2. 2—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014
An Amazon streaming device had been rumored for months and Fire TV turned out to be "pretty
much as expected," said Needham & Co. analyst Sean McGowan. "For consumers who don’t have such a
device, it’s a pretty good price for access to a lot of content," he said. The device provides access to ser-
vices including Amazon Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, Netflix, Showtime and WatchESPN, along with
low-cost video rentals, said Amazon. Fire TV has some features that rival devices don’t have, but "I’m
not sure it’s different enough to motivate a switch" if somebody already owns an Apple TV set-top box,
said McGowan. While Apple TV allows users to access their iTunes music collections on their TVs and
Fire TV will allow users to play music from their Amazon Cloud Player collection starting next month,
Roku’s set-top box doesn’t offer a similar music capability, he said. Fire TV is better than Google’s
cheaper Chromecast streaming device, but Google’s device is "not fully developed yet," he said. In gen-
eral, Fire TV is a "pretty good entry, at the ‘right’ price," he said.
The game strategy for Fire TV that was stressed by Amazon Wednesday is a key "differentiator"
from rival streaming devices, said NPD analyst Ben Arnold. The game controller that is being sold for it
underscores that gaming is "not just an ancillary feature" of the device, he said. The game selection avail-
able for it seems much stronger than the minimal number of titles available for Roku’s devices, he said.
Fire TV's "value pricing, media choices and user experience position the device as major competi-
tion" for Roku, Chromecast and Apple TV, said independent game industry analyst Billy Pidgeon. Apple
has a "strong advantage with payments and billing tightly integrated" with its App Store and iTunes, but
Amazon's online retail platform "can match Apple's ease of use while offering more choice in distribution
channels," he said. Unlike Apple, Amazon will allow access to channel rivals through its device — a
"stance that broadens choice for content owners and for consumers," he said. Fire TV will be a strong seller,
he predicted. But the device is "far less compelling as a game platform," he said. The controller is "bulky
3. THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—3
and overpriced," and although a version of Mojang’s popular Minecraft was made available at launch, Ap-
ple's and Google's online game library has "much more depth and breadth" than Amazon's now, he said.
Fire TV "may be a challenger" to Roku, but with Roku, Apple TV and Chromecast "out there already,
another $99 box is not all that compelling," said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. The new de-
vice will "further fragment the market, and the market is not that big," he said. "Ultimately, I think we will
see 200 million of these type of devices sold (along with smart TVs)," but there is "nothing particularly com-
pelling" about Fire TV, he said. The game feature, meanwhile, is a "solution in search of a problem" because
consumers "who want to play mobile games in the living room do so on tablets" already, he said.
Amazon worked with game developers including Electronic Arts, Disney, Gameloft, Telltale
Games, Take-Two Interactive’s 2K Sports division, Sega and Ubisoft to bring their games to Fire TV,
Amazon said in a news release. Noticeably absent from that list was Activision Blizzard, which didn’t
immediately say if it plans to support Fire TV. Games available at launch for Amazon’s device included
Disney’s Monsters University, EA’s The Game of Life, Telltale’s The Walking Dead, 2K’s NBA 2K14, and
Gameloft’s Asphalt 8 and Despicable Me: Minion Rush, said Amazon. More than 100 games were made
available and "optimized" for Fire TV at launch, and "thousands of additional" games are "coming next
month" with a Fire TV app that will add controls for touch-enabled games, said Amazon. Games start at
99 cents and cost an average of $1.85, it said. The game Sev Zero, which Amazon Game Studios devel-
oped exclusively for Fire TV, costs $6.99, but is available for free to consumers who buy the controller, it
said. Fire TV runs the latest version of Fire OS Mojito, which is based on Android, so it will be "simple
for developers to port their services and games over" to Fire TV, it said. The Fire game controller pairs
with Fire TV via Bluetooth, it said.
There had been rumors that Amazon also was planning to introduce a dedicated game console, fu-
eled by the company’s purchase of developer Double Helix Games early this year. But, for now anyway,
gaming is just an added feature of its streaming device.
Roku declined to say if it was concerned about the new rival or if it will more aggressively pursue
games for its devices. "We focus exclusively on offering the widest selection of streaming entertainment,
simple-to-use players and great value — this has made Roku the most-used device for streaming" to the TV
in the U.S., it said in a prepared statement. Apple and Google didn’t immediately comment about Fire TV.
Fire TV also supports streaming of up to 1080p HD video, and features Dolby Digital Plus sur-
round sound and voice search functionality that Amazon said "actually works — simply speak the name of
a movie, TV show, actor, director, or genre into the remote, and you’re done." The feature does away
with the need for "hunting and pecking in an alphabet grid," it said, referring to what’s required on other
streaming devices. Fire TV supports HDMI and optical audio-out, it said. More than 200,000 movies and
TV episodes are available on the device from Amazon Instant Video, and users can also listen to Pandora
and iHeartRadio from the device, said Amazon.
The device was built with a quad-core processor with more than three times the processing power
of Apple TV, Chromecast or Roku 3, as well as a dedicated GPU, and it also has 2 GB of memory, four
times that of Apple TV, Chromecast or Roku 3, said Amazon. That means content "loads faster and
games run smoother," said Amazon. The Adreno 320 graphics engine processes 57 billion floating point
instructions per second, enabling "lightning-fast graphics and excellent fluidity," said Amazon. It didn’t
say where it’s sourcing the quad-core processor from. Fire TV is 0.7 inches thick and comes with a Blue-
tooth remote control featuring a built-in microphone, said Amazon.
4. 4—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014
An exclusive feature called Advanced Streaming and Prediction predicts which movies and TV
episodes users will want to watch and buffers them for playback, Amazon also said. Its Whispersync
technology, previously used on its Kindle devices, saves and synchronizes users’ video and music libraries
across all their devices, including iPhones, it said. Amazon also carried over its FreeTime parental control
and X-Ray data features from Kindle devices to Fire TV. X-Ray for movies, TV shows and music pro-
vides information about cast and crew, trivia, "goofs" and synchronized lyrics, said Amazon. FreeTime
Unlimited is available for Amazon Prime members for a monthly price of $2.99 per child or $6.99 per
family. Customers who are not yet Prime members can subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited for a monthly
price of $4.99 per child or $9.99 per family. Amazon FreeTime and FreeTime Unlimited will be available
on Fire TV starting next month, it said. — Jeff Berman
'Agnostic'onBrands
I.TVtoFullyDeployTVtagTVWatchingSocialNetwork
I.TV will deploy its tvtag TV watching social network by June across its users, building on its ac-
quisition of GetGlue's check-in service, CEO Brad Pelo told us.
About 20 percent of GetGlue's users have shifted to tvtag, with the remainder to follow within 90
days along with some cable operators and broadcasters, Pelo said. GetGlue had more than 75 broadcast
and cable partners and 30 media companies integrated its application program interface. In launching
tvtag in January, i.TV combined its free TV guide app with GetGlue's technology for allowing viewers to
check in to shows they're watching. The i.TV app, initially limited to iOS devices, has since expanded to
Android products. I.TV claims 15 million monthly users.
In buying GetGlue last fall, i.TV gained a roster of partnerships stretching from Fox to the Hall-
mark Channel and Hulu, as well as a base of 1.7 million active monthly users, those who "checked in"
with the service at least once a month, Pelo said. And while i.TV plans to maintain GetGlue's base of so-
called "super fans" — those who post comments frequently during a TV show — it will largely focus on
increasing partnerships where tvtag is deployed as a white label service, Pelo said. Among i.TV's long-
standing customers are AOL, which relaunched AOL.TV with it in 2011, DirecTV and Telus in Canada.
"At the end of day we are agnostic as to the brand using tvtag," Pelo said. "The GetGlue acquisi-
tion brought us a direct-to-consumer play not because we thought it should be our business to grow, but
that it gave us a window into how users want to engage with television without having to work through a
partner. Partners generate most of the audience and long term we see ourselves as a platform for social
television and not a consumer brand. If the direct-to-consumer offer becomes 10 times larger than it is
today, it really doesn't matter as long as the overall platform audience is growing and remains the largest"
part of the tvtag base.
I.TV parted ways with GetGlue founder CEO Alex Iskold — Pelo assumed his responsibilities —
and dropped the physical stickers that were awarded users when they checked in for different programs in
favor digital versions. The stickers acted as coupons for discounts and free items. It kept GetGlue's New
York offices and rehired 12 employees to go along with i.TV's 85, Pelo said. The ending of physical
stickers affected a "very small base" of GetGlue users and "it wasn't being used very much," Pelo said.
The physical stickers limited "what we could do with digital versions because what had to be created had
to be printable,” Pelo said. "Now we can create stickers that can be animated."
5. THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—5
GetGlue users also typically checked in for a show, got a sticker, and then moved on, staying with
the original program for a very short time, Pelo said. "Now you check in and you are immediately pre-
sented with the tagline for the show" that's created by about 50 i.TV employees and that users fill in with
additional captions, comments and reactions. That has resulted in many consumers staying with a pro-
gram for its entire length, Pelo said. The i.TV app also allows users to search with IMDb and Google and
add to the tag line with their own notes or doodles.
I.TV's "curators" drive "the conversation" about a program, identifying key story points or plays,
writing a description, grabbing a screen shot and posting the information, Pelo said. The postings may be
for every play in a sporting event or every two minutes for a drama and two to five minutes for a reality
show, Pelo said.
"The idea is to unify a viewing audience so everything is real-time and you get a sense that everyone
is watching what you are watching," Pelo said. "The GetGlue users are the super fans [and] by introducing
them to tvtag we can keep them in our social experience rather than throwing them out there to the Twitter-
sphere. They can still tweet from within our experience, just now their tweets are more contextual."
The acquisition of GetGlue also brought along its investors including Rho Ventures, Time Warner
Investments and Union Square Ventures, and "we have plenty of capital now," Pelo said. But i.TV may try
to raise additional money this year for "general purposes," Pelo said, declining to say how much funding
the company may seek. "As we monitor progress we will estimate what we think we can wisely use and
we will raise that," he said. — Mark Seavy
‘LeastTransparent’Companies
Amazon,TwitterScoreWeakestGradesinNewGreenpeaceReport
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Twitter scored the worst grades among the 19 companies that
Greenpeace surveyed in its latest report on the energy efficiency of global IT companies, (http://bit.ly/Pj4Qrg).
Each company received only D's and F's in the four categories measured by the environmental nonprofit.
Twitter didn’t immediately comment, but Amazon criticized Greenpeace’s report. AWS agreed with
Greenpeace that "technology leaders should help safeguard the environment by implementing both efficient
use and clean sources of energy," AWS said in a prepared statement. But Greenpeace’s report "misses the
mark by using false assumptions on AWS operations and inaccurate data on AWS energy consumption,"
said AWS. It didn’t immediately specify what those false assumptions or inaccurate data were.
Amazon received a D for energy efficiency and mitigation, and an F in each of the other three cate-
gories: energy transparency, renewable energy commitment and siting policy, and renewable energy de-
ployment and advocacy. AWS provides the infrastructure for a "significant part" of the Internet, but it
"remains among the dirtiest and least transparent companies in the sector, far behind its major competi-
tors, with zero reporting of its energy or environmental footprint to any source or stakeholder," Green-
peace’s report said. Many companies, including Netflix, use AWS to host their data, a "problematic trend
as long as Amazon continues to power its data centers with dirty forms of energy," said the report.
Despite Amazon’s "dominant position" and well-established business model, AWS has "dropped
further and further behind" its rivals in building an Internet that runs on renewable sources of energy, and
6. 6—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014
was the "least transparent" of any company that Greenpeace evaluated, said Greenpeace. There has been a
"significant shift toward greater energy transparency across the sector" in the past two years, but AWS
"still fails to make public even the most basic details on its energy footprint" or its source of electricity,
other than claiming that its Oregon data centers are "carbon free," said the report. Detailed information on
the carbon footprint or energy mix of AWS data centers can’t be easily obtained, even by Amazon’s cus-
tomers, said Greenpeace.
Apple and Google recently adopted 100 percent renewable energy commitments, said Greenpeace.
But AWS "continues to rapidly expand its global infrastructure without any apparent regard to environ-
mental impact or access" to renewable energy, said the report. AWS is "clearly" operating its data centers
at a "high state of efficiency," said the report. But its "near complete lack of transparency on its utilization
or energy performance, and its lack of energy efficiency targets, means that customers cannot verify its
high efficiency or compare it to other vendors, and peers cannot learn from any of its best practices," said
the report. AWS also "continues to fall further behind other major data center companies in procurement"
and investment in renewable energy, said the report.
Amazon’s data centers in Boardman, Ore., have "grown so quickly that it appears to have almost
single-handedly pushed" its electricity provider, the Umatilla Electric Cooperative, to a "large enough size
that it now is bound by a state law to generate more renewable energy," said Greenpeace. Umatilla
"sought to avoid having to comply" with Oregon’s renewable energy requirement, and financed a state-
wide ballot initiative to "redefine" renewable energy to include 60-year-old dams, said the report. Ama-
zon has been "content to let Umatilla do just that, exerting none of its leverage" as one of the electricity
provider’s largest customers to "pressure the utility to call off its assault on the law," said the report.
Umatilla early this year "successfully bullied its way into attaining a legislative loophole that would allow
it to comply with the law without investing" in wind and solar energy, said the report. Umatilla didn’t im-
mediately comment.
Twitter lagged behind the other 17 companies in many of the same areas as AWS, said Green-
peace, which gave Twitter a D in renewable energy commitment and siting policy, and F's in the other
three categories. Twitter has "disclosed essentially no information" about its energy footprint, said the re-
port. Twitter doesn’t file any data with the Carbon Disclosure Project, and releases no information to its
users about the platform’s energy demand or energy mix, said Greenpeace. The company has also not
provided any information on efficiency or mitigation measures at any of its data center sites, and its "lack
of transparency makes it impossible to know what, if any, notable efficiency measures" the company em-
ploys, said the report.
In stark contrast, Apple was the "most improved" company since Greenpeace’s last full report in
April 2012, and has "shown itself to be the most innovative and most aggressive in pursuing its commit-
ment to be 100 percent renewably powered," said Greenpeace. Apple received a B in energy efficiency
and mitigation, and A's in each of the other three categories. Facebook received a B in renewable energy
deployment and advocacy, and A's in each of the other categories. Google received an A in renewable
energy deployment and advocacy, and B's in each of the other categories.
Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard were among the companies with a more mixed report card. Micro-
soft received C's in each category, while HP received a B in energy transparency and energy efficiency
and mitigation, but a D in renewable energy commitment and siting policy, and a C in renewable energy
deployment and advocacy. — Jeff Berman
7. THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—7
Courts
If Aereo wins at the U.S. Supreme Court, it will seek to expand horizontally to 50 or 60 cities, said
CEO Chet Kanojia at the American Cable Association's Washington D.C., Summit Wednesday. Aereo's
business model is designed to address “an imbalance in the marketplace” and challenge video incumbents
by emphasizing consumer choice, Kanojia said. The broadcasters challenging Aereo in the high court ex-
ist in a “collusive, anticompetitive universe,” and their arguments incorrectly combine copyright with the
rules on retransmission consent, Kanojia said. “They would like to conflate the idea of copyright royalties
with retransmission consent,” he said. “Retrans has nothing to do with copyright.” Instead of being about
copyright, the case before the high court is about “how long the wire is,” Kanojia said, referring to the le-
gal question of whether broadcast TV viewed using a personalized miniature antenna is a public or private
performance. The Supreme Court has set oral argument in the Aereo case for April 22.
UltraHD
Crestron is shipping the industry’s only end-to-end 4K distribution system, the company said
Wednesday. Crestron’s DigitalMedia (DM) system was built to handle 4K since the first 8 x 8 switcher
was introduced, Marketing Director Tom Barnett said. He called the Crestron solution “complete” be-
cause it can also distribute other resolutions such as the 2560 x 1440 output from Apple laptops that re-
quire more bandwidth than previous-generation switchers designed for 2K distribution. New 4K DM
products now shipping include the DMC-4K-HD input card, DMC-4K-HD-DSP input card, Type 8
DMCO output cards, DM-RMC-4K-100-C DM receiver, DMB-4K-I-HD input blade, DMB-4K-O-C out-
put blade, HD-EXT3-C extender, HD-XSPA AVR with integrated DM receiver, HD-RX3-C receiver, and
HD-TX3-C transmitter, the company said. The company is offering dealers limited-time “big discounts”
to upgrade card-based DM systems to 4K, it said. A company spokeswoman told us existing DM systems
can be upgraded by swapping out input and output cards and receivers since the DM infrastructure has
“always had the necessary bandwidth for 4K” going back to the first systems sold in 2009. The company
is sweetening the offer with a refresh of the three-year warranty on the DM chassis if all eligible cards are
upgraded, she said. Pricing varies based on each system design, she said. There are new requirements for
long cable runs with 4K distribution, she said. “With four times the data, cabling distances can be af-
fected,” she said. Long cable runs that could be accommodated by HDMI in the 2K world “will now need
HDMI extenders or DigitalMedia” that support 4K, she said. Some additional challenges of 4K video dis-
tribution include mismatched resolutions, new frame rates, signal integrity issues and source/display com-
patibility, said a Crestron white paper.
HomeControl
Control4 announced lighting design tools and services to help dealers sell and install wireless
and panel-based lighting systems. The company cited high demand for lighting control at the same time
that the number of lighting loads and control types are increasing, making designing and installing lighting
control systems “extremely complex.” Under the new Lighting Design and Fixture Compatibility Ser-
vices program, dealers are encouraged to submit a project’s lighting design configuration for Control4 re-
view to ensure that it is optimized for Control4 systems. Dealers will receive recommendations for Con-
8. 8—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014
trol4 and third-party products, installation guides, recommended light fixtures and any suggestions for
modification of load schedules and construction plans, the company said. The program includes a Web-
based database dealers can access to search for third-party lighting fixtures and bulbs that have been tested
and are compatible with Control4 lighting products. Dealers also can submit fixtures and bulbs to Con-
trol4 to be tested for compatibility so dealers will be better able to provide “accurate client proposals and
proper system operation,” the company said. Dealers can create personalized keypads for customers using
RGB backlight color customization and online engraving tools, it said. Susan Cashen, Control4 senior
vice president-marketing, said the program was created to proactively help Control4 dealers “further capi-
talize on the increased interest lighting control has garnered” and not in response to any issues or resis-
tance dealers experience in the field.
Audio
Soundfreaq began selling the Sound Rise Bluetooth speaker and alarm clock at Target Wednes-
day. Target is selling an all-black version for $69 in stores and online, while a $79 version in a taupe/
wood finish will ship from Soundfreaq.com and Amazon.com in two to three weeks, said the website.
Features include dual alarms with weekday/weekend settings, a universal USB power port for charging a
smartphone and adjustable display settings. The unit has a 3.5mm headphone jack that can be used as a
line-in port, and includes an FM radio with presets, the company said.
E-Commerce
Amazon is discounting LG 55-inch OLED TVs as the CE manufacturer closes out its 2013 line.
LG's 55EA9800 55-inch 3D OLED TV was listed Wednesday at $5,999 on Amazon's website with only
two remaining in stock, down from an original $14,999, Amazon said. LG dropped the retail tag for the
55EA9800 to $7,999 earlier this year and paired it with a $1,000 instant rebate (CED Feb 11 p1). Amazon
also had LG's 55EA8800 Gallery version of the 55-inch OLED TV, which includes a 2.2-channel, 100-
watt audio system and two pairs of 3D glasses, at $6,499, down from the $8,499 listed on LG's website.
LG is expected to ship five new OLED TVs this year, including a 77-inch set. The new 55-inch OLED
TV is expected to be priced at or below the model it replaces, LG has said. Meanwhile, Samsung's
KN55S9C 3D 55-inch OLED TV was listed on Amazon at $8,997, its price for the past several months.
Samsung has said it has no plans to replace the 55-inch set this year.
Displays
Sony's flexible Digital Paper tablet will ship in the U.S. in May at $1,100. The 12.6-ounce
Digital Paper, built around E Ink Holdings' 13.3-inch electrophoretic display, has 4 GB of flash in-
ternal storage, 1600 x 1200 resolution with 150 pixels per inch and a lithium-ion rechargeable bat-
tery. It has Adobe PDF built in, and software is included to convert Microsoft Word, Excel and
PowerPoint to the PDF format. The Wi-Fi-equipped Digital Paper also has a USB connector. Sony
first shipped the touch-based display in Japan as the DPT-S1 Mobius e-reader in December, selling
through the initial 1,000 units priced at $1,000 each. In contrast to the Japan introduction, where
initial sales were to universities, Sony unveiled Digital Paper last week at the American Bar Asso-
