In a sign of things to come, Boxee has killed its desktop app in order to throw all its time, effort, and money behind the Boxee Box. This move brings it into direct competition with the likes of Google, Apple and Roku.

Boxee Desktop Dead

The Boxee desktop app is dead, with Boxee having pulled the plug on it at the end of January. Boxee announced the plans at the end of December 2011 when it released Boxee version 1.5. That final version of the Boxee desktop app was only available for a little over a month, and wasn’t even that brilliant.

This move attracted criticism from many longtime Boxee users, who had supported and tested the desktop client throughout its early iterations. These loyal Boxee adopters are now left with a stark choice: buy a Boxee Box or find an alternative desktop app for their video streaming needs.

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After years of speculation and months of planning, Netflix has finally landed in Europe, launching in the U.K. and Ireland at the beginning of the week. Everyone is being a one-month free trial, at the end of which the streaming-only service will cost £5.99-per-month.

Netflix In UK & Ireland

The usual rules apply here as they have done in the U.S. for many years (and Canada and Latin America more recently) – streaming to a huge range of devices including smart TVs, games consoles such as the PS3 and Xbox 360, Blu-ray players, tablets, and PCs.

Content, as always, is key. On that score Netflix is doing OK but could do better. I suspect it’ll be forging new deals over the next few months. It will need to if it hopes to keep hold of all those likely to have signed up for the free trial in order to see what the fuss is about.

Netflix CEO reed Hastings told BBC News, “We think about it as trying to get to millions of members over the next few years. We very much think of it as a long-term investment.”

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Roku sees a future when we will all have a Roku Streaming Stick plugged into the back of our televisions. It has to be the future, however, because most televisions are currently incapable of powering the device.

Roku Boxes

The idea of streaming video content directly to a television set was pie in the sky just a few years ago, but now there are numerous methods for achieving this, and more are being added all the time.

Roku is an established company with an established product. Its set-top box started life in 2008 as a means for Netflix subscribers to watch content on their TVs. But Netflix expanded to multiple other devices, while Roku added more content.

There are now a range of different Roku set-top boxes available, and the company is breaking out of its self-imposed U.S. borders to launch in the U.K. and Canada sometime in 2012.

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Another day, another set of Apple television set rumors. 2012 is either going to be the year Apple finally unveils its plans for TV hardware or that the world realizes some of these Apple rumors never actually amount to anything real.

Apple TV Set

Rumors of an Apple-built and branded television set have cropped up several times over the past few years. They ramped up considerably in light of Steve Jobs passing away, as he revealed his belief that he had “finally cracked it” prior to his death in 2011.

By December Apple execs were reported to be confident enough in the project to be actively talking to media companies. Partnerships would be needed for content, always the key component in determining whether an innovative new product flies or dies.

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It’s well known that Apple has been planning to develop a television set for some time now. Or at least it was the dream of late founder and CEO Steve Jobs to do so. But the plans are taking a long time to materialize, and dripping through to the public rumor by rumor.

Apple TV = TV Set

After Steve Jobs’ death earlier this year it was revealed he felt he had solved the conundrum of how to bring Apple’s design sensibilities to the television market. With a simple, “I finally cracked it,” Jobs spelled out a vision for a future Apple television set.

Despite his death Apple is carrying on with his vision for the future, and an Apple television set is now all but guaranteed. Not that we know what form it will take. But with an ear to the ground we can attain some strong clues.

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Google TV hasn’t yet been the joyous disruptor of big media and cable it was hyped up to be. But then nor have any of the other set-top boxes it is competing with.

Will Google ultimately be the winner here? Eric Schmidt thinks so.

Connected Set-Top Boxes

There are dozens of connected set-top boxes offering access to television shows, movies, and other video content. With more being added to the burgeoning list every month.

Apple TV and Google TV are arguably the two biggest names in the sector. But neither has done anything more than leave a barely-noticeable scratch in the side of the industry they’re trying to disrupt.

The big problem facing both of them, as well as all of the competition, is content. Namely, cable companies putting their hefty feet down and stamping out accessibility from these devices. Especially for those unwilling to pay for the services in question.

Despite this there is still an air of inevitability hanging over the marketplace. One that Google intends to make the most of.

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If you have your Xbox 360 hooked up to the Internet, and why wouldn’t you, quite frankly, then it will update itself tomorrow to the latest version of the Xbox Live dashboard. And this upgrade brings television and movies galore to the games console.

Xbox Live Upgrade

We have known this large and rather impressive Xbox Live upgrade was coming since the beginning of October, and it’s finally set to land on the Xbox 360 consoles of gamers tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011).

Everything is pretty much as expected, with a host of broadcasters and content providers partnering with Microsoft to have their movies and television shows available to watch directly through the online service. Bravo, ESPN, HBO, Syfy, BBC, Canal+, FOXTEL, MediaSet, and ZDF are just a few of the names launching on Xbox Live, with many in the U.S., others in countries around the world.

They’re not all free: an Xbox Live Gold subscription is a must, while many of the individual companies have their own subscription packages. But that doesn’t take away from the joy of having all these services available on the one set-top box. One which has 35 million users.

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