DISH has started rolling out an update for its Hopper DVR which brings support for HDMI-CEC and some design and navigation tweaks to the interface.
The support for HMDI-CEC means it’ll no longer be necessary to manually switch inputs on your TV. Instead, just switching on the Hopper will change the channel to the correct input. Also included in the update is a slight change to the way some content is displayed within the On Demand section, which are now organized in rows, or shelves, with movie and show tiles displayed horizontally across the screen.
The update also brings support for Dish’s Explorer app to control all the Hopper-connected TVs in a household and tweaked search functionality which now returns results from all possible sources, including the programming guide, recorded content and On Demand. The results are then displayed in rows, like the On Demand Shelves.
➤ DISH Upgrades Hopper Software; Simplifies Navigation and Hopper-TV Integration [DISH]
Featured Image Credit – Ethan Miller/ Getty Images
Pew: One in three Americans owns a tablet, one in four owns an e-reader, and 43% have one or the other
One in three Americans now owns a tablet, or 35 percent of the population aged 16 and older. At the same time, one in four US citizens at least 16-years-old now owns an e-reader. Mixing up these two device types, 43 percent of adults in the country have a tablet or an e-book reader.
The latest figures come from Pew’s ongoing Internet & American Life survey. Here’s the breakdown over the last three years:
Unsurprisingly, the rich are leading the way. More than half of households earning $75,000 or more now have tablets and 38 percent now have e-readers. These are up from 25 percent and 19 percent, respectively.
This chart takes the demographic breakdown further for tablets:
The 16-17 age-group has the highest percentage for tablet ownership, followed by 30-49, and then 18-29. Tablet ownership seems to grow with the level of education attainment as well as household income.
This chart takes the demographic breakdown further for e-readers:
The 30-49 age-group has the highest percentage for tablet ownership, followed by a tie between 16-17 and 18-29. E-reader ownership also seems to grow with the level of education attainment as well as household income, although the gaps aren’t as wide.
It’s also worth noting that more women own tablets and e-readers than men, although the gap is slightly larger for the latter than the former. Nevertheless, the divide isn’t huge and both devices are clearly consumed by both genders.
Pew’s study was conducted between July 18 and September 20 by surveying 6,224 Americans aged 16 and older. The organization pegs the margin of error at plus or minus 1.4 percentage points. You can read the whole 14-page report here: Pew Research Center (PDF).
See also – ABI: Nearly 200m tablets have shipped worldwide since 2009, 22% of US owners spend over $50 monthly and Canalys: Over 34m tablets shipped in Q2 2013, Android overtakes iOS with 53% share compared to 42.7%
Top Image Credit: Toshifumi Kitamura /Getty Images
LG announces the G Pro 2, with a 5.9-inch display, 3GB RAM and 13-megapixel camera
There have been plenty of rumors and leaks, but LG has now made the G Pro 2 official after announcing details of its latest flagship smartphone today.
The device looks much like its predecessor — the G Pro — and it comes with the latest Android 4.4 (KitKat) operating system, is powered by a 2.26 GHz quad-core processor from Qualcomm. It is slightly wider and features a 5.9-inch full-HD display — larger than the G Pro’s 5.5 inches — with a 1920 x 1080 resolution. There’s a 13 megapixel camera on the back, while the front-facing snapper comes in at 2.1 megapixels and has its own flash. Under the hood is 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage — naturally there’s space for a micro SD card to boost that.
Available in white, red or titan grey, the G Pro 2 features a bundle of propitiatory LG software, including a range of video and photography features like 4K ultra HD video capture, post-capture ‘magic’ depth focus, and 20-photo burst mode. LG made its ‘Knock On’ tap-to-power-on feature standard across its devices, but the G Pro 2 takes that a step further with ‘Knock Code,’ a feature that lets users active the display by tapping one of up to 86,367 programmable combinations.
There’s no date on when the phone will launch, but LG will be showing it off at Mobile World Congress next week. Stay tuned for a closer inspection from TNW at the show.