pavyedav | boredom and inherent curiosity, in one

It seems like Internet TV, namely from such companies as Google, Apple, and Sony, is slowly picking up steam. I wasn’t much of a believer before, because for some reason, I felt that the software interface was a bit too clunky and the box-top device itself seemed outdated. At least from what I saw of Google TV, it basically looked like Android blown up to the size of your TV, which is obviously useful, but part of me wanted something equally, if not more, powerful as my computer, given that the size of the screen was so much bigger.

Whenever I’ve wanted to watch something from the Internet on my TV, I’ve always connected it using a DVI/VGA adapter for my Mac. The TV then becomes a second monitor. I’ve found this to be a lot more flexible and scalable than the current Internet TV platforms that are out there. I think there was an Apple commercial recently that showed how you can wirelessly transfer whatever you were doing on your iPad (maybe even the computer) to your TV screen with the help of Apple TV. That is most definitely one component of Internet TV that should become a mainstay. My hope is to have all the features and capacity of the computer, not the phone, on the TV. I just never looked at a TV to be merely an extension of the phone; I always felt that a TV should be the apex of leisure technology.

At any rate, all of them seem too raw right now, but they’ll naturally get more functional and easy to use over time. Sony’s Internet TV has the right idea with WiFi build into the TV itself. Google’s Android OS for the TV would be great if it gave the user more flexibility. In other words, when I have both my phone and computer with me, more often than not I use my computer because I prefer the traditional browser appearance and experience more than I do from a mobile application or site. I think the same should apply when using the TV. Apple also has the right idea in making the interaction among all connected devices use wireless technology. I like the concept of Internet TV a lot, but it still needs some changes before it reaches critical mass.