tv

Microsoft’s answer to the Chromecast: pricier but better

I have the Chromecast and some things are awesome on it. Unfortunately, it’s a limited device in that strictly speaking, the Chromecast doesn’t mirror content, it streams from the web. This means that outside of a few phones, you can’t project games to your TV, which I’ve argued could disrupt the games industry. It also means you can’t project your PowerPoint presentation to the TV.

That changes with Microsoft’s Wireless Display Adapter (awful, awful name). It uses the Miracast standard to mirror your Windows and Android devices to the TV so you don’t even need Wi-Fi to make it work. Check out the video to see how Microsoft wants you to use it:

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On Channel News Asia today to talk about Kiosked

I was on TV today! It was a minor appearance on Channel News Asia, the region’s leading business channel, on Tech-Know, an excellent Tuesday morning show.

cna interview

I was invited to speak about Kiosked, a tech company out of Finland that’s raised $13 million in funding. One of its principle investors is Kaj Head, chairman of Rovio, which of course created Angry Birds.

Kiosked works with publishers as a way to monetize their content. The company overlays ads on top of websites’ images that act as virtual storefronts, featuring products relevant to that content.

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Bought a new 50-inch LED TV, then wanted to gouge my eyes out

Nine months after the 3-year warranty expired, my 46-inch Samsung LED TV died.  I paid $2,200 for it and it was Samsung’s flagship TV at the time.  The picture quality was great but the TV suffered many problems: the panel was replaced three times, it had major backlight bleeding (who cares about deep blacks when there’s clouding?) and the optical audio port was busted.

It was an expensive TV and lasted less than four years.  It made me wonder whether instead of purchasing a $2,200 flagship TV every four years, I should just spend $1,000 on a mid-level TV every two.  With the way technology advances, the mid-level experience two years from now might be better than the flagship experience today.  I’d save money and average out to comparable viewing quality.

And so I purchased a Sharp Aquos 50LE450M online for an astonishingly cheap $720.  Yes, you read that correctly, a 50-inch, 1080P LED TV for $720 from a respected Japanese brand.  It was also only released in 2013.  I couldn’t find any reviews of it as the TV appears to be specially made for developing markets.  Sibling Sharp TVs with similar model numbers did have middling reviews, which by definition I was prepared to accept.  Plus, this is from Sharp so it can’t be that bad right?

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