Boxee (officially trademarked as BOXEE) is a cross-platform freeware HTPC (Home Theater PC) software application with a 10-foot user interface and social networking features designed for the living-room TV that enables its users to view, rate and recommend content to their friends through many social network services and interactive media related features. Boxee was originally a fork of the free and open source XBMC media center software which Boxee now uses as an application framework for its GUI and media player core platform, together with some custom and proprietary additions. Marketed as the first ever "Social Media Center", Boxee recently announced the ability to watch live TV on the Boxee Box with the introduction of the live TV stick. Avner Ronen released it to the market in January 2012.
The first public alpha of Boxee was made available on 16 June 2008. The Alpha prototype was designed in collaboration with design firm, Method, who also created Boxee's brand identity, which is still in use today. The first public beta version was officially released for all previously supported platforms on 7 January 2010. In 2012 the developers discontinued all desktop versions and support.
The developers of Boxee have stated that their goal is to have Boxee media center software run on as many third-party hardware platforms and operating systems as possible, and they have so far co-developed a dedicated set-top box (hardware) called "Boxee Box by D-Link" in cooperation with D-Link which was the first "Powered by Boxee" branded device to be announced and launched, and they have recently also announced a similar media player device called "Iomega TV with Boxee" in cooperation with Iomega and a 46" high-definition television from ViewSonic with integrated Boxee software. The company behind Boxee has also more than once said that they are very interested in licensing the Boxee media center software and its social networking service as a third-party software component to other companies and ODM/OEM's for use on their own hardware, such as set-top boxes from cable-TV companies, game-consoles, Blu-ray Disc and DVD players, or embedded computers and SoC (System-on-a-Chip) built into television sets for web-enabled Smart TVs, and other entertainment devices for the living room.
Boxee is owned and developed by a single for-profit startup company, (Boxee, Inc.), which began as a high tech stealth startup based in Israel and the United States with seed money from several angel investors. The company is today publicly known to be financially backed by venture capital firms such as General Catalyst Partners, Union Square Ventures, Softbank, Pitango, Spark Capital and Globis Capital Partners. The company's main offices are located at 122 West 26th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10001Coordinates: 40°44′42″N 73°59′33″W / 40.745062°N 73.992611°W / 40.745062; -73.992611.
Read more about Boxee: Overview, Mobile Software Associated With Boxee, Hardware With Boxee Software Integrated, Programming and Developing, Limitations and Known Issues, Reception, See Also