellite television, which seems to be just as, if not more expensive than cable these days. It just seems that in the current economy, when people try to cut costs and save money, cable is one of the first things to go, along with eating at restaurants, and other entertainment, like going to the movies. Some people haven’t gotten rid of cable altogether, but have cut it down to the bare minimum, only receiving the four major networks, public television stations, and maybe a couple of local stations. If you can’t watch cable, you can at least watch network prime time, right? Well, there’s good news. Whether you no longer have cable at all, or you want to save even more money by doing away with that cable bill entirely, you don’t have to miss out on your favorite shows. Instead, you can watch streaming TV through numerous websites on the Internet. These are just some of the options out there.

Network Websites

The major networks saw how many people were doing away with cable, and did something about it. They began making many of their most popular shows available on their websites. This was also in response to NBC-owned site Hulu putting up many shows for free, supported by advertising revenue. The other networks realized how much money they were missing out on, and did the same. It wasn’t long before some of the cable networks caught on as well.

Now, in addition to seeing prime time shows that appear on CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX, you can watch cable shows from networks like TBS, and even TV Land, which has just started producing their own original shows like Hot in Cleveland in addition to showing classics such as I Love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke Show. And they’re all available for free. All you have to do is sit through a few commercials. It’s almost like you’re watching real TV!

Hulu

After a somewhat rocky beginning in March 2007, Hulu has grown into a popular destination to watch TV online. Not every network show is available on the site. Some, like CBS, prefer to keep their shows on the network’s own site. But in addition to major network shows, many cable shows can be seen on Hulu as well, not to mention programs that are no longer on the air, such as Bewitched and Ugly Betty. Also, miss an episode of your favorite soap? You’ll be able to catch up with who did what to whom on General Hospital, All My Children, and a few others.

Hulu is in the process of launching its Hulu Plus service. It began a testing phase in July 2010, and after reviewing the data, lowered the subscription price from $9.99 to just $7.99 per month. With Hulu Plus, you can watch entire seasons of shows without worrying about missing an episode because it expired. The premium service offers more shows than the free service, and many of them are available in high definition. In addition, Hulu Plus allows subscribers to stream TV shows not just on computer, but via the iPhone, PS3, and soon the Xbox, as well as other devices.

Netflix

Another venture that had a bumpy start, Netflix is now edging out competitors Blockbuster and Movie Gallery, once thought to be the end all, be all of entertainment rentals. It began as a service that allowed customers to receive DVDs through the mail, and keep them as long as they wanted with no late fees. Accounts range from the basic that only allows one DVD per month, to the highest-priced option with four DVDs at a time. But no matter which account you choose, they all allow instant streaming. The service also recently added a new price point of $7.99 per month for streaming only. You can also now stream Netflix on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

Blockbuster and other rental establishments were mostly known for providing movies, with a few TV shows thrown in here and there. Netflix went above and beyond there, too, providing access to hundreds of television shows, from classics to recent hits such as Dexter and Weeds. These are especially nice to find through the service since they normally not only require cable, but premium channel subscriptions. What Netflix charges per month is a fraction of what you would pay to have Showtime or HBO.

Yidio

In our busy lives, free time is at a premium. When the workday is over, household chores are done, the kids are in bed, and the mood to relax and watch some TV strikes, you don’t want to spend half your free time jumping from site to site trying to find something good to watch. That’s where Yidio comes in. The site acts as an aggregator, listing all the locations on the Web where you can find the shows you want to watch.

Some of the results are for pay sites like Netflix, but it also lists a ton of free sites where you can watch streaming TV for free. You can either browse the more than 500,000 episodes from 5,000 TV shows, or use the site’s search function to pinpoint exactly what you want to watch, and find out where to get it. Yidio also offers points that give registered members access to premium content. You earn Yidio points for your activity on the site, everything from signing up, to adding favorites, to sharing content once you’re a member. The best part is, it’s free to join!

IMDB

You may be most familiar with this site as the place to look up information about TV shows, movies, and actors. It’s a comprehensive site where you’ll find all kinds of data—when a TV show was released, when and where an actor was born, movie trivia and quotes, and thousands of photos. IMDB also allows registered members to post on message boards, rate movies and TV shows, and even add synopses and trivia items.

Not long ago, IMDB took the final step in being an all-around entertainment site, and added streaming video. While the site does offer full-length TV shows, they are far outnumbered by clips and movie trailers. In addition, it’s sometimes difficult to find consecutive episodes of TV shows. The ability to watch TV on IMDB has improved since it was introduced, but it still has a long way to go to be a viable alternative to most other sites that offer streaming TV.

TV.com

Look out NBC. CBS is coming up right behind you with a site eerily similar to Hulu—TV.com. Seriously, they either hired the same designer, or NBC and CBS are the same company, and we just don’t know it yet. In any case, TV.com offers a wide variety of streaming TV content, just like Hulu does, and is free, just like Hulu is.

How do the sites differ? Well, TV.com seems to be comprised mostly of clips from TV shows rather than full episodes. Hundreds and hundreds of clips with a whole episode thrown in here and there for good measure. If you’re an NCIS or Medium junkie, you’ll appreciate the availability of full episodes on TV.com since they’re not available on Hulu, but for the most part, you’ll have to sit through a lot of clips to piece together entire episodes of most shows.

Amazon Video on Demand

Amazon.com long ago diverged from being just a book seller. You can now find products on that site from food, to clothing, and everything in between. Amazon also owns IMDB, and is one of the largest retailers of DVDs, so it just follows that it would eventually come around to providing a streaming video service.

Amazon Video on Demand offers a wide variety of methods for watching both TV shows and movies. The fastest way to get access is to watch instantly online. Once you find a show you want to watch, simply choose the Buy or Rent option. When the payment is confirmed, click Watch Now,and the video will automatically begin playing on your computer over your Internet connection. There are certain connection requirements for the best quality, so be sure to check those first. Buying a show will allow you to watch it anytime through the free Amazon Unbox video player you can download and install on your computer. Renting is the most affordable options, but only gives you access to a program for 24 hours.

Joost

With so many streaming TV options out there, new services really need to find a way to stand out, and Joost has done that pretty well. Not only can you find great TV shows and movies to watch, Joost offers entertainment news videos, and featurettes about popular movies like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The service is still in beta, so its library will no doubt continue to grow and improve.

Parents will especially love Joost. If you’re tired of the overly merchandised cartoons on TV nowadays that only get your kids asking for toys and other products they’re going to forget about next year when the new cartoons and products come out, sit them down with Joost. There’s a Cartoon Classics channel where you’ll find old favorites such as Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mr. Magoo, Fat Albert, Casper the Friendly Ghost, He-Man, and even a handful of old black and white treasures, and classic character cartoons like Felix the Cat!

YouTube

It may surprise you to know that YouTube isn’t just for surprised kitties, or those wonderfully unique OK Go music videos. YouTube started out as a place for amateur videographers to get their work out there, and gain public attention. It’s since evolved into a tool for entertainment and marketing, and while there are many imitators, no other site has been able to duplicate YouTube’s popularity.

Many people have taken to creating their own channels, and producing their own shows, but you can also find many network programs on YouTube as well. The only thing is, there are very few full episodes of network and cable shows. You’ll mostly find clips of shows such as Survivor, Man vs. Wild, and Mythbusters. But if you’re an MMA fan, you’ll love the ESPN MMA Live channel, which not only offers full episodes, but highlights and commentary.

One of the best things about watching streaming TV is that you don’t necessarily have to watch it on your computer. With a little tech savvy, you should be able to connect your computer to your television so you can watch the shows you want, when you want to, on a larger screen. This is easiest to do with a newer television, so if you’re still hanging on to that console set you got from your grandparents, you may want to think about upgrading. Don’t get rid of the console television, though. It’s a classic!

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Guest post by Darren Kowalska

1. Watch Netflix Movies On Sony PlayStation
2. Watch Free Movies and TV Shows Online At Internet Movie Database
3. Top 7 Ways To Watch Movies On Internet For Free Legally
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5. Crackle Launches First Android TV & Movies Streaming App for Android

Facebook is holding a special event on Monday, which is tomorrow. There is high speculation that Facebook might announce a new email service. The email service being developed by Facebook is not new and was dubbed as Project Titan previously.

The rumor of Facebook unveiling an email service is very ripe with them acquiring Fb.com recently. Nevertheless, unlike last time, we might really see Facebook email in reality tomorrow. Excited? Well, so are we and you can catch up the Facebook event live tomorrow and follow each and every details being unveiled before your eyes live online.

To watch the Facebook Conference tomorrow about the new email service/Project Titan head over to http://apps.facebook.com/facebooklive/. You will be able to watch the live video tomorrow starting at 10AM PST. Have fun.

Facebook will be announcing something big today and I made some predictions on what they could be announcing yesterday. If you are eager to find out what they are going to announce, you can catch the announcement through a live webcasting on Facebook.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be making some big announcements today and it could either be deeper integration with Skype, Facebook Phone or Facebook Email. He could just skip all these and announce something new altogether.

Interested to see what they are going to announced? Well, you can catch up all the live action from the event at the Facebook Live Stream at 10:30AM Pacific Time (1:30 PM Eastern) today at http://apps.facebook.com/facebooklive/ or catch it live in the video embedded below.

Boxee is a social media service that started out as freeware for creating HTPCs (Home Theater PCs) that can run on Windows, Mac and Linux. They’ve partnered up with the famous D-Link company, which is better known for manufacturing routers, to create the Boxee Box.

The Boxee Box is a basically a small computer (set top box) that joins your TV to your internet connection. It allows you to play media files from your home network or tons of content off the internet. You’ll find thousands of popular TV shows, movies and music in addition to many of the popular sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Pandora.

Here’s what the Boxee site says about this new product.

• • Play what you normally watch on your computer   (whether it is on the Internet or your home network) on your TV
  • Tailor the Internet experience to a huge flat screen
  • Do it in full HD, 1080p with 5.1 surround whenever possible
  • Share the stuff you watch with your friends and see what they are watching
  • Use a simple remote rather than a keyboard and mouse

What’s it look like? What’s in it?

It looks odd to me. Here’s a peek at it.

It comes with a unique RF remote controller that has navigation buttons on one side, and a qwerty keypad on the other side.

They promise that the Boxee Box is easy to set up. In general, you plug it into the outlet, connect it to your TV, then Boxee pops in to tell you how to connect to the internet via your home network. If you have a previous Boxee account, it will import all of your settings and services.

Here’s what the some of the screens look like.

I was not able to find out what operating system that they use in the box, but it runs on the the Intel CE4100 system-on-a-chip, which is a new Atom style processor. Here are the system specs quoted at Amazon.

• Dimensions (LxWxH): 4.5″ x 4.5″ x 4.6″

• Language Support: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish

• Network Protocol Support: IPV4, ARP, TCP, UDP, ICMP, DHCP Client, DNS Client, DDNS Client, HTTP Server, Samba Client, RTP/RTMP, VPN: PPTP, DLNA 1.5 (DMP)

• Wireless: 802.11n/g/b

• Ports: HDMI 1.3, 10/100 Fast Ethernet, 2x USB 2.0, Optical Audio (S/PDIF), Analog Audio (RCA L/R)

• Memory Card Support: SD, SDHC up to 32GB, MMC

• Audio Formats: MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AIF/AIFF, AC3/AAC, OGG, FLAC, DTS, Dolby Digital/Dolby True HD

• Video Formats: Adobe Flash 10.1, FLV/On2 VP6 (FLV/FV4/M4V), H.264 AVC (TS/AVI/MKV/MOV/M2TS/MP4), VC-1 (TS/AVI/MKV/WMV), MPEG-1 (DAT/MPG/MPEG), MPEG-2 (MPG/MPEG/VOB/TS/TP/ISO/IFO), MPEG-4 (MP4/AVI/MOV), DivX 3/4/5/6 (AVI/MKV), Xvid (AVI/MKV), WMV9 (WMV/ASF/DVR-MS)

• Image Formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF

• Playlist Formats: M3U, PLS, WPL

• Subtitle Formats: SRT, SUB, SSA, SMI, ASS

• Supported Resolutions: H.264: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps; WMV9/VC-1: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps; MPEG4: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps; MPEG2: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps

• Two-Sided RF Remote: with 4-way navigation and full QWERTY keypad

Where to get it?

The Boxee Box is available as a pre-order for $199.00, exclusively at Amazon (in the US) and Best Buy / Future Shop (in Canada). The units are scheduled to start shipping in November and the cost will increase to around $230.

You can download the Windows, Mac and Linux software here.

Conclusion

I have a feeling that the Boxee Box will do well, but they have some stiff competition coming from Google TV, Apple TV and even Microsoft. I think they’d do much better at a price point closer to $100.

[Windows and Mac] I have hooked up my computers to the TV occasionally. It’s pretty cool, but for me, it’s not very handy. My couch is too far from the screen and I can’t read most of the text while surfing. A new web browser called Kylo, promises to solve that problem. The Kylo browser is based on Mozilla code, so it’s using the same engine that Firefox uses. Here’s what the web site says about their browser:

Sit back and get ready for big-screen browsing. Kylo brings your TV and computer together to create the ultimate content experience. Enjoy your favorite online shows, videos, music, games and news. Take your HDTV anywhere on the web.

I tried Kylo briefly last week. At first I was pretty amazed at how well it worked. Here you can see the Kylo home page. (click to expand pictures)

Next, I visited Youtube. It works very nicely in full screen mode most of the time. Occasionally the video would freeze, but going back to normal screen usually resumed the video.

Below, you can see the on-screen keyboard that pops up whenever you click into a text entry box.

In the next two screens, I was watching a soccer match. It was almost like watching it on regular TV.

Rather than go into too much detail, I’ll show you a video on how Kylo works.

Click here if you can’t see the embedded video.

Download the Kylo TV Browser

Techie Buzz Verdict:

As I mentioned above, full screen video would occasionally freeze up. Other than that, I was pretty pleased with the way Kylo works. If you want to surf on your big screen, Kylo may be a good solution for you.

Techie Buzz Rating: 3/5 (Good)

The biggest gaming expo, also known as Electronics Entertainment Expo or E3 is about to kick-off. The first keynote would be done by Microsoft and will possibly see Microsoft Kinect and other Xbox goodies in action.

Most of the major events of E3 2010 will be held on June 14 and June 15th with most of the big demos slated to for Tuesday (Check E3 2010 Schedule and Expectations). The E3 keynotes and demos will be streamed live online and you can watch it at several places.

If you are looking to watch the Microsoft E3 keynote, you can watch the Microsoft keynote live at Xbox.com by clicking on this link. You can also catch up the E3 2010 coverage on YouTube by visiting this link. In addition to that, you can also watch other E3 keynotes and demos online too at the official sites of the broadcasters.

If you are looking to watch the other keynotes and demos check out hoe to watch E3 2010 online.

Watch the Apple WWDC 2010 Event Online along with the WWDC 2010 Keynotes Online.

All right folks, the biggest day in the Apple world is about to be kicked off today at WWDC 2010 and there is no doubt that there will be lot of frenzy around the event which will be attended by over 5000 developers from across the world.

WWDC is usually a big event for Apple and there are usually big announcement during the event. With Steve Jobs kicking off the first keynote of the event on June 7 at 11AM PT you can expect some really exciting announcements.

Our predictions for WWDC 2010 includes a next generation iPhone in the for of iPhone 4G along with the release of iPhone OS 4.0 and updates to Max OS X. Rest aside, millions of people will tune into the event online, if you are looking to get live updates and audio and video streams for the WWDC 2010 event, you can check out the links below.

Mac Rumors has a live page for streaming the events which you can visit at Mac Rumors Live. You can also catch up the action live at Engadget Live in addition to live updates from Gdgt at http://live.gdgt.com/. Mac Observer also has a live blog where they will post updates on the event, you can visit it here. You can also follow the action live on Twitter by following @macrumorslive.

The event is yet to kick off, so we will add new videos and links as soon as they become available. If you have any live streams to share, share it with us using the comments form below.

Update: Live Streaming video is available at Ustream, click here for video updates of WWDC 2010.

Update: Audio stream for WWDC 2010 is available at http://live.twit.tv/

The iPhone OS 4.0 Apple event is going to be held at the Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino. The event is scheduled to start from 10:00AM PT (-8 UTC) on April 8th 2010. Though we don’t have an invitation for the event, we will be covering the event live here at Techie Buzz.

Readers can get the live coverage of the Apple event from the following sites:

• Engadget Live
• GDGT Live
• Boy Genius Report

Techie Buzz will also be covering the event live, so visit us to keep tabs on all the latest happenings from the Apple iPhone OS 4.0 Event. The expectations are, as usual, high from an Apple Event. We would definitely like to see a newer version of the iPhone OS being launched with multi-tasking support.

In addition to that, Apple might also release a newer version of the iPhone, which could either be the iPhone 4G or iPhone HD, however, nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

We will update this post with videos and live streaming links for the iPhone OS 4.0 event as soon as they become available.

Update – Here is a live streaming link of the event.

MIX 2010 will go live in the next few hours, here is how you can watch MIX10 or MIX 2010 Online and enjoy all the keynotes from Microsoft.

MIX10 is a 3 day conference for web designers and developers who build innovative websites and will be held between March 15th and March 17th. The event is built up of keynotes and sessions for web enthusiasts.

However, the biggest keynote of the event is from Microsoft, who will most likely unveil Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) this year. IE9 is definitely big for Microsoft, even with Internet Explorer having the largest browser market share.

IE has been steadily losing the browser market share to more innovative browsers, including Firefox, Google Chrome and more recently Opera. So if Microsoft does not deliver with IE9, we can definitely assume that they will see a big downslide in the browser market share.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of IE9, considering that IE8 left a lot to the imagination. Cut back to the topic, if you are as eager as me to catch up on MIX10, you can watch the live coverage of the entire conference online.

The Keynotes will be streamed live at VistiMix online, you watch watch it on Monday, March 15th and Tuesday, March 16th at 9AM PDT. Don’t miss this one if you are a designer or a web developer. Streaming Link: http://live.visitmix.com/