When I first received my Sky+ HD box, I thought to myself this was really TV at its best: I would never miss my favourite programmes; I would be able to pause live shows, record entire series. Could I really ask for more? I didn’t think so until the Smart TV came in.

We have all heard of Internet or IP TV in the past, manufacturers like Sony have been making them for years now. However, Smart TV goes one step further: not only you can surf the web via your TV but like a mobile, you can get access to hundreds of apps which open you to a whole new world of entertainment. With this new piece of equipment the viewing experience becomes something else altogether: you can rent movies via Lovefilm, use social network applications such as Facebook or even chat with your friends on Skype. With VOD being part of our day to day TV consumption, the market of TV apps has become the next best thing. Samsung predicts that by the end of 2014 70% of all TV’s will be Smart TV’s. I remember when I first started in the media industry people kept saying “TV is dead”, “Video on Demand is the end of TV”. In reality VOD is simply another way for people to watch even more of the TV that they love. Gaming consoles are already challenging laptops and PC’s with BBC IPlayer, ITV player, 4OD and Sky Anytime all on Playstation and Xbox. Yet, Smart TV will bring television back in to the heart of the home and bring a whole new viewing experience. This new technology is not just about watching TV but also sharing and connecting with the world.

So to those who were quick to say TV is dead, I would say TV has risen from the ashes!!

If you are one of the millions of Harry Potter fans around the globe, then you must certainly be aware that the next instalment of the series will be in cinema this week.  Believe it or not only a year has passed since the last time we saw the young wizard on screen. So I guess the wait was not too unbearable. What can we expect in the finale? Well it seems the last two episodes are likely to be the darkest ones of the entire saga (actually, they keep saying that since The Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004!): after Dumbledore’s death (killed by Severus Snape for those of you who may have forgotten), Harry, Ron and Hermione are on a mission to destroy the secret to Voldemort’s immortality. Obviously their task won’t be easy and the Dark Lord will do everything in his power to prevent the students of Hogwarts to achieve their goal. That’s for the synopsis.
 I must say that I wasn’t really into the Harry Potter universe: I have never read the books and actually managed to sleep at the cinema while watching the first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone! For that reason you’ll appreciate that it was hard for me to understand why millions of people around the world were queuing outside books stores, waiting to buy the latest release.  I thus decided to do the most sensible thing possible: I read all the books… Who am I kidding! I just rented all the movies, it was quicker! And I must say that after Harry Potter 5, I eventually got into it. So although I don’t consider myself a Harry Potter fan, I can honestly say that I am really impatient to see what the next film will be about. After all it has been a decade since we’ve been following the adventure of young wizard Potter on screen: the first book came out in 1997 and the first film of the franchise in 2001. That leaves time for people like me to eventually show an interest. Now that I’m saying that, I’m feeling a bit nostalgic because I realise that there are only two movies left and nothing to look forward to after that.
Will there be another book hero to fill the gap that Harry Potter will leave behind?