Cable

Burger King teamed up with DirecTV for their "Whopper Lust" campaign -- a channel that viewers can watch burgers spin and get rewarded with Whoppers.

There were gadget-mongers galore pitching their wares during the Cable Show that closed yesterday in Chicago, from newer, smarter set-top boxes to sleeker, faster broadband modems. But one innovation was particularly striking: Comcast's new version of Xfinity TV, which offers users the ability to connect to Facebook inside their program guides and decide on what shows to watch based on what's trending among their online friends.

Shazam will soon market its mobile music discovery app through shows on Spike TV and Oxygen, but its audio recognition technology can't yet be used to identify TV content.

A Silicon Valley-based social-TV/programming-discovery company which bills itself as having been founded by veterans of Google, Microsoft, IDEO, MTV Networks and Stanford University's artificial intelligence program has recently emerged from stealth mode with two new products and a partnership with MTV.

Rovi Corporation today announced TotalGuide xD, a customizable advanced media guide that connects and extends the cable video experience from set-top boxes to mobile devices, including tablets and smart phones. TotalGuide xD provides multiple system operators (MSOs) with a solution that addresses the rapid changes taking place within the digital entertainment market, as entertainment consumption quickly moves to an ‘anytime, anyplace' experience.

There are plenty of people playing, tweeting and multitasking on their smartphones while watching television commercials. For its new, music-driven advertising campaign, Old Navy has enlisted music-identifying service Shazam to deepen the connection among the ads, the brand and the consumers.

Hulu signed a new content partnership with Viacom that will bring the entertainment giant's programs back to web video viewers - but much of it will be behind Hulu's new subscription pay wall.  

Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show we got a sneak peek at the latest incarnation of Yahoo Connected TV and we were excited about what we saw: the first Internet TV device to bring passive and personalized Internet content to its users.  

Internet connected TV's are on the rise according to media research publisher Futurescape. In five years almost 40% of TVs produced in the US will have at least one TV set in the home with internet connections. Samsung is a little bit more aggressive with their numbers. They predict 70% of all their TVs will be internet connected by 2014 even though they are only at 17% right now.

Feared a decade ago as a killer stalking the TV-advertising model, DVRs are proving less of a threat than many people feared.