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THE BUSINESS AND CULTURE OF OUR DIGITAL LIVES, FROM THE L.A. TIMES

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THE BUSINESS AND CULTURE OF OUR DIGITAL LIVES, FROM THE L.A. TIMES

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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/07/skyping-with-grandma-and-texting-at-the-dinner-table-a-new-report-examines-the-effect-of-technology-.html

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Has technology been good for family life?

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Has technology been good for family life?

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The survey has "revealed" that families across the land are gathering in the living room again, united by their love of watching television while occupying themselves with their smartphones/tablets/laptops. I love this kind of supposition. It make all our lives richer - literally so in our case.

The survey has "revealed" that families across the land are gathering in the living room again, united by their love of watching television while occupying themselves with their smartphones/tablets/laptops. I love this kind of supposition. It make all our lives richer - literally so in our case.

Obviously, it sounds ridiculous. Two years ago iPads and iPhones were the ruination of family life, causing mass juvenile alienation.

But such claims always need some (surprise) foundation. The new technology means fewer and fewer children want (or receive) a TV in their bedroom. SkyPlus and iPlayer are all very well but some things have to be experienced live. Come Saturday night, everyone really does gravitate into the living room to watch "event television", if only to tweet or text their friends about it. Like it or not, The X Factor really is the superglue holding family life together.

Peter Stanford, writer, journalist and broadcaster

There is something deeply cynical about the way this research tries to dress up the fragmentation of family life by technology as the opposite. All it tells us is that families are sitting in the same room, doing all sorts of different things on their iPhones and iPads while the TV is on. This may be marginally better than each member sitting in their bedroom glued to their technological devices, but it hardly constitutes a great coming-together of the family unit.

Indeed, the picture the report paints, of Dad doing online shopping on his phone, Mum listening to a podcast, the kids on social media, or with music piped into their heads via an earphone, and all the time the pernicious, manipulative nonsense that is The Voice or The X Factor blaring out on a 40in screen over the fireplace, seems to me a snapshot of the slow death of the family. Technology is getting in the way of a shared experience, not facilitating it. How about all doing the same thing at the same time - embracing the collective. That's what family life is about for me. And sorry to be sound as old as the hills, but how about muting that cacophony of imported sounds and everyone just talking to one another?

JS There is - obviously - an argument to say it would be better if the nation's families sat around discussing Jane Austen. But sadly, like every generation before us, we're better off embracing what is already here, if only to avoid a cantankerous Modern Life Is Rubbish stance. The same complaints about the demise of civilisation were voiced about the arrival of the steam train, the miniskirt and email. OK, forget email. Bring back letter writing. Often these protests prove premature, as the current revivals of vinyl over MP3s and printed books over ebooks indicate.

I'm an advocate of benevolent dictatorships (in my own house), but your view doesn't allow that people want to live this way. Why should we sit experiencing mediocre/awful television, obediently watching the adverts, without doing something else at the same time? Doesn't "all doing the same thing at the same time, embracing the collective" encompass tweeting about The Voice en famille?

I'd negotiate a no-tweet policy during David Attenborough in return.

At least if you watch The X Factor with your kids you can talk about it with them. Then you can tell them they wouldn't know decent music if they heard it afterwards.

PS I'm with you on familial negotiation, but technology makes that tougher, especially when my kids' generation is so much more adept at it than mine. We negotiate a compromise and then I struggle to monitor it because they know my skills don't match theirs.

When I was a teenager, there was one phone in the draughty hall of the family home, so my parents could eavesdrop on my plans and conversations. Now with smartphones, mine could be planning a rave in the back garden while I was out on my allotment, and I'd be none the wiser. And you are making my point for me with your reference to Jane Austen. What the ready availability of technology in the hands of every member of the family means is that the age-old clash of cultures between parents and offspring is now being played out in ever more extreme ways - it's Jane Austen or The Voice, no need to compromise and find a middle ground with a shared dose of The White Queen.

JS Let's try to leave Jane Austen out of this. She was crap on The X Factor anyway. It's surely the worst kind of snobbery to assume that, just because teenagers enjoy terrible television such as The X Factor, they are incapable of reading a book. Even if it's true.

The only way forward is to embrace the technology/accept defeat. Otherwise, such a polarised view of parents v kids means paranoia will set in.

Teenagers have always operated covertly and gone to parties behind their parents' backs. You could just as easily argue that Skype or Face Time increase your ability to communicate/check up on them.

Teenagers have always hated talking to/phoning their parents, regardless of whether it was via an iPhone or a telephone in the hall. If you see them and today's technology as a lost cause, you are surely more likely to lose them to the modern world and a life wearing headphones.

If I were you, I'd get your kids to show you what they're into and why, and then have a go at it. Before you know it, you'll be watching The Voice and tweeting like the best of us. Maybe that's what you're afraid of. (Happy face.)

PS I've two series of The Voice under my belt and am all for a mixed bag of culture, but the mixing doesn't have to be everything simultaneously. That's a race to the bottom. What family life seems to me to be about - amid all the things that we do separately - is finding times, places and ways in which we can share doing something together, and being together. I'm just not convinced that the various impacts of technology on this constant and age-old search are, on balance, beneficial.

So big yes to Skype - I do embrace the new, but accept that I'll always be playing catch-up in comparison to my kids - but I just don't buy this idealised picture Ofcom presents of a "happy" family, all in one room, in the shadow of a giant TV, but busy in their own worlds, with their own gadgets, supposedly interacting with each other, when in fact they have a foot (or ear/eye) somewhere else. It feels like a commercial for Apple.
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Has technology been good for family life? | The debate

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The survey has "revealed" that families across the land are gathering in the living room again, united by their love of watching television while occupying themselves with their smartphones/tablets/laptops. I love this kind of supposition. It make all our lives richer - literally so in our case.

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Does your family sit round the TV together?

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Does your family sit round the TV together?

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Families are watching more TV together than at any time in the past 10 years, according to an Ofcom study. The rise in smartphones and tablet computers is said to have made it more likely that children and parents will sit together while watching a programme, while using social media and the internet. Half of the people surveyed said that they used their phones or laptops while watching television, with women the most likely to be distracted by other technology.

How does your family interact in the evenings? Do you all sit around watching TV together, or are you more likely to be found on laptops around the house? Do you sit with a partner, but constantly check your phone for Twitter and Facebook updates? Or do you have a "no technology" rule for time spent as a family? Tell us about your family time in the comments below.
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Does your family sit round the TV together? | Open thread

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Families are watching more TV together than at any time in the past 10 years, according to an Ofcom study. The rise in smartphones and tablet computers is said to have made it more likely that children and parents will sit together while watching a programme, while using social media and the internet.

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撕掉“偽智能” 智能家居還需幾步

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撕掉“偽智能” 智能家居還需幾步

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撕掉"偽智能" 智能家居還需幾步-香港商报

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以三星、LG為首的韓企也在智能家居領域下足了功夫，三星在布局全品類智能家電終端的同時，推出了SmartHome智能家居開放平台和Tizen操作系統，並允許第三方加入。目前，三星智能家居不僅兼容蘋果HomeKit智能家居的平台，還支持多終端操作系統Android、iOS、Windows Phone，並兼容飛利浦 Hue 智能燈泡、Nest 恒溫器等智能家居產品。

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Harmony Living Home企圖整合目前市場上各自獨立的智慧型家電，透過單一的控制中心遙控不同品牌的電子產品，未來可望將規模擴大到能與其他的控制中心互動。

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As our gadgets become smarter and as our regular home appliances and features become more connected, there might be a growing need to have a smart controller that controls all of it from one place. At the moment things like smart locks, smart bulbs, and etc. can be controlled via your phone, but if you'd rather not have to keep fishing for your mobile device, then the Nuimo smart controller might be for you.

The design of the Nuimo is pretty simple. It's basically round and shaped like a hockey puck and the device itself has four main commands - click the disc, turn its dial, swipe on its surface, and even perform gestures above its surface. From there users can pair the Nuimo with a bunch apps and control it from here.

For example if you want to play music from your wireless speakers, you can pair the Nuimo with it and take it around with you so that you will always have its playback controls on your person all the time. You can turn the dial to adjust its volume, wave your hand over its surface to swap to the next song, tap its surface to pause, and so on.

The device currently has integration with a bunch of apps and connected devices such as Sonos Wireless Speakers, the Nest thermostat, Philips Hue LED bulbs, and more. It can even pair with your computer as long as your computer has Bluetooth connectivity. It looks like a pretty awesome idea and it does sport a pretty sleek design, so if you'd like to learn more or pledge your support, hit up its Kickstarter page for the details.

Filed in . Read more about Connected Objects, Crowdfunding and Kickstarter.

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Nuimo Smart Controller Wants To Control Your Life

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As our gadgets become smarter and as our regular home appliances and features become more connected, there might be a growing need to have a smart controller that controls all of it from one place. At the moment things like smart locks, smart bulbs, and etc.

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攻占智能家居领域是“单品联盟”还是“系统为王”？匡泰的答卷或许有启发

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攻占智能家居领域是“单品联盟”还是“系统为王”？匡泰的答卷或许有启发

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攻占智能家居领域是"单品联盟"还是"系统为王"？匡泰的答卷或许有启发

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智能家居，创业圈很热闹，消费者很冷静。

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ONE QUARTER OF U.S. ADULTS WATCH VIDEO ON SMARTPHONES WEEKLY [REPORT]

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ONE QUARTER OF U.S. ADULTS WATCH VIDEO ON SMARTPHONES WEEKLY [REPORT]

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Experian put out the 2014 Cross Device Video Analysis which I covered part of yesterday. In it they look at video across all screens and how the trends are moving, etc. In yesterday's article I talked about cord cutting and the impact on it from factors such as Netflix or age demographic. Today, I'm going to talk about what devices people use for streaming video and what they're watching.

Video Consumption by Device

As the title suggested, 24% of American adults are watching video on their smartphones weekly. That comes out to about 42% of smartphone owners. On a weekly basis, less than 10% of US Adults are streaming or downloading video to watch on their TV screen via something like a game console or OTT box like Roku or Apple TV. That makes the TV the least favorite device for said content aside from the work PC (7%) which isn't really a device they own.

Right behind the smartphone, at 19%, is the home PC followed by the tablet at 12% and game console at 10%.

Those numbers don't translate into prevalent activity on the devices however. Those vary drastically.

For example, almost half of game console owners say that watching video is the #1 activity on that platform, but it's only 4% for smartphones and 18% for home PC. Crazy as it sounds, almost one-in-ten are mainly using their work PC for watching video. Slackers! Get back to work!

Top Sites and Apps for Video Consumption

So, we know what device they are watching on, the question remains, what are they watching? Experian looked at that facet as well and broke it down by most visited on desktop and top video smartphone apps.

No surprise that YouTube scored the top spot at 58.77% and averaged 21:23 average visit time. Second went to Netflix with 6.73% and a 22:51 average visit time (top of the chart). Everything else is in the 2% or less category basically, including Hulu at 1.98% and just 10:42 average visit time. Could be that heavy ad load they throw at users which seems to knock down their time there. Yahoo! TV scored the shortest time of 2:06 and just 1.46% visitation.

App usage runs very much the same way at the top of the chart. YouTube 64%, 15:21, Netflix 19%, 14:14 then a big drop to 5% and less. Yahoo! did not make this list, but Hulu did with 3% saying they use it and an average visit time of 8:06. Some apps which have low usage did have some pretty lengthy per visit usage times like VEVO which got 16:31 and the podcasts app which pulled 16:50.

Who Watches Smartphone Video When?

Finally, to wrap the the who, what, when section we get to when people watch smartphone video and almost as importantly who it is. The demographic breakdown is simplistic in that it's just 18-24-year-olds and 25+. No surprise that the younger demographic tops the elder in every hour of the day, even if just by a fraction of a percentage in the 6am hour. The most people are watching in the 5pm to 11pm hours from both demographics and then it swiftly tapers off to a fraction of a percent in the 2am to 6am hours.

So if you are placing video ads on smartphone video and want people to watch, here's the handy chart of when they do that so you can time your ad placements. Specifically, 8-9pm.

Finally, if you are advertising on the smartphone you want to know who you are dealing with. Again, the Experian report upholds the research that Millennials can be reached through smartphone video advertising. In terms of people "who find video ads on each device useful" with devices being smartphone and tablet, the Millennials rocked the vote. More than one-third (36%) said video ads on smartphones are either somewhat useful, useful or very useful. Three percent more joined in on the tablet side (39%).

Not overall fantastic numbers, but compared to elder demographics, it's massive.
Methodology
The data found in this report is based on the Summer 2013 Simmons® Connect study, a comprehensive survey of 24,219 US adults. Simmons Connect links in-depth consumer lifestyles, attitudes, brand preferences and more to their complete cross-platform media use covering 11 platforms, including smartphones, digital tablets and home computers. The report also sources data from Hitwise, the world's largest sample of online consumer behavior to help marketers increase the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.

If you want to download the whole report just head over to Experian.

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One Quarter of U.S. Adults Watch Video on Smartphones Weekly [Report]

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Experian put out the 2014 Cross Device Video Analysis which I covered part of yesterday. In it they look at video across all screens and how the trends are moving, etc. In yesterday's article I talked about cord cutting and the impact on it from factors such as Netflix or age demographic.

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Hands-on with LG's WebOS Smart TV: Is 'simple' enough?

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Hands-on with LG's WebOS Smart TV: Is 'simple' enough?

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David Katzmaier/CNET

Smart TVs have always had a big problem: smarter, more capable external devices.

Roku, Apple TV, Google Chromecast and now Amazon Fire TV are directly competitive with TVs' built-in Smart platforms, and often provide a better experience: more apps, slicker interfaces and more updates. Video game consoles are smarter than ever, incorporating the same apps and, in the the case of the , essentially the same TV-centric functionality as an advanced Smart TV. And of course external cable or satellite boxes are necessary, in the U.S. at least, to provide TVs with most television programming and all-important DVR time-shifting.

The latest new Smart TV platform, and the one with the most positive buzz after LG acquired it last year and again at CES in January, is LG's WebOS. The name invokes one of the most beloved and dearly-departed smartphone platforms, and promises the same revolutionary simplicity that caused us to name the WebOS-powered one of the best products of its time, cerca 2009.

But is its simplicity-focused design enough to best other Smart TV platforms, let alone face the challenges posed by external devices?

Smart TVs with WebOS have just started shipping, and LG invited myself and a few other journalists to its Silicon Valley lab, the primary hub of WebOS development--it's a joint effort with the mothership in Korea--for some hands-on time. I expect to get a review sample shortly to put the system through its paces more thoroughly in our own Manhattan lab, but in the meantime here's some early impressions.

David Katzmaier/CNET

Simple is good, and WebOS is simple

"TV technology is incorporating both hardware and software, and at LG we wanted to double-down on the software," said Sam Chang, LG corporate VP and head of the lab. "That's why we set up a lab here, in the heart of Silicon Valley, right down the street from Google and Facebook. We wanted to think outside the box."

The slide behind him read "Make TV Simple Again," LG's thesis for WebOS.

And yes, WebOS is good. The interface immediately impressed me with its thoughtful, colorful layout. Hitting the Home button on the remote brings up a band of diagonally-aligned, pastel "cards," laying atop but not obscuring whatever program or app you're watching at the moment. Unlike some Smart TV systems--including LGs and Samsung's from 2013--that program stays full-screen as opposed to shrinking to an inset window and giving way to a profusion of icons, menus and/or ads.

Notably, Vizio and Sharp have been taking the same approach for years with their simpler overlay bands, and in 2014 Samsung's Smart interface is also less intrusive than before, with a similar band of app icons as its initial offering.

LG

But LG's interface is prettier than any of those, and its slick motion remote it has most other clickers beat too (although most of Samsung's 2014 Smart TVs now include a motion remote as well). Waving the cursor around the screen--it behaves just like a Nintendo Wii controller, and is just as precise--is easier and more fun than repeatedly clicking from one icon to the next, and allows very quick selection of items on the home page. I called last year's LG clicker and this year's looks just as good.

You can customize and reorder the band to populate it with your favorite apps, and unlike most Smart TV systems WebOS aims to treats everything equally. So Netflix and Pandora get cards, of course, but HDMI 1 and 2 do as well, along with the web browser and local media available from USB or DLNA (WebOS also supports Plex). If you set up cable box control (see below), the name of the input changes to that of your cable system. On the demo TV I asked them to set up, the name changed to "Comcast Corporation," but I was assured that name could be changed; I'd probably opt for a simpler "DVR" or something.

Many Smart TV systems require multiple "pages" to show all of the content but WebOS takes a novel approach. Click to the left of the main band, which LG's Director of Product Management (and head demo maven) Colin Zhao said was envisioned as "The Past," and a history of the last few apps and other functions used appears. Conversely, the right of the band is "The Future," where reside the additional apps and functions you can launch and/or add to the main band in the middle. Another click to the "LG Store" takes you to the firehose; the many many other smaller apps. The arrangement makes intuitive sense, and also keeps down clutter.

The system also aims to simplify initial setup, or at least make it more entertaining. A Bean Bird cartoon character (seemingly stolen whole-hog from Angry Birds) rewards completion of the setup steps, like selecting your location and cable TV provider, with somewhat amusing animations and a prompts. In one example it marches at the head of what seems like a protest event, holding a sign that reads "We want our set-top box."

Quick app switcheroo with Netflix 4K

As I'd expect from a modern system LG's Smart TV felt very quick and responsive, with very few delays in bringing up content and other screens. When there was a delay, LG's reps were quick to blame the slow, crowded wi-fi in the lab.

It couldn't have been that bad, however, because one of the most impressive demos involved switching back and forth between streams of Netflix's House of Cards-- the 4K version--and a YouTube video. Zhao claimed that including the 4K stream would really tax the system, and that seems logical to me. And the demo was impressive indeed. I hit "Home" while the stream played and selected YouTube, started a video there, hit "home" again and flipped back to Netflix and House of Cards resumed from where I'd left off, quickly and seamlessly.

David Katzmaier/CNET

If that worked with live TV from a DVR--sending a pause command automatically when you flipped over to Wikipedia or Twitter, for example, then resuming upon return--I'd be even more impressed. With no cable box available, however, I couldn't test that demo.

By the way, this is the first time I've seen Netflix's 4K streaming in person, but the demo was too brief the situation far from ideal to render a verdict on "is it better than 1080p Blu-ray?" All I'll venture to say now is that it looked great for Netflix; I'll wait to get it into CNET's lab before I go any further.

The fly in the ointment: cable box control

I've mentioned the cable box and DVR a few times already because it's still the main way people in the U.S. watch TV. Many Smart TV systems offer some way to control the cable box, usually via blasting IR (infrared) remote control commands via dongles or, in LG's case, the motion remote itself.

Unfortunately, none of these systems is as good as using the box's included remote, especially for DVRing. By that I mean pausing, fast-fowarding and resuming play, primarily to skip commercials. If you're a heavy DVRer, chances are you'll be unsatisfied using a Smart TV and its included remote to control your box.

I called the LG's 2013 version "the best example of cable box control I've tested on any TV," but I still prefered using a good universal remote . For 2014, despite all the improvements to interface design and switching brought by WebOS, LG told me its control system is the same as last year's. That means my complaints about lack of dedicated buttons for DVRing, the need to resort to an on-screen "virtual" remote for most control functions, and an inability to learn new commands and customize buttons for different devices, still remain.

Preliminary verdict: Maybe the best Smart TV yet, but boxes still win

After playing with WebOS and learning its advantages and weaknesses, I'm fairly certain it's "just another evolution" in the genre, not a game-changer that'll replace all those external boxes.

It definitely won't replace my Roku, for example, because LG doesn't have HBO Go. And my Roku, as well as Apple TV, Chromecast and the rest, are already very simple to use themselves. Yes, setup is a bit more complex, and you do have to deal with an external box, but those are minor issues in my book.

It also won't replace my universal remote, because I'm a heavy DVRer with a TiVo and an aversion to wasting my time watching ads. And of course, as someone who places picture quality higher on my TV wish list than Smart features, not even the best Smart system can overcome a mediocre image--and LG's picture quality has been disappointing in .

On the other hand from what I've seen WebOS is the frontrunner for best Smart TV system of 2014. When I get the chance to compare it head to head against competitors from Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Vizio and others in my lab, I'll know for sure.

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Hands-on with LG's WebOS Smart TV: Is 'simple' enough?

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Smart TVs have always had a big problem: smarter, more capable external devices. Roku, Apple TV, Google Chromecast and now Amazon Fire TV are directly competitive with TVs' built-in Smart platforms, and often provide a better experience: more apps, slicker interfaces and more updates.

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11 Innovative Ways Technology Can Bring Families Together for the Holidays

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11 Innovative Ways Technology Can Bring Families Together for the Holidays

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http://mentalfloss.com/article/60173/11-innovative-ways-technology-can-bring-families-together-holidays

1. IT MAKES PLANNING A SNAP

2. IT CAN OPTIMIZE YOUR FACE TIME

3. IT CAN CONNECT YOU

4. IT HELPS YOU PLAY TOGETHER

5. AND ENTERTAINS YOU

6. IT CAN ERASE GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES

7. IT CREATES A SHARED EXPERIENCE

8. IT KEEPS OLD MEMORIES FRESH

9. AND HELPS YOU CAPTURE NEW MEMORIES

10. AND INSTANTLY SHARE THEM

11. IT CAN CREATE BEAUTIFUL KEEPSAKES

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The holiday season is a time for families to gather together, be it while roasting chestnuts on an open fire or around a telephone receiver. So whether yours is nearby or widespread this winter, use these 11 innovative ways to feel closer to your family than ever.

1. It Makes Planning a Snap

Skip the massive email threads and phone tree this year by using a party-planning app like Pro Party Planner to organize your holiday family gathering. This thing does everything for you, from importing guest lists to delegating tasks (everyone will know who is responsible for bringing the cranberry sauce this year!) to giving reminders, and it syncs across multiple users.

2. It Can Optimize Your Face Time

If your whole family can't make it home for the holidays, you can still spend virtual quality time together by video chatting. Download Skype, invite your family to a Google Hangout, or use a mobile app like Tango to bridge the distance.

3. It Can Connect You

If video chatting isn't your thing, you can still have a family-wide conversation from all corners of the globe by using a group-messaging app such as Groupme. If not everyone in your family is on the cutting edge of technology, Groupme works on every device, including old non-smart phones.

4. It Helps You Play Together

End the inevitable conversation lull-you know, the one that usually falls between dessert and bedtime-by reaching for your mobile device. A game of Heads Up!, a free app for your phone or tablet, is sure to have your family hooting and hollering in no time. A game of Taboo-meets-Charades, Heads Up! has you guess the word displayed on your phone by deciphering clues given by your family and friends. The coolest part: The app records the group's antics so you share another laugh watching it back.

5. And Entertains You

Instead of heading to the theater after your holiday dinner, pop some popcorn and settle in for a movie night at home. Video streaming services give you instant access to almost any title you can think of, and devices such as Roku and gaming consoles allow you to watch your movie on your television's big screen.

6. It Can Erase Geographical Boundaries

Distant cousins can join your movie night from their home in Connecticut by using a screen-sharing program such as join.me or Screenhero. Simply download the program and log in to share your computer screen with that of your faraway relative. Join.me and Screenhero also include voice chatting options, so you can gab freely while you watch (during the boring parts, of course). Soon Intel® will also allow you to consume media together-by using an Ultrabook™ 2 in 1 device with Intel® RealSense™ technology, you and your family can watch a shared video with your own images overlaid.

7. It Creates a Shared Experience

Recreate the old-timey camaraderie of listening to a radio broadcast by tuning into a podcast with your family. A perpetual favorite of ours is NPR's This American Life, which also has a great app.

8. It Keeps Old Memories Fresh

Before your big family gathering, invest in a VHS to DVD converter, such as the Toshiba DVR620 DVD/VHS Recorder ($229.99) or the Honestech VHS to DVD Delux kit ($79.99), or head to your local drugstore to have your old home movies digitized. There won't be a dry eye in the house once the film starts rolling.

9. And Helps You Capture New Memories

Film your holiday get-together (and by film I mean record on your mobile phone) and instantly edit it using an app such as Magisto. The whole family can then gather around your tablet or computer that very same day to watch your creation.

10. And Instantly Share Them

While Facebook and Instagram are great when connecting to friends (and acquaintances, and that girl from your freshman year comp lit class), some experiences you want to keep within the family. For that, use Bonfyre. It's a private social network that allows you to share events, photos, and messages-but only with the people you invite to join you.

11. It Can Create Beautiful Keepsakes

Sharing photos and videos digitally is wonderful, but sometimes you just want a memento you can hold-and you know Grandma wants a good old-fashioned photo album. Technology can help you out with that, too. Upload your photos to a site such as Shutterfly or Picaboo to create beautiful, custom photo books and albums. We love the simple, modern designs of Kolo 's cloth albums.
With technology like immersive chat, Intel is working on innovations that make sharing what you love with the people you love easier with Intel® RealSense™ technology. . Learn more here:

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11 Innovative Ways Technology Can Bring Families Together

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The holiday season is a time for families to gather together, be it while roasting chestnuts on an open fire or around a telephone receiver. So whether yours is nearby or widespread this winter, use these 11 innovative ways to feel closer to your family than ever. 1.