Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The 8 Best Smart TVs You Can Buy

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-smart-tvs-2013-3

panasonic smart tv interface

Smart TVs have become more prevalent as the technology becomes cheaper and more widely available. 

These are web-connected TVs that come prepackaged with apps and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, meaning you don't need to buy a separate box like an Apple TV or Roku.

Just about every major manufacturers has its own take on a Smart TV. 

We rounded up our favorites here.

The Samsung LED F8000 is one of the company's flagship models for 2013

Samsung recently announced its 2013 line up of Smart TVs.

Samsung's Smart TV technology is some of the most advanced around. Users can interact with their television using voice, gestures, or the remote control.

But what really makes Samsung's 2013 models stand out is built-in software called S Recommendation that helps you find shows to watch and the integrated web cameras and sensors for motion and voice control.

Price: The LED F8000 comes in three sizes: 46 inches, 55 inches, and 65 inches, and are priced at, $2,199, $2,699, and $2,999, respectively.



Samsung's 2013 Plasma Smart TV is the company's other flagship.

Samsung's other 2013 flagship TV, is the the F8500 Plasma. 

Samsung promises the F8500 will offer the ultimate picture quality with the deepest blacks and the brightest picture available.

"The F8500 delivers the same brightness levels and eight times the black expression of regular LED TVs, thanks to new luminance enhancements and Samsung’s proprietary Deep Black Algorithm and Real Black Pro II for improved black expression," according to Mark Hodgkinson.

But besides hardware features, the F8500 is also packed with all of Samsung's current SmartTV software. Users will have access to the SmartHub, five panels that show: what's on TV, Movies & TV Shows, Photos, Videos, and Music, Social, and Apps.

Besides these intuitive hubs, the television can give viewers recommendations tailored to what they like and you can speak with it telling it to change the channel to ESPN for example.

You'll be able to buy it at the end of March.

Price: The set comes in two sizes: 60 inches and 64 inches, and sells for $3,199 and $3,699, respectively.



LG's 60-inch 3D LED SmartTV is easy to set up and comes with a "Magic Remote"

LG's Smart TVs are some of the most advanced around. Each set has built-in WiFi and comes with LG's Magic Remote Control.

The Magic Remote Control allows you to simply wave and click while browsing the Internet or using the LG Dashboard t! hat mana ges apps and content.

Price: Currently on sale at Best Buy $1,299.99



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Article: Researchers create hollow fiber optic cable, almost reach the speed of light

Fiber optic cables are usually made of glass or plastic but those materials actually slow down the transmission of light ever so slightly. Researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK have created a hollow fiber optic cable filled with air that's 1000 times faster than current cables. S...

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/researchers-create-hollow-fiber-optic-cable-almost-reach-the-sp/

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Hon Hai shows record profits, keeps making money from making iPhones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/hon-hai-profits/

Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn Technology, has reported its earnings for the year and notched a net income of $3.2 billion according to the Financial Times. Most familiar as the manufacturing muscle behind Apple's iPhones, iPads and the like, the Taiwan-based manufacturer beat analyst predictions on high margins for those products. Its subsidiary, Foxconn International Holdings, is the world's largest cellphone maker and produces devices for companies including Nokia and Motorola, but suffered a net loss of $316.4 million. As a result, some are concerned about Foxconn's heavy reliance on Apple as a customer going forward.Still, the company is reportedly continuing a plan to increase vertical integration, by manufacturing the parts for devices and not just putting them together -- we'll see if anyone notices changes in the final product anytime soon.

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Source: FT, BBC, Bloomberg

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T-Mobile's 4G LTE goes live in Phoenix, San Jose

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/t-mobiles-4g-lte-goes-live-in-phoenix-san-jose/

TMobile's LTE goes live in Phoenix, Bay area

T-Mobile has started to roll out 4G services in the Phoenix and San Jose ahead of a press gathering today, according to our tipsters. Screen grabs show the service alive and kicking out speeds in the 20-30Mbps range, though we've yet to verify it for ourselves. The company already outed its "UnCarrier" plans on its site earlier featuring non-subsidized smartphones -- including LTE models -- along with unlimited voice, text and basic data plans. We should be able to color in the rest of the details later this morning.

[Thanks Nick, Dustin]

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NVIDIA's GTX 650 Ti Boost lives up to its name for $149

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/nvidia-gtx-650-ti-boost/

NVIDIAs GTX 650 Ti Boost brings 1080p gaming to the budget crowd for $TKTK

By NVIDIA's own admission, the lower registers of its Kepler-based GeForce graphics cards "couldn't always tackle [their] originally stated goal" of powering 1080p games with the settings amped up to high. So, after the GeForce GTX 650 and 650 Ti, maybe the third time's a charm. The latest card goes by the name GTX 650 Ti Boost, reflecting the fact that it brings NVIDIA's GPU Boost technology into the mix, which can vary the chip's clock speed as need allows. Stacked against the 650 Ti, this unit's got 782 CUDA cores (up from 768), a base clock of 980MHz (up from 928MHz) and a TDP of 140W, (compared to 110W). Another big draw is two-way SLI, so you can pair up cards when your wallet regains its strength. On the benchmark front, NVIDIA promises you can run Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm at highest settings and get a frame rate of 62fps, an order of magnitude higher than the 39fps promised on the 650 Ti. Sitting above the 650 Ti and below the GeForce 660, the 1GB version will set you back $149 (£124), with the 2GB edition priced at $169 (£144). In behind-closed-doors tests, the company has found that it comes out on top against AMD's $249 Radeon 7850, but we'll be rounding up independent reviews shortly in o! rder to verify that claim -- as well as seeing if it can make the 7790 think twice about getting out of bed.

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