If you're like me – a gadget enthusiast – you are a slave to wires. Entertainment centers, personal computers, stereos, and your home appliances all require a certain amount of clemency from my slightly obsessive-compulsive disdain for wires. Until recently, our only release from our relationship with wires was to hide them. While not a complete solution, it certainly masked the problem. And what a problem it was in my house. I had wires just to plug in more wires.
It's time to break free from wire slavery. We're going to take a room-by-room breakdown of your gadgets, and ways that you can cut the cord. Although it's nearly impossible to go completely wireless, eliminating the wires we actually see are probably the best bet to start with. Today we're going to focus on the living room, and your entertainment system specifically.
Television – Samsung Smart TV
It all starts with the television, if you're me at least. While the television itself isn't a problem, all the cords that snake their way in, through, and behind your TV can make even the sanest of technophiles crack. Besides the obvious solution of buying as many wireless devices you can find, there are great television options that can multi-task, thus removing some of the devices that you may have connected to it.
A great new television option is a Samsung Smart TV. The Samsung Smart TV allows me to ditch my home theater pc in favor of a multitude of apps, as well as a web browser built right into the television set. When you access the “smart hub” feature, you are directed to a menu which allows you to view the usual suspects, such as Hulu and YouTube, but it also gives you the ability to download apps, rent movies, update your Twitter account, and browse the web through their semi-robust web browser. The “Your Video” feature not only allows you to rent movies, but it custom tailors recommendations based on your viewing habits.
The Smart TV comes with a two-sided remote which gives you all the functionality of your current remote, while allowing you to flip it over and use the full QWERTY keypad for your internet browsing convenience. While browsing the web, you can take full advantage of the picture-in-picture feature to never miss a minute of your favorite shows.
One more cool feature of note is the “Social TV” function. When you use the Social TV feature, your whole viewing experiences changes into a social gathering. While television is displayed on a large window, you can chat with multiple friends in a side window. What a great way to talk about the game as it's happening.
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