Verizon launches social gadgets and internet video on cable boxes

[xkahn]

From http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/07/verizon-to-fios-tv-welcome-the-social.ars

"To give you an idea of what to expect, the Twitter widget will let users follow tweets about the specific show, movie, or sports event they are watching, or search for specific topics or trends. The Facebook widget lets users update their status with information on the show they are watching; they can also view photos and friends' status updates. ESPN's Fantasy Football widget seems the most interesting, as it will let registered ESPN Fantasy Football players check up on the latest stats and scores.

"Verizon is also adding some online video content to its Home Media DVR service, called Internet Video on TV. Videos from Veoh, blip.tv, and DailyMotion can be streamed directly to the TV"

The image at the link is interesting. You can see a twitter feed playing next to the show. While it isn't something I'd be interested in, this is the most interesting cable box application I've seen yet.

The key is that the application runs at the same time the show is playing and can access information about the show being watched.

I wonder how TiVo will respond?

[gastrof]

This is getting insane.

I mean, sometimes multi-tasking is a good thing, but when you're watching TV or a movie and at the same time are talking with other people about it (or even just listening to their comments about it), AND are checking out info about the show or the actors/participants also at the same time...

Can you really pay attention to all of that at once? It's like people are being TAUGHT to be active but inattentive. It's also training people to put inter-personal communication into the same mental catagory as passtimes and trivia.

Tech advances can be good, but they can also deflate humanity itself.

Makes me think of the Star Trek Next Generation episode where a race had come to depend so much on tech (even having processors in their heads...and this was BEFORE the Borg were introduced), they couldn't survive a crash of their planet's main server.