Rebecca Day

MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) expects to add mainstream record labels as it eyes various devices plus the car, and Atlantic Records expects to release tracks in the High-Res Audio format, Atlantic CEO Craig Kallman told us. The smartphone holds a lot of appeal for MQA because it’s the listening device of choice for an entire generation of music lovers, said Spencer Chrislu, MQA director-content services. MQA’s flexibility suits it well to the smaller device, he said Friday at CES in Las Vegas. “The idea that with MQA embedded into it you can now get 1,000 songs on your portable player but not have to deal with lossy compression … is a great opportunity to get at this generation that’s never been able to experience that.” Benefits are audible via a file downloaded to a network-attached storage drive or via a streaming service, he said. Chrislu said MQA is working with “many” on the hardware side on integration.

Lenovo will bring to market this summer the first consumer mobile device with Google's Project Tango, and the two companies opened it to app developers Thursday at CES in Las Vegas. Project Tango uses computer vision, depth sensing and motion tracking to create on-screen 3D experiences. The Lenovo smartphone, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, has a “magic window” that can overlay digital information and objects using the Project Tango platform, allowing users to explore their physical worlds with their device, said the companies. Specialized hardware and software work together so a device such as a smartphone reacts to user’s movements. Unlike GPS, Project Tango motion tracking works indoors. It typifies the kind of “innovation risks” smartphone vendors need to take in the “hypercompetitive smartphone and tablet industries,” said Chen Xudong, president of Lenovo’s mobile business group. It means mobile devices can blend the virtual and real worlds, said Johnny Lee, Google’s Project Tango lead.

LAS VEGAS -- Amid well publicized reports of IoT security breaches and privacy concerns about big data, consumers still show a willingness to share private information, said speakers on a privacy and security panel during Parks Associates’ Connections Summit at CES Wednesday. Consumers say privacy is a burning issue, said Parks analyst Brad Russell, but “they’re not that concerned because they keep checking that terms of service box.”

Monster is making a streaming music play, CEO Noel Lee told us in Las Vegas after the company’s CES news conference. The new Inspiration noise-canceling headphone is designed to operate independently of a smartphone, Lee said, will connect to Monster Music via Wi-Fi and will automatically download and refresh music from a cloud-based music server. He said Wi-Fi for streaming music isn’t available in a lot of locations where people travel. Monster Music will compete with Pandora and other streaming music services when the headphone and service launch in June, Lee said. Subscribers to Monster Music will get the first year free before a $10/month fee kicks in, Lee said.

Samsung executives said they're trying to improve the second-screen plus smart TV experiences, at a news conference Tuesday at CES in Las Vegas. A connected Extend adapter can control up to 200 devices “from home appliances to baby monitors,” said Samsung Electronics America Chief Operating Officer Tim Baxter. Easier access to content is a goal for 2016, said Won-Jin Lee, SEA executive vice president. The average TV is connected to three external devices, and moving among devices and juggling remotes “has never been an ideal experience for anyone,” said Lee. Now, when the TV powers up, all source favorites are in the same area, making it “as easy to change between ESPN and Netflix as going from channel 1 to channel 2,” said Chris Turkstra, Samsung Customer Experience Lab vice president-experience. The company aims to improve content discovery in 2016 TVs. Previously, users had to wait for an app such as Amazon Instant Video to launch to see what’s new. Now, refreshed content appears instantly in the user interface, said Turkstra: Users can highlight a tile, instantly bringing up content. And Lee said users will also be able to cast content from a Samsung Smart View mobile app to the big screen from Android, iOS and PCs. Meanwhile, a refrigerator with a 21.5-inch display has a family calendar, plays music and video content, manages food and allows users to shop directly from the touch screen through a program with MasterCard. Family members can leave notes, post photos, share calendars and artwork from a smartphone or tablet with the fridge, said SEA Senior Vice President John Herrington.

Lowe’s took a step forward as a one-stop supplier in the smart home space Monday, saying it will offer professional monitoring services for its do-it-yourself Iris smart home system. Lowe’s partnership with United Central Control (UCC) gives the home improvement retailer a product/service offering that can rival those of AT&T Digital Life and Comcast Xfinity Home. And ADT Pulse parent Tyco said last fall (see 1510220040) it was working with Google's Nest Labs to develop “useful integrations” between Nest products and Tyco’s “expanding smart home product portfolio.” UCC’s central monitoring service will give select Lowe’s Iris customers a conduit to emergency responders through their smart home systems for the first time, Lowe’s said. The $20-a-month fee includes Iris Premium service and cellular backup service.

LAS VEGAS -- The Wi-Fi Alliance’s latest designation, HaLow, revealed Monday, will enable low-power connectivity for sensors and wearables in the IoT while extending Wi-Fi range in challenging environments, Wi-Fi Alliance Vice President-Marketing Kevin Robinson told us. The next-gen Wi-Fi standard, incorporating 802.11ah technology, will enable new use cases for smart home, connected car, digital healthcare and smart city environments, Robinson said.

The home of the future could easily have a range extender in every room as the increasingly connected home puts more demand on residential Wi-Fi networks, said Charles Cheevers, Arris chief technology officer-customer premises equipment. The transition to multiple access point households will begin mid-year as traditional routers are no longer robust enough to handle the swelling data transfer needs of 4K, high-dynamic range (HDR) video content and connected home devices, Cheevers told us in a Monday interview on TV-related tech trends for 2016.

The worldwide wearables market will reach 111.1 million shipments in 2016, from 80 million forecast for this year, as second- and third-generation devices address some "shortcomings," said IDC Thursday. By 2019, wearables shipments will reach 214.6 million units, it said. The next generation will have “vastly improved experiences and perhaps even augment human abilities,” said analyst Jitesh Ubrani. Smartwatches will continue as one of the most popular wearable categories, said IDC. They've evolved from being smartphone extensions to wearable computers capable of communications, notifications and apps, said analyst Ramon Llamas. "The smartwatch we have today will look nothing like the smartwatch we will see in the future.” Cellular connectivity, health sensors, and third-party apps will raise the appeal and value of smartphones, he said. Smartwatch platforms, “the brains of the smartwatch,” will evolve as cellular connectivity in watches replaces the reliance on smartphones for connectivity, said Llamas.

Despite a rental price hike last December and “managing inventory well,” Redbox “misjudged demand” in video rental business from its DVD kiosks, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said Tuesday. The company's stock fell 24.1 percent Tuesday to $44.04. Redbox parent Outerwall cut its outlook Monday amid a Redbox management change, the company said in an SEC 8-K filing. Amazon and Apple “have cannibalized a large portion of Redbox traffic from its convenience-oriented customers,” Pachter said. He expects Redbox core value-conscious customers to “remain loyal so long as there is a significant price differential between Redbox rentals and most on-demand offerings.” Outerwall attributed the lower guidance to heavier promotional spending and additional content purchases designed to “encourage consumers to return to normal rental patterns,” the filing said. Since content was already purchased, “there was less opportunity to offset the lower revenue,” it said. Redbox business continues to be challenged by “the historically low box office during the third quarter, which was the worst theatrical box office in Redbox kiosks in four years,” it said.