UPDATED 12:12 EDT / NOVEMBER 15 2012

Google TV Replaces the Remote Control with a Shout Out

Have you ever plopped down on the couch in front of the TV, with your chips and soda, eager to watch the newest episode of The Walking Dead, but you can’t find the remote anywhere? You look everywhere: underneath the cushions, behind the pillows, even under the coffee table, but you can’t seem to remember where you put the thing, and Walking Dead has already started. You’re wasting time and don’t even consider getting up to turn the channel from the TV. That’s just barbaric.

Google TV is now has voice control. If you want to watch ABC news, you don’t have to worry about picking up a remote and scrolling the list of channels. Simply say, “ABC” and the TV will turn the channel for you. Google TV’s Internet is also voice-activated, so searching the web can be done even if you’re across the room, nowhere near a keyboard and mouse.

It’s a move that competes with Microsoft’s own home entertainment efforts, the Xbox capable of voice-commands and gestures for some time now.  As the connected device ecosystem closes in for every major player, home entertainment is a consumer-riddled market to complete this loop.

And speaking of the Internet, Google Fiber went live in Kansas City on Tuesday. Rates are at $70 for 1Gbps speed, which is significantly faster than what any American ISP is offering.

“We just got it today and I’ve been stuck in front of my laptop for the last few hours. It’s unbelievable. I’m probably never going to leave the house, ” said Mike Demarais, founder of Threedee.

To compete with the new features out on the market, Samsung has decided to create unbreakable devices that will be made of plastic instead of glass, which will make them lighter, hard to break and easy to bend. The flexible displays will incorporate OLEDs, which is already being used in the South Korean’s smartphones and television sets.

Flexible OLEDs have been in development for years, but manufacturers have not been able to commercialize them due to technological barriers in the market, so Samsung plans to be the first to bring them to store shelves.


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