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Facebook Photos Roku Channel Permissions Fixed

Back in August, we reported that the Roku Facebook Photos Channel was broken yet AGAIN, preventing Roku owners from viewing their own profile photos or photos from their friends’ profiles. I reached out to Roku support (the channel was created by Roku, not Facebook) in every way imaginable requesting a fix, but they did not respond whatsoever.

Below is a photo of the broken Facebook Photos Roku channel, with the photos not appearing while the app was not working properly.

Fortunately, an independent developer going by the username fashnek on the Roku forums has provided a fix for everyone to use.

This solution will let you get FULL functionality from the Facebook app, not just the partial functionality (like only profile pictures).

Facebook changed their permissions policies, and Roku has been slow to fix their app. This should fix it all for you:

1. Authorize the new permissions.

You won’t find that link anywhere else, because I hacked it together myself. It will redirect you to the shop site afterwards, but that’s not important.

2. If you haven’t already, generate the code.

You’re welcome! Spread it around!

Thank you fashnek! After clicking on the “Authorize the new permissions” link above from a browser that has a Facebook session going for your FB account, you should now be able to access all of the sections of the Facebook Photos Roku Channel! I’m very happy to be able to utilize the Facebook Photos channel once again. It’s just sad that Roku themselves ignored all of the customer complaints and wouldn’t provide a fix.

New Google TV features

So close to CES 2011, not a lot of companies are making announcements. Not true for Google, who just announced four new features coming to Google TV, just in time for the holiday.

• Netflix – A totally revamped UI for Netflix on Google TV makes it easier to browse and watch movies and TV shows in Netflix’s streaming catalogue.
• Dual View – Watch TV and the use the web how you want, now that you can resize your screens and move them around to your liking.
• Remote Control App – Starting today you can use your Android phone as a TV remote. Even change the channel with your voice. Find ‘Google TV Remote’ in Android Market.
  
  
  
• Movie Results – Find the movie you want to watch in the our new movie search results page. Finds movies that are on TV, the web, Netflix, and Amazon VOD.

The mystery of the missing iPad AirPlay button

I was handed an iPad and asked, “Where did the AirPlay button go?” That’s a good question. The iPad was loaded with iOS 4.2.1 and AirPlay was working fine, but now the button was missing from all of the apps on which it was once available.

I took my own iPad out to make sure it was still there. It was. Both iPads were upgraded on the same day to 4.2.1. Both iPads used the same network to stream to the same AppleTV. You may have seen the demo. Yet his iPad doesn’t have the AirPlay button, and mine does.

I tried the Video app, iPod app, YouTube app, Netflix, and Photos. None of the apps had the AirPlay button they once had.

I did a bit of snooping online, and found a few other people with the same problem. Did Apple roll out AirPlay prematurely?

This Apple Support forum thread points to a bug when the language is changed on the device.

Changing language (English > French > English) brought back the AirPlay icon on iPod on my iPhone 3Gs v4.2.1. It came back on the first switch to French, and also when I switched back to English. Prior suggestions of rebooting did not correct the situation.

This seems out of character for Apple, who has a long history of reliable software.

UPDATE with solution

The AirPlay button does not appear on the device while it is connected to 3G. AirPlay requires a WiFi or Bluetooth connection. This iPad didn’t automatically switch to WiFi, so I manually switched it and the button reappeared.

This seems like the the same problem other people have had. Their solutions must have reset their connection to WiFi.

Review: AirPlay on AppleTV

Apple released the iOS update to version 4.2.1 this week, which adds several desirable features to the iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad. I upgraded our iPad and AppleTV to the latest version and gave it a quick test. But first, an explanation of features.

Added features with 4.2

• Multitasking on iPad The iPhone and iPod touch has had multi tasking since early this year. With the 4.2 upgrade, the iPad now has multitasking ability. This is the most requested feature for the iPad.
• Folders on iPad Folders allows simple drag-and-drop functionality to organize apps and files.
• AirPrint This is one feature I was looking forward to. The print feature is available in the apps, but it won’t find the printer, and there is no printer setup screen anywhere. I’ve looked up a few sources to find out how to get it to work, and it seems Apple hasn’t released an accompanying AirPrint application for Mac or PC. We’ll have to wait on this.
• AirPlay Probably the most exciting upgrade, AirPlay allows content on the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to stream to a local AppleTV wirelessly. I’ve used the feature and find it compelling. More on this later

• Find My iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch Helps track down and secure lost devices and private data. This is a feature many new “smart” portable devices are adding.
• Game Center Game Center appeared on the home screen automatically after the update. I haven’t used it much, but it seems like a great gateway to find new games.
• iTunes TV show rentals TV show rentals are available. I checked it out on iTunes, but I’m still not sure why anyone would spend the money to do this if they already had cable or satellite. On the other hand, I cancelled my cable service and probably wouldn’t mind spending the $15.99 for the season pass to AMC’s The Walking Dead.
• Unified mail box All email accounts go into a unified inbox.
• Find text on web pages Exactly as it sounds. Helps find relevant information.
• Reply to calendar invitations RSVP to invitations directly from the calendar app. Works with Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft Exchange.
• Enhanced enterprise support Stronger security features and device management.

Testing AirPlay

How does AirPlay work? Simple. When viewing photos or video, or listening to audio, you just select the AirPlay button, and then chose where you want the content to go. I tried it out with AppleTV. See the video below.

With AirPlay, I would recommend the AppleTV to any iPad owner. It’s one of the cheapest accessories you can get for the thing, and it’s just so cool. It’s true that you can stream this content from your computer to an AppleTV or similar device (Roku, Boxee, etc), but if you have an iPad, you might be downloading stuff on the fly and want to watch it as soon as you get home.

Or even with the iPhone or iPod touch, AirPlay is compelling. Imagine this scenario: you’ve got music playing on ear buds, and when you get home, you simply hit the AirPlay button and transfer it immediately to your home speakers without having to fidget through a separate device.

With this new iOS update, iTunes has also been upgraded to also include AirPlay. I tried this out as well, and it works great. The only issue is there isn’t a conflict resolution, so whichever device selects an end point last gets immediate access regardless of whatever else was being shared. An example was streaming audio from the local PC to the AppleTV, and then using the iPad content. The iPad immediately streamed to the AppleTV. iTunes on the PC didn’t recognize this change.

Also coming to the market are audio/video receivers, speakers, iPod docks, and more with AirPlay. So from the portable device or from iTunes, you can stream audio to whichever device you chose. This seems like it has great potential.

There were a few other bugs with AirPlay, but I don’t imagine how an app developer wouldn’t include this in the future. It’s just too convenient.

Roku Facebook Photos channel broken again
I finally got around to testing out the “Facebook Photos” channel on my Roku HD player, but it doesn’t work.

The process starts by visiting Roku.com/Facebook, which redirects you to a Facebook page that allows you to click a “Generate” button that creates a one-time use code. This code allows you to link your Roku player with your Facebook account. I input my code on my Roku HD player and linked my player to my Facebook account with no issues.

Once the Facebook Photos Roku channel loads, there are options for Photo Feed, My Photos and Friends’ Photos. At first glance, everything looked good, I could see a thumbnail photo for “My Photos” and when I went into my Friend’s Photos, I could see a thumbnail for each of my friends.

The problem started when I clicked on My Photos to view the albums and photos inside of it. After clicking on my thumbnail for My Photos or a friend’s thumbnail to try to view their photos, the Roku Facebook Photos channel displays the error message “No photos found”.

I then clicked on the “Photo Feed” option and the Facebook Photos channel notified me that I needed to enable “extended permissions” for the Roku Facebook app. I went back to Facebook, enabled the “extended permissions” and checked to see if there were any other permissions available for the Roku app on Facebook. I had all permissions enabled.

After enabling these extended permissions, my photo feed started working. Eureka! I could now see a stream of all the latest Facebook photos from my friends on my HDTV via my Roku HD player. This is cool, but I’d also like to be able to browse my own albums and my friends albums specifically, instead of just a random stream of the latest photos, like the Photo Feed displays. Perhaps the extended permissions fixed the My Photos and the Friends Photos sections too? Nope. I still get the same error message “No photos found”.

I’ve tried many things to resolve the issue, with no luck so far. I’ve deleted the Facebook Photos channel and readded it to my Roku (to ensure that I have the latest version). I’ve checked my Facebook privacy and application settings. I’ve checked the options for “My photos”, “My videos” and “Photos and videos I’m tagged in” on the Facebook settings section: Choose Your Privacy Settings -> Applications, Games and Websites -> Info accessible through your friends. The issue still recurs.

After searching the interwebz, I found that this problem had occurred before. On March 4th 2010, numerous customers reported on the Roku forums that they could no longer view photos and were getting a “No photos found” message on the Facebook Photos Roku channel. On March 6th, Roku support resolved the issue by releasing a new version of the Facebook Photos channel (it is developed by Roku).

I’m guessing that Roku needs to update their Facebook Photos channel yet again to fix the problem. But if not, they need to at least give us detailed instructions on what settings we need to enable in our Facebook accounts in order to get it working. And no, the default Facebook privacy settings are not acceptable. What say you Roku?

UPDATE: A Fix for the Facebook Photos Roku channel is now available

An independent developer has provided a fix for the Facebook Photos Roku channel permissions issue.

Introducing Google TV

It seems like every consumer electronics manufacturer is adding more and more Internet-dependent features to every device. Practically every Blu-ray Disc player, HDTV, and smartphone streams internet radio, internet video, and features social networking apps. Navigating between all of the apps can be a challenge. Enter, Google TV.

Google TV is an Android operating system for the television powered by a modified Atom processor from Intel. Sony and Logitech have also joined in the endeavor, announcing a Google TV HDTV set and a Google TV set top box, respectively.

There are no specs provided for any of the hardware yet. Sony’s offering is called Sony Internet TV, and presumably will include a new line of LCD televisions apart from the current BRAVIA series. Also announced was a line of Blu-ray Disc players integrated into Google TV set top boxes.

Logitech does not have any model information available, but they are tentatively calling the variety of options eventually provided the “Google TV companion box.” This will be a stand alone set top box for use with any television, with Logitech Harmony compatibility built in. There is a hint that the companion box will require HDMI, so some TVs may not benefit. There is also a statement in the Logitech FAQs that cable and satellite boxes need an “HDMI output as well,” meaning these receivers may pass through the Google TV box. This makes sense considering the Google TV is supposed to search for television programs.

Google TV provides access to websites, and the Sony HDTV and Logitech companion box will support qwerty keyboards. But their main feature is using Google’s powerful indexing abilities to quickly find television programs, online videos, online audio streams, and even access recorded content on compatible cable and satellite DVRs. Internet video from Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand and Youtube will all be supported, with many more to follow. Google is working with multiple cable and satellite providers, but Dish Network will be compatible at launch in the fall of this year.

Because this is an Android produce, apps will be supported, though the extent of which hasn’t been detailed yet. Logitech claims they will have “video calling and a variety of controllers – even a Logitech smart-phone app.” The press release does mention Google TV will support Adobe Flash content.

Below you will find an introductory video from Google, and the press release.




SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (May 20, 2010) — Today at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, leading industry players announced the development of Google TV—an open platform that adds the power of the web to the television viewing experience, ushering in a new category of devices for the living room. Intel, Sony, and Logitech, together with Best Buy, DISH Network and Adobe, joined Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) on stage to announce their support for Google TV.

Over the past decade, the Internet has created unprecedented opportunity for innovation and development across the world, but so far the web has largely been absent from living rooms. With Google TV, consumers will now be able to search and watch an expanded universe of content available from a variety of sources including TV providers, the web, their personal content libraries, and mobile applications.

Search across TV, Web, and Apps

Google TV is based on the Android platform and runs the Google Chrome web browser. Users can access all of their usual TV channels as well as a world of Internet and cloud-based information and applications, including rich Adobe® Flash based content – all from the comfort of their own living room and with the same simplicity as browsing the web. When coupled with the Intel® Atom™ processor CE4100, Intel’s latest system-on-a-chip designed specifically for consumer electronics, the new platform will offer home theatre quality A/V performance. Sony and Logitech said they would be delivering products based on the new Intel Atom processor and running Google TV later this year. While Google TV is designed to work with any TV operator, at launch the user experience will be fully optimized when paired with DISH Network.

Google TV expands video choice from the hundreds of channels available today through a pay TV provider to the vast storehouse of video content available through the web and streaming videos. The Google TV experience is complemented by the ability to watch streaming video from leading content platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and YouTube. Google TV will also have the capability to run apps from the Android Market.

To navigate the array of content that will now be available through a single device and on a single screen, Google TV introduces an integrated search experience to help viewers easily find relevant content across over-the-air and pay-TV channel listings, DVR, and the Internet, as well as a picture-in-picture layout to access multiple windows simultaneously. Google TV also features an innovative home screen to help viewers quickly organize their favorite content and personalize their TV viewing experience. Some of these features are only available with advanced integration from DISH Network.

Broad Alliance of Industry Leaders

Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman and CEO said, “We are very proud to be working with this distinguished set of partners, all of whom have decades of experience in hardware, design and retail.”

Sony announced plans to introduce “Sony Internet TV,” the World’s first TV lineup incorporating the Google TV platform. The first models are planned to be introduced in the U.S. market in the Fall of 2010 with the lineup featuring both a standalone TV model and set top box-type unit incorporating a Blu-ray Disc drive.

Howard Stringer, Chairman, President and CEO, Sony Corporation said, “I am delighted to announce the unique alignment of Google’s rapidly growing, open source Android platform with Sony’s unparalleled expertise in the field of TV design and technology. The addition of ‘Sony Internet TV’ will further bolster Sony’s comprehensive TV lineup and will fuse new levels of enjoyment and interactivity into the TV experience.”

Logitech will introduce a companion box that brings Google TV to existing HDTV home entertainment systems, easily integrating with any brand of HDTV and set-top box. The companion box will incorporate Logitech’s Harmony® remote control technology, and will include a controller that combines keyboard and remote control capabilities. The company also has plans to introduce an HDTV camera and video chat for Google TV, along with additional choices for navigation and control, including apps to turn a smart phone into an advanced controller for Google TV and home-entertainment systems.

Gerald Quindlen, President and CEO, Logitech said, “We committed to Google TV early on because it aligns with our strategy to support open platforms that enable new immersive experiences in the digital living room. While Google TV enables seamless discovery of all your content, Logitech enables seamless control over how you experience that content. We look forward to continued collaboration with Google and the developer community to create new Google TV experiences that have yet to be imagined.”

The Intel Atom CE4100 processor will power both the Logitech and Sony devices. Paul Otellini, Intel President and CEO praised the collaborative effort and said TV as we know it was being “reinvented.” “Today marks the next step in the evolution of TV. TV’s are becoming smarter as a result of the microprocessor and the Internet. Traditional TV programming will be merged seamlessly with the infinite amount of content on the Internet to enable every viewer to determine what they want to watch, when they want it. This is Moore’s Law transforming television, powered by the performance of Intel microprocessors.”

DISH Network has been a key partner with Google on advanced integration development for Google TV. The two partners began a joint trial over a year ago with more than 400 DISH Network and Google beta users. Based on the continuous feedback from the trial, Google and DISH Network have built the optimized Google TV experience that seamlessly integrates traditional TV, DVR and web content.

Charlie Ergen, Chairman, President and CEO of DISH Network, said, “Google TV marks the next evolution in television, and we are excited to be the first to partner with Google to bring this experience to our customers. Only DISH Network Google TV customers will be able to enjoy a unified search across TV, DVR and web; easily find related content; and manage their entire TV viewing experience. Additionally, the advanced integration will allow developers to create new and exciting applications to enrich the TV viewing experience.”

Best Buy will bring their retail experience and consumer expertise to the project, with Google TV devices being sold at Best Buy locations nationwide later this year. “Every day, our 180,000 Blue Shirt store employees and Geek Squad Agents work with our customers to get them the best home theater experience possible”, said Brian Dunn, CEO Best Buy, “We are thrilled about the new and exciting experiences smart TVs, like Google TV, provide to our customers – and we are looking forward to showcasing those experiences in our store and ensuring customers get connected to all the products and services that bring those experiences to life.”

Finally, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 will be integrated directly into the Google Chrome browser on Google TV, enabling viewers to experience tens of millions of web pages with rich Flash content including games, animations, applications, videos, audio and more. Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO, Adobe said, “An open web ecosystem offers endless opportunities for creativity and innovation. Flash Player 10.1 extends the advantages of full web browsing and consistent, rich experiences to smartphones, tablets, netbooks and Internet-connected TVs. We’re thrilled to be part of the Google TV initiative with other industry leaders who share a common vision of enabling access to the best web experiences possible.”

Opportunity for Developers

The demonstration at I/O highlighted the unique opportunity developers have to help shape the future of Google TV. Today Google announced that they would soon release a set of TV specific APIs for web applications, encouraging web developers to begin building unique web applications for use on television sets. Later this year Google will also release an updated Android SDK, which will support applications built for Google TV.

Google also plans to open source the Google TV platform to help spur innovation in the industry and so that other developers can benefit from the project. The long term goal is to collaborate with the entire developer community to help drive entertainment in the living room forward and to introduce the next generation of TV-watching experience.

For more information about the project visit google.com/tv.

About Google

Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.

About Intel

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s computing devices. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com.

About Logitech

Logitech is a world leader in products that connect people to the digital experiences they care about. Spanning multiple computing, communication and entertainment platforms, Logitech’s combined hardware and software enable or enhance digital navigation, music and video entertainment, gaming, social networking, audio and video communication over the Internet, video security and home-entertainment control. Founded in 1981, Logitech International is a Swiss public company listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (LOGN) and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (LOGI).

About Sony

Sony Corporation is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, game, communications, key device and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, computer entertainment and on-line businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be the leading electronics and entertainment company in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of approximately $78 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. Sony Global Web Site: http://www.sony.net/

RealDVD bested in MPAA match up

Two years ago, the MPAA sued RealNetworks over their RealDVD software, which allowed for backing up DVDs to a hard drive, claiming an infringement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Last August, the MPAA prevailed in the case against Real. The Judge in the case made a very cryptic comment in the decision stating:

Had Real’s products been manufactured differently, i.e., if what happened in Vegas really did stay in Vegas, this might have been a different case. But, it is what it is. Once the distributive nature of the copying process takes hold, like the spread of gossip after a weekend in Vegas, what’s done cannot be undone.

After months of deliberation, Real decided not to appeal the decision, and paid $4,500,000 to the MPAA for legal fee reimbursement. They also shut off their online metadata service.

From the judge’s comments, it seems this decision affects software which could lead to distribution of the content. This may favor Kaleidescape’s argument considering their closed-architecture does not allow for data on their servers to be accessed except by associated Kaleidescape players.

It also seems to target a retail software, and should be a pronouncement on personal Fair Use.