Month: May 2017

(credit: Photograph by Aurich Lawson)

In efforts to compete with streaming TV services, some networks are looking to make their own "skinny" TV bundles. At the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media, and Telecom conference in Boston this week, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish explained the company is in talks with at least one multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) to be part of an entertainment-only, slimmed-down TV bundle that would cost between $10 and $20 per month.

This type of package would include entertainment channels only and exclude sports entirely, gearing it toward customers who want a cheaper TV bundle and don't care about sports programming. Bakish criticized current TV streaming offerings for not being "transformational" since they still require customers to pay for content they don't want, namely sports networks. According to Bakish, the true transformational plan will be one that provides customers with "a new entry segment at a much lower price point" with optional sports programming.

Live sports is a huge deal for most OTT streaming services, as well as social media outlets that have been focusing more on live video. Services like YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV highlight the number of sports networks included in their $35 to $40 price tags, while Twitter and Facebook have obtained rights to stream various sports broadcasts over social media in the past couple years.

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IKEA recently released its own line of Wi-Fi enabled smart lighting called Trådfri. While great value—prices start at just £15 for a bulb and dimmer—the Trådfri range was limited to use with the Swedish furniture retailer's own app and hardware remotes.

Now, IKEA is bringing Trådfri up to speed with the competition by adding support for voice control via Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri. Voice functionality will trickle out across the range starting this summer and running through to autumn. The update makes Trådfri one of the most affordable smart lighting solutions available.

Individual bulbs retail between £9 and £12, with the Wi-Fi hub costing £25. A bundle of bulb and dimmer switch costs £15, while a bundle of bulb and motion sensor costs £25. By contrast, similar Philips Hue bulbs sell for £15, and a motion sensor costs £35 without an included bulb. The Philips Hue starter kit does come in cheaper at £60, but the £70 Trådfri "Gateway kit" contains two bulbs, a Wi-Fi hub, plus an extra remote.

Enlarge (credit: Mark Walton)

While this phone is not currently scheduled for release in the US, we thought you would be interested in this review from our colleagues in the UK.

That the new HMD-made Nokia 3310 was the star of this year's Mobile World Congress says more about how dull smartphones have become than it does about the appeal of Nokia's chintzy slab of noughties nostalgia.

Despite the retro appeal, the Nokia 3310 (buy here) is little more than a Nokia 150 (a basic feature phone that sells for a mere £20) wrapped up in a curved glossy shell and sold for a millennial-gouging £50. It is, for all intents and purposes, a fashion statement—a phone for the beard-grooming, braces-wearing festival set that think tapping out texts on a T9 keyboard is the ultimate irony.