Connect, Update and stay in the know on Facebook, Twitter and Google plus whilst watching programmes on your Smart TV

As its launch in 2004, ‘Facebook’ has made it as an giant success story, albeit not one without controversy. Plenty of controversy. But I am not here to discuss that. I am here to let you know a bit about social networking and why it is a great addition to any Smart TV.

In some ways coming out through the now elapsed ‘Myspace’ and also the excess of imitators it left in its wake, Facebook emerged as champion of the social networks, (until the next one comes along, that is). Facebook has conquered the Internet with a smart exploitation of those three ever-reliable principles: 

1)         Folks love gossiping about other people, especially incognito.

2)         Individuals are inordinately fond of and poking their noses into the lives of other people.

3)         People’s unquenchable self importance, which, when fuelled by Facebook, is egotism on steroids.

Facebook is a remarkable tool and one that has easily tailored itself to mobile phones, portable tablets and now, even Television. Ultimately, Myspace was the cumbersome Neanderthal, who, even though being better, smarter and more powerful than Homo Sapiens, succumbed to the retreating ice age rather swiftly, failing to adapt to the world he could no longer comprehend. Facebook, conversely, was the eventual Cro Magnon victor, shaking in the cave during Neanderthal’s time, he emerged on the warm plains of that modern-day and, either directly or indirectly, eliminated his rival before moving within the shifting technology and times, the point he might sit at his desk and update his status numerous times a day.

‘Twitter’ is a very limited site that acts sort of a miniature Facebook. Users have a couple of words to publicize their dealings, thoughts and/or feelings to a world that typically doesn’t care unless its concerned that it is being cheated on. However, while celebrated people on Facebook tend to not update their own pages, on Twitter the user can follow (and often commune with) the behavior of Hollywood luminaries, celebrities, sports stars and other notable people, who are often surprisingly honest about their day by day lives.

Facebook and Twitter are the two big ones, but there’s others, more than I can add up that follow a similar simple model but specialize in a different area (LinkedIn, for example, deals with business relationships a lot more than personal ones). Many websites co-exist with Facebook nowadays, feeding off their scraps like remoras on the back of the Tiger Shark. With nearly all online content, there is even an option to ‘Like’ it, thus adding it to your Facebook page (if you look closely at this page, you’ll almost definitely find one, which serves to highlight just how all-encompassing Facebook’s presence is.

Smart TV, recognising the ubiquity of such sites plus the emphasis that modern online business places on this ubiquity, has Facebook, Twitter (and other social network sites) readily available for download. Which means you can have full (or nearly full) access to your Facebook account and update it without maybe going to a computer. Last night, I had to update my own Facebook to state that I was watching, for what needs to be the hundredth time, the movie ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ I could have easily done it during a tea break in the movie itself rather than aiming to do it after which eventually forgetting, as I actually did.

If you’re wondering how people are doing and you want up-to-the-minute advice, 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 an excellent communication tool, particularly for people you don’t actually know that well. Nowadays, people change their mobile numbers every 0.3 of a second, so Facebook remains one reliable way to ensure you can always keep in touch.  I like to think of it like a really poorly written newspaper, where the headlines are a little bit sunnier, a lot less biased and involve people I actually give a damn about.  

Connect, Update and stay in the know on Facebook, Twitter and Google plus whilst watching programmes on your Smart TV

Can you play video games on a smart Television

Ongoing its policy of integrating pretty much the whole thing into itself, the Smart TV also offers a incomplete number of games, obtainable as downloadable applications, for the playing pleasure.

Now, the days of downloading ‘Tekken Vs. Street Fighter’ or the latest ‘Resident Evil’ on to your TV are a long way away certainly, which means you’ll yet need your Playstation 3, Xbox or Wii u for the time being. Additionally, none of the games available (with the possible exception of the massively addictive ‘Angry Birds’) will equal the gaming skill already available on your consoles, but that does not signify that the choice of games available in your Smart TV are in any way limited. You can find sim games, puzzle games, card games and plenty more besides. Again, Smart TV is making immense improvements to a capable area of TV (as anyone who ever loved the old ‘Teletext’ games will prove).

Another much-maligned form of entertainment regularly patrolled by ‘fun police’ is console games (see our first article for particulars). Which began using a simple mistake, one stating that console games were exclusively for children.

Now, this wasn’t primarily accurate but it is not true nowadays, but there is a period where consoles and peripherals were principally geared towards children and young teenagers. Then of course, the cultural watchdogs backlashed against gaming in much a similar way they did against movies within the 70’s, music by the 60’s and comic books by the 50’s.

For our General gamer is aware implicitly that some games are created with adults in mind (these usually are the ones that have the title spelled out in blood, or the choices to disembowel hookers for additional points) while some are made for kids (it has a hint if no one actually tries to slay you over the sequence of the game and you can complete it in a matter of hours) exactly like movies, books and anything else it is possible to think of, most are catered for. The games you’ll find in your Smart TV are mostly pretty childlike plus the wonderful thing about downloadable apps is, if you’ve any difficulty at all with lurid game content on offer, then basically don’t download it.

Right then, let’s have a look at some of those games you can download on your Smart TV (NOTE: Please do remember that not all games are compatible with all models, therefore the games mentioned below are just a variety that I find fascinating. If you’re after a specific game for your Smart TV, be sure you buy a TV that can actually play it).

‘Texas Holdem’ is a poker sim that permits you to play games of virtual poker, either against the computer or your friends. So far as I know, no real money changes hands in TH, but it’s advisable to double check that before you bet your mortgage (even though you have a straight flush). Another game that is great fun to experience with mates 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 mates. My guidance would be to practice at home and dazzle your mates by bowling an ideal game. ‘Bejewelled 2’ is a sequel to that popular ‘Bejewelled’ a game title which 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, especially, enjoyable.

So there you go. I’m sure that, as the months and years go on, an incredible many other gaming apps will be added to the Smart TV’s options. Watch this space!

Can you play video games on a smart Television

What apps are available on the mainstream Smart TV

Harking back to the days of GCSE science, I tend to think of the term ‘application’ generally meaning ‘practical usage’ as the exceptionally irritating section of the seemingly countless worksheets we had to fill out, just so we might set fire to a bit. The ‘application’ part was the bit where you needed to say what (if any) real world, useful value your experiments had, which, because it turns out, was not usually a great deal in my case. I remember a classmate pretty maliciously soaking a spider in hydrochloric acid once, but I doubted, even at age 15 and 3 quarters, that it could become a popular form of pest control.

As Led Zeppelin have been telling us since the 1970’s, you understand sometimes words have double meanings. In the case of software design and programming, there are also a great deal of words that have now been co-opted in order to denote something, typically only partially alike, to what the word actually means. So, applications, or ‘apps’ as we hip, swinging cats refer to them, have nothing at all to do with GCSE science and everything to do with innovative consumer tech.

An app is largely a computer program designed to help the parent device carry out a unique function. Apps are like mini programs that were initially planned for portable devices like iPods, Smartphones and Tablet PCs. Apps range from the sublime, (such as the app that can track migratory whales in real time or the one that shows you the exact position of all the stars and heavenly bodies from anywhere in the world) to the utterly stupid, but fun anyways (the app where it is possible to punch a cartoon cat in the face, Angry Birds). Apple customers alone have access to on 60,000 downloadable apps, the majority of which are completely free to use.

Smart TV, obviously, has its individual set of downloadable apps. I should indicate now that these are not as esoteric as the wide-ranging applications available for your phone or Pc tablet, yet. Thus far Smart TV’s list of apps can be a typically practical one. Here is a look at some of these apps you’ll be capable of acquire for the Smart TV (NOTE: Different apps are accredited to different companies – so when you’re distinctively after a TV for its apps, it pays to try and do your homework, that is, in its own way, somewhat like GCSE science).

Netflix – The extension of the on line film rental company (and proud sponsor of our iFanboy comic book conversation show, I hasten to add) is an app which supplies you the choice to stream ‘rented’ films over the Web for a little cover charge.

Amazon – From Amazon, you are able to download content. So when you’d rather buy a film or TV show, you can simply click on the link and it’ll be sent straight to the hard drive. It’s cheaper than purchasing discs and much easier to store.

BBC iPlayer – It is a small version of the iPlayer site; there’s also a BBC News and sports app.

Youtube – You’ll also discover other video sites accessible as apps. Dailymotion and Vimeo have become properly accessible from the television. 

Along with these applications, you will find Sports apps that’ll video every game and apps for specific channels, making them accessible as individual networks versus part of a cable/satellite package.

Whichever applications you want, be sure they are doing what you think they do and these are available for the TV you choose, before you purchase. That way you will avoid disappointment.  

What apps are available on the mainstream Smart TV