Cyboid is a pretty neat homage to early shooter games, with support for Android tablets and TVs to work better for gamers today. In a new update sent out recently, users can now get more out of the game with multiplayer support. There are several new multiplayer modes that allow for cross-device play between tablets […]
Nick Felker Leaving Android Tv News – Joining Google as Developer Programs Engineer
Today I’m putting in a one-week notice for the site. One week from now I’ll be starting a full-time position at Google as a Developer Programs Engineer. Similar to my work on the TIF Companion Library, the position will consist of me working with the developer community on various Google products. With this career move […]
PlayStation Video is a new video store on Android TV
Sony’s PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 have had a video store where users could rent and buy movies directly from their gaming console and then stream it. While that’s given them a reach of tens of millions, Sony also has plans to get their app into even more homes by releasing their app on Android […]
Foxtel is Launching OTT Service Foxtel Now and Android TV
Australian cable company Foxtel is working hard to appeal to a new generation of cord cutters with two big announcements. First is Foxtel Now, what may be known as a skinny bundle such as Playstation Vue or YouTube TV. Google Cast will be supported, letting users stream high-definition television to supported devices. The initial channels […]
With the latest preview of Android O, we see the new TV Launcher experience is getting more polished. Many small tweaks have been made. After spending some time with the new launcher, it still feels like it lags too much on my Nexus Player, although that will hopefully be remedied in the final release. We’ll […]
Limber up those trigger fingers and get those thinking caps secured: Paragon is now available to stream instantly on GeForce NOW. Currently in open Beta on PC, PS4 and now free to play on SHIELD, Paragon is a third-person, 5v5 multiplayer online battle arena game, or MOBA, and is the first MOBA game in GeForce […]
It’s time for Android O to start wrapping up. This means that Google is finishing the final touches and optimizing what code they’ve written. For Android developers, the now launched third preview for the upcoming release provides some certainties which will allow them to look closely at Android O for finished apps. This third preview […]
Video is a growing component of social media. Not only can we create and share our own videos, but now we can even broadcast content live to an increasingly growing audience. This gives a lot of potential for social networks, which can connect users to videos and earn revenue by monetizing through video ads. With […]
Samsung’s Gear VR headsets allow owners of Samsung phones to be thrust into a virtual reality world. With a recent update, they will be able to share these worlds with those around them thanks to support for Google Cast. This feature is similar to the cast feature being added for Google’s Daydream headsets, announced recently. […]
NVIDIA Brings 5.2 GeForce Experience Update to the SHIELD TV
SHIELD TV users will be able to enjoy new features delivered with SHIELD Experience Upgrade 5.2. SHIELD Preview Program members will be the first to receive the upgrade as it rolls out over the next couple weeks. This software update brings new cord cutting features from Plex including Live TV and DVR. To celebrate this […]
Plex Announces Live TV with News and Sports!
Today, streaming media app Plex announced it has added Live TV to its platform, including local news and sports, at no cost to Plex Pass users. No more waiting for the recording to finish! This is Plex’s biggest news to date as it moves the company one step closer to its vision of the future […]
Cordcutting Fortnightly provides readers with a collection of news in cordcutting that has occurred over the past two weeks. View last fortnight’s news. Google Home Adds New Video & Audio Partners As we reported earlier, users will soon be able to use their voice and the Google Assistant to queue and play videos on their TV […]
How to Side-Load Apps on Android TV
How to Side-Load Apps on Android TV Android TV is great for streaming, especially if you have an Nvidia Shield TV. However, maybe you want to put on a video or two and watch on Kodi? How would we go about doing that you might ask? Thankfully we have a few methods for this, but […]
Casting is a handy way for apps to quickly extend their content for the TV without the need for a native app. One of the new apps with Chromecast support is Cartoon Network, the app with a variety of on-demand shows. By logging in with your cable provider, you can access even more episodes and a […]
New Games on Android TV – Week of May 28
There’s a lot of games being launched on Android TV, and we may not have time to cover them individually. These weekly posts give brief summaries of many new games that are being published that have TV support in the Play Store. If you know of a new game, or find one we missed, let […]
At Google I/O, there was mention of YouTube Kids and YouTube 360-degree videos, although another new feature seemed not to get mentioned for Android TV users: a full redesign of the YouTube app. The design was teased first in the general keynote during the 360-degree video demo for the living room. The presenter speaks into a […]
Android TV Stats – 3K Apps, 1M Activations Every Two Months
At Google I/O, David Burke took the stage during the keynote to reveal some tangible statistics about the growth and success of the platform. Android TV, a platform where hardware manufacturers can make devices and software developers can build applications for end users, needs a healthy ecosystem of both in order to provide the most […]
I/O 17 Tidbit – Daydream VR Will Get Casting Feature
Virtual Reality, VR, can often be an isolating experience. You put on your headset and are then translated to another world, unable to perceive the real world and people around you. While some VR apps have social built-in, it can often be difficult for families to play VR together. Google’s own VR platform, Daydream, has […]
I/O 17 Tidbit – Graphic Drivers Will Be Updatable Through Play Store
With the release of Android Nougat, there was a lot of focus around the graphics environment. There was a lot of effort to support a vastly different graphics library called Vulkan, which promises console-quality graphics on mobile devices by taking advantage of modern hardware. Graphic drivers are getting another set of improvements with Android O. […]
Ikea’s Smart Home Hub will add Google Assistant Support
Ikea has been making furniture for a long time, since it was founded in 1943 in Sweden. Since then, its modern design and inexpensive prices has allowed it to become the largest furniture retailer in the world. However, they have not just been making chairs and tables. The company has also been focusing on other […]
NeoDash Combines Muzei and DashClock into a Neat Display
Android TV allows third-party apps to target the largest screens in your house. TVs are huge displays that are shared by the whole family, making them great for not just media consumption (watching videos) but also displaying any passive information you want. Passive displays have fascinated me for a while, since the rise of smart […]
PSA: Android O Beta Blocks Sideloading on Android TV
Android O is focusing on a wide variety of issues to make the user experience better and more secure. One feature, uncovered by Android Police, blocks apps installing APKs until the user explicitly approves that application. Users still need to allow installing apps from unknown sources, but it would then give more control over which […]
Red Bull TV Wins Best TV App at Google Play Awards
The Google Play Awards, held during Google I/O, is a chance to highlight the third-party developers who are advancing the Android platform with great apps. The awards were given out last night in a variety of categories, including Android TV. Google has a blog post for all of the apps, but of note in our […]
Questions we have about the New Tv Launcher
Google showed off its major redesign for Android TV last night. While we have a good idea of how new apps can integrate these features, there are still many questions we still have about this new experience. With the Android O beta, which we took a look at yesterday, we know a few answers, and […]
Last night at Google I/O a session was hosted about Android TV. Along with this new UI there was documentation posted about the new way apps can interface with it, using the TvProvider APIs. This gives a lot of information about how this experience will work, as well as raising a few questions about how […]
Analysis of “What’s New in Android TV”
Last night was the big session for Android TV, where they went into detail about Android TV’s new interface. The entire video session is below, but we’ll be highlighting some key new features. As detailed as the session is, there are still several questions we still have. Everything is Organized into “Channels” and “Programs” As […]
Google Home Gets Bluetooth Support
As part of Google I/O we learned a little something about existing Google Home devices, they have Bluetooth! Announced during the Keynote the Home is getting Bluetooth support. That means it’s yet another speaker you connect to via Bluetooth because we needed more of those, but it’s one thing that the Echo had over the […]
Android O includes many useful features, showing its maturity as an operating system. Some of these include downloadable fonts and font resources. These two features will make it easier to add a unique style to your app. With an upcoming update to Google Play Services, developers will be able to quickly access over 800 of […]
Kotlin Now an Official Language on Android
Kotlin has been discussed in the Android development community as a potential replacement for Java. It has several advantages that make it quicker and easier to write, with less boilerplate and potential errors. It can be compiled into Java, making it possible to use on Android, although with a few workarounds. Today, Google announced that […]
Google Home adds new Music and Castable Video Partners
At this morning’s keynote, Google announced a number of new capabilities for Google Home. Of particular note are music and video services that can be automatically called and played. For music services like Spotify, which now works even for free tier users, the playback can happen straight on the device itself. For video services, like […]