This is not a happy story to start your Monday with. That TV or computer you put out for recycling, feeling all eco-friendly? It’s killing children in Ghana.
SBS’ new online video service joins the ranks of ABC’s excellent iView and Seven’s slightly less sexy 7PLUS, but omits the catchy naming convention; it’s simply “On Demand”.
As you may have noticed, Alex Kidman is guest editing Giz for me at the moment (he’s filled in for Nick in the past, too). He got off to a flyer this morning with the news about Steve Jobs’ resignation, and just finished a TV interview with SBS on that very subject. It won’t air until the 6:30 news, but you can watch the interview in full after the jump.
If you like the idea of using your television to get your daily newspaper, LG has announced that it is partnering with Fairfax to offer localised news services via its Smart TVs.
After last week’s ACMA announcement about its temporary 3D broadcast licence, you sort of knew SBS would be broadcasting certain key matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in 3D. Well, last night, SBS officially announced it would be broadcasting those key matches in 3D, as well as regular 2D, live as they happen.
So we all knew that Channel Nine was going to be broadcasting the State of Origin in 3D this year, but the ACMA has just announced officially that it has granted a special license to Channel Nine and SBS to conduct a scientific trial of 3D broadcasts for two months, starting May 19.
One of the biggest hurdles for the upcoming release of 3D televisions in Australia is the lack of content. Sure, there’ll be a handful of 3D Blu-ray discs, but Foxtel aren’t planning on doing anything until next year, and the free to air networks are struggling enough with the concept of high definition, let alone 3D. Except that last part may not be true… According to Lara Sinclair in the Australian, SBS is looking into the possibility of broadcasting the FIFA World Cup in 3D later this year.
Every so often my TV will tell me that it’s discovered new DTV stations, but when I scan, it finds nothing. As a result, I get the shits and curse Panasonic for having a TV that’s smart enough to tell me when it detects changes to the digital signal, then ignore the announcement. But Gus over at Lifehacker has pointed out that sometimes you need to rescan for channels, like when SBS upgraded its digital transmitters last week. The benefit of this upgrade is that you can now get 720p on SBS HD, plus a seven day EPG. And let’s face it – any upgrade to HD is worth a quick scan now, isn’t it?
[SBS via Lifehacker]
