Samsung's Milk media apps migrate to smart TVs and the web

Samsung spent a good chunk of 2014 launching and nurturing its (very oddly named) Milk music and video streaming services. At the time, we asked the obvious question: Do we really need more of these things? Like, honestly? The Korean tech titan never fully proved its case, but that hasn't stopped it from pushing Milk further and further out there. Now Samsung's bringing those services where they've never gone before -- specifically, televisions and the web.

So, Milk Music -- Samsung's internet radio service -- has found a new home both on the company's smart TVs (those made between 2012 and 2015) and online in the form of a new web app that should go live sometime this spring. Rather than try and translate its conceptually skeuomorphic music dial to non-touch screens, though, Samsung has instead gone with a linear genre selector layout reminiscent of old-timey cabinet radios. Milk Video (which lets you watch videos from a selection of sources like GQ, BuzzFeed and CollegeHumor) doesn't manage to spread as far this time around -- it only makes it as far as those smart TVs, though you've gotta wonder how hard it would've been to build up a web component to go with it. Sure, it'd probably never be as widespread or culturally relevant as YouTube, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Meanwhile, we already knew Samsung was planning to use Milk as a digital storehouse for VR content, but it just couldn't help but talk about it again at today's CES press conference. Milk VR launched last week, smack in the middle of the tech holiday doldrums, so of course it got a shout-out during today's events. Better dust off those Note 4s, people.