Verizon is widely known for its Verizon Wireless operations. But cell phone carrier  services are not all that the big V can offer to its customers. A growing Verizon FiOS network that was first deployed 6 years ago offered ultra fast Internet access, it has since evolved into a multi-functional service that includes FiOS Internet, FiOS TV, and FiOS Digital Voice.

Fiber optic cable technology employed by Verizon FiOS is famous by its so called “last mile problem” solution. In short, Verizon FiOS has fiber optic cable going to the premises to never lose on signal quality and bandwidth.

FiOS TV service consequently feeds up to 530 high quality and HD  TV channels to homes. The alliance between Verizon, Samsung and LG are to bring very high quality TV content, together with rich Internet media content, to the Verizon customers’  TV sets. Flexview DVD catalogs shown here are just one possibility. Thanks to FiOS speeds, chosen content starts playing almost instantly, that is, with no delay or buffering.

High quality multi-party video conferencing can also become a reality. When WiFi hardware under new 802.11ac standard will become available, benefits of such an alliance may show on new WiFi-connected mobile devices from Samsung and LG.

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New Samsung HDTVs UNES8000 LED and PNE8000 Plasma are really stunning pieces of rapidly evolving technology.  This time, it’s not just 55 inches of Super OLED goodness, or beautiful plasma screen on a second model, it’s these features bundled with both TVs, as per Samsung press release:

Consumers can use Samsung’s new Smart Interaction technology to easily manage their TV experience. By using Voice Control, Motion Control and Face Recognition features to complement the remote control, users can turn the TV on or off, adjust the volume or activate selected apps through speech. They can also use voice to activate the search function in the web browser and “tell” the TV what they are searching for.

The Super OLED’s built-in HD camera recognises movement in the foreground to enable intuitive control, and two unidirectional array microphones recognise voice at an incredibly accurate rate. Noise cancellation technology helps to separate any background noise from the user’s commands.

In other words, these TVs supposed not just watching you Big Brother style, they also listen to you carefully (that may mean selecting your voice out of ambient noise) and checking whether it is really you by face recognition feature.

However, one feature from Orwell’s “1984″ design guidelines for TVs is missing here: Samsung HDTVs presented may still have “Power OFF” button. I would suggest Samsung, for better Orwellian compliance, lose this button, together with the prohibited voice commands “Power OFF!”, “Shut OFF”, and the like.

Jokes aside, these “smart” TV features are still stunning. Face recognition for your kid can easily implement parental controls on content a kid is allowed to watch, or not to watch.

The post Your Next TV Will Watch You appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Withings is best known for their “adult” WiFi-connected scale which enables you to track your weight and fitness level through an easy-to-use app that works with the PC or their favorite iOS mobile device. Now they introduce a scale that is designed for infants and toddlers.

That is, the Baby Scale has an upper limit of 55 lbs, accurate to 0.02 lbs, works on 3 AAA batteries and collects its precious weight measurements into a Whitings weight-watching app.

Cédric Hutchings, Withings co-founder had this to say about the new product:

“We are very excited to announce our Smart Baby Scale and offer parents an amazing new way to take care of their newborn or young child. The success of our WiFi Body Scale has proven the benefits of connected weight tracking on adults and we were eager to also bring these benefits to babies and children.”

Withing’s Baby Scale is priced as a $179 WiFi-connected device, which is actually $20 more than its “adult” version.

[ source ]

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