It’s time to buy a computer for your TV

Dan Seitz Contributing Writer, Tech

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Your TV is stupid. I don’t mean that in the sense that it’s badly designed or that you’re a moron for having it. I mean it’s, literally, stupid. It has a tiny little brain designed to do one or two tasks and nothing else. It’s time to fix that.

Currently, there’s a huge wave of tiny computers designed to be plugged into any reasonably modern TV. For example, there’s the Equiso Smart TV, or the Pocket TV, two successful Kickstarter projects. Or the FXI Cotton Candy. Or the AllWinner.

The point is, these devices are cheap and plug into your TV’s HDMI port. They also usually come with remotes that allow you to control it from the couch, and have a full QWERTY keyboard.

So why should you have this thing? Essentially because it turns your TV into a gigantic tablet. Yes, there are all the streaming options, like Netflix, but it also gives you access to all your other apps. If you’re in the living room with some friends, you can quickly pop up game stats, or the weather, or really anything there’s an app for.

In short, it’ll make your life easier. And isn’t that worth a hundred bucks?