weeks - 2:09 pm on May 21, 2010 (gmt 0)

I don't see what's all fuss is about. 1. It is another box. 2. watching TV (?) what's that? it is so last century. 3. who came up with a dumb idea that you can use your TV as your monitor? somebody needs to learn about human ability to read on small vs. large, and a bit of resolution difference.

I think these are excellent questions that deserve answers.
1. Right. Google TV has got to be THE box to be successful.
2. I wonder if this is right. I do not watch TV myself anymore. Still, the stats show large audiences, despite the average time in front of the TV screen going down, down. But, this is a new screen, a new audience, for all websites. How worthwhile? It will depend.
3. Right again. And I would add that the TV experience is different from the print or web experience. Everyone talks about how the TV on the web can be interactive, but there is a huge audience watching videos on YouTube that want to veg out.

What's got people excited is that the shop that sells widgets can put an ad on TV and people can hit the button and buy the widget from the sofa. And, say, if you're watching a show about widgets and you get excited about it and want more, you can do it then and there. Traffic to your site from a new source. That's a good thing.

But,... yeah. WW, for example, is not crying out to be put on the TV screen. How could you make this website suitable for someone sitting with their feet up on the sofa? Seems impossible to me, but ya never know. How about Amazon? Ebay? Tough, but I guess they'll be working on it. How about CNN.com? Eh, well, yeah, that works. But, we're going to have to change this, and that, and--oh, man, I really don't know what to do. Hmmm. Who does?

Even YouTube is going to have to adapt its UI. I guess.

People ARE interested in what is going on around them, as we have learned from local newspapers and local TV news. Now the bar to get into "broadcasting" into the living room is really low. Would people who would not visit a local suburban news web site go to a hyper-local TV site? So far, the answer has been no. Will Google TV change that? Local TV news shows are in trouble if this catches on. Newspapers, however, might adapt successfully. And pigs might fly.