1. Progress is as Dumb as a Pipe

This may be the year Internet killed the T.V. star. Now, more than ever we can imagine a-la-carte television viewing. Some big content providers may be letting the reins loose on the idea of a roll-your-own cable deal. Now I might be able to simply pay for the five channels I actually watch instead of the hundreds I don’t.

The problem, however, will likely continue to be that the regional ISPs do not want to be dumb pipes for serving content. In all seriousness, they should be so lucky after how they’ve all treated their customers over the past several decades. I’m willing to bet, though, that they will put up a huge fight, and we’ll wind up seeing bandwidth caps for usage just like we’re currently seeing with mobile carriers. After all, why invest some of the billions we’re making in infrastructure when we can just limit the amount of use people can get out of an advertised “unlimited” service?

Oh, and by the way, you can only make thirty phone calls each month on your home phone now. It’s for your own good.

2. Putting Domains on ICE

ICE will continue to take down websites, in the name of stopping terrorism, of course. This will expand to websites that the government and controlling interests deem “rogue.” This definition will never be clearly stated, and we will no doubt see countless websites taken down out of sheer malice.

3. Hacktivism as Terrorism

This may be the year we’ll see a soldier put away for life for the crime of defending the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Bradley Manning will be convicted of various charges stemming from his involvement in the WikiLeaks fiasco. Julian Assange will be handed over to U.S. authorities to be formally charged, and WikiLeaks will continue to be a thorn in Uncle Sam’s side. Anonymous may even make a cameo appearance in this one, although their ranks may be neutered by the government’s ever-increasing interest in stopping Internet activism.

We’ll see how it goes, but I’m not too sure 2012 is going to be a good year for the series of tubes.

The thing with flat screen TVs that might surprise people a little is that they are all over the place now. They are somewhat on the cheap side now, and they are everywhere: I see them in people’s bathroom, bedrooms, kitchen, and even some of them in hospitals. Yes, I was watching “MTV Cribs” and “Jersey Shore” while I was working in the hospital, sue me; you would do it in a heart beat. I guess my point is that this device has become very popular and very realistic for even the common folks to get.

One of the recent developments of flat screen TVs are Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TVs; they are televisions that use LCD technology to produce images. These televisions began to appear on the market, believe or not, in the early 1980s. LCD televisions are thinner and lighter than televisions of similar display size, and are available in much larger sizes. This combination of features made LCDs more practical than any other competitve TV models.

Many predicted it will not succeed in the market and other models would surpass them because the ghosting on fast-moving images, poor contrast ratio, and muddy colors. But the manufacturing of LCDs continue and sale numbers skyrocketed as we moved past the first decade of the millennium. LCDs have controlled the TV market for the first time in 2007, as the product surpassed every single model in total sales. As the years went on and the production cost went down, LCD has almost wiped out the only rival left in the model of plasmas.

Since then, LCDs are, by far, the most widely produced and sold television technology today, pushing all rivals aside.

When they don’t, I cut the cord–or in this case the cable.  Last week, I had cable Internet, TV and phone.  Comcast decided to play games with me for a few months with my Internet service.  It never worked and when it did, it was very slow. Whenever I called, they told me nothing was wrong.  When the technician came out, it worked for a day then crapped out once again.

Comcast refused to make it right.  I deleted them.  Now, I have Magic Jack, DSL and DirectTv.  DSL is not as bad as everyone says, by the way.  DirectTv is awesome!  There are many quality channels, cheap plans and customizable equipment. Everything I wanted.

DirectTv offered me almost 300 digital channels, including many in HD.  What I love is that there are not separate HD and non-HD channels like with cable.  If the show is in HD, it is so.  The annoying back and forth is finally over.  The plan I am enjoying is almost half the price of cable for more channels and a clearer picture.  Yes, satellite is clearer than my cable was.

Finally, I am all about customization.  I can create separate channel lists, so I only see the channels I want to watch.  They even have “mix” channels.  These show many stations at once.  I can watch numerous sporting events at the same time.  It is like picture-in-picture on steroids.

For over a week now, I have enjoyed my service.  The only complaint I have is all the infomercial channels, but those have been deleted from my playlist.  All in all, I am very pleased with my decision.

Cut the cord everyone!

I keep seeing commercials for a Samsung 3D TV, so I wanted to look into them.  The area I am at temporarily, doesn’t have any of these TVs available for me to personally play with, but the Internet is full of reviews.

Everything I have read has been positive about the picture quality of the new technology.  There has been no real criticism on this.  The only issues I have come across were sound quality, price and needed accessories.

There were numerous people complaining about the sound coming from the TV speakers.  However, the easy fix is a surround system.  Since most people have a sound system already, crisis averted.

As with all new technology, price is ridiculous.  The TVs are all pushing $3,000 and are likely not to come down for quite awhile.  Although, $3,ooo is not too bad for a great TV.  However, we can get some pretty good ones for much cheaper.  I actually can buy two 46 inch TVs for cheaper than one 3D module.

The next complaint is the video game system curse.  Remember when you bought a game system, and you got all the controllers and even a game?  Then they stopped doing this and made you buy a game.  Then you had to buy a game and the controllers.  Well, these TVs are following suit.

To enjoy the 3D viewing, you need 3D glasses.  Special 3D glasses.  Special ones that cost $150+ per set.  Now, comes the issue of how many sets to buy.  What if you have company over to see this modern marvel?  You would want more than a set or two.

I am extremely pumped to get a view into this new phase of home entertainment and can’t wait until I get to check out a set myself.  However, I am not rushing to buy a TV just yet.  For all those who have, tell me about it.

First, the world of computers.  Everything these days has a hard drive.  Video cameras, digital cameras, MP3 players and even gaming systems.  All of this data costs a lot of money to replace, and many pictures are priceless to the parent of a newborn or the newlywed couple.  The trend is going to drive toward home servers to back-up all this data for the savvy and off site back-ups for the average Joe.  Those with the knowledge and marketing skills could make a killing.

Next, the touchscreen.  This type of technology is in cell phones and supermarkets.  People of all ages love it, and it is much easier to figure out than 20-button controllers.  Begin to look for this in television remote controls.  Now that we are using one remote to control a TV, sound system, DVR, etc., there is an increasing need to simplify the process.  Touchscreen remotes are currently very pricy, but once makers come to their senses everyone will need one.

Back to computers.  With the home server or off-site server coming to age, there is going to be much less of a need for the DVR and sound systems mentioned above.  We can do everything through a computer, and TVs are basically hopped-up computer monitors.  Having a centrally based data center will allow for the elimination of thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

The last will be the completion of a current movement…wireless.  Wireless mice and keyboards finally are getting to a good point where they are reliable.  Bluetooth is proving its worth in the headphone and earpiece world.  Soon enough, all speakers will be wireless, and freedom from wires will be granted except for the pesky power cords.

All of these are not far-fetched ideas, and the trends are moving that way.  Get ready to live more easily.