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Sparkle (1)
If you are already feeling over-connected, you might not like the fact that at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week most big TV manufacturers weren't really pushing the concept of Internet Protocol TV (IPTV). They have already assumed that we like it, we want it and it's here to say. In fact, at the keynote on Thursday morning, CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro made the prediction that in 2014, "consumers in the U.S. will purchase nearly 30 million Internet-connected televisions."
By the way, that's not a graphic of the TV on the wall; that's the TV on the wall. It's that thin.
IPTV is different than the MSN TV/WebTV that some people had on their televisions back in the 90's, a dusty keyboard resting atop their entertainment center. No, these are all crazy intuitive and offer streaming services, gaming options, great apps, ease of access for inner-home connectivity, options for connecting with tablets and so on. They're sleek, stylish and all the rage.
But I don't know if I like it.
Don't get me wrong: I love being connected. 3G access has kind of been jammed here in Vegas due to presence of hundreds of thousands of smart phone users all trying to tweet that the 3G access stinks. Not being able to Google what I want, check in with my co-workers or, when phone lines got jammed, talk to my family has made me kind of twitchy. I depend on my smartphone.
So what's wrong with these Internet capable TVs? After all, there was a time in the not too distant past that anyone who had a phone that did more than make calls and play worm was teased. "Why do you need a phone that does all that" Now the switch is, "Why do you need a TV that does all that?" Will these smart-tvs be our norm?
Let's face it, it seems to be moving in that direction. Sony and Time Warner reached a deal, announced here at CES, that streams Time Warner through Sony IPTVs. That's right: A cable company finally stopped the total freak out they've been doing for years and decided to become friends with Internet-based viewers.
But I'm still not 100% sold. I'm trying to make myself weigh pros and cons.
On the positive side, for families who can't justify the addition of multiple computers per multiple children, perhaps this is one way to kill two birds with one stone. While Little Suzy is working on her paper on the family desktop, Junior can play on Facebook and tweet about how annoying his sister is while streaming YouTube videos about dorky sisters. No fighting over the computer screen necessary. As the price of these televisions continues to drop, having a piece of technology that both accesses the Internet and serves the family's entertainment needs seems like a decent idea.
Another great point that I particularly liked was the whole lack of cords and boxes and fumbling with the back of boxes. They introduced the concept of "one foot connect." Meaning? If I want to do one of the workout videos I've downloaded on my laptop, I simply place my laptop within one foot of my Samsung IPTV and it connects. I can do my workout without getting a workout trying to plug the HDMI cable into the side (or searching for said cable as per usual).
Do I want to Skype with my parents on our huge TV? Sure! Do I want people to interrupt my television watching with a phone call? Uh, no.
But, of course, I come back to the, "Do we really need to be connected all the time?" They keep claiming that TV is no longer passive; it's an active participant piece of technology now. But what happened to kicking back on Sunday afternoon, watching the game and just disconnecting from the world? Is there still room for that? Some would say, "Well, just don't use the Internet if you don't want to." That's like telling a tech-addict not to check his email on his phone ten times per minute. If it's there, people want to use it.
Lastly, I'm concerned for our children, of course. I haven't really seen any of the big IPTV pushers (which makes these things sound like a really hot drug) talk about parent controls. I'm sure they do have parent controls, but having worked with such things before,
