OPERA BROWSER COMING TO SONY TVs AND BLU-RAY PLAYERS

Opera has officially announced its much-loved web browser will be appearing on Sony TVs and Blu-ray players. The browser is expected to spread across Sony's lineup of 22 connected HDTVs. Since the browser is based off of the Opera devices SDK backbone, it's also not a stretch to imagine that Opera-enabled web applications, widgets, or other content using standards like HTML5 (no Flash, at least not yet) could piggy back onto Sony gear at some point. The real elephant in the room though is how this move relates to the Japanese tech giant's Internet TV initiative that's powered by Google TV. While we can't imagine it signals Mountain View's solution is destined for a dumping, between this and a similar move by Samsung including a browser in its own Smart TV platform, a little bit of jealousy could be just the kick Google needs to fix some glaring issues.

VIZIO UNVEILS VIA LINEUP AHEAD OF CES

Vizio built its name on low-end HDTVs. Now, it is expanding into other areas and using the same business philosophy...make it cheap enough and people will buy it. Just ahead of CES, Vizio has announced they will be jumping into the tablet, phone and media TV sectors with their new VIA lineup.

The Vizio tablet will be 8-inches while the phone will be 4-inches. Both will run Android and have WiFi N, GPS, MicroSD slot, dual cameras and HDMI output. The tablet, at least at this time, will not have 3G capabilities and it is unknown if the phone will be GSM or CDMA.

In addition, Vizio will be launching a line of TVs and Blu-ray players with Google TV built in. This won't be the standard Google TV either, apparently Vizio is creating its own interface built on top of the standard Google TV interface. It remains to be seen(at CES later this week) if Vizio will be able to pull it off.

3D TVs NOT THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE ACCORDING TO NIELSEN

We’ve been skeptical since the start of 3DTV’s chances: not only were the sets expensive, but they require expensive active shutter glasses to use, and there’s not a lot of good 3D content to enjoy at home.

Guess what? We weren’t alone. Nielsen has just finished conducting a worldwide poll to see how consumers feel about 3DTV displays, and guess what? Almost everyone is at the very least ambivalent… and at worst, completely hate the idea.

According to Nielsen’s numbers, less than ten percent of those asked said they’ll buy a 3DTV next year. Sixty percent said they definitely wouldn’t buy one. Only fifteen percent said they might buy one.

Ouch. I wonder if CES 2011 will see the introduction of more 3DTVs, or if HDTV makers have already realized that it’s time to go back to the drawing board. [Geek]