>Smart home living

Not everyone “gets” Apple TV, but Jennifer Phin loves the view from hers

>>> My reasons for buying one of the new Apple TVs are threefold. One, I watch a lot of TV; two, I am fancy; three, I want to spend the rest of my life explaining to guests what Apple TV is. One of my girlfriends asked, incredulous, “Why on Earth don’t you just plug your laptop into the TV?” as if I had spent $199 on a motorized spaghetti fork, or Paul Simon’s Graceland on LaserDisc.

I really do love it though; all my ondemand TV shows plus my film and music library in one place plus the dorky ability to track domestic flights and stare into the cold black eyes of captive sharks. They’re so quick and simple to access, to the point where it’s sometimes too easy to spend 45 minutes watching a jet inching its way towards Belgium.

The thing I use it for most is the gorgeous screensavers. WAIT, DON’T GO! Stuck indoors during the long, bleak winter with my new daughter, these incredible slo-mo aerial views soothed my ravaged soul and cranky baby alike. Now I greet the sunrise flying over the Golden Gate Bridge instead of peering out into the local gray murk. The backdrop to our afternoon is the magnificent Great Wall of China, or valleys of lush tropical foliage and waterfalls of the sort my daughter won’t get to see in real life unless she becomes an explorer, resourceful castaway, or reality TV contestant. In the dead of night I am a benevolent ghost over London or Manhattan, peeking into office windows. Everytime I watch, I see something new – have you spotted the fire jugglers on the bank of the Thames? Or the creepy, empty construction site in the middle of bustling Times Square?

I mean, it beats flying toasters any day.