When you collapse in front of the box after a hard day’s work, do you ever wonder what your television will look like in the next decade? Probably not, as you're too busy watching whatever is on, but let me tell you - the future looks awesome. Entertainment is a big part of everyone's lives and the people behind innovations in the television industry are really starting to push the boundaries. Your parents will remember the first black and white television, a bulky and relatively small contraption. Then came colour TV's and people were again amazed. Nowadays you have massive flat screen LCD's offering high definition viewing that ...

Harry Potter changed young adult fiction when it came out. Let’s face it, JK Rowling may not be the most erudite writer on the planet, but she certainly has a great imagination – one that she successfully put on paper and has captured the imagination of both young and old alike. That’s quite an accomplishment, if you ask me.

The CES show was host to some rather amazing gadgets and gizmos this year - in fact arguably one of the best years for some time. Things really seem to be getter better - but not only that, they seem to be getting bigger as well. What I mean by that is of course that televisions are the next (and current) big thing! As a first at CES, the world's first laser television was displayed. This was debuted by Mitsubishi who state that it is a 'new category' of display to offer alongside the likes of LCD and plasma technology. The reason for the development of this type of screen is that it offers (apparently) ...

One of the things I've experienced recently is the real issue of not having a television. This is at least in part due to my moving house - my old set is a great Samsung widescreen, which is neither plasma nor LCD. This CRT beast has remained at the home of my parents, simply because I've never managed to have the energy or the will to go and collect it. One of the good points about this is that I've not been kept up far too late watching rubbish on television in my bedroom. Don't get me wrong, I still have a television to watch, but it's in the living room. I still tend to catch good ...

With the HD war heating up, the battle between LCD and Plasma is reaching fever pitch. Just like HD DVD and Blu-ray, each camp has its avid supporters who extol the virtues of each technology. But Sony is about to stir things up with the announcement that it will finally release the first OLED TV this December. OLED is widely seen as the best among the three technologies because it is more energy efficient and it allows for the production of extremely thin and ultralight displays. It is also a great technology for showing very vivid pictures that can render fast moving images -- this makes it perfect for action movies or sports. Of ...

With the raging High Definition war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, the future of the DVD is becoming bleak. Most a growing number of consumers are slowly throwing their hats into this HD war and picking which among the two competitors will win in the end. But DVDs are really not about to meet its demise. It actually still has a lot of legs and with new technology will still remain a viable format for the foreseeable future. The key to DVDs increased longevity will be in the area of upscaling. A number of new DVD players in the market right now offer upscaling features. What this feature does is to bump up the native resolution of DVDs to HD ...

Ahh Yes...MacGyver the uber geek...the idol of engineers, the basis of geeks, cool but techie, resourceful in a very, Renaissance man -like manner and fashion, he uses his knowledge of science, technology and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life or death crises. With nothing but a Swiss Army Knife and a roll of duct tape commonly known, to some degree, as "MacGyver-tape". Since the MacGyver is the basis of everything tech-related I had to post it here too. MacGyver according to Wikipedia Angus MacGyver is a highly intelligent, optimistic action hero who prefers non-violent conflict resolution wherever possible. He refuses to carry or use a gun due to a childhood accident with a ...

There has been a great debate regarding the use of generic cables and branded cables. Look at any online forum on speakers or audiophiles and you will always find long forum threads that just deals with this subject. The contention about this topic is simple. There is a camp that says quality cables or wires produce better results. For example, better video quality (if you use video cables) or sonic characteristics (if for example, the topic are speaker wires). The opposing camp, on the other hand, contends that there really is no significant difference. A wire is a wire and all the talk about difference sonic characteristics or better overall quality when using very expensive cables ...

There's a large number of high quality programmes now available on tv. Shows including Heroes, The Sopranos and The Office all provide fantastic (if edgy) entertainment. So, how do they stand up to games - the other pastime where you're in front of the box? Well let's look at a few areas of comparison: Storyline Games have traditionally had a very simple, very poor Aristotealean (and basic) narrative. TV on the other hand seems to be in a bit of a renaissance at the momement with layered, deep storylines offering much to the audience. Games such as Psychonauts, Half Life 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 are giving more to the player of late, offering a better sense ...

In my view, this year's CES is all about enabling pervasive content distribution. And the key to everyone's strategy here, whether Microsoft (via XBox 360) or Apple (via Apple TV), is IPTV. Let's be clear. IPTV is disruptive technology. Seriously. There is no better example of what a disruptive technology would look like. This is VoIP multiplied by a million. So what exactly is the big deal? Simply put: IPTV shakes video distribution to its core. It takes control away from the big cable companies. It makes entry into cable distribution much easier, increasing competition. It puts choice in the hands of consumers. It explodes constraints: limitless channels anyone? At a ...