But some of the more interesting products and developments of the show this year might come from companies that can’t afford huge booths. This year, the big players are surrounded (though not especially threatened) by smaller gaming companies that cater to a broadening definition of “gamer.”

On the hardware side, the “big three” console makers have already unveiled or released their next-generation consoles: Sony’s PlayStation 4, Microsoft’s Xbox One and Nintendo’s Wii U, which was released last November. So, lesser-known hardware makers, some of whom have come this far on the backs of ground-up crowdfunding campaigns, will hope to grab a sliver of the spotlight.

Two fledgling hardware companies that will be at E3 and have garnered attention in recent months are Ouya and Oculus VR, maker of the Oculus Rift virtual-reality gaming headset. (For an in-depth Q&A with Oculus, check out this story from last week.)

Ouya, led by gaming industry vet Julie Urhman, first came into existence last summer as a Kickstarter project. The company ultimately raised more than $8.5 million dollars to fund its production of a $99 palm-sized video console that runs Google’s open Android operating system.

Also on the radar this week is London-based PlayJam, which has spent the past 12 years building gaming platforms for smart TVs. At E3, the company will be demoing its $80 GameStick, a thumb-drive-like device launching next month that plugs directly into the TV and connects wirelessly to a retro handheld controller.

Yet another Android-based device, called the Unu, will be shown off at E3 with the hope of appealing to both the gamer and the media consumer. Unu looks and feels like a tablet — and can be used as one — but plugs into a TV-connected dock to run the same Google Play games and media apps on the TV as it does on the tablet. A “media edition” of the Unu will ship this summer for $199, while a “gamer” version, which includes a game controller, will sell for $249.

“Nintendo did very well capturing the whole family segment with the Wii,” said Nick Repenning, vice president of business development for Unu’s maker Snakebyte, of the company’s positioning. “But Wii U hasn’t picked up where Wii left off, and that’s where we get in. We’re tailoring to the same consumer. But where a game for the Wii is $40 or more, our games are between $1 and $10.”

Repenning’s comment gets to the crux of what is so disruptive about these smaller, scrappy companies homing in on E3: Price. For both developers and consumers, making and playing games is potentially more affordable when there are more avenues available than just the walled gardens of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.

“From a developer perspective, you used to have to develop for the ‘big three,’ spend thousands on a dev kit and sign your life away,” said Anthony Johnson, PlayJam’s chief marketing officer. “There are seriously talented game makers out there in the indie community who now have easier access to gamers with platforms like ours.”

But that access is still a long way off from being “easy” at E3, according to Ian Kinsey, the director of Semiformal Studios. Kinsey and his company are trying to disrupt the normal show floor this year with a project called Indies Crash E3. He said the cost of attending and nabbing a booth is prohibitive.

“They’re all about the big guys,” Kinsey said of the Entertainment Software Association, which produces E3. Groups of indie developers currently cannot share booths (which start at $30,000 for 600 square feet on the main floor) to demo games without paying an additional $5,000 per head from other companies.

So Indies Crash E3 held an online vote to bring 10 indie companies to E3. But to get around the $5,000 fees, they’re only showing off their games in private demos for journalists — not to the normal attendees passing by, as they might at a more indie-friendly conference like GDC or the PAX conference series.

In recent years the traditional gaming industry has seen declines in sales due to a variety of factors. NPD data for the month of April showed that total gaming retail sales slid by 25 percent year over year to $495.2 million. Hardware sales fell by 42 percent in the same time frame to $109.5 million.

Big-name software titles and game franchises have remained a bright spot, indicating that many gamers are still willing to spend big bucks on key titles. But at the same time, mobile gaming is on the rise, and the consumers NPD calls “free and mobile gamers” are a rapidly growing segment of the industry.

To be sure, the big console makers and game publishers will still have new tricks and titles to unveil. Many people will be looking for announcements or clues on the launch date and retail price of the Xbox One. The same questions linger around Sony’s PlayStation 4, although the two companies are taking decidedly different approaches to the market: The Xbox One is aimed at controlling all the media available in the living room, while Sony has doubled down on gaming as its primary focus.

The buzzword to watch across all of these devices and games is “cross-platform.” It’s easier to make the leap with Android-powered consoles like the Ouya, Gamestick and Unu, but companies that want to reach as many gamers as possible are angling for games that can be played anytime, anywhere. The race is on in a fragmented market to offer a high-quality experience no matter how you get your game on.

RELATED POSTS:

• E3 in Photos: The Wacky, the Weird and the Gaming Warriors
• Nintendo’s Iwata Blames Slow Wii U Sales on Software Gaps, Says Mobile Isn’t Impacting Industry
• It’s Complicated: At E3, Core Gamers React to Zynga’s Distress
• Notes From a n00b at E3: A Sensory Overload of Fun and Games (But Mostly Just Games)
• Five Questions About the PS4 for Sony’s Jack Tretton
• Sony’s Next-Gen PlayStation 4 Will Cost $399, Launch “This Holiday Season” — With More Than Just Games in Tow
• Microsoft Xbox’s E3 Event Was All About the Games. Now, About That $499 Console …
• Microsoft: Xbox One Comes Out in November, Will Cost $499 in the U.S.
• Microsoft: The Xbox 360 Is Not Dead Yet, With New Hardware Available Today
• At This Year’s E3, Smaller Companies Get a Chance to Stand Out

Some of the answers might surprise you. Aaron Levie of Box listed a handful of people. Only one person I asked voted for Elon Musk — surprising, considering the collective man-crush the Musk interview session seemed to inspire among conference-goers. One woman singled out Max Levchin, likely due to the fact that his new app holds promise for propagating the species. And when asked to choose between AllThingsD’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, some said they simply couldn’t choose.

Here’s the full video:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130604/d11-attendees-answer-the-desert-island-question-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130603/passwords-on-your-skin-and-in-your-stomach-inside-googles-wild-motorola-research-projects-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130603/passwords-on-your-skin-and-in-your-stomach-inside-googles-wild-motorola-research-projects-video/#comments Mon, 03 Jun 2013 18:30:13 +0000 Liz Gannes http://allthingsd.com/?p=328481

Asa Mathat | D: All Things Digital Motorola’s Dennis Woodside and Regina Dugan

Entering a password is so irritating and clumsy that only about half of smartphone owners set up lock screens on their phones, notes Regina Dugan, the former DARPA chief now heading bleeding-edge research at Motorola.

What might be better? Passwords that emanate out of your body after being embedded with a tattoo or swallowed via an electronic pill. No, really.

Google, for all its futurism and “moon shots,” tries to tread pretty carefully around truly invasive stuff. For instance, it said on Friday that it won’t approve any Google Glass apps that include facial recognition.

Dugan, who leads the Google-owned Motorola’s advanced technology team, is less restrained.

At our D11 conference last week, Dugan said she was working to fix “the mechanical mismatch between humans and electronics” by partnering with companies that make authentication more human. Here’s our initial writeup, which has gotten a lot of attention, and here’s the full video of that segment:

“Electronics are boxy and rigid, and humans are curvy and soft,” Dugan said. So how can a password be more accessible by becoming more like a human body? Perhaps you attach it to the skin as a tattoo, or you swallow it as a pill. And this is less science fiction than reality, at least in Motorola’s lab and on the D11 stage, where Dugan showed off both products.

MC10 is a company that makes “stretchable circuits” that can be used for skullcaps to detect concussions in sports, or baby thermometers that constantly track an infant’s vitals. In the form of a temporary tattoo, the technology can attach an antenna and sensors directly on the body.

The key MC10 insight is “islands of silicon connected by accordion-like structures to stretch up to 200 percent and still perform,” Dugan said.

Dugan demos the password tattoo.

Dugan said Motorola is working with MC10 on a tattoo for authentication, and she showed a prototype on her own arm.

This was not some obscure research Motorola plucked out of the air. Earlier this year, MC10 completed an $18 million Series C round from investors including Medtronic and North Bridge Venture Partners.

Dugan is also working with a company called Proteus Digital Health that already has FDA clearance for an ingestible sensor as a medical device. She wants to use it for passwords, too.

“This pill has a small chip inside of it, with a switch. It also has what amounts to an inside-out potato battery,” she said. “When you swallow it, the acids in your stomach serve as the electrolyte, and they power it up and the switch goes on and off and it creates an 18-bit ECG-like signal in your body. Essentially, your entire body becomes your authentication token.”

Once swallowed, Dugan said, “it means that my arms are like wires, my hands are like alligator clips — when I touch my phone, my computer, my door, my car, I’m authenticated in. It’s my first super power. I want that.”

Walt Mossberg holds the password pill.

Proteus, by the way, is also pretty far along. It said last month that it had raised $62.5 million in Series F financing from investors including Oracle, Medtronic and Novartis.

Onstage, Dugan said that it would be medically safe to ingest 30 of these pills every day for the rest of your life, and that the only thing the pill exposes about its swallower is whether or not it has been taken.

“We have demoed this working and authenticating a phone,” added Dugan’s boss, Motorola head Dennis Woodside. “This isn’t stuff that’s going to ship anytime soon, but I think having the boldness to think differently about problems that everybody has everyday is really important for Motorola now.”

But the question is, would people actually do this? How odd would it be to swallow a pill or glue something to your arm to avoid entering a password or pulling out a key? Would you?

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130603/passwords-on-your-skin-and-in-your-stomach-inside-googles-wild-motorola-research-projects-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130603/heres-the-annual-d-all-things-digital-tab-from-the-wsj/ http://allthingsd.com/20130603/heres-the-annual-d-all-things-digital-tab-from-the-wsj/#comments Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:28:46 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=328351 As usual, The Wall Street Journal today published its annual pullout tab in the newspaper, which is also online, focused on some of the onstage interviews at last week’s D: All Things Digital conference. Our 11th show featured a panoply of top Internet and media execs, as well as some pretty cool demos. The Journal special section includes edited excerpts from interviews with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, SpaceX and Tesla Motors head Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook and more. You can read it all here (and complete coverage by ATD is here too, including the full videos of the conference).

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130603/heres-the-annual-d-all-things-digital-tab-from-the-wsj/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130602/anand-chandrasekher-on-how-qualcomm-is-a-triathlete-and-intel-is-lance-armstrong/ http://allthingsd.com/20130602/anand-chandrasekher-on-how-qualcomm-is-a-triathlete-and-intel-is-lance-armstrong/#comments Sun, 02 Jun 2013 17:09:03 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=328189 If you ask Anand Chandrasekher why Intel has struggled so mightily in the mobile chip business, he’ll tell you that his old employer is a great athlete that is trying to play the wrong sport.

The mobile chip business is like a triathlon combining low-power processing horsepower, wireless know-how and graphics muscle. And Intel is kind of like Lance Armstrong. No, Chandrasekher isn’t necessarily saying that Intel is using performance-enhancing drugs, but rather that it is facing challenges in moving beyond its original sport.

“Lance Armstrong was fantastic as a biker, not withstanding any of his habits,” the Qualcomm marketing chief told AllThingsD’s Ina Fried at this week’s D11 conference. “But when he switched from biking to marathoning and did the New York City Marathon, he didn’t do as well … I think Intel faces some of that.”

As for his new employer, he says Qualcomm is “a company that is born mobile.”

“This is a company that has reinvented itself over the past 20-plus years several times,” he said.

So what’s coming next for mobile devices? Lots more sensors and media capabilities that approach those of a home theater, all on a phone or tablet.

Here’s the video interview:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130602/anand-chandrasekher-on-how-qualcomm-is-a-triathlete-and-intel-is-lance-armstrong/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130601/whos-at-d-top-techies-must-have-apps-and-gadgets/ http://allthingsd.com/20130601/whos-at-d-top-techies-must-have-apps-and-gadgets/#comments Sat, 01 Jun 2013 13:00:02 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=328135 Which handset-company executive cites Twitter as his favorite app? Which head of communications claims to be Uber’s biggest customer? Which media maven thinks we all need to stress a lot less, and which well-known online news aggregator says his favorite gadget is his hairbrush?

If you weren’t at D11, get a glimpse behind the scenes in the video below:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130601/whos-at-d-top-techies-must-have-apps-and-gadgets/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130531/the-katiecam-collection/ http://allthingsd.com/20130531/the-katiecam-collection/#comments Sat, 01 Jun 2013 00:07:00 +0000 John Murrell http://allthingsd.com/?p=328069 Once again this year, as tech and media luminaries finished their onstage interviews at D11 this week, Katie Boehret nabbed many of them on the way out for some quick, decidedly more casual questioning on topics that often ranged far from the standard tech business fodder. How often do you get to hear Twitter CEO Dick Costolo talk about his theater background? Or Box CEO Aaron Levie recalling his childhood career as a professional magician? Or ex-Windows head Steven Sinofsky expounding on the benefits of yoga? You get the idea.

Here, then, is the full and fun collection of KatieCam videos, suitable for binge viewing:

A Bit of History About the Two Bit Circus

 
A Few More Questions for Twitter CEO Dick Costolo

 
Leaning In With Sheryl Sandberg

 
Talking Fertility With Glow Creator Max Levchin

 
The Lighter Side of Cisco’s John Chambers

 
Talking Theme Park Attractions With Disney’s Tom Staggs

 
Outside the Box With Aaron Levie

 
What Does Ben Silbermann Pin?

 
Jeff Zucker’s Summer Travel Plans

 
Anne Sweeney and I. Marlene King on Parent-Policed TV

 
Troy Carter Dishes on the Best Cheesesteak in Philly

 
Motorola’s Regina Dugan on Dancing and Cooking

 
Motorola Mobility’s Dennis Woodside Loves Triathlons

 
Yves Behar and Jason Johnson on Teamwork

 
Tesla’s Elon Musk on Being a Dad

 
Steven Sinofsky Does Yoga Every Day

 
Atheer’s Soulaiman Itani and Allen Yang Talk About Sleep

 
Just How “Smart” Is SmartThings CEO Alex Hawkinson’s Home?

 
What’s on Nuance CEO Paul Ricci’s Bookshelf

 
Fanhattan’s Gilles BianRosa on Growing Up in France

 
Jed York’s First Game

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130531/the-katiecam-collection/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130531/nerd-circus-steam-carnival-reaches-100000-kickstarter-goal/ http://allthingsd.com/20130531/nerd-circus-steam-carnival-reaches-100000-kickstarter-goal/#comments Fri, 31 May 2013 23:54:39 +0000 Eric Johnson http://allthingsd.com/?p=328107 Steam Carnival, the STEM-plus-art educational circus that performed earlier this week at D11, has met its $100,000 fundraising goal on Kickstarter. The carnival’s creators, Two Bit Circus, officially announced the news in a message thanking their Kickstarter backers. At the time of this writing, 1,033 backers had pledged $100,901 with 55 hours left for pledges.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130531/nerd-circus-steam-carnival-reaches-100000-kickstarter-goal/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130531/what-happens-when-you-wear-your-computer-d11-speakers-sound-off-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130531/what-happens-when-you-wear-your-computer-d11-speakers-sound-off-video/#comments Fri, 31 May 2013 16:20:26 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=327937 Your smartphone is an incredibly powerful computer that fits inside your pocket.

So, what happens when you put that technology on even smaller devices, like glasses, watches and other stuff you wear?

We’re starting to see a glimpse of that future now, with the first iteration of Google Glass. And the notion of what’s to come seemed to captivate many of the speakers and attendees at our D: All Things Digital conference — even if most of them weren’t wearing Glass during the event.

Here’s a compilation reel of D11 speakers talking about wearable computers, and what they do and don’t intend to do with them in the next few years. The list includes:

• Apple CEO Tim Cook
• Kleiner Perkins’ Mary Meeker
• Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg
• Disney Parks head Tom Staggs
• Twitter CEO Dick Costolo
• Motorola Mobility’s Regina Dugan
• Google’s Sundar Pichai
• Jed York of the San Francisco 49ers and Sony head Kaz Hirai

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130531/what-happens-when-you-wear-your-computer-d11-speakers-sound-off-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130531/htc-one-unlocked-siris-source-and-the-49ers-new-stadium-5-things-you-missed-from-day-three-of-d11/ http://allthingsd.com/20130531/htc-one-unlocked-siris-source-and-the-49ers-new-stadium-5-things-you-missed-from-day-three-of-d11/#comments Fri, 31 May 2013 11:00:38 +0000 Eric Johnson http://allthingsd.com/?p=327921

Asa Mathat / D: All Things Digital

And that’s a wrap — our third and final day of D11 finished strong yesterday with more high-caliber interviews and some awesome tech demos. For those of you who couldn’t join us in Rancho Palos Verdes, here’s a good starting place for catching up on all the action:

1. Google SVP Sundar Pichai announced that his company will sell an unlocked version of the HTC One with the stock Nexus UI for $599, starting on June 26. Pichai also said he’s not worried about Samsung’s dominance among Android manufacturing partners.
2. When asked why Microsoft started making hardware, ex-Windows boss Steven Sinofsky said great user experiences come from an interconnected ecosystem. “That’s an engineering thing,” he said.
3. While many have long suspected as much, Nuance CEO Paul Ricci officially confirmed that the company’s technology is a “fundamental provider” present in Apple’s voice-controlled personal assistant, Siri.
4. Atheer, SmartThings and Fanhattan demoed three next-gen control interfaces: A wearable computer controlled by motion-sensing 3-D glasses; a home full of everyday devices controlled by a phone; and a TV set-top box controlled by a “little Zen rock” remote with 200 sensors but no buttons.
5. San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York and Sony CEO Kaz Hirai discussed the 49ers’ new home, Levi’s Stadium, which will offer a “tech-immersive experience” by, for example, letting fans watch instant replays on their tablets. The stadium will play nicely with whatever tablets customers bring in — not just Sony-made devices.

These five blurbs only scratch the surface. For more, please check out our full list of stories from D: All Things Digital.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130531/htc-one-unlocked-siris-source-and-the-49ers-new-stadium-5-things-you-missed-from-day-three-of-d11/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/sonys-kazuo-hirai-and-49ers-jed-york-the-full-d11-interview-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/sonys-kazuo-hirai-and-49ers-jed-york-the-full-d11-interview-video/#comments Fri, 31 May 2013 03:01:21 +0000 Mike Isaac http://allthingsd.com/?p=327607 San Francisco 49ers boss Jed York wants you to visit his new stadium, and he has enlisted Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai’s help to get you there. York and Hirai are building a connected stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., set to open in 2014, and they aim to go beyond the usual big screens and electric billboards you’re used to. Check out the two in conversation with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at our D: All Things Digital conference:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/sonys-kazuo-hirai-and-49ers-jed-york-the-full-d11-interview-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-jed-yorks-first-game-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-jed-yorks-first-game-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 20:45:03 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327887 Jed York, CEO of the San Francisco 49ers, appeared at D11 to talk about the new 49ers stadium that will boast some immersive high-tech integration. But once he got offstage he told Katie Boehret about a different sort of sporting experience entirely: The story of attending his first live game, at the age of 3.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-jed-yorks-first-game-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/inside-the-motorola-truck-at-d11-nfc-dog-tags-3-d-printers-and-more/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/inside-the-motorola-truck-at-d11-nfc-dog-tags-3-d-printers-and-more/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 20:20:00 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=327748 Motorola wants to show makers some love.

The Google-owned handset maker recently commissioned a van, wrapped in Velcro and filled with hackable phones, to drive around the country and lure in developers.

And it made a pit stop in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., to show off its stuff at the D: All Things Digital conference. Dr. Regina Dugan, Motorola’s senior vice president of advanced technology and projects, was on hand to give a tour of the van, along with Moto engineer Jason Chua.

Spoiler alert: While I took a look at some of the interesting prototyping tools in the van, I didn’t get to throw on a velcro suit and attach myself to the wall of the van.

In total, Motorola said, the van will stop at 12 universities and four Maker Faires over the next five months.

Is the Make With Moto truck cool enough to get the company some cachet with the maker crowd? You be the judge:

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/inside-the-motorola-truck-at-d11-nfc-dog-tags-3-d-printers-and-more/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/kaz-hirai-sony-playstation-4-will-be-first-and-foremost-a-game-player/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/kaz-hirai-sony-playstation-4-will-be-first-and-foremost-a-game-player/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 20:17:16 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=327856 Where Microsoft has positioned the Xbox One as much as an entertainment device as a game console, Sony plans to tout its PlayStation 4 as primarily a device for games.

“The most important thing we need to make sure we do at least initially is that we all agree and understand that the PS4 is a great videogame console that appeals to video gamers,” Hirai said in a briefing with reporters after his onstage appearance at D: All Things Digital. “If we miss that part then I don’t think we get the initial establishment of the console.”

Hirai said that formula has worked in the past, including with the PlayStation 3.

That said, there are capabilities in the device that will make it well suited to other uses, Hirai said, without giving details.

“We take a look at this first and foremost as a game console,” Hirai said. “We don’t want to end there. That’s an area we will obviously reveal and talk about in the coming months.”

Another important area for Sony is its retail store effort, something Hirai said is continuing and changing with the adoption of new retail formats including the addition of smaller-format stores and kiosks. The company is rolling out the approach it took in its Los Angeles-area store to other retail locations around the globe, he said.

“[Retail] is important in telling the Sony story in a compelling way,” Hirai said.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/kaz-hirai-sony-playstation-4-will-be-first-and-foremost-a-game-player/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/49ers-york-and-sonys-hirai-get-off-the-couch-and-into-our-connected-stadium/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/49ers-york-and-sonys-hirai-get-off-the-couch-and-into-our-connected-stadium/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 20:15:57 +0000 Mike Isaac http://allthingsd.com/?p=327544 If you want 10 different angles on that last great touchdown pass, it’s probably better to watch the big game from your big screen at home.

But San Francisco 49ers boss Jed York and Sony CEO Kaz Hirai have a different idea to get you off the couch and into the stadium: “Beer-proof tablets.”

Well, that and a little more. The two outfits are working together to create a smarter stadium set to open in 2014, with an aim to connect the fans who come out to the game in far more ways than the usual fancy, giant electronic screens.

So a Sony-made “beer-proof tablet” may be one way to get fans in seats. But York says it’s more than that.

“You don’t want to be doing tech for tech’s sake,” York said in conversation with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at our D: All Things Digital conference. “So we’re talking to Sony about the inclusion of 4K cameras. We want to highlight Sony products, but we aren’t afraid of competition between Sony and other hardware competitors in the stadium,” he said.

That doesn’t necessarily mean tablets and smartphones strapped to the backs of seats. Think of it more along the lines of walking into a stadium with your smartphone or tablet, and being able to tap into an existing connected network that will make the whole experience of going out to a game much better.

“It’s things like the best route to get to your seat, the best place to park,” York said. Or perhaps you want to eschew hotdogs and beers for a salad — you could order said salad from your seat, and find the best route through the stadium to pick it up. York is aiming for a more “complete experience, as opposed to just different camera angles.”

So, what does Sony get out of the deal? For one, there are “lots of branding opportunities,” Hirai said. And, of course, there is space for Sony’s giant 4K, high-quality-display television screens across stadium walls.

And while York maintains that the 49ers want to “remain agnostic to devices in the stadium,” Hirai said there were other possibilities for Sony integration. “Do we want to rent out tablets? Do we want to rent out our Experia smartphones to let consumers try them out on the spot? We’ll see,” Hirai said.

That’s the same Sony electronics business that has seen flagging success in recent years, and which remains the focus of Hirai’s corporate turnaround since assuming the CEO role one year ago. He also brushed off questions about the recent proposal from activist hedge funder Dan Loeb — who has argued for Sony to partially spin off its entertainment arm from the electronics biz — saying that the board is still considering and discussing Loeb’s proposal.

To be sure, this isn’t the first idea for a connected stadium. Sony has outfitted dozens of other sporting arenas in the past with its tech. And even if the new 49ers stadium will be different from the others that preceded it, we’ve yet to see if people will want to actually use all this fancy techie stuff — or whether they’d just prefer to grab a beer and a bratwurst and just watch the game at home with the family.

Perhaps York can do both.

“The camaraderie of being at the game — there’s nothing like that,” York said. “We want to take that great home-entertainment experience and bring it to the stadium.”

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/49ers-york-and-sonys-hirai-get-off-the-couch-and-into-our-connected-stadium/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/sony-ceo-kaz-hirai-still-more-work-needed-in-u-s-on-phone-business/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/sony-ceo-kaz-hirai-still-more-work-needed-in-u-s-on-phone-business/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 20:03:18 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=327828 While Sony has seen some success rebuilding its mobile phone business in other parts of the world, the U.S. remains a work in progress.

“We still have a lot of stuff to do here in the market,” Sony CEO Kaz Hirai said in a meeting with reporters following his onstage appearance at D11. “There is no question about it.”

The company plans to start selling its flagship Xperia Z phone through a U.S. carrier shortly; increased marketing efforts should help things, Hirai said.

In Japan, Hirai noted that the Xperia Z managed to be the top-selling phone for six weeks straight in a highly competitive, highly fickle market.

“It’s literally a feat,” he said.

Hirai said that while much of his first year has been spent stopping the bleeding in current categories of the electronics business, the company is also working to find ways to be a leader in new categories.

“I firmly believe the DNA is there to be back in that position,” Hirai said.

As for when higher-resolution 4K television will take off, Hirai said it is still a way off.

“It will take time, just like HD didn’t happen overnight,” he noted, saying it was the work of content producers, device makers and others. “That’s exactly what happened with color television.”

But not all of the industry’s efforts have flourished. He noted more work is also still needed with 3-D television, he said.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/sony-ceo-kaz-hirai-still-more-work-needed-in-u-s-on-phone-business/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/nuance-ceo-paul-ricci-the-full-d11-interview-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/nuance-ceo-paul-ricci-the-full-d11-interview-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 19:52:07 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=325815 A decade ago, voice recognition software was the stuff of science fiction, a Kubrickian vision of the way we might someday interact with computers. Today, it’s just another user interface, but one that is becoming increasingly pervasive across the consumer electronics industry. As CEO of Nuance, a company that arguably dominates the market for speech recognition, Paul Ricci is presiding over a UI transition that may well result in speech and natural language processing upending the current computer interface as we know it. In a wide-ranging D11 interview with Walt Mossberg, Ricci discussed speech recognition’s journey from the call center to personal assistant, and what’s next for natural language processing. Full video of the session below.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/nuance-ceo-paul-ricci-the-full-d11-interview-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/steven-sinofsky-the-full-d11-interview-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/steven-sinofsky-the-full-d11-interview-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 19:37:27 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=327616 Steven Sinofsky is talking to lots of companies these days. He’s meeting with big companies, small companies and plenty of venture capitalists.

But as for what he wants to tackle next, Sinofsky said he isn’t sure. Nor is he in a hurry to figure things out.

“I’m not in a big rush,” he said, speaking at D11 on Thursday.

While hesitant to revisit much of the internal politics that governed his time at Microsoft or his exit, he did reflect some on the challenges of making big changes like those done with Windows 8 and offered some observations on the iPhone (it’s very nice as long as it does what you want to do) and Android (it’s very open with all the good and bad that entails).

Here’s the full video:

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/steven-sinofsky-the-full-d11-interview-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/android-and-chrome-head-sundar-pichai-the-full-d11-interview-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/android-and-chrome-head-sundar-pichai-the-full-d11-interview-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 18:34:31 +0000 Liz Gannes http://allthingsd.com/?p=327550 Sundar Pichai leads both of Google’s operating systems — Android and Chrome — as well as many of the company’s apps.

Pichai said today at D11 that he knows people won’t believe him, but he’s not dismayed by a world where Samsung is becoming the dominant force in Android, and Amazon and Facebook reshape Android almost beyond recognition.

That’s because Google has invested immensely in services that he doesn’t think those players can match: Search, maps and YouTube among them, and next up Google Now and Google Play Music All Access, which is coming to iOS “in a few weeks.”

“It’s not just the operating system, but it’s the services on top of it, the cloud services,” Pichai said. “That’s where the innovation lies.”

Plus, in addition to its Nexus devices, Google is taking back the option for consumers to buy phones that run its own version of Android. It previously announced it would sell an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S4 for $649, and now it will also sell an unlocked HTC One for $599.

Here’s the full video of Pichai onstage in conversation with Walt Mossberg:

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/android-and-chrome-head-sundar-pichai-the-full-d11-interview-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-fanhattans-gilles-bianrosa-on-growing-up-in-france-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-fanhattans-gilles-bianrosa-on-growing-up-in-france-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 18:20:38 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327894 At the 11th D: All Things Digital this week, Fanhattan CEO Gilles BianRosa showed off a sleek TV controller with more than 200 sensors, but no buttons. Where did that design come from? In part, as he told Katie Boehret, his French and Italian background may have played a role.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-fanhattans-gilles-bianrosa-on-growing-up-in-france-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/siri-do-you-use-nuance/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/siri-do-you-use-nuance/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 18:13:22 +0000 Voices http://allthingsd.com/?p=327711

“We’re a fundamental provider for Apple.”

– Nuance CEO Paul Ricci confirms what has long been suspected, that Nuance is present in Apple’s Siri virtual assistant.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/siri-do-you-use-nuance/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/nuance-virtual-assistants-will-work-across-platforms-within-two-years/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/nuance-virtual-assistants-will-work-across-platforms-within-two-years/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 18:11:41 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=327687 Siri is good at predicting the weather on your iPhone. And Google Now can tell you a few interesting things.

But within two years, virtual assistants will be able to do a wide range of tasks from handling all types of media to making reservations to offering full control of devices. More importantly, they will work across tablets, televisions and phones.

“I think we will see virtual assistants within two years that are quite robust,” Nuance CEO Paul Ricci said, speaking at D11. “I also believe that within two years we will see that virtual assistants will work across platforms.”

Nuance, a leader in speech recognition, has been involved with Siri since before it was acquired by Apple. While it doesn’t power Google’s stock Android speech recognition, it is behind Samsung’s S Voice and virtual assistant technology on HTC devices. It also works with Amazon and, Ricci confirmed, Nuance still works with Apple.

“We’re a fundamental provider for Apple,” Ricci said.

As for why Nuance bought Swype, Ricci said: “We thought over time there are some common technologies in language and prediction technologies.”

So, has that paid off?

“It’s worked out some,” Ricci said.

Nuance is also working a lot on speech recognition for in-car systems, an area Walt Mossberg points out has yet to be truly great.

“The car does need work but the problem must be solved,” Ricci said. Ricci notes that things will improve as the car gets connected and can harness the power of the cloud.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/nuance-virtual-assistants-will-work-across-platforms-within-two-years/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/fanhattan-debuts-pint-size-fan-tv-set-top-box-to-simplify-the-living-room/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/fanhattan-debuts-pint-size-fan-tv-set-top-box-to-simplify-the-living-room/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 18:11:06 +0000 Bonnie Cha http://allthingsd.com/?p=327485 Your home theater system can get pretty cluttered even if you have a relatively minimal setup of a cable box, DVR and streaming media device. But what if you could simplify all of that down to one piece of equipment that fits in the palm of your hand? Sounds pretty enticing, no? Well, that’s what Fanhattan has done with its new Fan TV set-top box.

Unveiled today at D11, Fanhattan CEO Gilles BianRosa said Fan TV is the company’s next step for creating a more streamlined entertainment experience for everyone. Previously known for its video discovery service, this is the company’s first foray into the hardware business.

Designed in partnership with Yves Behar, who also worked on the SodaStream seltzer maker, Jawbone products and the just-announced August “smart” door lock, Fan TV consists of a small pod and touch-sensitive remote that can attach magnetically to the former for safekeeping.

BianRosa called the Fan TV an input 1 device, meaning that it plugs into the first input of your TV and acts as your primary set-top box. There’s only an HDMI port, an Ethernet jack (it also has Wi-Fi) and a power connector on back, so setup should be simple. And it provides access to live TV, on-demand content, DVR and streaming services.

The device is powered by components similar to the ones found in a tablet. There is no hard drive; everything is in the cloud, including DVR recordings.

The battery-operated remote is interesting in and of itself. It communicates via Bluetooth, and there are no buttons on it at all. Instead, the surface of the remote acts as a touchpad and has 200 sensors. You just swipe the surface to navigate through the menus and change channels, while a quick tap will select an item. Without any buttons, users won’t be able to manually enter channel numbers and that’s by design. However, there is an onscreen keyboard if you want to search for a TV show or movie.

BianRosa said the company has been working on Fan TV for the past two years, while it has been learning how to work with the industry and users of the iOS apps and the Web.

Calling it the centerpiece of the whole system, it should come as no surprise that Fan TV integrates Fanhattan’s video discovery service — now simply known as Fan.

BianRosa, joined by AllThingsD’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, gave a demo of how it all works. While watching live TV, BianRosa navigated through different channels by swiping on the remote. He also showed how you could search for movies by what’s playing at a certain time or genre.

I also got to check out Fan TV at Fanhattan’s San Mateo, Calif., offices, and I was impressed by the minimalist design of the actual device. The remote was easy to use, but it’s hard to say whether it’s a better solution than traditional remotes with buttons after only getting to play with it for a short amount of time.

With the Fan integration, I liked that I could search for TV shows and movies in a smarter way, and also view trailers, read reviews from Rotten Tomato, listen to a movie soundtrack and more. There was some lag when pulling up some content, but in general, I thought it was very slick. But Fanhattan’s big challenge may not be getting consumers onboard but the cable providers. BianRosa said they are working with paid TV providers to bring Fan TV to market together.

“We’re not ignoring them. We want to work with them, and we want to make their service look great,” said BianRosa. “As an industry, they’ve been underserved by getting set-top boxes manufactured by Cisco and Motorola. Those companies don’t really face consumers. They are clients of those cable companies, so they don’t really care about design and usability.”

Fanhattan isn’t announcing any cable or service streaming partners today, nor are they talking pricing, though it did say that customers will be able to buy Fan TV from the cable company or from Fanhattan directly. When asked which cable provider they were using for the demo, BianRosa avoided the question (read: None).

BianRosa said that they will release more details through the rest of the year, and pointed out when they first released the iPad app at D9, they only launched with four partners but now they have 30 services across the Web and iOS.

“That shows that we know how to partner with those companies, but it takes time to bring those services the right way in a device like this,” he said.

In addition to Fan TV, Fanhattan announced that it’s opening up its Web service to everyone starting today. The interface has also been redesigned with simpler navigation, an expanded activity feed and other improvements. The same features will be pushed out to the iOS app soon.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/fanhattan-debuts-pint-size-fan-tv-set-top-box-to-simplify-the-living-room/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-whats-on-nuance-ceo-paul-riccis-bookshelf-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-whats-on-nuance-ceo-paul-riccis-bookshelf-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 18:07:21 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327896 Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO of Nuance, confirmed at D11 today that Nuance’s voice recognition software is one of the foundational parts of Apple’s mobile personal assistant, Siri. But he didn’t need a digital intermediary (well, other than that microphone) to talk to our own Katie Boehret about his summer vacation plans and what he’s reading right now.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-whats-on-nuance-ceo-paul-riccis-bookshelf-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20130530/live-at-d11-with-nuance-ceo-paul-ricci/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/live-at-d11-with-nuance-ceo-paul-ricci/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 17:55:57 +0000 Arik Hesseldahl http://allthingsd.com/?p=327672 If you’ve ever spoken to or been spoken to by a computer or a smartphone, there’s a pretty good chance that there’s technology from Nuance involved. Over the last decade or so, Nuance has accumulated an impressive portfolio of voice-related technologies. That puts it front and center in the battle to control what’s likely going to be the way we control our devices and computing environment in the post-PC era. In fact it acquired a company in the in-car infotainment business today.

Nuance’s technology, widely known for its Dragon line of dictation products, has a patent footprint related to speech recognition that is so broad that it’s widely thought — but has never been acknowledged officially by anyone — to be present in Siri, the speech-recognition service on Apple’s iPhone. It’s also a regular target of speculation that a larger company will buy it out. In his first appearance at D: All Things Digital, expect its Chairman and CEO Paul Ricci to field lots of questions on the future of speech interfaces and the unexpected places where they may show up next.

10:57 am: Ricci: We knew this was going to be a long journey. … Speech has progressed a long way. We’ve come so far that in areas like health care we can capture doctors’ notes and use them productively. But the real problem is creating for the user a virtual assistant that can understand what the user wants and take actions based on anticipating those needs.

Ricci just confirmed what has long been suspected, that Nuance is present in Siri. Walt asked, “If Siri doesn’t understand me, is it your fault?” Ricci didn’t want to answer specifically. He also says Nuance is not involved with Google’s speech-recognition efforts, but does work with Samsung and some other companies in voice applications that run on Android.

Ricci: I think we will see virtual assistants in two years that will be quite robust in certain subject areas. They’ll be good at command and control of the device. They’ll become refined by your usage and the preferences that you have. They’ll also work across platforms. So it will follow you from your tablet to your TV to your phone, etc.

Walt: Might I be able to walk around my house and expect it to be like the Starship Enterprise?

Ricci: Many consumer electronics manufacturers are working on this and will want to brand the experience. They’re putting sensors around you.

Walt: So there will be microphones embedded around the house?

Ricci: There might be. But you might talk to the smartphone. And the assistant will follow you around the house and into the car.

Ricci says Nuance’s technology is essentially a standard in cars. Walt says it doesn’t work very well. Ricci agrees it still needs work.

Ricci: We’ll be able to bring more cloud-based services to the car and that will help improve the service.

11:11 am: Walt has just opened the floor for Q&A.

Question: Is Nuance client-based (locally) or cloud-based? Ricci says it depends on the application. Some smart phones are a hybrid. Cars have to have a local component. On the iPhone, for example, it’s both. Siri is cloud-based, but there’s some embedded bits to it as well.

Question from Steve Wildstrom about voice control on television. The problem is that TVs are noisy. How far are you from solving that?

Ricci says the acoustical situation is challenging. Noise-filtering technology is getting better. The next generation of televisions will contain some of that technology. He has seen demonstrations where a TV can pick out the voice of the user at a distance in a noisy environment. No one is happy with the current way we interact with TVs. Voice would be a natural way to make it simpler. It used to be that the signals in cars, which are also noisy, you just couldn’t use speech.

Question from Esther Dyson about lawsuits that tend to follow Nuance, and also about Carl Icahn’s interest in it.

Ricci says the mobile world in particular is very litigious. About Icahn, he says being a public company means doing business with large shareholders. The companies that do best are the ones that focus on their long-term vision.

Question about assistive technology and compliment about some of Nuance’s technology. And a complaint about Windows 8 speech controls that aren’t as good as those in Windows 7.

Ricci: We don’t control Windows, but we provide Dragon on top of Windows. I’ve had more people come up to me and say we’ve been able to help people with motor control problems.

And that’s it.

Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/live-at-d11-with-nuance-ceo-paul-ricci/feed/ 0