UK embracing hi-tech TV

TV-loving UK consumers lead the world in using the latest technology to enhance their viewing experience, Ofcom research has revealed. The UK is ahead of other countries such as Japan and the USA for catching up with TV online and is at the forefront of using new technology such as smart TVs and digital video recorders (DVRs). Ofcom’s report shows that the UK is embracing the latest TV technology, as the country becomes one of the first all-digital nations, following the digital TV switchover which was completed in October. As well as being the leading country for the adoption of digital video recorders, UK consumers are the most likely in the world to access TV content over the Internet. Almost a  quarter  (23 Internet users claimed to do this every week – driven by  per cent) of UK the popularity of online TV catch-up services such as BBC iPlayer, Sky Go and 4OD. The USA ranked second with 17 per cent, with Spain third (16 per cent). The UK also has one of the highest proportions of TV homes with HD – at 41 per cent, higher than France (18 per cent), Germany (28 per cent) and Japan (31 per cent), but behind the US (49 per cent). UK consumers are also embracing the new generation of smart TVs – enabling access to online services such as catch-up TV viewing, social networking and gaming on the TV set. Fifteen per cent of UK consumers say they own a smart TV. This is the same as France, but compares to 10 per cent in the USA. The average UK viewer watches over four hours (242 minutes) of TV every day, with only the USA (293 minutes) and Italy (253 minutes) watching more. Earlier this year, Ofcom revealed that TVs in the UK’s living rooms continue to get bigger. Over a third (35.4 per cent) of TV sets sold in Q1 2012 were either ‘super-large’ (33” to 42”) or ‘jumbo-sized’ (43”+), up from 6.8 per cent in 2005. Source: Advanced Television, Image: flickr.com

Read More........→December 17, 2012

Are 'Yetis' migrating North?

As it seems, a very hot Siberian summer has made the Kuzbass Yetis, which are often referred to as Abominable Snowmen, to migrate to Mountain Shoria (Gornaya Shoriya) in Southern Siberia. The Yetis have appeared more than once in the upper reaches of the Mras-Su River that runs in the Mountain Shoria in the southern part of the Kemerovo Region, north of the Azas Cave, which journalists call the “home of the Yetis”. To believe this or not people decide for themselves. The fishermen of the taiga Village of Toz said that they had seen 2 Yetis drinking water on the bank of the Mras-Su River. They did not answer our greeting, one of the eye-witnesses, Vitaly Vershinin, said. Hominologists believe that the heat might have served as a reson for the migration of the Yetis north of the Azas Cave that was considered to be their home. The Director of the International Centre of Hominology in Moscow Igor Burtsev has been studying the Yetis for nearly half a century now. He has been cooperating with thousands of volunteer researchers all over the world: as you know, there is an opinion that there is no such science as hominologyin the world today. The Yetis live everywhere but most of them live in Mountain Shoria, Igor Burtsev says. "We have come to the conclusion that a Yeti is actually a human being since it can talk and communicate with people. And this is the main criteria for making such a statement. But the fact that they do not resemble people is quite another matter. They are well adapted to nature, and they lead the life of an animal. They use neither instruments of labour nor clothes or fire, but they are sufficiently intellectual. Besides, they are well known for their paranormal capabilities. And another thing of importance here. They live in almost inaccessible areas." Last October an international expedition led by Igor Burtsev that included scientists from the USA, Canada, Sweden, Estonia, and Russia, visited the Azas Cave in the Kuzbass Region. Although they met no Yetis, they discovered a 45-centimetre-long trace of an unknown creature on the clay floor. The examination of the found wool with the help of the scanning electron microscope that was carried out at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg confirmed that the Kuzbass Yeti was not a myth. His wool was identical to the wool of the Snowmen that were discovered in many parts of the world. The famous geneticist Professor Bryan Sikes from the Wolfson College, at Oxford University plans to put a full stop in the many-year dispute over the existence of the Yeti. Using advanced technologies, he has already started to study the remains of the inhabitants of the inaccessible areas. Bryan Sikes plans to make his results public this December. Source: Voice of Russia, Image

Read More........→November 16, 2012