I just bought a new Samsung 46″ LED SmartTV and I’m very happy.Still waiting for the real smart Apple TV, though.
The “Smart” part shows the great potential the internet+TV combo has, but it seems we will have to wait for Apple to “Get it Right”.
One thing I learned is that the TV is much better for consuming content like videos and songs on Vimeo and YouTube.
The TV comes with a wireless internet connection, integrated browser, Application store and VOD service.
The things I liked :
Price of about $1200 including installation+delivery+ wireless + wall mount+ Israeli VAT of 17% (we have wars to finance)
The non smart TV functionality is great – colors, lightening , connectors , etc
Installation was very straight forward. More of an appliance style than computer style
Having an alternate VOD with an excellent quality really shows the promise of breaking the tie of content and infrastructure providers.
Comprehensive localization in the configuration and VOD content as well
Vimeo is a great web site with an excellent app and high quality content
It was fun the watch the War on Channel 10 and Ynet at the same time with PIP (Picture in Picture). Well , the war was not really fun, but you see what I mean.
Facebook App Download on Samsung Smart TV
The reasons why we need Apple iTV for are:
Browser runs “Out of Memory” for the majority of web sites
No way to change the home page from “Bing”
Keyboard entry is extremely slow, unless you buy the wireless keyboard
Auto Updates are cool, but why don’t they happen in the background
Auto Updates are too frequent , almost every day
Integration with Google,Facebook,Picasa and online identity is quite hard. Entering my password was quite a nightmare.
YouTube is full of much junk and songs get stuck frequently
No “Ad-Blocking” for the browser and pop-up windows consume the main screen
The iPad remote control is not working on iOS6 (and I did not get it to work on ios5 either)
Samsung online registration is as bad as Nokia’s PC software used to be. Early warning signs 😦
In memory of many fun Friday nights in “Zman Amiti”.
Should I Stay or Should I Go, The Clash
Killing in The Name, Rage Against the Machine
Papa Won’t Leave You Henry, Nick Cave
Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana
Debaser, Pixies
From Wikipedia: The basic steps allow for a variety of interpretations, some of which might appear quite violent. Pogo dancers have their choice of:
keeping their torsos rigid or thrashing them about;
holding their arms stiffly at their sides or flailing them;
keeping their legs together or kicking about;
jumping straight up and down, jumping in any direction, or spinning in the air.
Occasionally, dancers collide, but this is not necessarily part of pogo dancing. An uninformed bystander might get the impression that the dancers are attacking one another. People sometimes get injured when pogoing, but, more often than not, pogoers who fall to the ground are helped up instead of getting trampled.
It is very easy to easy to imagine the features. Just think about a very big iPad. It needs internet access + Itunes + Applications + Local and Cloud Storage.
There are many “Smart TV’s” around. As usual, the hardware companies jut don’t get it. The user interface is boring, the CPU is too slow, the software is limited. Just like smart phone before iPhones and touchpads before iPad (think Window Tablet for example ).
The component prices are low enough that such an appliance can be reasonably priced.
It might have build in Camera, making consumer Tele Presence real, for the first time.
Apple has track record of selling large beautiful screens.
From the business side Apple can partner with one of the Big Cable vendors to handle the “boring” stuff. The same way it saved AT&T business it can save a cable provider. Instead of fighting the internet the cable provider would get access to a new exciting high premium market. Or they can just buy NetFlix.
Big question mark is on user interaction.Might be something like PrimeSense or maybe “Just” smart usage of iPhone\iPad people already have at home. Or maybe a new kind of control which is a hybrid of iPad and iPhone.
I guess the stock would rise to $700 , if they do announce such an appliance 🙂
Here is an example of “Smart TV” from a company that does not “Get it”.
Sign up and activation was extremely easy few clicks away from Google Plus and it’s done (did not do credit card part yet )
I tried a hard Artist to start with “The Only Ones” a fun a little known sub-punk group
Google Music has only two albums compared to three albums in Rhapsody
The interface of Google Music is cleaner but Rhapsody has nice features like “Artist Radio” which plays an automatic mi
Google Music Review - The Only Ones
Rhapsody and Google Music The Only Ones
The streaming in Google Plus seems to be faster to start
Searching for Red Hot Chilly Peppers are actually produced better results for Google. RHCP is a hard band since they don;t allow most of their albums on steaming services.
With Pearl Jam Rhapsody is a great winner. Google Music only holds 13 albums and Rhapsody has over 40 ! Almost every recording they ever did, including PJ20, The Latest.
Pricing on Rhapsody seems much more attractive to me. for <$15 a month there is endless streaming. Could not locate this option in Google Music Yet. Buying Songs one by one is so iTunes. Possession is so 1990’s.
Evil Fish 
