Apple Uses Wireless Technology to Combine Computers and Television

For well over a decade computer manufacturers have been banking on the marriage of the home computer with the television in the living room.  It seems like it should be a natural combination.  After all, both are home electronics that have lots of visual elements and even have crossover content.  For example, video games are played on computers and on video game platforms hooked up to TV's, and people often play audio in the form of MP3's on their computers and the satellite radio that comes along with their satellite TV subscriptions through their televisions.

In reality, there's been a surprising amount of resistance among consumers to the union of computers and televisions.  Recent surveys have indicated that only about half of the Internet using population watches video online.  Only about half of that group uses their computers to watch video that's any longer than a few minutes, and only about seven percent of the group that watches video is willing to pay for it.  The rest, when they watch online video at all, are content to put up with commercials.

While this doesn't bode well for the online stores that are constantly springing up to sell television shows and movies, there are some signs of hope.  The survey also indicated that the number of people watching videos on their computers is gradually increasing, and with wider spread availability and use of broadband Internet it's probably reasonable to expect this trend to continue.

One thing that's certainly gotten in the way of combining home computers with home entertainment centers is the technology and the ideas people have about he role of the computer in the home.  Most computers are more complicated and require more baby sitting than televisions.  That's fine for a work environment like a home office, but not so great for relaxing in front of the TV.  Another problem is the physical separation of the home office where the computer resides and the living room where you watch TV.  This creates problems if you want to watch video on your television that's on your computer's hard drive or streaming off the Internet.  It means that you have to run a cable from the home office to the living room which isn't a big deal, but then how do you tell the computer what to play?  More cables?  Do they even make cables that long for the mouse and keyboard?  What about a second computer for the living room?  But that would be something else to buy, set up, maintain, and ultimately become obsolete in a few months.  It's more than the typical consumer wants to deal with which is why such unions have failed in the past.

Now, thanks to new technology used by a new player in the home entertainment computer scene, the tides may turn.  Apple recently announced that it will be marketing a new device it calls the iTV early next year.  The iTV, which is intended to allow people to watch television and movie downloads from iTunes on their living room TV, is different from other technologies because it relies on a new standard of wireless networking to deliver High Definition content without the use of cables.  The wireless connection would go a long way toward making the system more practical from the standpoint of where the actual iTV box would be located in the home, and Apple's software is likely to deliver a more user friendly experience than past attempts to perfect the living room computer by Microsoft, Intel, and HP.

The iTV obviously has to be able to go online at least to the extent necessary to download music and video form iTunes, but it's unclear at this point whether or not the iTV will strictly be a home entertainment device or if it will also have the productivity features of a regular computer.  One thing that's clear is that it will be one more thing dissolving the boundaries between home computers and home entertainment systems.

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