Smart TV – Entertainment and Content in One

A couple of weeks back, my family were treated with a nice accomodation in one of the hotels in Manila by Samsung Philippines to try out their latest television. It’s not just an ordinary television, its a TV with internet access which they called Smart TV sometimes referred to as “Connected TV” or “Hybrid TV”.

When we entered the room reserved for us, two things caught the attention of my kids. First, the elegant room, and second the Samsung Smart TV. My daughters were asking what’s so special about the TV? Well the TV is not an ordinary TV, its a TV that provides entertainment and content at the same time.

Aside from being able to connect to the TV, the Smart TV provided us is also a 3D TV. We were provided with around five (5) 3D DVD movie titles. Its a pleasant view to watch my kids watching movies with 3D glasses on. My youngest enjoyed the 3D the most, saying that she can almost touch the characters of the movie and experience is really different. Not that we have watched 3D movies before, but this is her first time to watch 3D movies in a 3D television. Believe it or not, they went to bed around 2:00am after watching 3 titles I think.

What kids want for Christmas?

I would like to believe that regardless of one’s status in life – whether one is rich or poor, wishing for a gift during holidays are all the same. As they all say, wishing is for free for everyone.

In this time of the digital age, parents will have more headaches in thinking where to get the funds to buy their kids their favorite digital gadgets. Gone were the days when parents will just have a hard time fighting with the crowd in malls to buy their kids new shirts, dress and shoes. Now with the advancement of technology, our kids would just want their parent’s credit cards and permission, nothing else.

Just to prove my point, the recent survey released by The Neilsen Company shows that 44% out of the 3,000 US children showed indicated that the iPad is the most-wanted gift among U.S. kids ages 6 through 12.

Sony considering buyout of Sony Ericsson

Reports indicated the Sony plans to buy out the remaining 50% of their joint venture with LM Ericsson Telephone Co. formed last 2001. Sony is reportedly prepared to pay Ericsson $1.3 billion to $1.7 billion to gain full control of the partnership.

There’s a couple of reasons why Sony wants the buyout. One, Sony Ericsson is losing market share for quite sometime now and it will continue to drop as the demands for high-end phones are declining. The popularity of Experia smartphones remains low. The direction of both companies seems to be going different paths – Sony is focussing more on the consumer products like tablet, PC, game consoles, TV, cameras and some other businesses while Ericsson on the other hand is more on the telecommunication-network equipment and is more focussed on the business-to-business market.

Should HP spin off its PC unit?

When Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced its plan to spin off its Personal Systems Group (PSG) and get out of the PC business, customers and analysts were asking why would a company give up its leading position in a major hardware segment – especially if the business is still profitable?

Aside from the spin off announcement, Former HP CEO Leo Apotheker also announced that HP will stop selling its HP Touchpad and smartphones plus it will drop WebOS, the operating system HP acquired from Palm for $1.2 Billion sometime 2010. Leo also announced HP’s acquisition of enterprise software Autonomy ror $10.2 Billion in cash. These announcements caused HP a lot of problems. Leo was relieved of his post and HP board said the company had to make a leadership change because HP has been missing financial targets, botched communications, lost credibility with Wall Street. But I think Leo was relieved because of the announcements he made.

A Job Well Done

October 6, 2011, the world mourns the death of one of the most if not the most notable visionary of our time – Steve Jobs. He was 56.

He was called an icon, a genius, a visionary, and an entrepreneur. A man who was able to change the world with his inventions, his innovations, and his products. The man who made us change the way we do things. The man who changed the way we communicate. The man who changed the meaning of infotaintment. When and how will all these attributes end for a man who despite his being private – became so public with his innovations.

Nokia should have gone with Android said Intel

After Nokia and Microsoft announced their partnership, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said Nokia is better off with Android than Windows Phone 7.

Yes, this was after Nokia announced that the company will be using Windows Phone 7 to power their smartphones, instead of their own operating system Symbian and another operating system Nokia is working on with Intel – Meego. MeeGo was built on Linux based platforms Maemo and Moblin. Now why would Otellini uttered something like this?

Why People Go for Printer Ink Refills?

Last Sunday (January 23, 2011), my daugthers went to SM North Edsa Cyberzone to buy HP printer inks. My youngest needed to print something for her school requirement. Upon reaching SM North, my second asked me if we’re going to refilled inks or are we going to buy original inks. I said we are buying original inks. We are actually One HP Black ink and 4 HP colored inks.

The first stop was Silicon Valley, unfortunatey they run out of stock. So the next shop we went in to was Octagon Computer (located beside Silicon Valley). The only stock Octagon has at the time was the HP Black ink which cost PhP 650.00. We decided to buy the HP Black ink from Octagon because we thought that particular HP ink model is running out of stock.

USB Cables – From friend to foe

Everyone who’s into computers surely are familiar with Universal Serial Bus or more popularly known as USB. Almost all peripherals uses USB to establish communication between USB devices and a host controller like PCs and notebooks both for Windows and Macs.

USB can connect computer peripherals such as mouse, keyboards, digital cameras, printers, media players, flash drives, Network Adapters, and external hard drives. For many of those devices, USB has become the standard connection method. So can a USB device do any harm to your computer?