5 Tech Predictions for 2013

Zimedia's 5 Tech Predictions for 2013

5. Second Screen takes off – The second screen takes on the big screen.

The second screen is taking over. Users are splitting their time between the main screen and a second screen – companion devices and apps. For live shows, users turn to Twitter. For movies and streaming content, users stick to GetGlue to check-in and provide live commentary. (If you're into streaming video like Netflix and Hulu Plus, you'll want to check out GetGlue.) In November, GetGlue was acquired by TV-loyalty service Viggle for $25 million in cash and 48 million shares.

AirPlay-like devices also allow users to stream media from a tablet or smartphone wirelessly to a television set. It opens up content from apps or the web and makes it playable on a user's TV. Apple AirPlay on Apple TV is one of the first and best. More are on the way in 2013.

4. Facebook loses market share– due in large part to audience fragmentation.

Facebook has an enormous lead when it comes to audience share among social networks because it's always one step ahead of the competition. The same changes that infuriate some users are the ones that keep others wanting more. MySpace lost users because it was stagnant. Facebook doesn't want to suffer the same fate.

But users will begin to explore other options in 2013, including LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, Path and others, all of which have adopted the "Newsfeed" layout. Users will spend more time on these sites, which means less time spent on Facebook. Foursquare, for example, has de-emphasized its leaderboard and put more focus on the newsfeed and its "Explore" feature. 

3. Mobile Payments become mainstream –  Square launched in 7,000 Starbucks coffee houses in November of 2012. Today, Square is processing $10 billion in annual mobile payments. In 2013 mobile payments will become mainstream.

Joining Square in the mobile payment race are competitors Google Wallet, PayPal, Intuit, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, VeriFone, among others.

2. Free city-wide Internet – Public Wi-Fi gets closer to the streets in 2013. Already available at many restaurants and stores, more hotspots are on the way. 

But more than just hotspots: Google has been working on a city-wide Wi-Fi network for some time, with the first attempt around 2007. It's Google Fiber project seems to have taken the spotlight, as the company rolled out the high-speed broadband network in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2012. 

We feel like now is the time to break some ground on city-wide Wi-Fi. 

The Tel Aviv municipality announced in December of 2012 that it would be deploying a city-wide Wi-Fi network in Israel, headed by Motorola Solutions, that includes 80 relay stations for free wireless access. Watch for a similar service to hit the United States in 2013.

1. Big Netflix Competitor– We predicted it for 2012. Redbox Instant by Verizon launched in Beta in December of 2012. Could it be the Next Netflix? Others are rumored to be teaming up for a service. Amazon Instant Video is gaining steam, though is part of a much larger plan for Amazon. It will take a lot of financial backing which is why we’ll likely see businesses teaming up on this one. Hulu is handcuffed by its owners (Comcast's NBCUniversal, Disney and News Corp.).

Whether it’s Redbox and Verizon, Amazon or another new service, watch for it to take off in 2013. 

5 tech predictions for 2012

Read last year's 5 Tech Predictions here.

Zimedia TV 3: Square and Mobile Payment, Facebook beats Yahoo, Apple TV, Dish Internet and Klout

Zimedia TV 3: Square and Mobile Payment, Facebook beats Yahoo, Apple TV, Dish Internet and Klout

The Facebook IPO and its Future

Launched in a Harvard dorm room in 2004, Facebook sought to connect friends and classmates, drawing inspiration from Friendster. Its platform soon expanded to Stanford, Columbia and Yale, then onto more than 800 college networks.

The Facebook, as it was originally called, was gaining users at an unprecedented rate.

The Internet took 31 years to reach 900 million users; Facebook did it in less than nine.  

Today, Facebook’s goal is to make the world more open and better connected. Its 901 million monthly active users have made 125 billion friend connections, by the end of March.

Facebook is now exploring ways to strengthen those relationships while continuing to build new ones.

Facebook IPO

In arguably the most-anticipated tech IPO in history, Facebook, Inc. (FB) began trading Friday, May 18, at an opening price of $38 per share.

An opening-day software glitch from Nasdaq resulting from last-minute order cancellations delayed the IPO.

The stock closed its first day at $38.23, up 0.6 percent from its IPO price, which was viewed as a disappointing start.

Nasdaq OMX Group, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robert Greifeld publicly apologized for the delay, saying in a conference call with reporters Sunday, May 20, that the U.S. exchange was “humbly embarrassed” over the glitches that interfered with the IPO.

Shares began to slide one business day after opening, falling 10 percent on Monday to close at $34. Greifeld, however, said the glitches were not responsible for the falling stock price.

The stock slide has been blamed on an entirely separate issue, which has since resulted in shareholders filing lawsuits against Facebook. One suit alleges that important information about Facebook’s financial outlook was not made public but instead “selectively disclosed” to financial institutions prior to its IPO.

Facebook, Inc. finished the week down 16 percent from its IPO price, closing Friday, May 25, at $31.91.

It was a week as climactic as a scene from The Social Network, the 2010 Facebook-inspired biopic.

“There’s a lot of un-fundamental dynamics going on…there are a lot of moving parts that create uncertainty for me,” said Daniel Ernst, Hudson Square Research principal, in a CNBC video report. “The biggest thing that happened from a fundamental standpoint was their mid-roadshow filing, warning on revenues. That’s the point where I said…there ought to be pricing at the low end of the original range of $28 to $34. Then they raised the range and the number of shares. So I think what happened makes sense.”

Facebook mobile and Facebook Camera

In April, Facebook acquired the popular photo-sharing application Instagram for a cool $1 billion in cash and stock. Since the announcement, Instagram’s user base has experienced a 60 percent increase, from 30 to 50 million. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions from the FTC.

Facebook is clearly setting its sights on photo-sharing, a key component of the mobile experience.

More than 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook each day.

On Thursday, Facebook introduced Facebook Camera for iOS, a standalone photo application where users can shoot and share photos as well as browse recent uploads. Facebook Camera is a very Instagram-like app that syncs with existing Facebook photos, creating a photo-only feed where users can like or comment on friends’ uploads directly from the stream.

“Today, we're introducing Camera, a new mobile app that makes using Facebook photos faster and easier,” Facebook product manager Dirk Stoop wrote Thursday on the company’s press page.

Like Instagram, Facebook Camera features photo filters and easy editing. Unlike Instagram, Camera allows users to upload multiple photos at once and comment on the entire set. Though, the biggest difference between Instagram and Facebook Camera is the inherent user base.

The company’s recent acquisitions and Facebook Camera are all in tune with its goal of a more open and better connected world – and illustrate its focus on mobile.

Facebook Advertising and Privacy

The more Facebook knows about its users, the more relevant the ads it delivers. This is true with any online advertising platform: Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft, etc.

Within the next year, I believe Facebook will incorporate more advertising into Facebook content and the news feed. It has already begun this process with Sponsored Stories.

Watch for the next wave of Facebook advertising to be better integrated and displayed on web and mobile as well as better targeted to users’ interests, activity and likes.

Facebook did not respond to my request for comment on upcoming advertising plans.

What’s next for Facebook

Facebook is positioning itself to be everywhere its users are: on the web, smartphones and tablets.

“We want to have every user in every market using Facebook – we’re investing in smartphones and at the same time as in mass market phones because we believe with great features and great integrations, every phone can become sociable,” said Facebook's Head of Mobile Business Henri Moissinac in the first quarter of 2011 after Facebook had acquired mobile startup Snaptu.

In addition to the rumored Facebook phone, there were rumblings Friday that Facebook will enter the browser business by acquiring Opera Software.

The company introduced Facebook email accounts in 2011, complete with the @facebook.com address. I see Facebook rolling out its own cloud service, for users to store files and collaborate on projects with friends.

Facebook did not respond to my request for comment on cloud plans or the possible Opera acquisition.

In the past six weeks, Facebook has acquired photo-sharing applications Instagram and Lightbox, gift-sharing service Karma, location-based service Glancee and launched its own photo app Facebook Camera.

Facebook is becoming the entire infrastructure for the web. A platform connecting our interests, likes, photos, messaging, friends, family and life events.

It’s anyone’s guess where Facebook will go from here. But if it accomplishes nothing else, there’s no debating the fact that we’re more open and better connected than we were before 2004, when four college buddies had an idea that would change the world.

Get Ready for TV 2.0

Streaming television services like Netflix and Hulu Plus are gaining momentum, moving along the adoption curve – working their way through the early majority – still years ahead of technological laggards.

Editor's Note: This article first appeared on StateCollege.com as a guest column by Eric Zimmett. Click here to view the original column. 

A Nielson study revealed that about one-third of Americans have streamed a TV show or movie through a paid subscription service like Netflix or Hulu Plus. And a majority of Netflix users have the service connected to their TVs.

Streaming TV is the biggest threat to the pay-TV model since TiVo, poised to make prime-time television irrelevant and turn the pay-TV model upside down.

Two years ago this month I cut cable and moved into the streaming TV world. Which at first was a bit rocky, but is now a more intuitive TV experience than ever.

With Netflix and Hulu Plus, when I want to watch a particular show, I watch the show. Whether it's 7 p.m., 9:36 p.m. or 2 a.m. The Colbert Report; Saturday Night Live; Lie to Me; 30 Rock; Weeds; American Pickers; MasterChef; Mad Men; The Office; SportsCenter and ESPN on Xbox 360; or even NBC News, CBS, ABC on Roku Newscaster.

As well as older TV shows like Arrested Development, a new favorite of mine even though the show concluded in 2006. I had never seen it. But with streaming TV, I started with season 1, episode 1 to the last. Netflix announced in November that it is resurrecting Arrested Development in an exclusive deal featuring new episodes of the critically acclaimed series, which was canceled by Fox.

Streaming, on-demand, content increases the shelf-life of television, therefore increasing the benefit to the show and its advertisers. What this means: more viewers for the content and the advertising. An almost unlimited shelf-life. Streaming TV puts the entire television experience – Movies, News, Sports, TV shows – on the user's schedule, not the network’s. It’s like everything has been TiVo’d for you.

TiVo released data that revealed only 38 percent of viewing by its users was live TV. The rest was recorded video and online streaming content like Netflix, which is now available through the TiVo Premiere box. It won’t be long before streaming content overtakes recorded content, like the two have done to live TV.

Most Netflix and Hulu Plus users are between the ages of 18-34 – dubbed Generation C – according to the Nielson study released in February. The second largest group is users between 35 and 49, then 50 to 64. Which mirrors the adoption curve developed by Joe M. Bohlen, George M. Beal and Everett M. Rogers at Iowa State University in the 1950s. The curve illustrates the adoption of new products and innovations through five stages: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, Laggards.

Netflix has more than 20,000 titles available to stream instantly and is working to increase its number of television shows, an area in which Hulu excels. Hulu is jointly owned by Comcast’s NBC Universal, The Walt Disney Co., News Corp. and global private equity investment first Providence Equity Partners.

Netflix has inked exclusive content deals including Lilyhammer, which debuted Feb. 6, featuring Soparanos star Steven Van Zandt. Horror series Hemlock Grove, scheduled for early 2013. Orange is the New Black, a comedy project from Weeds creator Jenji Kohan. As well as House of Cards starring Kevin Spacey. To acquire House of Cards, Netflix outbid HBO for the series.

And now dozens of devices are available to stream content, including Blu-ray players; video-game systems like Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii; Boxee Box; Apple TV; Google TV; TiVo Premiere; and Roku. Read my review of the Roku streaming player here. In most cases, users buy the streaming boxes; versus renting a box from cable or satellite TV companies.

Subscription streaming services like Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon Instant Video provide unlimited streaming content for a fixed monthly price. Some cable companies have now started to offer their own streaming content as a companion to subscription offerings, like Time Warner On-Demand, Comcast On-Demand alongside a subscription to their services; or premium cable like HBO GO and Showtime On-Demand. Strictly video-on-demand (VOD) services like Vudu are essentially today’s Pay-Per-View, with each movie available to rent or purchase.

This doesn’t mean an end to live TV content, however. Live TV will be delivered through the Internet and available on-demand after it airs.

Comcast, the largest cable operator, announced in May of 2011 it would begin testing IPTV or Internet Protocol TV. The same content, only, delivered through the Internet.

Comcast began testing IPTV at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and in February introduced XFINITY Streampix, a Netflix-like video service offered as a companion to XFINITY TV.

IPTV can be used for live video, streaming and delayed programming like a DVR. The same technology used by Netflix, Hulu Plus, Roku, live-streaming services like U-Stream and Live Stream.

What IPTV will one day mean for advertisers: data. Think Google Analytics for TV.

The writing is on the wall.

Netflix and its competitors will force cable, satellite and premium cable companies to overhaul the formula and their pricing structure. Turning the entire landscape upside down. Lower prices, more content, delivered IPTV-style.

It’s a monumental time for TV. If cable and satellite TV are scared now, this could very well be the calm before the storm. They’ll be forced to change or fall into obscurity. Like a stagnant MySpace, ignorant to the startup that would become Facebook.

Streaming content has transformed the way I watch TV and will soon change TV forever.

The cable and satellite networks can fight all they want. TV 2.0 is coming. Their efforts are only delaying the inevitable.

5 Things Small Business Owners Should Be Doing

Editor's Note: This article first appeared on StateCollege.com as a guest column by Eric Zimmett

5. Social Media

Social Media is a great space to interact with customers on a variety of fun, engaging platforms.

Use social media as a conversation with your customers – to strengthen existing relationships, build new ones and give a little taste of your personality as a business owner.

Today, your customers will expect you to be using social media. Participate: launch a Facebook Page; use Twitter, Foursquare or Pinterest. Engage and interact with your audience.

Facebook

Facebook is an excellent hub for conversations, news, comments, contests and photos. Facebook also offers a small-business advertising program. A good Facebook Page requires quality content and regular frequency. Update your Facebook Page every day and respond to comments and questions promptly.

Facebook rolled out its new Timeline layout to all brand pages Friday. Read more about the new brand pages at facebook.com/about/pages. Not on Facebook Pages? Get started at facebook.com/pages/create.php

Twitter

Twitter announced last week, on its sixth birthday, that it has reached 140 million users (in tune with its 140-character limit). The micro-blogging platform serves as a way to alert followers of news, specials, changes or insight into the company.

This week, Twitter introduced Twitter for Small Business, self-serve ads including promoted accounts and promoted tweets. Learn more at business.twitter.com. Join Twitter at twitter.com/account/new.

Foursquare

Foursquare is a mobile application that rewards customers for visiting your business. Reward check-ins with a special discount or offer. Or award your most frequent customer – which Foursquare dubs Mayor – with the highest prize.

Foursquare requires minimal effort to keep going. Unlike Facebook Pages and Twitter profiles, Foursquare is user-generated. Users check-in on their own. Users unlock specials that you've created and compete with friends on their Leaderboard.

Is your business already on there? Claim your venue at foursquare.com/business.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a pin-board for interests. Launched just two years ago the site has already eclipsed 11 million users, according to a January report by comScore, becoming the fastest site in history to reach the 10-million mark. Businesses have found recent success on Pinterest by interacting with users and sharing company photos. Request an invite at pinterest.com/landing.

4. Blogging

A blog is a great way to share your expertise in your field, to brand yourself as an expert.

It’s also a great way to stay on top of trends, new information and be connected with your industry. Start a blog and stick to a regular schedule to keep your posts fresh and relevant.

Three leading blog services are WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr.

Keep your content focused. Don’t sell your business on your blog; that will happen organically after you’ve branded yourself as an expert in your industry.

3. YouTube

The best part about YouTube – other than those funny cat videos – is that you can build your own online TV network free of charge.

Build a YouTube Channel and either link to videos in your industry (Informational Videos or How-To videos) or record them yourself. Creating the videos on your own allows the viewer to get to know your business.

A new feature introduced last week by YouTube allows for simplified video editing, making it even easier to get started with your own channel.

2. Get on the Street

Slow business day? Well don't just sit there, hit the streets! Talk with your customers one-on-one. Offer samples, coupons, or ask questions. What better a way to get customer feedback than talking directly to them? Thinking of implementing a new menu item? Or changing your store layout? Ask people on the street. Some won't want to talk to you. Focus on the ones who do.

Put your face in front of the business. Then your customers aren't just shopping at the store on the corner, they're shopping at your store on the corner: Bill’s office supplies, John’s book store, Wendy's coffee shop. They’ll connect with your business on a more personal level.

1. Advertising

Advertising isn't just for national brands. Local businesses need it more than anyone. It isn't enough to just open your doors and hope people come in. Advertising builds companies. It informs, sometimes entertains, and reminds customers that you're there, and that you have the products they want and the expertise to service them.

Believe it or not, it's possible to generate word-of-mouth. It's called advertising. When you advertise your business, and advertise the same message often enough, you're using word-of-mouth to build buzz about your business.

Search-engine marketing is an online super-highway where you can connect with customers who are searching for your products and/or services. Make sure your website is well optimized and contains information – skip on the fluff – that best portrays your business.

If you don't know how to build an effective website or make it search-engine friendly, find someone who does. Being visible when customers are searching for you is an important step in acquiring new customers.

What are you waiting for?!

So get out there and talk with your customers; whether it’s in person, in the ads or on your blog. Be friendly. Be yourself. Have fun. Interaction is key. Show people how much you love your business. Because if you do it well enough, they will too.

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Photo by Flickr user anniemole

Tech companies battling for customers

This is a great time to be a consumer. Companies are battling to release the next greatest advancement in technology -- whether it's NFC, Cloud Storage, Streaming Video or even Social Networking -- and the consumers are ready and waiting. The instant a company releases a new product or service, the competition follows suit.

And that makes today's consumer more connected than ever.

Brand extensions are to blame for much of the competition in technology today. Foursquare brings about Facebook Places. Skype leads to Google Hangouts. Square brings mobile payment to the forefront, with PayPal and Google following closely behind. Facebook (and MySpace before that) brought the rise of the social network; Google is now employing a brand extension with Google+.

A Brand Extension is when a company known for a particular good/service attempts to extend its services to another business category beyond its initial range.

Now, the current landscape:

Social Networking

Facebook vs. Google+

Facebook has been king of the social networking world since it overtook MySpace in 2008. MySpace was recently sold to Specific Media and entertainment artist Justin Timberlake. It's future is still uncertain.

In the limited beta release of Google+, Google goes head to head with Facebook. A similar scenario to its battle with MySpace, only Google+ seems better equipped.

Google+ invites are on the streets as the company seems to be opening up its social network to more users. It's limited beta at first offered only short windows for invites from current users. The service already is reported to have users in the millions, after a little more than one week on the market. Facebook, meanwhile, recently confirmed it has acquired 750 million users.

Mobile Payment

Square vs. Google vs. Paypal

Mobile payments are a hot topic, and the most popular service is likely Square, which hit $1 million in processed payments after less than a year in business. Square was launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey in May of 2010.

Square allows users -- whether it's for personal or businesses use -- to accept credit card payments using a smartphone and Square's free mobile payment device, through which users swipe their actual plastic cards. (Square does not use NFC technology.)

Google unveiled its Google Wallet offering, a partnership with Citi, MasterCard, First Data, and Sprint. Google Wallet is an Android app that makes your phone your wallet. It accomplishes this by storing virtual versions of your plastic cards on your smartphone.

Using Near-Field Technology (NFC), users will be able to pay via their Google-Wallet equipped smartphones simply by tapping the phone on a checkout reader, available at many merchant locations.

And most recently, PayPal bolstered its mobile offering on July 7 with the $240 million acquisition of mobile-payment service Zong.

Zong partners with hundreds of mobile phone carriers around the world and allows users to enter their mobile phone number to make purchases. The charges are then applied to the user's monthly mobile-phone bill.

Zong was eBay's second mobile acquisition. The first was Fig Card, a Square-like device that allows users to accept payments with credit cards by swiping them through Fig's USB-powered reader.

Check-ins

Foursquare vs. Facebook

Location-based applications allow users to ‘check-in’ via smartphone and share their location with other users of the service or other social networks. Users are able to see who else is checked in at a given location (from all users) or friends in nearby locations. By checking in, users receive points and/or badges and can unlock certain specials determined by the retailer.

The most publicized of these location-based apps is Foursquare. Today, there are a reported 8 million Foursquare users, up from just one million a year ago.

With the introduction of Facebook Places and other location-based services like Whrrl, which was acquired by daily deals service Groupon in mid-April, companies are copying Foursquare’s model. And vice versa, as evidenced by Foursquare’s recent inclusion and emphasis on its Yelp-like service directory Explore. Brand extensions are on display everywhere we look.

In June, Fast Company took a closer look at Foursquare vs. Facebook Places.

Video Inside Social Networking

Google vs. Facebook

With Google+, the company introduced Hangouts, a video-calling service. One week later, Facebook announced a partnership with Skype, allowing users to make video calls over the social network.

Facebook Video Calling will feature one-on-one video calls to your friends, a stripped-down version of Skype from what I understand. (Note: that's not me in the screenshot; it's a Facebook promo screen.)

The biggest advantage with Facebook Video Calling has when compared to Skype is that users don't have to sign-up and login to Skype to chat; they simply do so through Facebook.

Google+ Hangouts allows group video chats with up to 10 participants, a sort of live chat room among your friends.

When Google+ Hangouts feature is launched, you can choose whom to invite in the video chat or simply alert all friends (or any other Circle) that you're hanging out. And then wait for someone, among the Circle you've selected, to respond. (Note: that is me in the screenshot below, chatting with no one.)

As you can see at the bottom of the chat window (above), YouTube is also accessible via Hangouts.

I haven't really discovered how YouTube can be used inside Hangouts. But I did watch Cake's The Distance. I guess if my friends were on there we could have all watched it together...and then checked all of our reactions?

Google+ Hangouts and YouTube might be useful for work-related presentations. This service encroaches on GoToMeeting's territory. Now I've just got to find some people who want to have a meeting about Cake.

Cloud Storage

Amazon vs. Apple

On the Cloud, users can store music, videos, photos, and documents, which are then accessible from any computer or device with an internet connection and access to the cloud.

Amazon starts users off with a free 5GB of storage space. The 5GB of free space is about enough space, Amazon says, to store 1,000 songs. This first tier is free and you’ll never be charged for it. If a user purchases a digital album from Amazon’s mp3 store (amazon.com), it’ll upgrade your 5GB of free storage to 20GB. Other pricing/storage options for the Amazon Cloud range from 20GB to 1,000GB of space.

Apple iCloud operates in the same way as the Amazon Cloud Player, with iTunes integrated into iCloud. Everything purchased on iTunes is automatically accessible on the iCloud, in addition to other apps, photos, books and documents.

Streaming Music

Some companies like Amazon and Apple have tied their digital music services directly to Cloud Storage. Others like Slacker and Pandora are offering a more entertainment-centered approach.

Pandora makes things easy for listeners: subscription free and on nearly every device you own.

Pandora got its start on the computer. But the company is making even bigger leaps away from its traditional home on the PC; Pandora is now available on smartphones, tablets, televisions and a select number of automobiles.

According to a published report from Advertising Age, more than 50 percent of Pandora listening accomplished on devices other than the PC.

Slacker, however, is beginning to outshine Pandora in both integration and subscription options. Slacker offers three ways to listen. The first tier, like Pandora, is free of charge (but with ads) and allows users to create a custom station based on a particular band or song. The second is a paid subscription plan that provides unlimited song skips and is ad-free; Slacker Radio Plus is $3.99 per month.

Slacker also has a partnership with ABC News, with news breaks at the top of each hour for subscribers of either Slacker Plus or Slacker Premium Radio.

Slacker's newest subscription is called Slacker Premium Radio. At $9.99 per month, this service includes everything available in Slacker Radio Plus as well as on-demand music, allowing listeners to search for and play songs on-demand, or songs from a particular artist. Slacker Premium Radio encroaches on MOG's and Rdio's territory -- a brand-extension of sorts -- by offering on-demand music.

It's an exciting time for both consumers and businesses. Each service is experiencing tremendous competition -- which only fuels innovation -- as companies vie for the consumers' time, interest and money.

The customers ultimately decide which products succeed and which ones flop. Therefore the success of these businesses relies much on us, the consumers, and in our experiences with these products and brands and how seamlessly we can integrate them into our lives.

The best technology becomes second-nature, like a brand extension of ourselves.

Roku, a glimpse into the future of TV

After a few weeks of oogling the Roku Streaming Player at Best Buy like a teenage boy in the adult magazine aisle I finally made the purchase.

It's everything I envisioned and then some. Much like that boy, I imagine.

In fact, Roku's interface and connectivity is how I envision not only the future of Internet TV  but television as a whole. One box, connected to all of our subscriptions and video content including Movies, TV, News, Sports, Weather, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Facebook, NBC News, Wall Street Journal Live, CNBC and more. Including Local News and Live Streaming video. Live video feeds that you can, get this, pause like a DVR.

Disclaimer: I was not paid by Roku or Best Buy for this feature. However, if someone from Roku or Best Buy would like to send my a check, I'm willing to accept payment and/or bribery for future posts.

For someone interested in trying online video and streaming content to a TV, Roku is the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to break into Internet TV. In fact, it might even be the best thing out there. Put simply, Roku kicks some serious ass.

No PC needed here. Roku is as simple as it gets. Roku connects wirelessly to your home network. And Roku HD starts at just $59.99. I went with the Roku XD for $79.99 which features 1080p HD quality streaming. Roku also offers one of the finer collections of Internet apps including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, Pandora, Roku Newscaster, CNet, Blip.tv, Break.com, Crackle, Facebook Photos, Flickr, Last.fm, NASA, Picasa, Revision3, NBA, MLB, NHL and, actually, a ton of other applications.

My Roku XD, at $79.99, offering 1080p high-definition streaming of Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, CNet, Roku Newscaster, Pandora and a ton more.

Fits in your pocket (though I wouldn't sit down)

Roku might be small in stature, but it packs a big punch. "There's a ton of entertainment in this little box" is slapped on the Roku packaging. Roku offers a number of Internet apps that stream content to your TV through the Roku player subscription free.

The device is 5' x 5', which is about the size of a compact disc, and only one-inch high.

  

Roku offers three models: Roku HD, Roku XD and Roku XDS. Pricing starts at $59.99 for the Roku HD, $79.99 for XD and $99.99 for XDS. Note: Since this post, Roku has introduced a new line of Roku players. For the current line of Roku products, click here.

The Roku HD model offers a max of 720p high-definition. The XDS offers 1080p as well with bonus features like extended-range wireless and a USB port for playing pictures, music or videos. For a full breakdown of each model, head over to Rokuhere.

About Roku

Roku was founded in 2003 by ReplayTV* founder Anthony Wood. ReplayTV is credited with being the first-ever digital video recorder (DVR). Wood is also VP of Internet TV at Netflix, a position he's held since April 16, 2007, after founding Roku but before Netflix moved from computer to living room.

In 2008, Roku introduced the first player to stream Netflix to a traditional TV. Some reports list Roku as a "spin-off" of Netflix, Inc. Netflix was an early supporter of Roku, with a $6 million investment. Per Bloomberg.com, Netflix has since sold its stake of Roku to Menlo Ventures. I called Netflix, Inc at its offices in Los Gatos, California, to confirm these findings but no one was available for comment. An email to Roku was not returned by post time.

Though Netflix was the beginning for Roku, it only grew from there. Roku features an open platform that allows any content provider to create software for the Roku Player. It's a strategy that seems to have paid off.

"We’re opening up the platform to anyone who wants to put their video service on this box," Wood was quoted in 2008 by Wired. "We’re going to release the software developer kit, so anyone can publish any channel, and users can access web content on their TVs."

*ReplayTV is now a subsidiary of DirecTV, as it was acquired in 2007. Roku is a privately held consumer electronics company headquartered in Saratoga, California. Anthony Wood is listed as ReplayTV, Inc President of Products and Director.

Roku features and ease-of-use

Roku works with nearly any television set. From new to old, which makes it the perfect my-first-streaming box.

I tested mine on a 10-year-old Sanyo set with no HDMI inputs. Roku can also connect to newer sets with HDMI, offering 1080p HD video quality. And because of its easy set-up, I can move it around from TV-to-TV with little trouble, whether it's from an old set to a new one or vice versa.

I said it's easy. In fact, the Roku doesn't even have a power button. Zero buttons on this unit, though it comes with a 12-button remote. It's not your typical streaming device. It acts more like a wireless router than a media player. A hub for streaming content.

All it takes is a power cable and audio/video hookup, whether it's the supplied AV cables or an HDMI cable (sold separately). By the way, any HDMI cable will do; don't be misled by advertised 'high-quality' HDMI cables. I'd suggest paying no more than $35 for them.

Note: Since this post, Roku has introduced a new line of Roku players. For the current line of Roku products, click here.

How it works

Roku features a Netflix-like interface. You start at the Home screen and have access to all of your Channels. Enter a Channel by clicking it, then you'll have access to all content within that Channel. 

Inside a Channel: Roku Newscaster

Roku Newscaster is a Channel featuring news from all the major news outlets and more: Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, Aljazeera, NASA, CNet, Current TV, ESPN, C-Span, NPR, PRI and BBC.

Clicking a news source within the Newscaster will display up-to-date news content that you can watch instantly on your TV. Let's take NBC for example. The NBC app within Roku Newscaster gives you access to the following: Hardball with Chris Mathews, The Rachel Maddow Show, Meet the Press, NBC Nightly News, Today, Morning Joe, Mad Money with Jim Cramer, The Suze Orman Show and Your Business.

Most of he content is from the day of the broadcast. On Friday, April 22, content is from that day's show. Though some series, like Tech Report from CBS, displayed content from the day-of and the past week.

The Roku Newscaster, and all shows within it, is completely subscription free.

This basic structure of the Roku Newscaster is how all Channels work, from News to Music and Podcasts.

The Roku Channel Store

In the Roku Channel Store, you can browse available Channels and add them to your Home Screen. View channels by a number of categories or select All Channels.

Update: Dec. 11, 2011. In the last few weeks, Roku's been busy adding channels to its already impressive lineup. New channels include NBC News, Wall Street Journal Live and CNBC Real-Time.

Roku's content is what sets it apart 

News, Movies, TV, Podcasts, Music, Weather, Sports, Social Networking, Photo-Sharing, it's all here. Roku really has it all. Including popular subscription services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video.

 Subscription services

If you've got a subscription to Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon Instant Video, you can connect your subscription to your Roku player, thus connecting it your TV.

Subscription services include: Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, MLB TV, NBA, NHL Vault, UFC, Movie Vault, Flickstream TV, Sirius XM and more.

How much longer will it be before premium cable services like Showtime and HBO embrace these devices and offer subscriptions without cable plans, directly to consumers? Would parent companies CBS (Showtime) and Time Warner (HBO), a cable company itself, dare to make cable unnecessary? Or could they develop their own streaming boxes/services? For my post on Media Ownership, click here.

Even without Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon Instant Video, Roku has a lot of great free content.

 Free Content

In addition to the Roku Newscaster, featured above, other free apps include Break.com, TWIT.TV (This week in Tech), Crackle, CNet, TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), Revision3, Blip.TV, Pandora, Last.fm, Classical TV, Weather Undergound, NASA, a slew of music apps, Weather, Photo-sharing apps, International News, Religion & Spirituality channels, and even more news content -- though Roku's own Newscaster is all you'll likely need with access to Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, Aljazeera, NASA, CNet, Current TV, ESPN, C-Span, NPR, PRI and BBC.

Update: Dec. 11, 2011. In the last few weeks, Roku's been busy adding channels to its already impressive lineup. New channels include NBC News, Wall Street Journal Live and CNBC Real-Time.

 Live video streaming

Roku can even stream live video. Case-in-point: Al Jazeera (English) broadcasts live every day. And get this: you can pause the live feed. Sound familiar? You didn't think Roku founder Anthony Wood, who also happened to create the first DVR in ReplayTV, would forget his roots did you? Other Live streaming video from CNN International as well as Ustream.tv.

 Local News

Roku is the first streaming player on the market to offer Local News. On April 16, Roku announced via Twitter that it had added the first local news broadcast, Channel3000, a CBS News affiliate from Madison, Wisconsin. Roku pulls video from Channel3000's website and makes it playable for free on the Roku player. Channel3000 is currently the only local channel available, but it's also the only local channel on any streaming player. Watch for more local stations to add their content to Roku in the coming year.

How Roku stacks up

If you've been waiting to jump into the Internet TV world, Roku is a perfect place to start. And a great place to finish.

From all of the Internet TV devices I've tested, Roku is my favorite. Its Newscaster is just what I've been searching for, up-to-date (and in some cases live) video news from a variety of sources.

For current Netflix or Hulu Plus subscribers, Roku is an easy way to stream content to any TV in your home. I actually prefer Netflix on Roku to anything else I've tested including Sony Blu-ray players, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii. Starting at only $59.99, Roku offers enough extra content to make it well worth the purchase. Roku is really a no-brainer.

Devices like Roku are bridging the gap between Internet TV and Cable, giving users access to web content, moves and TV shows with Netflix, Hulu Plus and premium sports content from the NHL, NBA, UFC and MLB and now Local News and Live Streaming. Roku is bringing Internet TV just one step closer to the complete TV experience.

One year into my cable-free life, things are beginning to feel, in some ways, a little familiar. I've got hundreds of channels, endless content and not enough time to watch it all.

The only difference is, with Internet TV, there's always something on.

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If you enjoyed this post, check out My Predictions for Internet TV and the Future of Cable.