Category — Technology

I’m too young to remember actual tv prices of old, but they surely have to be less than they are now. The prices for lcd tvs today are astronomical! It boggles my mind that television prices (and cable service too) have appeared to double in a blink of an eye. Yeah I’m probably one of the biggest television addict’s you’ll ever meet (we’re talking 8-10 hours a day if I didn’t have to work), but the idea of dropping 2k on a piece of technology still irks me.

I know that it’s a luxury investment, one can live without a Samsung Series 6 LCD TV. But with every tv show being broadcast in HD, I feel the urge to buy an HDTV more than ever! Since the stock market is in the crapper, maybe they’ll be extra cheap this holiday season. Fingers crossed.

I just remembered that Amy Poehler made a joke about a 150 inch plasma television on “Weekend Update”! She cracked that they were released just in time for no one to afford them (since we’re in a financial crisis). Turns out, she is absolutely correct. Panasonic’s 150″ plasma screen television is rumored to cost over $150,000 bucks!

The tv aka “Life Wall” is less than one inch thick. It boasts that the plasma screen uses 50% LESS power with the new double luminance efficiency feature. It has a resolution of 2160×4096 pixels, which is 4x the resolution of a typical 1080i flat screen television. And apparently it uses 220 volts, which means you probably can’t run it in your home without owning a small portion of your city’s power grid!

Panasonic now holds the record for “world’s largest plasma display”. You can find more screenshots of the 150″ TV on Gizmodo. They got to take an up-close and personal tour of these sets at CSE 2008 in January.

Luckily, there are still normal sized (and priced) plasma televisions available on the market for the rest of us.

Current TV and Twitter have teamed together to present you, Hack the Debate!

If you’re not on twitter, you’re probably thinking right now wtf is Twitter? And how does that somehow relate to television, TVRevival? Basically, we’re all gonna watch the debate, right? Right. Current is gonna broadcast the debate with live comments (or “tweets” as the twitter aficionados say) scrolling at the bottom of the screen. Don’t agree with what Palin or Biden is rambling on about? Tell them, hell, tell the world by entering your two cents on the #current feed. So if you’re mildly curious to know what actual people and not broadcast tv talking heads think about the debate, by all means join in the discussion!

Al Gore thinks this is awesome btw.

And since I’m pluggin hack the debate, I guess I should join twitter for real. TV Revival on Twitter, if you’re so inclined to follow my infrequent tweets…

When Lindsay Wagner hit the (then) little screen back in the 1970s with “The Bionic Woman”, she gave a whole new meaning to the term “bi.” The series was an instant hit and its title became a brand name. So it was somewhat inevitable we would one day have a sequel. And like so many recycled TV series, this one is no big deal. But then I’d have to think a long and hard—or have a bionic brain–before I could come up with any re-make that is better or even as good as the original.

Michelle Ryan is okay as Jamie Sommers in the new version, but she plays a supporting role. The special effects take the lead. If you’re 16, you won’t be bored. Otherwise, the overdose of gratuitous action sequences may not be enough to keep you from dozing ff in your vintage Lazy Boy. You have to care about the characters to give a damn if they survive their near death experiences. Iron Man does a better job at characterization.

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If you haven’t guessed, I like to watch aaaaaalot of television. Like I don’t like to sleep with mine on. Call it a television security blanket, the glow of the screen my night light. I can sleep without it, but I’d rather not. 6 out 7 days a week, my television set is on from the time I get off work until I get up the next day.

My green conscience feels terrible about the waste of power, but it’s hard to break addictions (see: “Intervention” as proof!). Thankfully, Sony understands what me and countless other tv addicts are going through in these energy conscious times. They created a sleek 32 inch flat screen television that uses almost half as much power as other models! Sony claims that it could “reduce your annual carbon emissions by 175 lbs.”

Sony Bravia KDL-32JE1

It goes on sale in Japan on July 30th, hopefully it will be available in the US soon after. And then maybe other manufacturers will follow Sony’s eco-friendly example. =)

Source: Green Vaccine

The creator of the TiVo “wants to turn the television remote control into a tool for buying the products being advertised and promoted on commercials and talk shows.

The company, based in Alviso, Calif., will introduce a “product purchase” feature on Tuesday in partnership with the Internet retailer Amazon.com. Owners of TiVo video recorders will see, in TiVo’s various onscreen menus, links to buy products like CDs, DVDs and books that guests are promoting on talk shows like “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Daily Show.”

In the months ahead, TiVo plans to begin offering this feature to advertisers and programmers, so that the chance to buy products and have them delivered will be presented to viewers during commercials and even alongside product placements during live shows.”

Word? Now, I don’t have to get off the couch (and walk a mere 2ft to my computer) to buy a book I see on television? Do I need this feature? Isn’t shopping online already pretty easy? I feel like this scheme is marketed more towards housewives and QVC addicts with TiVo boxes. Not really gonna affect my shopping habits since I already shop online (at Amazon no less!).

But that’s not to say I’m not a fan of TiVo. I think their AmazonUn-box feature, where you can buy digital copies of movies and shows and they download directly to your DVR, is awesome! That’s some technology I can get behind.

Source: NY Times