DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
 
 
 
TV TECH: Change the Channel, HAL -- I'm Sorry, Dave, I Can't Do That
October 27, 2011  | By Diane Werts
 
siri-apple-tv-remote-control.jpg

You've always wanted to tell your TV set what to do and where to go. Yes, you know you have. And maybe soon, you will.

If Apple has anything to say about it.

Turns out maybe Siri isn't just some fancy new talk-to-me iPhone assistant. Maybe she was actually developed to be -- gasp! -- your future video remote control.

So posits this New York Times "Bits" blog post that claims Steve Jobs' dying command was for a new Apple television set that simply does what your voice tells it to.

Hallelujah.

I mean, your cell phone's already in your hand, and you're touching it anyway. Your TV? Much too far away to be a touchscreen appliance, and your remote control/s is/are too complicated.

(Brrrrring! Quick, push that mute button. Go ahead. We'll wait while you find it. You're probably on your phone's fifth ring before you locate MUTE, aren't you?)

This is smart stuff. In our modern world, where nanoseconds matter -- really, 3G is sooo primitive, I must have 4G -- who wants to deal with a pile of remotes in the basket on your coffee table? I know I've got at least six, and Bianculli's got -- well, you don't want to know. (His coffee table swears at him regularly.)

Never mind getting up and walking across the room to push a button. My husband doesn't think our TV/DVD/Blu-ray/VHS/amplifier have any. (But then he can never find the remote, either.) Imagine the day when you actually had to walk across the room and turn a dial.

The horror!

So, soon we'll be saying, "Siri, change the channel when the World Series starts." Or, "Find me the latest episode of Real Sex. Is Green Acres available to watch anywhere? Show me who shot J.R. Find me a show worth watching."

Well, that last one's a human judgment, isn't it?

There'll always be a need for TV Worth Watching.

 

1 Comments

 

Lee Hartsfeld said:

"Mute all car commercials."

 
 
 
 
 
Leave a Comment: (No HTML, 1000 chars max)
 
 Name (required)
 
 Email (required) (will not be published)
 
NVDIR
Type in the verification word shown on the image.