Television

Wednesday, 30 September, 2009 @ 10:10PM

Is there any one in living memory who’s seen George Washington taking his oath to presidency at his home? Or the bullets of the world wars shattering the corridor glass panes with its echoes. No, not possible. But had all these events happened in modern times, and if we just ignore the possibility of you being dragged off to army service, it would all come splashing into our places.

That's right folks; the world around you is just a click away. One little push and there you are, enjoying coffee with your choice of a companion, be it an iguana in the Caribbean or the President himself, seated on a plush sofa in the white house. There is nothing in this world that can't be broadcast now, nothing that can't be shared. Apart from that, there's a range of channels catering to all kinds of audiences. Reality TV shows, daily soaps and educative programs don't even begin to describe the list of things being launched every hour. Television truly has molded the world into the little black box sitting in our living rooms.

It all started in the year 1884 Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a 20-year old university student in Germany, secured a patent for the first electromechanical television system. It was a primitive set that didn't even function like a proper Television. And that couldn't have happened until newer advancements in amplifier tubes and Cathode ray tubes were made. It was in Germany, around the year 1930 that commercial broadcasts of the Olympics were first brought to the people on a large scale. In the late 1930s when television went commercial in most of the industrialized world, including mainland Europe and the USA, It was first chiefly thought of as a means of entertainment. But since then it has evolved into so much more than that. It has now become the chief source of news, education, tourism and what not. A kid in Sri Lanka can now tell you what Antarctica looks like, how living in the Malaysian jungles may feel like or how trekking on the alps might appear. BBC or the British Broadcasting Company, has been in the line for more than 50 years, and still is the oldest one to have continued this long as a success. Through the years, the TV has not just grown in utility, but has in itself undergone a huge number of plastic surgeries. It has changed from the black and white, monstrous looking shuttered sets, to the now sleek and elegant looking (naturally, colored) Flat-screens or LCDs.

But all of this is well-known. What people do not know, is the radical shift Television if about to make. Latest sources report that in about 2 or 3 years' time, there's going to be live streaming of channels especially made for the 3rd generation mobiles. and though, it was predicted that the surge of the internet and websites like You-tube, television will go into the grave of obsolescence, the tube, it seems, has built strong allies around the world. And amidst a lot of hue and cry about its negative psychological and social aspects, the tube still continues to be the only vaporizer of the mid-noon to the evening period. got something better? Call it the next television!

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