There will soon be something new to watch on the living room TV: your relatives and friends in different parts of the world.
On Tuesday, Panasonic and LG Electronics, two of the top television makers, are to announce that they are integrating the free online calling service Skype into their Internet-connected high-definition televisions.
People who buy these TVs, along with an extra Web camera and microphone accessory designed for the living room, can conduct free, live video chats and phone calls from the couch.
via Brad Stone, www.nytimes.com
I had expected Apple to get to this niche before the TV manufacturers, with a new generation Apple TV, which would include a TV like these, with camera, internet, etc. Or maybe a souped up version of the Roku box I already have.
It seems a bit narrow to have a TV integrating Skype, but not more general web capabilities, and one limitation of the service is a pain:
The Skype service on a TV will work much as it does on a PC, but with some limitations. A TV program will stop playing once a Skype call is made or answered; TV processors are not yet powerful enough to allow people to chat while they watch a show, the companies say.
That is the perfect application, however. I could watch a football game 'with' my brother in Atlanta and my son at college.
I think the killer app for TV is social TV. We'll see a lot of that coming out in 2010.
Good point about the two-activities-at-once dilemma, Stowe. We're a multitasking society (apologies to Leo Babauta), and one of those tasks always seems to be COMMUNICATING.
The UStream-Facebook combination made a ton of sense. TV + Skype at the same time would make me pay for cable again.
Are you listening, TimeWarner?
Posted by: Scott Hepburn | January 06, 2010 at 03:19 PM
The thing is, you don't want to have something distracting while you're watching. At the end of the day, a convergence app on a typical device is probably what's best. There's a software company out of california who's working on social TV. App's due out soon, looks to be the killer Social TV app - Spot411.com
That said, no existing technology really is applicable for social TV. When you think about it, twitter, facebook, and even skype, are all imperfect solutions. You need to have a purpose built app for it, and really, nothing other than spot411 really exists for the marketplace right now.
Most any current "social tv app" is more about streaming video than watching something with your friends, which is a bit of a bummer.
Posted by: Landon | January 22, 2010 at 08:43 PM
Rather than just skype, I see the internet moving to the television, where you can split the screen. I love watching MadMen and twittering at the same time. It'd be nice to do it without having to miss the action while I'm looking at my computer. I always thought it'd be great for cooks learning a new recipe to have the cooking show up on the screen, and the recipe there too. I'm sure it's just a matter of time.
Posted by: Heather White Laird | January 22, 2010 at 09:29 PM