The snappiest way to adjust the ambiance in my home theater is to touch an icon on my phone to start the ceiling fan a-twirling. Touch another icon, and the fan’s room light turns off. Getting the fan’s speed right may require another tap or two. It should be fast enough to dry TV viewers’ brows but not so fast as to cause paper plates and napkins to fly off the coffee table.
Venture capital is flowing into an array of startup services poised to exploit the emerging trends of 2018. We know because we happened to retrieve a document entitled “Where to Put Your Money Now” that had fallen out of the pocket of a tuxedo-clad capitalist as he stepped into a black limo and sped off.
When Netflix launched its DVD-by-mail service 20 years ago, the dozens of websites selling DVDs said the newcomer would never survive. Funny how almost all of those competitors are now long gone.
AT A GLANCE Plus
Voice-assisted search and channel changes
Skip button for vaulting commercials
QuickView feature
Minus
Voice control adds little to program navigation
New Experience interface is sometimes cluttered and confusing
THE VERDICT
Finding cable, streamed, and recorded content through the voice remote is much faster and more fun than using an onscreen keyboard. But the joined-at-the-hip New Experience interface may frustrate TiVo veterans until they get the hang of it.
With folks chatting up their smart speakers and smart TVs, TiVo owners may have felt like they were living in the silent era of cinema. Being behind the tech ball was especially galling for the TiVo community, which, not unlike the Apple fanbase, is willing to pay more for superior technology. In late 2017, TiVo, a name synonymous with the DVR, finally responded with a new remote and interface that recognize the value of voice recognition—especially when a viewer is searching for something to watch from among innumerable over-the-air, cable, streaming, and recorded-program options.
Streaming video has gone from VHS- to DVD to 1080p- to 4K quality over the decade. Yet, left behind were some extremely useful navigational controls that we took for granted on our “ancient” VCRs or DVD players. They included slow motion, smooth fast-forward, and the ability to bookend any segment for looping to our heart’s content.
Do you holler, “Hell, yes!” whenever the TV announcer howls: “Are you ready for some football?!” Then ESPN’s updated Apple TV app with MultiCast is for you.
If brown and dirty is your idea of a stocking stuffer, you won’t have far to go. Bed Bath & Beyond offers the Bluetooth Poop Emoji Speaker ($20, in brown), while Staples sells the Poop 4K Emoji Powerbank ($15, you already know the color) for charging your phone. And Macy’s has the EmojiNation Backpack for little girls and big girls ($35) decorated with a variety of emojis including a poop wearing a crown.
With mobile screens dominating your waking hours, app makers have begun targeting the time you spend sleeping. Curious to see what it's all about, I decided to put an app-based smart pillow to the test.