is indistinguishable from magic said Arthur C Clarke.
Of course, we don't see magic today. We live in a high technology world, but pretty much understand how it all works. Even if we don't understand the specifics or the details the basic concepts are familiar, especially for those of us working in IT....And so I was very surprised, perplexed and a little delighted to see a bit of magic today.
I'd just bought myself a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 yesterday. I'm very familiar with Android, having used it for three years, but I was playing around with it today discovering all it's little added features. One of which was hand writing notes on to the back of a photo. Like many I don't bother reading manuals, I just dive in and try stuff out. I couldn't immediately figure out how to write a note on a photo so I hit an icon on the gallery top bar...And suddenly that photo was on my TV screen.
W.T.F!!!
I've got no idea whatsoever how that just happened. My TV isn't a smart TV, it isn't inherantly internet enabled; I hook it up to my Xbox through a standard HDMI cable. It's not even a Samsung TV, so there's no chance of any 'Secret Samsung whispers' between my phone and my TV. I've performed no overt discoveries from my phone at all. How on Earth does it know my TV and instantly put a photo on it?
Magic, that's how!
Of course, I could look on Google and find out in a few minutes, or do some experimenting of my own and figure it out in a few minutes more, but right now I'm happily living in ignorance in a world where magic exists. It's a strangely nice feeling
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#3670972 - 10/28/1206:30 PMRe: Any sufficiently advanced technology...
[Re: Ant]
Look at your router and see how many wireless devices you have. I bet it will show your phone,lol.
Bullet
Specs home built I7 870 Lynnfield Chip at stock speed 2.93 with Evga P55FTW system board, A BFG GTX275 Vid card, 4Gigs Corsair Dominator Mem 2600+, 1.3 TB on 2 WD Hard drives, Corsair H50 water cooler.X-65F with peddals and Tir 4 track clip pro One badass machine... A truism "liberals, who believe that everyone should categorically agree with them because their theoretical positions are "a higher truth" than the positions of any person out there living in and interacting with the real world."
#3670982 - 10/28/1206:54 PMRe: Any sufficiently advanced technology...
[Re: Ant]
Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 11,575Desert Eagle
Master of the Weird
You can stream pictures over your home network to your Xbox 360 console by using Microsoft Windows Media Player, the Zune software, or Microsoft Windows Media Center Extender. For more information about how to stream pictures over your home network, please see Enjoy Windows Media Center on Xbox 360 with your Music, Pictures, Live and Recorded TV, and Online Media.
By reading this You acknowledge that Your body and soul, including all your worldly possessions, are now property of this poster. Any unauthorized use of them will be punished.
Look at your router and see how many wireless devices you have. I bet it will show your phone,lol. Bullet
well, my Phone is hooked up to my Wifi, so I would expect my router to see it Still doesn't explain how it magically finds my TV
Quote:
My guess is the phone was connected to the Xbox using the router's wifi. Upon receiving it the console automatically sent it to the tv through the HDMI cable.
Possibly. Except I haven't deliberately set any of that up. Does it do it automatically without user input?
Quote:
Your TV is possessed. I suggest an exorcism at once!
I've tried liberal sprinklings of holy water that I've been keeping for any potential possession events. There was a big flash and a bang from my TV and I no longer see pictures on it. I think you may be right
#3671005 - 10/28/1207:30 PMRe: Any sufficiently advanced technology...
[Re: Ant]
Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 11,575Desert Eagle
Master of the Weird
My guess is the phone was connected to the Xbox using the router's wifi. Upon receiving it the console automatically sent it to the tv through the HDMI cable.
Possibly. Except I haven't deliberately set any of that up. Does it do it automatically without user input?
If you didn't change any configurations it should still be using the default settings so yes it would work automatically.
This is a good example why everyone should protect your wifi with a WPA2 encryption. Most devices are left with default settings if the user doesn't know how to change them, or aware that he can or should, and anyone can easily hack their way into your PC, Console, Printer, TV, or any other networked appliance you might have.
For example this could happen if you have a unprotected wifi printer:
By reading this You acknowledge that Your body and soul, including all your worldly possessions, are now property of this poster. Any unauthorized use of them will be punished.
#3671009 - 10/28/1207:43 PMRe: Any sufficiently advanced technology...
[Re: Ant]
I did suspect something like that, but didn't realise it was so 'hands off' from a user point of view. It's pretty good that stuff 'just works' without having to be technical. On the other hand, like you say. It makes it easier for hackers. My wifi network is protected by WPA2 and a mac address access list, so I'm fairly sure I won't be getting any pictures of Ainsley Harriot any time soon.
#3671016 - 10/28/1208:04 PMRe: Any sufficiently advanced technology...
[Re: Ant]
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 19,581Raw Kryptonite
Beat the Kobayashi Maru
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MS
Nice surprise! Unless the picture you were looking at was "indiscreet" and you had the wrong people in the room. Could be dangerous! LOL Your pc will locate the 360 as a media extender, but normally you get prompted to accept it. Maybe it's set to accept automatically? Still, odd that an android device would be so easily added on its own.
Your quote about technology made me remember this, practically magic since I didn't know that fidelity was possible.
Still, odd that an android device would be so easily added on its own.
Yeah. That's what threw me. Something 'just happened' without me setting it up or explicitly allowing it.
Like the first time my Galaxy nexus updated to Jellybean and 'Google Now'
I was preparing to leave for home from work one day when my phone beeped. I looked at it expecting a text message or gmail, and instead it was an alert telling me that the traffic was very bad on the way home...eh? I hadn't told it where I lived or worked, and certainly not my daily journey. It had just worked it out all by itself. It wasn't the fact that it had worked all this out that was surprising, it's hardly rocket science. It was the fact that it had done all this without any deliberate input from me at all. It's both a bit inpressive and a wee bit scary at the same time.
#3671425 - 10/29/1203:22 PMRe: Any sufficiently advanced technology...
[Re: Ant]
No not Bluetooth. Phone bluetooth was off and my TV isn't Bluetooth enabled. It was definitely Wifi, as it stopped working as soon as I flipped my phone on to 3G.
Quote:
So what button did you press to do that? I have G3S and wouldn't mind duplicating it.
In the gallery select a photo. There'll be a few icons on the top bar: delete, share etc. One of them looks like a little TV screen with a couple of arrows going to it. Pretty obvious with hindsight, but at the time I thought 'What the heck does this do?'
If it doesn't have any capability to put the photo on to your TV then this icon doesn't show up.
#3671569 - 10/29/1206:47 PMRe: Any sufficiently advanced technology...
[Re: Ant]
Wow, I've just discovered something else. If I scroll the pictures in my gallery it automatically scrolls them on the TV too. It's actually a really cool feature.
#3671571 - 10/29/1206:49 PMRe: Any sufficiently advanced technology...
[Re: Ant]