I started to reply with own comments but wound up writing an essay which I just posted <http://rmf.vc/?n=WhatIsTV> .
Google TV itself is nothing new. After all we’ve had Media Center on the PC and similar applications on the Mac and Unix. We’ve had Hulu and stand-alone boxes. But Google does bring something new to the table in bringing a number of skills and relationships together. It also spooks those the traditional TV business types who were experimenting with Hulu and now find events moving far faster than they expected. We need to remember that TV is a business model that’s not about technology and not about video clips (or programs) in isolation. It’s an entire ecology. One surprise today was discovering YouTube “leanback”. I haven’t had time to play with it much but it seems to be a step towards the “hands off” model of TV viewing that we are used to in seeing what’s on rather than having to think about what we want to watch. The real significance comes when we start to use the large screen TVs as video surfaces in novel ways for rich experiences. We already see a little of this in gaming platforms. But why stop with TV. Why do we still call connected computing devices cell phones? First we need to understand what has happened to the world of “don’t change that channel”. http://rmf.vc/?n=WhatIsTV. From: Dave Farber [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, November 12, 2010 12:14 To: ip Subject: [IP] My first week with Google TV Begin forwarded message: From: Jonathan B Spira <[email protected]> Date: November 12, 2010 10:03:02 AM EST To: David Farber <[email protected]> Subject: My first week with Google TV Hi Dave Now that I've had Google TV for a few weeks, I've been able to put my thoughts down on (virtual) paper. I've hooked up countless devices to my various flatscreens in an attempt to bring the world of IPTV to the big screen. The ones I liked the most up until now were Wherever.TV and the original Apple TV (clearly these two devices were very different but they both fulfilled their respective missions very well). Several laptop or desktop to flatscreen hookups were less than satisfactory. I also have a Panasonic flatscreen that has a very limited walled garden. So I looked forward to getting my Logitech Revue with Google TV, which finally arrived late last month. After a quick (13-minute) setup, I think we have a winner. With the somewhat notable exception of content on major network sites (as has been discussed here in IP land), you can pretty much go anywhere and watch anything on the Net using Google TV. I was able to watch streaming and archived TV programs from networks in Germany, Austria, Italy, and other countries with relative ease and the keyboard/remote is excellent. (Of course, one can watch programs from other countries as well - those just happen to be the ones I chose.) My complete review is <http://www.executiveroadwarrior.com/2010/11/logitech-revue-with-google-tv-review-and-test-drive/> available online - with my photos of Google TV in action - for those who are interested. Regards/Mit freundlichen Grüßen/Szívélyes üdvözlet/Cordialement/Cordiali saluti/Saludos/Vänliga hälsningar /s/ Jonathan Jonathan B. Spira CEO and Chief Analyst Basex, Inc. <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now> Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/504681-1464f1c1> | <https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=504681&id_secret=504681-f8ca49a9> Modify Your Subscription | <https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=504681&id_secret=504681-a6e8d5ec> Unsubscribe Now <http://www.listbox.com>
