Andy Vuong

CEA's Jim Barry says tablets will once again be the hot item at the 2012 CES.

The International Consumer Electronics Show is still three months away, but it’s never too early to talk about the world’s largest technology trade show.

Tablet computers will once again dominate the annual event, held in January, as it did this year, according to Jim Barry, digital answer man for the Consumer Electronics Association.

He says there will be two top themes: tablets and connected (or smart) TVs.

Two questions loom about tablets, Barry says:

1. How big is the market for the gadgets made popular by Apple’s iPad? (About 10 percent of households currently own one, with Apple controlling an estimated 90 percent of the market).

2. How much of Apple’s lead can the other guys cut into? (Amazon announced a 7-inch touchscreen tablet today called the Kindle Fire).

Even though Apple doesn’t exhibit at the show, the iLounge – which features accessories for Apple products – will double in size with about 75,000 square feet of exhibit space.

Barry says e-readers and high-tech cars will also be showcased at the 2012 show. Despite the growing popularity of tablets, sales of e-readers are expected to increase by 100 percent this year compared with 2010 sales.

Bloomberg News

Ergen could land Hulu.

Fresh off announcing a new streaming service, Douglas County-based Dish Network has reportedly submitted a $1.9 billion bid for video streaming service Hulu.

Business Insider, citing two unnamed sources, says Dish’s offer isn’t the highest, but comes with fewer strings attached than the top bid from Google.

Google bid much more — something in the range of $4 billion. But that bid came with special conditions, as has been previously reported — Google wanted more content for a longer period of time, and perhaps other concessions as well.

Dish’s offer beat out bids from Amazon and Yahoo, according to Business Insider.

On Oct. 1, Read more…

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The Blockbuster Movie Pass will cost $10 a month.

Dish Network, the nation’s No. 2 satellite-TV company, announced today a comprehensive movie package that includes a streaming service and incorporates Blockbuster’s brick-and-mortar stores. Dish acquired the video rental chain in April.

The new package, called the Blockbuster Movie Pass, offers 100,000 movies and TV shows by mail, 3,000 movies streamed to TVs, 4,000 movies streamed to computers, 3,000 games by mail, unlimited in-store exchanges and access to more than 20 premium movie channels. Read more…

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Dish will announce a Netflix-like service Friday.

Douglas County-based Dish Network and recently acquired Blockbuster will announce a streaming video service Friday. Dish, the nation’s No. 2 satellite-TV company, says it will introduce the “most comprehensive home entertainment package ever.”

Bloomberg reported this month that Dish would try to compete against Netflix with a subscription-based streaming service. Details on pricing and availability weren’t disclosed at the time.

To watch a live stream of Read more…

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Zuckerberg announces Timeline, the new Facebook profile interface

Facebook’s news feed redesign was just the start. Your Facebook profile page is about to undergo a major makeover.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg lifted the curtains today on Timeline, which he says is a place for all your stories and apps and a new way to express who you are.

“It’s how you can tell the whole story of your life on a single page,” Zuckerberg said Read more…

Denver Post file photo

A woman browses through a book at the LoDo Tattered Cover.

Google jumps into the online daily deals boom with Google Offers, launching a beta version in Denver today.

The first offer is a pretty good deal: $5 for $20 in merchandise at a Tattered Cover Book Store.

You may recall that Google made an attempt to buy Groupon late last year, only to have the online daily deals giant reject the multibillion dollar Read more…

Four months ago, these words came out of Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen’s mouth:

I don’t see Blockbuster necessarily being a competitor to Netflix directly in terms of streaming because Netflix has got formidable lead and probably insurmountable lead in that business.

Today, Bloomberg News reports that Blockbuster, which Dish acquired this year, will do exactly what Ergen said it wouldn’t do: compete directly Read more…