Smart TV manufacturers are hoping that the popularity of apps with smartphone and tablet users makes its way to the living room. Manufacturers and retailers are selling more and more televisions preloaded with Internet-connected functionality, frequently referred to as Smart TVs. This provides an environment where consumers can use apps to do anything from surfing the Internet using a fully functional web browser, to streaming their favorite movies, TV shows and music right on their TV sets. Vizio shows off a new Smart TV in the video below.

NEW YORK CITY – Kevin Love has had plenty of time to play games of late. The NBA All-Star was knocked out of the NBA Playoffs with an injury. But the Minnesota Timberwolves star has been keeping busy with games. After serving as a member of Team Ghost with Ubisoft for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Love showed off the gaming capabilities of the new Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone at a press event in New York City. Love talks about his love of games in the exclusive video interview below.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Game Developers Conference (GDC 2012) is officially in the record books. The world’s largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games held to its title of “largest” with a record-breaking 22,500 game industry professionals making the trek to the Moscone Center in San Francisco. That’s a 17% increase in attendance over the previous year’s event.  Following the success of the show, organizers have announced that GDC 2013 will return to the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from Monday, March 25 to Friday, March 29, 2013, – with a call for lecture submissions to open this summer. 

SAN FRANCISCO -- The 2012 Game Developers Conference (GDC 2012), the world’s largest and longest running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games begins today and will run through Friday, March 9 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. The premiere conference for game development professionals worldwide, GDC offers attendees a consummate forum to network, share information and uncover new insights and learning opportunities as they look towards the future of interactive entertainment.   

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) in Las Vegas, more companies were entering the Android smartphone and tablet spaces. And for good reason, Google is winning its battle against Apple for consumers interested in upgrading to the latest smartphones and tablets. This past Christmas saw Google overtake Apple for the lead in smartphones. And there appears to be no end in site with lower-priced devices entering the market throughout this year, including new NVIDIA Tegra 3 devices from Asus for just $250.

LAS VEGAS -- At the AT&T Developers Summit keynote being held at CES 2012, Samsung's Kevin Packingham showed its new hybrid phone/tablet device - the Galaxy Note. With a 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display, 1.5GHz dual core processor, 8 megapixel back and 2 megapixel front camera, the new Galaxy Note is a tweener mobile device that sits in between a tablet and a smartphone. The hybrid device will support AT&T's fast new 4G LTE network as well as AT&T's legacy 3G network. It also has a stylus pen which Samsung is calling the S-Pen which will allow Galaxy Note users to input to the device using handwriting as well as do doodles when you're bored. Pricing and availabiity werre not announced.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but gamers can enjoy the festive holiday all year long on their smartphone or tablet. Heyzap, a social network for mobile and online games, has compiled a list of the Top 10 Christmas-themed mobile games for gamers to play throughout the holiday season. The Heyzap app, which allows users to check into games, chat with other players, win badges, and more is available for free on Android and iOS.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, predicted in a new study on mobile devices that 80 percent of smartphones will have stereo 3D cameras and screens by 2015. It’s not just about games; the addition of two cameras will enable gesture based controls, advanced augmented reality applications, and visualization with depth. Already the Sprint HTC EVO 3D and AT&T Thrill 4G 3D smartphones are available int he U.S. with 3D games.

While many observers reacted with disappointment that Apple didn’t announce a high-end iPhone 5 model, the real letdown was the company’s failure to introduce a true low-end model, causing the company to miss out on the hottest growth opportunity in today’s smartphone business, according to the IHS iSuppli Mobile & Wireless Communications Service. With the passing of Steve Jobs, the iPhone 4S has taken a back seat to this missed opportunity.

LOS ANGELES – Activision unveiled full details of Call of Duty Elite at its inaugural Call of Duty XP fan festival in Playa Vista. Elite is the new digital service for the Call of Duty community, built expressly for our 30 million active online players around the globe. The Call of Duty Elite platform acts as an integrated social and competitive hub for all Call of Duty players to help them Play Together Better. Elite will be accessible via console, smartphone, tablet and web when it launches in November as an integral component of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The service is also backwards compatible with Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Mobile game publisher Beeline Interactive, a division of Capcom, has licensed the Peanuts to develop a new freemium game for smartphones based on Charles Schulz’s beloved characters. The game, which will be available this fall, will feature fan favorites Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock, Lucy, Linus and other classic characters.