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Sony announced they’ve added some new partners for their connected Bravia TVs.  These TVs, when hooked up to broadband, bring the net experience to your living room.  Sony is doing this in an extremely controlled fashion.

How controlled?  One at a time, baby.  That is right: they added CBS which uses Flash 10 for content, as does Hulu but Sony does not have a partnership with them.  You’ll have access to their partners via a special link, not a browser.  Curious?

Of course you are!  So was I.  So I asked Sony.  Check out their answers after the break.

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Sections: Video, HDTV, Web, Web Apps, Websites, Online Music/Video

The other day, I got a chance to talk to Slacker (makers of the portable radio player, Slacker G2).  I thought it was a pretty cool device and asked since it was wireless already, why not make the whole thing wireless by adding Bluetooth?  The Slacker spokesperson nodded and told me that he could not tell me about that, but to keep an eye out for new developments.  When I pressed him to see if they would do Bluetooth, he responded with a laugh and said he couldn’t say anything now.

He then explained how Bluetooth compresses audio and there may be quality issues for other music players when they try to use Bluetooth.  The Slacker spokesperson told me that since Slacker uses AAC V2 compression, Bluetooth may be able to handle Slacker’s music without any loss of quality.  This explanation on how the Slacker G2 could take advantage of Bluetooth coupled with the knowing laughs of the spokesperson convinced me that Bluetooth is coming.

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The original Slacker Music Player was originally announced back in November 2007, and it experienced several delays before it actually hit the market. After which it was not always given the best reviews and there seemed to be many issues that were holding back its potential success. I say potential success because the Slacker Radio service is great and a pleasure to use; it is a great way to listen to a wide variety of music without having to sit and sort and create playlists.

With an already good music service, the introduction of the new hardware seems like it can only help in giving Slacker some success. The newly released player is the Slacker G2 Portable Radio Player and perhaps the biggest change is in the size. The G2 is much smaller, measuring in at 3.4 x 2.0 x 0.5-inches and weighing just 2.6-ounces. Feature wise it offers a 2.4-inch display with a 320 x 240 pixel resolution, built-in Wi-Fi and comes in either a 4GB or 8GB storage option. As far as the external controls, the G2 has the volume control located on the top, with a scroll wheel, home button and lock button on the right hand side. Additionally, the G2 also has a USB port on the lower left side and an industry standard accessory connector on the bottom.

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Slacker has just announced the G2 Personal Radio Player, which serves as a follow up to the original Portable Player that was announced last November. We were able to get out first glimpse of what to expect with the G2 when we saw the FCC approval come through last month, and thankfully it seems the released player has kept the looks we expected.

First off, I am not 100% sold on the new design as it still seems to have the style of either an older PDA or very basic touchscreen phone. With that said you cannot really argue the fact the design has been very much improved from the previous version. Aside from the new design, the basic features remain the same as the original player which means that it will allow you to have a personalized listening experience without having to purchase any music or even subscribe to a service.

More on the Slacker G2 after the break.

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Looking almost like a rejected PDA design from the 90’s, the latest incarnation of the Slacker Portable Player has just made its FCC appearance. Overall Slacker G2 Wi-Fi portable player seems to be a big improvement style-wise. Based on the images, the player is roughly 3-inches tall and 2-inches wide, which will be nice compared to the current player which is 4.2-inches tall and 2.76 inches wide. The overall layout has also changed, the display will obviously be smaller as well, but all things considered a 4-inch diagonal display on a device that does not play video seems to be overkill anyway. In addition to the smaller overall size and smaller display, the buttons have also been moved to a more convenient position on the front and a located just under the display.

Other items to note is that according to the FCC images, it will be available in at least a 4GB option, and will feature an FM receiver, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g. The Slacker G2 portable player will be powered by a Broadcom BCM4325GKFBG chip and a 730mAH battery. Typical with the FCC leaks, we still have no time line for release or any pricing information. Keep reading to check out a few more of the FCC images…

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As a die-hard Pandora fan I am not sure if the folks at Slacker were seeking me out to try and convert me, or they just didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. Here are my thoughts after using Slacker.com’s streaming internet radio for a little over 2 months.

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Sections: Audio, Reviews, Web, Web Apps, Online Music/Video, Features

Slacker’s Portable radio will begin shipping today, after what seemed like a long wait, it was officially announced back in November. The Portable player was ready to ship during mid-December, but sadly they pushed that back till late January. Today to be exact, and a quick check of the Slacker website shows a now updated page. Slacker was set up at CES and we were able to get a little hands on time, which just made us want one a little more.

If you have not placed your order already, the Slacker Portable player is available in three models, a 15 station (2GB), 25 station(4GB) and 40 station (8GB) model that will retail for $199.99, $249.99 and $299.99 respectively.

Read [Slacker]

• Gadgetell Roundup: Slacker G2 Portable Radio Player Reviews
• Slacker to add Bluetooth to their players
• Bring the net to your TV: Sony Bravia leads the way