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Can Widgets Save the Television Industry?

businessweek.com — With Internet Connected television, Yahoo and Samsung try to take a leaf out of Apple's design playbook

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 16, 2009

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34 Comments

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  • Drakh, on 04/14/2009, -1/+22So I can watch... flickr streams... while watching TV. Because adding the equivalent of the Windows Sidebar into a product suddenly makes it more useful? How long until this becomes saturated with advertising?
  • jjvors, on 04/14/2009, -2/+19The TV industry is about a lap behind the internet. The Internet already has TV available. The best thing the TV industry can do is to move completely online AND provide internet access with their programs via cable.

    They won't do such drastic things for 5 years, at least. By then, it will be too late. No one will care what they do. Rather like CD manufacturers today.
  • RileyCourage, on 04/14/2009, -3/+12The internet will save the TV industry.
  • cadillac24, on 04/16/2009, -3/+10Buried, no midgets
  • RUBallsingMe, on 04/16/2009, -2/+9The only way more ***** on the screen is going to help is if that "*****" is boobs
  • factsahoy, on 04/16/2009, -0/+6Yeah, because "Internet-enabled" DVDs set the world on fire.

    More ads and worthless clutter.
  • bwolf180, on 04/16/2009, -3/+8more ***** on the screen...no thanks.....widgets wont save tv. it would just make it more annoying.
  • mousky, on 04/16/2009, -0/+4TV 2.0 = Color TV
  • shinkou, on 04/16/2009, -2/+5How about giving it a 2.0 thing? Television 2.0 may raise another buzz for a while, not expected to be long tho'.
  • mousky, on 04/16/2009, -0/+3Except that certain ISPs - especially ones that also provide digital cable - are enforcing caps on bandwidth. They don't want you to watch movies on the Internet. They want you to watch it via On Demand.
  • Spaggie, on 04/16/2009, -0/+2Bury them and report them
  • realitybasher, on 04/16/2009, -0/+2TV's not going anywhere. Buried for misleading title
  • ShArKSe7eN, on 04/16/2009, -0/+2Buried.

    The networks don't get the Internet revolution, and don't understand the concept of TV on demand. Widgets are a cop out way to misdirect people while they quietly shutdown innovations like Boxee, and bitch about giving the end users the ability to watch content when & where they want to.
  • punisher101, on 04/16/2009, -0/+1What is the point of TV widgets other then to appease dumb consumers who don't know how to setup HTPC. No matter how many internet "features" you add a TV it will not rival the flexibility of a computer. TV manufacturers should focus on picture quality vs all these ridiculous bells and whistles.
  • Asvetic, on 04/16/2009, -0/+1Verizon Fios already has widgets for local sports scores, weather and traffic. I don't use it all that much.
  • Archer007, on 04/16/2009, -1/+2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget

    ...don't be so maddeningly vague, please.
  • rsmith32, on 04/16/2009, -0/+1Bury them and they automatically collapse
  • JFJAW, on 04/18/2009, -0/+1When and where TV industry failed where and when must have won...internet --if saved and protected from dishonest reporting/journalism that invade the world TV industry of today -- will be, with no doubt, the rescue.
  • revenz, on 04/16/2009, -0/+1oh yes because the average consumer wants to deal with the hassle of a HTPC. Most people just want something simple that works. HTPCs require complex setting up and most people wouldnt bother. its not about being dumb.

    should they buy a tv with everything they want builtin (dvr, netflix, flickr etc) or learn to setup a HTPC and buy yet another device and learn how to use it?

    the ultimate solution would be hacking a internet tv and install linux on it running mythtv/xbmc.

    and btw ive been using HTPCs for about 4 years now - and i develop plugins for gbpvr.
  • P5ycHo, on 04/16/2009, -0/+1Yeah, because ads are exactly what is missing on TV now..... Oh wait...
    And don't think that there aren't going to be any. Widgets will just be the icebreaker.

    It's called function creep.
  • TheUngod, on 04/16/2009, -0/+1Something like that is for people who can decide what they want to watch. I, personally, have no frigging clue what I want to see until it's in my face.
  • drjekelmrhyde, on 04/16/2009, -0/+1Old Yahoo been working this for about two years now
  • sepelester, on 04/16/2009, -0/+1Midgets tried...

    ...and succeeded!
  • Merp08, on 04/16/2009, -0/+1That's what she said.
  • Spaggie, on 04/16/2009, -1/+2Meh, I watch TV through a TV card anyway, better to bed TV into an OS than the other way round
  • factsahoy, on 04/16/2009, -2/+2Yes, because the Internet can carry every TV show, movie, radio broadcast, and phone conversation (with video, even) on the planet.

    Get real. The cable company has its own closed-circuit system and it can only deliver a few hundred channels at crap data rates and consumer Internet access. The public Internet has its limits, people.
  • pwoodford, on 06/17/2009, -0/+0http://www.viewmy.tv - free streaming tv with tons of widgets, gadgets and applications!
  • howcansheslap, on 04/16/2009, -3/+2Who needs TV when you got internet?
  • semperfidoordi, on 04/16/2009, -4/+3I wasnt aware the television industry need saving?
  • chester27, on 04/16/2009, -3/+2Was I the only one that read that as midgets?
  • whatit, on 04/16/2009, -5/+3The spam is getting worse and worse. It's a bitch scrolling down when the entry's are that long.
  • factsahoy, on 04/16/2009, -5/+3That's because Apple thinks it's done with its UIs for the most part. Thus the failure to advance the Mac UI out of the '80s.

    They have indeed bought most of their products. Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, even ***** iTunes. The sad part is that they buy things that already represent Apple's backward UI design in many cases.

    The iPhone is, by far, their best creation. It's also an infuriating combo of inspired design and more of the same old Apple stupidity. And the half-assed SDK compounds it.

    If anyone fields an Android phone that isn't bulky and idiotic in its own ways (missing headphone jack, HTC), we'll finally see some real innovation.
  • cowboy86, on 04/16/2009, -11/+8Apple doesn't design anything anymore. They buy everyone elses ***** then slap their logo on it in a pretty cases, just like everyone else does. Except they charge 30% more on average than anyone else. I don't hate Apple or have anything against them. It's just those retarded ass cultists. They ruin the company for everyone else.
  • inactive, on 04/16/2009, -11/+2But...but...Apple Sucks!

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