There’s an APP for that

Hey kids, remember Bruce Springsteen?  More specifically, do you remember his song “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)”?  He was bemoaning the trouble finding anything good to watch on a cable TV system with a lot of channels.  That was back in 1992 – now, most systems have several hundred channels.  I’ll leave it to you to decide how good they are.  But for a long time, it seemed like that was all TV could do – go from one channel to the next, to the next, and so on.  Pull out your smart phone or tablet computer or laptop – and it seems like you have a lot more options.

All those apps, or applications to the uninformed, are available on our hand-held devices.  Facebook, Angry Birds, Netflix, Twitter, weather, sports, news and more – all those apps available at a touch.  TVs aren’t left out anymore.  Watch the commercials during the holidays and beyond for new TVs and you’ll see a lot of them are for what’s called “Connected TVs.”  Besides the HD picture and stereo sound, those televisions have built-in WI-Fi and include additional content – factory installed apps that offer programming – and a lot more.  Those apps will connect directly to the Internet, giving viewers access to movies and TV shows that may not be available on through cable or satellite.  Music, games and social media will pop up on the same screen as your favorite shows.

According to this story in TVTechnology, more than a quarter of all digital TVs shipped this year will be Connected TVs, and contain apps that TV makers hope will entice shoppers.  Is Internet-ready TV the next wave?  Let me check if there’s a “Coming Trends” app and I’ll get back to you.