Web content on TV screens is an idea whose time has come – the logical step beyond DVRs. Silicon Valley start-up Snapstick has taken a novel approach to bridging that gap, combining a set-top box with a downloadable app that turns your cell phone into a remote. Where Snapstick really distinguishes itself, says co-founder and CEO Rakesh Mathur, is its ability to pull in any and all offerings on the web. It’s also very resource-efficient, in that it doesn’t “stream” content from the control device, but taps into the existing home Wi-Fi network to send URL info to the set box, freeing the phone or computer for other tasks.

In addition to cell phones, tablets and laptops can also work as controller devices, with a clickable button replacing the gestural “snap” of the phone to TV, and Snapstick works remotely, over the Internet, to control sets that are thousands of miles away (although each set – whether in the same home, or remote location – requires its own box).

Mathur said the Redwood City-based firm, which came out of Beta in December, has developed platform specific advertising opportunities that he and partners Ash Bhardwaj and Balaji Krishnan expect to be “a rising tide that lifts all boats,” in the modest world of online CPMs, nudging them toward the TV range. Snapstick technology allows for the insertion of video ads on the screen, and text messages to the control device.

D-Link will be the first manufacturer of its boxes, with Q2 shipments expected and additional hardware deals forthcoming. The one-time box cost hasn’t been determined, but will be competitive with other products in the space, at $100-200 per unit.

Snapstick has a two-minute online demo.

2D-to-3D conversion has essentially become a standard feature in 3D products from leading CE manufacturers.

Among these products are some of Samsung’s latest 3D Blu-ray players. The product line also offers Samsung Smart Hub via integrated wireless and Smart Blu-ray features. With Smart Hub, users can search for movies, shows and videos across connected devices, browse the Web and access Samsung Apps.

Getting a lot of attention was the wall-mountable Samsung BD-D7500 3D Blu-ray player (pictured here), which also includes a 250GB hard drive for storing content.

From developments in Blu-ray players to 3D glasses, Samsung also previewed light-weight prescription-ready 3D active glasses and a wireless charger for 3D active glasses. The SSG-3700CR glasses weigh just under an ounce. Viewers who wear eyeglasses can order special prescription lenses that attach to the SSG-3700CR. For those who plan to wear their own eyeglasses, there is also a new temple design that connects to the top of the frame.

Recharging options include a USB cable or Samsung wireless charger; an indicator on the side of the glasses gauge battery life. Samsung reports that the glasses will automatically turn on when moved or placed on the face and power off when motion or touch is not detected by the embedded sensors.

Pricing was not available.

Pioneer has announced a new platform that is immediately available to developers, and hopefully in the near future to users.

The Platform for the Aggregation of Internet Services (PAIS), will enable users to have a single login that can access all of a user’s social networking, music, video, contact, calendar accounts and much more from multiple content/service providers.

The PAIS API allows users’ devices to seamlessly access and share information among a variety of services, allowing for a new level of interactivity among the various users’ accounts. For example, using a PAIS-enabled TV, a user can look up a restaurant on Yelp and send out an invite with directions to their Facebook friend seemlessly. Then when the users get in their car, the PAIS-enabled GPS would automatically input the address. When the user arrives at the destination, their PAIS-enabled mobile device can let the user connect to friends who have already arrived.

Many in the consumer electronics industry feel that the future of applications and services will always be fractured, and by introducing the PAIS layer, Pioneer hopes to enable mashups from multiple information sources. This is one of the first attempts to consolidate and wrangle the myriad of user accounts and put them in a single place. But what’s the most compelling is the attempt by Pioneer to have PAIS manage and marry the various pieces of information and services into a single seamless user experience. As it stands right now, Pioneer has managed to release PAIS ready built with services from VoiceBox, AccuWeather.com, Yelp, Wcities, Facebook, Twitter, Slacker Radio, Google Calendar, and more to come.

Ultimately it will be up to devices and services developers to enable PAIS, before consumers can even imagine a seamlessly integrated world.

Haier arrived at CES with a new range of LED displays powered by Yahoo!’s Connected TV platform. These Net Connect displays also feature Wi-Fi.

Augmenting the services on the Yahoo! Connected TV platform include Amazon VOD, Facebook, Twitter, CBS, Showtime, NBC, eBay, YouTube and Pandora, Haier also has Hulu Plus, Blockbuster on Demand, Film Fresh and Netflix.

Buttons specifying Netflix — including some featuring the iconic red Netflix logo — will be situated prominently on remote controls that operate certain new Haier Blu-ray Disc players, and the Netflix one-click button will be included on remote controls for the Net Connect TVs.

Haier is also demonstrating Yahoo! Connected TV’s new broadcast interactivity feature and has plans to participate in the pilot program.

Further details on release date, pricing and additional specs for the TVs were not made available.

XPAND’s YOUniversal active shutter 3D glasses and accompanying iPhone or Android app provide a new level of comfort and customization to your 3D viewing experience. Three innovations distinguish these glasses from previous active shutter gear; ergonomics, a built-in micro-USB connector, and an app for customizing the viewing experience.

Ergonomics: these glasses are exceptionally light weight, and fit comfortable. At their highest setting, the transition speeds of the shutter lenses are extremely fast; 1.5 milliseconds to transition from black to clear, and 0.3 milliseconds to transition from clear to black. This reduces the likelihood of crosstalk and can result in a more comfortable long-term viewing experience.

The micro-USB port accepts Bluetooth, RF, IR, an additional battery, and other peripherals. The port is on the end of the ear piece behind the right ear, so any additional weight is barely perceptible on the wearer’s ear and counters the weight of the glasses on the wearer’s nose bridge.

The app takes advantage of the fact that there are electronics in the glasses. The consumer inputs a number of factors into the app, including their TV brand/model number, their viewing distance from the TV, whether or not they are wearing prescription glasses, whether they like an aggressive 3D experience or not, and whether they are in a brightly lit or dimly lit room. The app adjusts the glasses’ shutter on/off trigger times so the viewing experience can range from a bright, aggressive 3D experience to a dim, more relaxing 3D experience. The 3D effect on the screen in not changed; only the timing and duration of the light reaching each eye. A clear benefit of this feature is that the viewer has a tool to manually eliminate crosstalk any time it becomes perceptible.

XPAND is positioning these glasses as a high-end consumer product. Pricing will be in the $200/pair range.

At the other end of the product spectrum, XPAND is planning to soon announce a “family pack” containing four non-upgradeable active shutter 3D glasses at “an affordable price.”

Despite the Google TV delay reported in the press in recent weeks, Logitech — which already has a Google TV-supported product — is putting the system front and center.

The company is demoing its Logitech Revue with Google TV, a compact, plug-and-play companion box that sits between a cable box and TV using HDMI and includes wireless support. The company’s Google TV product also includes the Logitech TV Cam and Vid HD service for HD video calling, as well as its Logitech Mini Controller for the Revue product.

Moving forward, Logitech is taking pre-orders for Revue on Logitech.com, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com; and the company is reporting that its line of products for Google TV are expected to be available online and in Best Buy stores in the US by the end of October.

Logitech’s Harmony for Android app will be available for download from the Android Market for free. The Logitech Harmony for iPhone app is expected to be available for download from the Apple iTunes store for free.

Logitech and DISH Network announced at CES that Logitech Revue with Google TV and accessories would be offered to existing and prospective DISH Network customers.

THX wants viewers to see content the way in which the filmmakers intended.

With this as an aim, THX is previewing Media Director, a system that takes metadata about content from creation to consumer electronics devices, allowing automated setup of the device for the given content. THX is demoing the technology at the Renaissance Hotel during CES.

THX senior VP Rick Dean explained that Media Director support could begin at capture, though THX found that the system “works very well if you go at the point of final postproduction and have master ready for distribution.” He added that metadata from postproduction systems such as DVS’ Clipster and Blackmagic’s Resolve can be used to create THX metadata using an app.

LG, JVC, Epson and Onkyo plan to support Media Director in CE devices. Additionally, certain existing CE products can be made compatible with a firmware update. Sonic Solutions intends to offers support in its Blu-ray authoring toolset.

Testing of the Media Director ecosystem is underway, and the system is expected to roll out later this year.

New York-based Copia, the “preferred” software for eReaders that run on the Windows 7 operating system, is trying to distinguish itself as a purveyor of not only hundreds of thousands of downloadable books, but of a “social” experience that allows readers to annotate and share notes.

Billed as an ideal medium for book clubs, as well as students, the company didn’t have figures on how many installs of its free app have occurred.

Copia is also supported on the iPad and Android platforms (click here for the free iPad app).

All of Panasonic’s 2011 TVs will have VIERA Connect on board, rather than the current VIERA CAST system. The change is not a mere cosmetic one. Unlike VIERA CAST, VIERA Connect is an open platform, which means it will be available to developers of third-party content to promote the expansion of IPTV services and applications.

This will be collected into a new VIERA Connect Market section, where users will be able to select individual apps to personalize their IPTV portal.

Apps include Netflix, Amazon VOD, Napster, Pandora, Facebook, CinemaNow and Skype functionality. Other content includes the ability to play 3D games online through Gameloft.

Fifteen new flat-panel TVs models (42- to 65-inches) are compatible with this service, on release in the US market this spring.

The company expects to drive its IPTV sales up to 70% of its total television sales in the global market by 2012.

VIERA Connect is also shared with Panasonic’s first tablet device, shown in prototype. Few details were available about the VIERA Tablet but it will be capable of streaming content from a VIERA HDTV onto the tablet device, allowing users to effectively take their TV programming with them throughout the house. Samsung is showing a similar functionality on its Galaxy tablet and smart TVs.

With plans for Google TV on hold, UK-based Miniweb is poised to secure both headlines and business with its cloud-based services platform Woomi.

Instead of giving consumers open browser based access to the Internet a la Google TV or the limited menu of content the device maker has integrated such as Netflix or YouTube, Woomi offers a differentiated position by putting the publishers in control.

“We are a marketplace in between content providers and the device world,” explains Miniweb’s CEO Jerome de Vitry. “We are not streaming video or acquiring rights, but act as an agent enabling our content partners to keep their brand and be viewed on as many TVs as possible.”

Its flagship client is Samsung (announced last September) and this month the service goes live across all Samsung smart TVs and Blu-ray players (with a tablet app to follow), beginning in the UK then rolling out to European territories and the US by the end of the year.

Further deals have been signed. Echostar Europe will be launching a new STB in Q1 with Woomi as its main interface for video discovery.

It also has a global deal with Vestel, a Turkish white label TV manufacturer, and it has signed the largest STB manufacturer in China (DTM) for similar global coverage.

More suppliers, including LG, are being lined up: “We believe that by mid-2011 we will be in a position to address suppliers representing more than half of the TV market,” says de Vitry.

Content  partners include Chellozone, Playboy, OpenFilm, Blinkx, Videojug, Preview Networks, EZTakes and Renderyard.

A sneak preview of the site is being shown off the exhibit floor at Hilton suite 2812.