77
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world

As a kid I imagined the future as being able to hold a TV in your pocket, and flying skateboards. For the latter I guess electric scooters will have to do

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] ALostInquirer@lemm.ee 11 points 4 months ago

if you primarily watch videos with your smartphone, couldn't you call it a pocket tv?

[-] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 1 points 4 months ago

No, because your smartphone needs internet, tv signals reach way more places, and more reliably.

Especially since broadcast tv, in America ya damn Limeys, is free, while internet is either very localized (WiFi, etc…) which may or may not be free, or wide spread (Cell phones, Satellites, etc…) which are definitely pay.

[-] BorgDrone@lemmy.one 1 points 4 months ago

Do they?

I can watch my local TV channels from the other side of the planet. I don’t think the signal reaches that far.

[-] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 2 points 4 months ago
[-] BorgDrone@lemmy.one 1 points 4 months ago
[-] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 2 points 4 months ago

That that is the difference to me, a tv has a built in tv tuner, otherwise it is a streaming device.

[-] BorgDrone@lemmy.one 1 points 4 months ago

So? Not sure why the difference matters. What is even the use or a tuner anymore?

[-] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 1 points 4 months ago
[-] BorgDrone@lemmy.one 1 points 4 months ago

Which has significantly worse picture quality than cable or fiber, has fewer channels and isn’t even significantly cheaper

[-] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 1 points 4 months ago

Free is absolutely cheaper than paying anything

[-] BorgDrone@lemmy.one 1 points 4 months ago

Here you get a grand total of three shitty channels for free OTA. Anything more requires a subscription.

[-] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 1 points 4 months ago

Oh no.

Here, in the middle of nowhere, like a town with 1500 people was the biggest thing in 20 miles or so, we got about 10-15 channels without even having the antenna outside the house, plus surrounded by forest.

[-] BorgDrone@lemmy.one 1 points 4 months ago

We have more OTA channels, you just have to pay for them. The free channels are in shitty SD quality (you have to pay for HD) and they are only unencrypted because the government requires it (as they are used for emergency broadcasts).

[-] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 1 points 4 months ago
[-] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world -5 points 4 months ago

I know it's semantics, but if your great-gramps would time travel to today, he would ask about your pocket TV, and you would reply nah, it's a smartphone

[-] MxM111@kbin.social 7 points 4 months ago

Which is actually not smartphone, but a general purpose computer with cell internet connection that can be used for many things, one of those is actually calling.

[-] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Or, I would reply yes, totally. It's called a smart phone, and load up the literal television app called YouTube TV

this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
77 points (76.6% liked)

Showerthoughts

29165 readers
532 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

Rules

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS