Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 25th Feb 2013 14:15 UTC
"LG said today it was acquiring WebOS from Hewlett-Packard, with the intention to use the operating system not for its mobile phones, but in its smart televisions. With the deal, LG obtains the source code for WebOS, related documentation, engineering talent, and related WebOS Web sites. LG also gets HP licenses for use with its WebOS products, and patents HP obtained from Palm. The financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed." Completely and utterly pointless. Smart TVs are a dead end. The TV should just remain a dumb receiver for input - whether from a computer or console via cables, or wirelessly from a smartphone or tablet. Our phones and tablets are already smart so TVs don't have to be.
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RE: Phones vs. Tablets vs. TV vs, Connectability
by WorknMan on Tue 26th Feb 2013 04:25
in reply to "Phones vs. Tablets vs. TV vs, Connectability"
Member since:2005-11-13
I don't have a smartphone. I don't have a tablet. But if I had, I'd surely expect my futuristic TV to be able to stream music from those devices, and in that case, it makes sense to make it a smart TV, unless I have a separate computer connected to it. (Which I do happen to have ... but average consumers won't.)
Many customers want something simple. If they can buy a TV with digital decoder, pvr, netflix and similar possibilities embedded, instead of buying a separate set-top box, they will.
Many customers want something simple. If they can buy a TV with digital decoder, pvr, netflix and similar possibilities embedded, instead of buying a separate set-top box, they will.
These days, you can buy a box for $50-$70 that can play Netflix and its ilk. Even my computer-illiterate parents can work a Roku-like device. You don't need all this crap built into the TV.
RE[2]: Phones vs. Tablets vs. TV vs, Connectability
by Alfman on Tue 26th Feb 2013 05:13
in reply to "RE: Phones vs. Tablets vs. TV vs, Connectability"
Member since:2011-01-28
WorknMan,
"These days, you can buy a box for $50-$70 that can play Netflix and its ilk. Even my computer-illiterate parents can work a Roku-like device. You don't need all this crap built into the TV."
Well it's inherently true that anything a smart TV could do could also be done with a dumb TV + external box (*). But is this really supposed to be an argument against integrated smart tvs?
Not to exaggerate the analogy, but the modern laptop itself is the pinnacle of this notion that everything should be built in to minimizing the dependence of external addons. Very few consumers object to having these features built in even if they don't intend to use them (SD card, camera, mic, bluetooth, etc).
It seems to me the primary reason to reject a smarttv is on the basis that it costs more, but people can still buy dumb TVs with external addons if that's what they want to do. In time, I believe smart features will become cheap enough to throw into all TVs whether they get used or not. And like with laptops, most of us will eventually appreciate the integration.
* Edit: please let us set the standard for smart tvs higher than the roku player...it's not good at interoperability between devices like a smart tv should be.
Edited 2013-02-26 05:22 UTC
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!More Features »
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2006-06-24
"Our phones and tablets are already smart so TVs don't have to be."
I don't have a smartphone. I don't have a tablet. But if I had, I'd surely expect my futuristic TV to be able to stream music from those devices, and in that case, it makes sense to make it a smart TV, unless I have a separate computer connected to it. (Which I do happen to have ... but average consumers won't.)
Many customers want something simple. If they can buy a TV with digital decoder, pvr, netflix and similar possibilities embedded, instead of buying a separate set-top box, they will.
Edited 2013-02-25 15:07 UTC