The future of television

Today there was an interesting article on the IOL website regarding Intel and Yahoo coming together to make television more interactive with online capabilities (read article here).

They are aiming at developing widgets for the television (mini computer program for those of you who don't know) that will be interactive and could either depending on the advert or what you want keep track of stock prices, display an 'order now' button, message friends or access videos etc.

Now if you are reading your blog you should have read this book, if you haven't read it then get it. 'The Search' by John Bartelle descibes what the future could be like and how computers and your television will interact. The example they used is pretty good, say you go onto Google and search for 'baby products' and you browse through a couple of sites then later that day you sit down in front of the TV to watch the latest 'Greys Anatomy' episode. During that show the advertising slots and Google/Search engine will interact, they will know that you searched earlier for baby products so based on your history they will display relevant adverts. So at the first ad break you may get adverts for diapers, baby food etc.

Some people may feel that this is invading your personal space too much... I'm not sure, I think the television and computer will one day be very close to pretty much the same thing.

Just imagine, wake up in the morning and while eating your breakfast you can watch the morning news (which will be outdated) while the little widget checks your emails, and then you could chat to your friends or order some flowers for your loved one. Maybe the lazy humans depicted in the movie 'Wall-E' aren't too far away!