Official convergence post.
Right, about convergence.In lectures and tutorials we hear about devices converging, different platforms converging, and we keep hearing, “The Telcos are getting Worried.”
Honestly, let them get worried, then. Ha. I’m the consumer, remember? And it probably has something to do with econs, but when such convergence happens and telcos get worried, we will probably get a lot of free things because there’ll be companies (telcos vs. non-telcos) fighting for our attention and throwing good deals at us.
Which is, in the most ultimate sense, cool.
In case you guys don’t know, I’m a huge fan of television. In fact I’d rather wait for Heroes to come out on StarHub Cable TV in January 2008 than to download it off the Internet or stream it, because I like looking at things on the big screen. I buy Japanese drama DVDs instead of watching them on crunchyroll.com, because I like to see them playing on the TV. It’s nice and big, and I can lie in bed while using a remote.
(Wait a minute, maybe I don’t really like watching stuff on the screen. Maybe my favourite part about the whole process is lying on the bed and not moving much while crunching a bag of crisps.)
So anyway, today I’ll be talking about TV. Again.
I don’t know if you guys have heard about mio TV. Chances are you have, because the ads really suck and they are bombarded at you everywhere you look. Anyway, I guess you can call mio TV digital convergence in Singapore because it uses IPTV to send the programs to homes, and not cable nor traditional free-to-air methods like the satellite thingy we learnt in TVSM. IPTV is short for Internet Protocol TV, which means the programs are transmitted via a non-conventional Internet system. In mio’s case it’s broadband, and the signals are sent to the digital set top boxes in people’s homes. It’s media convergence – combining the Internet and television. Rather genius, I must say.
(I think I wouldn’t wanna get mio because I’m rather loyal to StarHub Cable TV, by the way.)
Okay, on another note, have you guys heard of Veoh? This was introduced to me by both crunchyroll and Devon, almost at the same time. I would like to talk about that, but I’m still quite new to it, so I probably should refrain. Maybe Devon wants to take it up?
And I’m not sure if I should turn this post into a rant, but I’m quite irritated by device convergence. WHY must everything be crammed into one, and get compromised on the quality? If you want to cram everything into one, make everything work well! I do know that nothing is perfect, but at least try your best. (Ha. Bad customer alert.) But I do have to commend Sony Ericsson on their handsets, because their sound system is really good and their camera is fantastic. However I have to say, the buttons are usually badly located and irritatingly hard to press, unless you put a silicone cover over it, which completely ruins the look. Not that I can’t live with it, but aren’t you supposed to make everything nice-nice for the customer?!
Please, Sony Ericsson. Do something.
And I’m thinking, why only make a camera a cellphone or a cellphone an MP3 player? Why doesn’t anyone do something like, a cellphone-iron? Obviously you don’t have to (and cannot) put it to your ear, duh, but at least have those kinda buttons you see in those hi-tech cars where you press and the whole car can hear you. This way housewives can iron and chat on the phone. Granted, it’ll be rather expensive. Maybe the only reason they aren't doing something like that is because they can't decide if the housewives would actually put the iron to their ear when the phone rings, which will result in many nasty accidents and cumbersome complaints.
There are so many possibilities out there, because of convergence. I can’t wait to see them, and then take advantage. Hehehe.
posted by lydiaquek @ 9:28 PM
<< Home