TV viewing among millennials and baby boomers shows that TV is having a second Golden Age, a study by Instant.ly and YuMe found. The definitions of quality TV aren’t differing that much across generational lines, Instant.ly said Tuesday in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1qKgbLZ). The companies culled information by surveying 1,000 respondents, it said. Flexibility is a driver, with 45 percent of respondents enjoying device flexibility, and 40 percent citing the ability to stream content, it said. Respondents selected, in order, HBO, CBS and AMC as having the best entertainment quality, followed by Netflix content, it said. Millennials preferred HBO, while respondents age 35 and over chose CBS as the top network “with its more conventional comedy and drama lineup,” it said. Reasons for binge watching varied, with 44 percent wanting to immerse themselves in the show, and 40 percent claiming to have “a sense of contentment from the time spent watching TV,” it said. Networks and distribution platforms “will need to stay dialed in to the rapidly changing customer expectations, preferences and viewing habits to make the most of this trend,” it said.

Lawyers for Ford and General Motors and their respective suppliers, Clarion and Denso, won a deadline extension to Sept. 26 to answer a complaint from the Alliance for Artists and Recording Companies (AARC) (CED July 31 p5) that they violated the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) the past three years because they shipped vehicles with CD-copying hard drives without building the Serial Copy Management System into the devices or paying the royalties required under the AHRA. “Good causes exist to grant this motion because this putative class action involves potentially complex issues of law arising under” the AHRA, said the deadline-extension request filed in U.S District Court for the District of Columbia (http://1.usa.gov/VPQktw), which the AARC did not oppose.

Swedish headphone manufacturer Degauss Labs announced dual-driver in-ear headphones with a three-button microphone for Android devices. The $79 earphones enable users to talk, play, pause, set volume up/down and skip tracks using the microphone. Each earpiece contains two separate speakers -- one for high and mid frequencies and one for bass -- for higher quality sound, Degauss said Tuesday.

Nokia representatives urged the FCC to adopt net neutrality rules for wireless similar to those adopted in 2010 and explained the advantages of 5G technology, in a meeting with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-28. “Specialized services, offered for a fee, could be a significant source of value creation throughout the mobile broadband ecosystem while preserving key elements of network neutrality such as non-discrimination and no-blocking,” the filing said (http://bit.ly/1BYU9Om). A paper submitted by Nokia said 5G will offer an expected peak data rate higher than 10 Gbps, compared with the 300 Mbps LTE offers today and “virtually zero latency.” The technology of 5G “supports the huge growth of machine-to-machine type communication, also called Internet of Things, through flexibility, low costs and low consumption of energy,” Nokia said (http://bit.ly/1svNJ2A). It warned that more spectrum will be required to put 5G in place: “This means looking at new spectrum bands such as millimeter wave and centimeter wave, and using available spectrum efficiently."

Spotify’s free mobile version is now available for Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 users, who can download the app from the Windows Phone Store, Spotify said Tuesday. Windows Phone users can participate in the standard 30-day free trial offered by Spotify, but only Sprint customers are eligible for the free three-month or six-month trials depending on their mobile plan, a Spotify spokeswoman told us. Previously, only the premium $9.99/month version of Spotify was available to Windows Phone users, the spokeswoman said. Premium subscribers get on-demand play, higher quality audio, uninterrupted music with no commercials and the ability to download music and listen offline, according to Spotify. With the free version, users can listen to and shuffle playlists, it said.

GoPro expanded to the pet action sports category, introducing the Fetch dog harness ($59.99) that has two mount locations for the company’s Hero cameras. Designed to fit dogs from 15 to 120 pounds, the Fetch harness has one mount location on the back for over-the-head shots and another on the chest for a field of view “closer to all the action,” the company said. An included camera tether ensures that the GoPro stays attached, “no matter what type of play the dog engages in,” the company said. The harness can be machine- or hand-washed.

CEA’s index of consumer expectations, which measures consumer sentiment about the “broader economy,” climbed 1.2 points in August from July to reach 172.5, its 2014 high point, CEA said Tuesday. However, CEA’s index of consumer technology expectations, which measures consumer sentiment toward technology spending, fell 4.8 points in August from July, to 90.5, it said. Of the broader economy, CEA thinks that “despite continued softness in the housing market, fundamentals of the economy are slowly strengthening thanks to an improving labor picture and signs of positive economic growth into the close of the year,” it said. As for the sentiment decline in technology spending, it’s still above the August average for the past three years, CEA said: “This is a positive sign, as we head into the back half of the year. With new product announcements expected in September, we should see consumer sentiment about tech spending remain above average.” To compile the indexes, CEA interviews 1,000 consumers monthly and releases updated data on the fourth Tuesday of every month, it said.

A week after Canada-based ChargeSpot announced the first wireless charger that’s compatible with both Qi and PMA wireless charging standards, the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) asserted its independence with its Qi spec, providing a status report on Qi penetration in offices, restaurants, airports, hotels and public venues. A Qi spokeswoman told us there’s no correlation between WPC’s status report and the ChargeSpot release last week (CED Aug 22 p6). WPC said Tuesday that the installed base of Qi-enabled wireless chargers reaches 30 countries and more than 1 million locations. “WPC’s 200-strong member companies are fueling exciting innovation of the Qi standard, Qi products and Qi-based business services, which is driving the accelerated adoption of wireless charging by consumers and businesses around the globe,” said John Perzow, WPC vice president-market development, citing 65 models of Qi-enabled phones and “over 500 different products that use Qi.” WPC said companies including Facebook, Google, Texas Instruments and Verizon have installed Qi chargers in corporate meeting rooms; nine McDonald’s restaurants in Germany recently installed Qi chargers, as have several coffee shops in Toronto and a restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Kube Systems announced a deal with Marriott Hotels for a Qi charging system, WPC said. Verizon has deployed 800 Qi-enabled charging spots in U.S. airports, while Haier installed charging stations in the Beijing airport and DoCoMo installed Qi charging systems in airports and train stations in Japan, it said. The installed base of Qi chargers charge one device at a time, the spokeswoman said. The company has yet to release its specification for resonant charging that will enable multi-device charging, she said.

Bay Audio unveiled the LW1210 Live-Wall loudspeaker, part of its series of invisible architectural speakers. It includes a small form factor and installation brackets for soffits and other challenging locations; durable materials designed to withstand high-humidity locations; 160-degree off-axis dispersion; a 100-watt protection circuit to guard against overdriving; and a fire-rated back box and metal bracket. The LW1210 is priced at $500 each.

Amazon agreed to acquire Twitch, a live-video gaming platform, Amazon said Monday. Amazon anticipates helping Twitch “move even faster to build new services for the gaming community,” CEO Jeff Bezos said. Amazon will buy Twitch stock for $970 million and expects to close the deal later this year, it said.