Maria Sharapova Tembus Final Wimbledon

Metrotvnews.com, London: Maria Sharapova berhasil
melaju ke babak Final Wimbledon usai menundukkan petenis muda Jerman
Sabine Lisicki dua set langsung 5-4, 6-3, Kamis (30/6). Itu adalah
final Wimbledon pertama Sharapova dalam tujuh tahun terakhir.

"Menakjubkan bisa kembali ke final di Wimbledon, sudah lama.
Saya sangat bahagia meskipun saya tidak tampil pada permainan terbaik
saya hari ini," kata Sharapova.

"Bisa berada di final
merupakan pencapaian luar biasa bagi saya, tapi saya masih merasa saya
harus melakukan yang lebih lagi." tambahnya.

Sharapova bermain
agak lamban pada awalnya. Kondisi itu berhasl dimanfaatkan Lisicki
untuk meraih keunggulan 3-0. Beruntung Sharapova bangkit. Dengan
"groundstroke" yang keras, ia berhasil menemukan ritme permainannya
untuk mencuri poin pada game kelima.

Sharapova seakan mengamuk
dan berhasil membuat kedudukan menjadi imbang 3-3. Namun, Liciski
segera menyadari kesalahannya.  Ia kembali ke permainannya dan
unggul 4-3.

Namun, pada game ke delapan permainan Lisicki
justru menurun. Petenis berusia 21 tahun itu pun terus melakukan
kesalahan demi kesalahan. Sebaliknya, Sharapova semakin perkasa dan
berhasil memenangkan pertandingan.(ARD)

Source:Kompas.com

BlinQ Is A Social Channel Guide For Your TV

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BlinQ Is A Social Channel Guide For Your TV

via TechCrunch by Leena Rao on 6/30/11

There are plenty of apps that provide a social ‘second screen’ experience to watching TV, allowing users to check-in to TV shows, share commentary with friends, earn badges and more. But these apps don’t actually combine their social functionality with your TV guide or remote control. Enter BlinQ, a new mobile iOS app that reorders the channel lineup on your cable system into most to least popular by your location.

The app, which was developed by Ryz Media, basically reorders your channel guide from numbers to what are the most popular shows on. You can click the channel on the phone and change channel immediately from the app itself. Ryz previously launched My TV Remote, which was a earlier iteration of BlinQ.

You can also see updates on the programs your friends are watching in the moment. Viewers can not only post and view posts from other viewers within and outside of their own networks, but can also invite friends to join virtual viewing parties to watch their favorite TV shows together.

In terms of hardware, you’ll need Ryz Media’s infra-red emitter, known as the “Q”, which plugs into the headset jack of any iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad device to transform the device into a universal remote. The app is free, but the infra-red emitter costs $9.99 (including shipping).

I don’t think I’d choose to have BlinQ replace my TV Guide all together but it is certainly a technology I’d use in addition to the TV Guide or channel guide. Another drawback is that the BlinQ app shows popularity of TV shows by people who are using the app. I’d rather see popularity of TV shows by people I know and trust (i.e. some of my Facebook friends). And I wonder how hard it would be for a cable company to implement a similar experience in the channel guide; similar to a ‘what’s trending,’ by show, but for TV sets.

Though there are some flaws to BlinQ’s technology, I do think that the company is on to something that could shape the future of TV watching (for those of you who still have a cable box and haven’t cut the cord). It will be interesting to see how cable companies can or will incorporate social into cable television. We’ve already seen Comcast’s efforts with Tunerfish. The fact is that combining social with cable programming is a lot tougher than combining social with programming on the web.