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Sony TVs, Blu-ray boxes to get web browser
Flash absent?
Sony is to equip its tellies and Blu-ray Disc players with a web browser, Opera Software cheerfully said today. As well it might - its browser is the one Sony has selected.
Opera will certainly feature in the the raft of new products Sony unveiled at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES), many of which are expected to go on sale in the spring.
Neither Sony nor Opera said whether the browser will be made available to owners of existing internet-connected kit.
Opera trumpeted its software's support for "full web browsing" and for "emerging standards such as HTML 5". Handy that, except that at CES, Sony admitted the version in its TVs and Blu-ray boxes will have trouble with video. Specifically, "display of embedded video not supported", according to Sony.
'Full web browsing' and 'embedded video' are phrases almost always used to indicate the presence of Adobe's Flash technology. Presumably, the Bravias and such won't come with Flash.
Punters may like the idea of surfing the next on big screens, but not if they can't see rather a lot of the content that's out there on the web. ®