The Future of Television & The Digital Living Room. Dana Settle & I hosted a dinner with some of the biggest companies in entertainment to talk about the future of television, film & digital media.
Michael Ovitz, the co-founder of CAA was the keynote speaker. Nobody can predict 100% what the future of television will be so I won’t pretend that I know the answers. But I do know that it will form a huge basis of the future of the Internet, how we consume media, how we communicate with friends, how we play games and how we shop.
Video will be inextricably linked to the future of the Internet and consumption between PCs, mobile devices and TVs will merge. Note that I didn’t say there will be total “convergence” – but I believe the services will inter-operate. The digital living room battle will take place over the next 5-10 years, not just the next 1-2. While we won’t get through all of this, here are some of the issues in the industry that I plan to bring up and ones I hope we’ll discuss tomorrow: 1. The device itself will have no storage. With Google TV, I May Never Leave The Sofa Again. I’ve seen the future and it begins on my sofa with Google TV.
It isn’t uncommon among geeks to have your PC (or Mac) wired to your TV. A decent audio-out cable, an HDMI cable and you’re good to go. With this simple setup and a few tweaks to your TV’s input and display settings, you can watch YouTube videos (or anything else)—and that’s pretty cool. But Logitech’s Revue with Google TV takes the integration between television and the web to a whole new level. I was able to play with one for a few hours. 1. If you’ve ever wished that you could use the web on your 47 Inch hi-def TV, you’re probably going to want Google TV.
Not only can you browse the web, but you can interact with it just like on your Mac or PC. For those of you wondering how you can possibly do this using your TV remote control the answer is simple—you don’t have to. You can also get a smaller mini-controller that features a thumb keyboard and much of the same functionality. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Google sees a browser in every TV - Google 24/7. In a discussion with Google's Rishi Chandra, I got insight into what Google sees for the future of TV.
Rishi Chandra demonstrating GoogleTV at Google I/O via Androidandme.com Demo units are still en route to reviewers but I thought it would be interesting to get a look at where Google (GOOG) saw its GoogleTV product going over the coming months and years. I spoke with Product Manager Rishi Chandra who unveiled the product at Google I/O earlier this year (with requisite wireless difficulties). The first thing that caught me was his assertion that soon all TVs would have a browser built into them. At first glance it seems extraneous to put the needed hardware and user interface into all TVs, especially inexpensive ones. Soon cheap ARM chips, already used as controllers in HDTVs, will be able to run an OS as complex as GoogleTV at roughly the same component cost.
Google plans to open source the GoogleTV OS next year. The most important factor in bringing web to televisions is demand. There’s An App For That: Google TV Will Ship With Netflix, Twitter, Pandora And More. Earlier this morning, Google unveiled a new standalone portal for its upcoming Google TV platform, which will be landing in living rooms this fall.
In addition to providing a pretty thorough walkthrough of Google TV’s interface, Google is also showing off additional functionality that’s being developed by third parties. In its blog post, Google says that it’s “been overwhelmed by interest” from third parties, and that Google TV will be shipping with at least the following applications: Netflix, Twitter, CNBC, Pandora, Napster, NBA Game Time, Amazon Video On Demand and Gallery. Some of the big ones, like Netflix and Amazon Video on Demand, were already briefly mentioned during Google TV’s debut at Google I/O last May. Others are new, and it’s clear that Google TV is seeing adoption from both web companies, like Pandora, and the content creators themselves. You can see some of the apps in action in the video below. Partners are beginning to post further details about their applications.
Google TV Will "Change the Way People Live their Lives" It's Google TV week, with major announcements coming from early application development and media partners and the unveiling of Google TV hardware from Logitech on Wednesday.
How big a deal is Google TV? Mike Hudack, the respected CEO of free video publishing platform Blip.tv, wrote today that Google TV is the real deal - a technology that will knock down the walls between traditional broadcast studio TV and the long-tail of open video content produced by consumers, producing free choice and competition. It will bring new and previously marginalized voices to the world's stage. Steve Jobs said in his latest Apple TV unveiling that consumers "don't want amateur hour" on their TVs. Google TV Is Ready to Change the Game. Finally, Google TV Explained In A Clear, Concise Manner [Video]