Most “smart” TVs today have all of the apps you use and more built in. But in a strong personal opinion I do not trust the TV brands to deal with security issues except in extreme cases. But I’m a minority.

But if you want Apple TV shows/subscription you’ll need either a smart TV with the AppleTV app as an option or an AppleTV box. You can also get a Ruku box/stick/whatever and get everything but AppleTV subscription.

For the same security / privacy reasons I don’t use Google TV products.

One reason TVs have gotten so cheap is they charge the various services to put on their apps or get a cut of the action when you watch via the built in apps.

It is the remote control for my phone. I have all the sounds turned off so it only vibrates. But when I get a call or message or an email from a “fav” it tells me about it. And a few other alerts. But my phone can stay sound off most of the time and not be in my pocket all the time.

As others have noted a modem is a modulator / demodulator.

Most modems are designed into other things. Like cable coax modem/router/switch/wi-fi access point. Or other things. Or in a cell phone it converts bits internal to the phone into radio signals or back the other way. Many things people call a modem is really a more complicated box with a modem built into it.

In the basic definition of the term it is bits <-> analog wave forms. Back in the day it was land line modems and the wave forms could be heard by most people if they listened “in”. Actual FAX machines (not email pretending to be a FAX) still do this. Connected to the “bits” side of a modem is usually a circuit that takes those bits and organizes them in agreement with the other end of the connection. Mostly these days Ethernet.

Most Fiber setups do NOT have a modem as they have networking bits already in the light in the fiber. They do “media conversion” between fiber and copper.

And if you want to dig deeper look into how DSP (Digital Signal Processing) works, Fourier Transforms, and how Wi-Fi radios encode things, and so on.

A modem device bridges between the local area network (LAN) and the wide area network (WAN).

Nope. A modem can be a part of a box doing this but not always.