CES 2014 – Cloud TV, Smart TVs & Spectacles Galore

Todd Viegut

CES is always exciting, surprises always abound, and news is always plentiful. This year’s show did not disappoint on any front by any measure.

As we did last year, the Kannuu team attended CES en masse, and while schedules were filled meeting with customers (present & perspective), partners, industry influentials and friends (old and new), we still did our best to take in latest and greatest CES had to offer.

Our mission, of course, is to spread the video-findability gospel according to Kannuu.  Video search and discovery across services and devices needs saving — and this is the cause Kannuu is committed to. (TV manufacturers would do well to join us — saving search & discovery just might be the key to reviving slumping sales and giving manufacturers a more influential position in the smart TV value chain.)

The sheer ridiculousness of individually searching siloed services (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Vudu, Crackle, etc.) and traditional channels pales only in comparison to the frustration of navigating that tortuous, onscreen keyboard.

Universal search using existing remote controls, advanced search & recommendation technology, and ‘aha’ visual prompts that intuit consumer desire is the missing link for making converged TV pay off. Period.

Sure, we’re fanatic about video finability in today’s multi-device, exploding content, rapidly converging world of viewing pleasure. We believe in what we’re doing and have no problem stating our case loudly and clearly: It’s high time for Kannuu!!

To this end, we’ve pulled together a roundup — and provided some perspective — of news stories from CES:

CES 2014 Trends: TV’s Future is Curvy, Smart, and 4K

Samsung unveils bendable TV

Kannuu Take: If smart CE manufacturers like Samsung can bend TV screens for a more stunning display, why can’t some tech wiz at one of these companies seamlessly tie together myriad back end systems & TV OS platforms so that consumers can simply use their remote to quickly and easily search across the growing number of traditional broadcast and new OTT channels to find what they want to watch fast. Universal search is the missing link for making converged TV pay off. The sheer ridiculousness of individually searching siloed services (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Vudu, Crackle, etc.) and traditional channels channel pales only in comparison to the utter foolishness and frustration of navigating that tortuous onscreen keyboard.

TV trends at CES: 4K, curves and smart TVs

Spec Sheet: the curving, flexing, and low-cost 4K TVs of CES 2014

Daily Report: ‘Smart TVs’ in the Spotlight at Consumer Electronics Show

Kannuu Take: Always glad to see the latest & greatest developments in smart TVs at CES. And this year does not disappoint. Some cool curves, stunning 4k visuals, more great content via better integration with IPTV delivery…  Now all that is needed is for someone to resurrect the remote. Simplify searching for video content across services. Consumers most often know what they want to watch, so making it fast, easy and fun to find this content is the key to smart TV success.

LG spills price, release details on its Ultra HD, OLED (flat or curved) and webOS TVs

WebOS lives on to make LG’s smart TVs smarter

Kannuu Take: Fate of webOS seems better than years past. Employing the OS to simplify video viewing experience across devices – particularly LG’s stellar lineup of smartTVs – is definitely a smart move. Add to this LG’s fab magic remote, and we may just have a CE leader in the smartTV space. All that remains is to notch up Magic Remote’s usability with Kannuu — a smart, intuitive, end-to-end solution for quickly finding video content on any device across expanding service offerings using ‘aha’ visual cues.

Roku getting into the smart TV game with Roku TV

It will be just like your Roku set-top box, only in TV form

Kannuu Take: Smart move, Roku. And your simplified remote is quickly becoming the consumers’ favorite. But why, pray tell, would you keep that tortuous keyboard for universal search? In other words — for the non-techie Roku business folks — why absorb the high cost of search fail & bail? Why not leverage the lovable Roku remote for fast & easy findability of video content across services. It’s possible now, as in right now. Roku, meet Kannuu!!

CES 2014: Verizon Debuts its End-to-End Solution

Kannuu Take: Wow! These VDMS execs get it — from the mess that is ‘cobbled together’ solutions to the need for ‘one throat to choke.’ For consumers, this translates directly into the needed (yet amazingly still lacking) ability to quickly find video content across services and devices – with all the back end technological wizardry working seamlessly and invisibly.

Cisco CEO John Chambers: 2014 is the “Inflection Point” for the Internet

Sony To Test Cloud-Based Cable Television

Kannuu Take: Kudos to Sony. More cloud-based offerings from more device manufacturers and service providers means more quality choices for consumers’ viewing pleasure. Ah, there’s the rub. With so much quality video content across so many services, how can consumers quickly and easily find what they want to watch where, when and on what device they want. Alas, Kannuu is here to save your video-viewing days & nights!

2014: The year connected TVs go simple

Kannuu Take: Kannuu is working mightily to make this prophetic vision a reality!

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