TechLifeWeb

What I’m reading and finding for June 21st 2011 through June 22nd 2011:

• PopCap Games To Be Acquired For $1 Billion+ -
  techcrunch.com
  - Jason Kincaid
  

  Huge news in the gaming world: PopCap Games, the company behind such hits as Plants vs Zombies and Bejeweled, is in the process of being acquired — and we’re hearing from multiple sources that the price is over $1 billion.
  The question now is who the buyer is. The obvious possibility is Zynga, which has made a string of game-related acquisitions over the last year. But we’re hearing they’re out. Our sources say that Zynga did indeed kick the tires hard on a potential acquisition, but it looks l…  show all text
• My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant -
  nytimes.com
  - By JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS
  

  A reporter talks about his illegal American dream.
• From Twitter – RT @latimestech Yahoo looks into buying Hulu, but is Hulu for sale? http://lat.ms/isVgRo
• Start-Up Lytro Aims to Sharpen Focus of Entire Camera Industry – A Mountain View start-up is promising that its camera, due later this year, will bring the biggest change to photography since the transition from film to digital.
• Upending Anonymity, These Days the Web Unmasks Everyone -
  nytimes.com
  - By BRIAN STELTER
  

  Pervasive social media services, cheap cellphone cameras, free photo and video Web hosts have made privacy all but a thing of the past.
• From Twitter – Wasn’t aware of Apps Script. Cool RT @newsycombinator Building UI in Google Apps Script just got a whole lot easier http://j.mp/j9zjNF
• From Twitter – RT @Techmeme Flickr now Supports OAuth 1.0a (@jfanaian/ Code) http://j.mp/mqzu57

Engadget reports that Google is buying SageTV. This is huge news! If I didn’t have Windows Media Center I’d be looking seriously at SageTV. Sage already has set-top box hardware for extending content from PC to the TV. Google could use that or leverage that into what they are already offering in their Google TV products.
I don’t think many of us who follow this space saw this coming. Michael Welter, over on Missing Remote, posted the email that users received.
Will I switch? Well, that remains to be seen. Really curious where Google will take this. Also still curious where Microsoft will go with Media Center in Windows 8. No matter what, it is an exciting space to watch!
If you don’t know about Sage, here is a video:

This evening at the CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association) trade show, Microsoft’s big announce was support for CableCARD in non-OEM Windows 7 systems. This is big news for enthusiasts as the only way to get it before was through a new purchase or a hack that wasn’t quite on the up and up.

Microsoft now supports Switched Digital Video (SDV) in Windows Media Center for Windows 7. In conjunction with a device known as a tuning adapter, supplied by a customer’s cable provider, Windows Media Center and a digital cable tuner with CableCARD will be able to tune to SDV channels. Customers can enjoy SDV broadcasts on PCs running Windows Media Center in Windows 7 and a digital cable tuner with CableCARD.

A new tool will be provided by Microsoft that assesses the a Windows 7 PC’s ability to support CableCARD. This tool will analyze the PC and enable digital cable support if the PC meets requirements, opening digital cable options to Windows Media Center customers across the country.

The other interesting thing announced was a technology preview of the new Multi-Channel Cable TV Card from Ceton Corp., which enables PCs with Windows Media Center to play or record multiple live channels of premium HDTV at once, and stream live HD channels or recordings to multiple TV sets throughout the home, all with a single CableCARD.  One card recording up to 6 HD channels simultaneously. Seems like huge news to me!

Still on the hunt for extender news but none announced.