Since its beginning in 2004, ‘Facebook’ has become an enormous success story, albeit not one without controversy. Plenty of controversy. But I’m not here to talk about that. I am here to tell you a little about social networking and why it’s a welcome addition to any Smart TV.
In some ways coming out from the now forgotten ‘Myspace’ and also the excess of imitators it left in its wake, Facebook emerged as champion of those social networks, (until the next one comes along, that is). Facebook has occupied the Internet with a clever exploitation of those three ever-reliable ideas:
1) Folks love talking about other people, particularly anonymously.
2) Folks are inordinately keen on and poking their noses into the lives of others.
3) People’s unquenchable self interest, which, when fuelled by Facebook, is narcissism on steroids.
Facebook is the remarkable tool and one which has quickly adapted itself to mobile phones, portable tablets and now, even TV. In the end, Myspace was the cumbersome Neanderthal, who, even though being popular, smarter and stronger than Homo Sapiens, succumbed to that retreating ice age somewhat rapidly, failing to adapt to a world he could no longer understand. Facebook, conversely, was the eventual Cro Magnon victor, trembling in the cave throughout Neanderthal’s time, he emerged over on the warm plains of that modern-day and, either directly or indirectly, eradicated his rival before moving within the shifting technology and times, the point he might sit at his writing table and update his position several times a day.
‘Twitter’ is an extremely limited site that acts sort of a miniature Facebook. Users take a number of words to announce their dealings, thoughts and/or emotions to a world that frequently does not care unless its concerned that it is being cheated on. However, whereas famous people on Facebook tend not to update their web pages, on Twitter an individual can follow (and often communicate with) the behavior of Hollywood luminaries, celebrities, sports stars and other notable people, who are often surprisingly candid about their daily lives.
Facebook and Twitter are the two big ones, but there’s others, a lot more than I can count that follow a similar simple model but specialise in a different area (LinkedIn, for instance, deals with business interactions a lot more than personal ones). Many websites co-exist with Facebook now, feeding off their scraps like remoras on the back of a Tiger Shark. With most online content, there’s even an option to ‘Like’ it, thus adding it to the Facebook page (when you look closely at this page, you will almost certainly find one, which serves to highlight just how all-encompassing Facebook’s presence is.
Smart TV, recognising the ubiquity of such websites and the emphasis that current online business places on this ubiquity, has Facebook, Twitter (and other social network websites) readily available for download. Which means you can have full (or nearly full) access to your Facebook account and update it without even going to a PC. Last night, I wanted to update my own Facebook to say that I was watching, for what should be the hundredth time, the movie ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ I might have easily done it during a tea break in the movie itself rather than desiring to do it after which eventually forgetting, as I actually did.
In case you’re wondering how people are doing and you want up-to-the-minute information, Facebook is usually the place to go. Facebook the site is free to use, could be the Smart TV app at time of writing and is a wonderful comms tool, especially for people you don’t essentially know that well. These days, people change their mobile numbers every point three of a second, so Facebook remains the one reliable way to ensure you can always keep in touch. I like to think of it as a really poorly written newspaper, where the headlines are a bit sunnier, a great deal less biased and contain people I essentially give a damn about.
Showing posts with label smart tv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label smart tv. Show all posts
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Friday, 20 September 2013
Connect on Skype with other family using your Smart TV
Once the exclusive field of Star Trek, video telephone calls are actually a very genuine part of contemporary life. Rewind back to that ‘Friends’ episode when Monica was courting guest star Jon Favreau’s character ‘Pete the millionaire’ and you’ll remember the one where Monica and co had sneaked into Pete’s house, only to get interrupted by a surprise video call. So unprepared for the millionaire’s-only technology were the friends, that Pete needed to point out that they all “sucked at hiding” as he exposed them one by one. Nowadays, if you have a computer, or a portable device, you may make a video telephone call. It’s that simple.
In fact, Skype (this system frequently used to make such phone calls) is gratis, remarkably easy to set up and saves you plenty of money on the phone bill. It’ll even make Worldwide telephone calls, exactly like that! (I just clicked my fingers, but you can’t see it).
Whilst at Uni, I recall being woken up early almost every morning by a Taiwanese girl in the living room next to me as she got phone calls from her Mum and proceeded to have her speakers on full blast at the same time as they conversed in Mandarin (once my knowledge of basic Mandarin got better, though, they kept it down for fear that I’d snoop). I in fact spoke to another friend of mine who was staying in America and was able to ‘meet’ her boyfriend’s relatives (oddly, where my use of Mandarin Chinese language would again come in useful) without having to dress and go to a airport.
I even once had a job interview over Skype. That’s the amount people are using video calls as of late.
Well, as you can no doubt work out, Skype (and other video call apps) are now downloadable via your Smart TV. This means you and your mates or family can meet round and converse with other family and friends who could be as far as half a world away. It’s the perfect strategy to communicate, conduct business and interact in long conversations without constantly fretting about your telephone bill.
Skype is a kind of Innovation, like the mobile phone (and soon possibly the Smart TV) that it is hard to recollect a time without — and I’m only 26. I don’t think I even got Skype until approximately 2008 or so.
Downloading Skype to your big screen Television will allow you to talk to your friends whilst sat about the couch, it’ll be just like they’re visiting you apart from you do not have to make then tea plus they won’t scoff all of the Hob Nobs.
Of all the obtainable apps available on Smart TV, this is probably probably the most universal in its appeal and, I think, the most welcome. Over the course of this series, we’ve seen the Smart TV be a device where what you want to watch is actually on, a games system so you’re never bored, a pc, a network that connects you to a family and friends and now it can even take the place of the home phone.
Skype is a fast, fun and interactive way to keep in contact with folks and, when connected with your Smart TV, doesn’t even involve getting up to go to the next room. We can’t say fairer than that. Furthermore, you can always telephone your mates and tell them they’re in the telly. You’ll get a kick out of it, even if they don’t quite get what you’re on about and why you laugh when they ask ‘what channel?’
In fact, Skype (this system frequently used to make such phone calls) is gratis, remarkably easy to set up and saves you plenty of money on the phone bill. It’ll even make Worldwide telephone calls, exactly like that! (I just clicked my fingers, but you can’t see it).
Whilst at Uni, I recall being woken up early almost every morning by a Taiwanese girl in the living room next to me as she got phone calls from her Mum and proceeded to have her speakers on full blast at the same time as they conversed in Mandarin (once my knowledge of basic Mandarin got better, though, they kept it down for fear that I’d snoop). I in fact spoke to another friend of mine who was staying in America and was able to ‘meet’ her boyfriend’s relatives (oddly, where my use of Mandarin Chinese language would again come in useful) without having to dress and go to a airport.
I even once had a job interview over Skype. That’s the amount people are using video calls as of late.
Well, as you can no doubt work out, Skype (and other video call apps) are now downloadable via your Smart TV. This means you and your mates or family can meet round and converse with other family and friends who could be as far as half a world away. It’s the perfect strategy to communicate, conduct business and interact in long conversations without constantly fretting about your telephone bill.
Skype is a kind of Innovation, like the mobile phone (and soon possibly the Smart TV) that it is hard to recollect a time without — and I’m only 26. I don’t think I even got Skype until approximately 2008 or so.
Downloading Skype to your big screen Television will allow you to talk to your friends whilst sat about the couch, it’ll be just like they’re visiting you apart from you do not have to make then tea plus they won’t scoff all of the Hob Nobs.
Of all the obtainable apps available on Smart TV, this is probably probably the most universal in its appeal and, I think, the most welcome. Over the course of this series, we’ve seen the Smart TV be a device where what you want to watch is actually on, a games system so you’re never bored, a pc, a network that connects you to a family and friends and now it can even take the place of the home phone.
Skype is a fast, fun and interactive way to keep in contact with folks and, when connected with your Smart TV, doesn’t even involve getting up to go to the next room. We can’t say fairer than that. Furthermore, you can always telephone your mates and tell them they’re in the telly. You’ll get a kick out of it, even if they don’t quite get what you’re on about and why you laugh when they ask ‘what channel?’
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
What are the games offered to play on the Smart Television
Ongoing its policy of integrating basically everything into itself, the Smart TV has a incomplete number of games, available as downloadable apps, for our playing delight.
Now, the times of downloading ‘Tekken Vs. Street Fighter’ or this years ‘Resident Evil’ directly to your Smart tv are some distance away indeed, so you’ll still require your Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or Wii for the time being. In addition, none of those games available (with the possible exception of that massively addictive ‘Angry Birds’) will equal the gaming experience already available on your consoles, but that does not signify that the choice of games available on your TV come in any way incomplete. You can find sim games, puzzle games, card games and lots more also. Again, Smart TV is making great improvements to a versed area of TV (as anyone who ever enjoyed the old ‘Teletext’ games will confirm).
An additional much-maligned type of amusement regularly patrolled by ‘fun police’ is video games (see our first article for particulars). Which began with a simple mistake, one stating that console games were solely for kids.
Now, this wasn’t initially true but it is not true nowadays, but there is a period where consoles and peripherals were principally aimed at children and juvenile teenagers. Then naturally, the cultural watchdogs backlashed against gaming in much a similar way they did against movies in the 70’s, music in the 60’s and comic books by the 50’s.
For the Hardcore gamer is aware implicitly that a number of games are designed with adults at heart (these are usually the ones that have the title spelled out in blood, or the options to gut hookers for additional points) while some are made for children (it has a hint if no one actually tries to kill you over the course of the game and you’ll finish it in a matter of hours) just like movies, books and anything else you can imagine, most are catered for. The games you’ll find on your Smart TV are typically pretty innocent plus the wonderful thing about downloadable apps is, if you have any difficulty whatsoever with lurid game content available, then simply do not download it.
Right next, let us have a look at some of the games you are able to download on your Smart TV (NOTE: Please do be aware that not all games are compatible with all models, therefore the games mentioned here are just a selection that I find fascinating. If you’re after a particular game for your Smart TV, be sure you buy a TV that will be able to play it).
‘Texas Holdem’ is the poker sim that permits you to play games of virtual poker, either against the machine or your friends. So far as I know, no actual money changes hands in TH, but it’s advisable to double check that before you bet your mortgage (even if you possess a straight flush). One more game that’s great fun to experience with friends is ‘Dynamic Bowling’. DB is another sim that permits you to, yep, you guessed it, go bowling. This game can be played alone or with friends. My advice would be to practice at home and dazzle your mates by bowling a perfect game. ‘Bejewelled 2’ is the sequel to that trendy ‘Bejewelled’ a game that has enthralled and addicted my very own father for about 3 years now. Bejewelled (which I will not break right down to initials for evident factors!) is addictive, stimulating, challenging and, above all, fun.
So there you go. I’m certain that, when the months and years go on, a great many other gaming apps can be added to Smart TV’s options. Watch this space!
Now, the times of downloading ‘Tekken Vs. Street Fighter’ or this years ‘Resident Evil’ directly to your Smart tv are some distance away indeed, so you’ll still require your Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or Wii for the time being. In addition, none of those games available (with the possible exception of that massively addictive ‘Angry Birds’) will equal the gaming experience already available on your consoles, but that does not signify that the choice of games available on your TV come in any way incomplete. You can find sim games, puzzle games, card games and lots more also. Again, Smart TV is making great improvements to a versed area of TV (as anyone who ever enjoyed the old ‘Teletext’ games will confirm).
An additional much-maligned type of amusement regularly patrolled by ‘fun police’ is video games (see our first article for particulars). Which began with a simple mistake, one stating that console games were solely for kids.
Now, this wasn’t initially true but it is not true nowadays, but there is a period where consoles and peripherals were principally aimed at children and juvenile teenagers. Then naturally, the cultural watchdogs backlashed against gaming in much a similar way they did against movies in the 70’s, music in the 60’s and comic books by the 50’s.
For the Hardcore gamer is aware implicitly that a number of games are designed with adults at heart (these are usually the ones that have the title spelled out in blood, or the options to gut hookers for additional points) while some are made for children (it has a hint if no one actually tries to kill you over the course of the game and you’ll finish it in a matter of hours) just like movies, books and anything else you can imagine, most are catered for. The games you’ll find on your Smart TV are typically pretty innocent plus the wonderful thing about downloadable apps is, if you have any difficulty whatsoever with lurid game content available, then simply do not download it.
Right next, let us have a look at some of the games you are able to download on your Smart TV (NOTE: Please do be aware that not all games are compatible with all models, therefore the games mentioned here are just a selection that I find fascinating. If you’re after a particular game for your Smart TV, be sure you buy a TV that will be able to play it).
‘Texas Holdem’ is the poker sim that permits you to play games of virtual poker, either against the machine or your friends. So far as I know, no actual money changes hands in TH, but it’s advisable to double check that before you bet your mortgage (even if you possess a straight flush). One more game that’s great fun to experience with friends is ‘Dynamic Bowling’. DB is another sim that permits you to, yep, you guessed it, go bowling. This game can be played alone or with friends. My advice would be to practice at home and dazzle your mates by bowling a perfect game. ‘Bejewelled 2’ is the sequel to that trendy ‘Bejewelled’ a game that has enthralled and addicted my very own father for about 3 years now. Bejewelled (which I will not break right down to initials for evident factors!) is addictive, stimulating, challenging and, above all, fun.
So there you go. I’m certain that, when the months and years go on, a great many other gaming apps can be added to Smart TV’s options. Watch this space!
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