The merging of television and the Internet is shaping up as a major theme of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which opened yesterday in Las Vegas. “For more than 60 years, TV has been the centre of family entertainment,” Microsoft chief executive, Steve Ballmer, said while discussing the future of the consumer electronics industry during a CES keynote presentation. “Over the next several years we will see TVs become more sophisticated and more connected. The boundary between the PC and the TV will dissolve.”
Panasonic is showing off television receivers that let viewers watch films or television shows on-demand from online store Amazon. LG Electronics unveiled high-definition sets linked to Yahoo! video, YouTube as well as an online movie rental service.
Sony, Toshiba, Samsung and Vizio showed off new flat-panel television models embedded with Yahoo! ‘TV Widget’ software offering links to popular websites. Yahoo! has built 20 widgets to link television viewers to Internet destinations including YouTube, Twitter, eBay, MySpace and Amazon. Yahoo! developed the technology in collaboration with the computer chip maker Intel.
Major television makers are using the premier CES gathering this week to debut televisions embedded with the Intel-Yahoo! technology. “This isn’t a television partner dipping their toe in the water,” Yahoo! spokesman Lucas Mast said. “We are talking about millions of units. Samsung alone will be selling them in 13 countries.”
(Source: AFP via Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)
on Jan 29th, 2009 at 07:53
Microsoft and others have been telling us for at least ten years that “the boundary of TV and PC will dissolve”. Companies have been launching Internet boxes for TV that sold like stale bread. TV is for movies and videos, no matter if they are being delivered via Internet, satellite, cable, antenna, or DVDs. Websites on the other hand are not made for TV screens.