New TV sets to be optimized for a complete browsing experience

Isn’t it more comfortable to be sitting back all relaxed in your cozy sofa or that reclining chair and use your big TV screen as your monitor, instead of trying hard to manage your laptop on your laps or hunch over a computer? Well, if you ask me… I’d go for that cozy sofa.

But how?

Some TV manufacturers are now enabling web functionalities into some of their new television sets using Ethernet cables or Wi-Fi dongles, which replaces the conventional set-up that we’ve known so far.

This process had already started a while back that allowed the internet to reach out to our TV screens by a range of devices like handheld game consoles using Wi-fi to mobile phones. For instance, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii… they have browsers and Wi-fi, which means going online on TV is simple.

But all these things provide only limited access.

The current scenario

1. Samsung (in partnership with Yahoo) offers widgets which guide users to specially constructed mini sites for
   • Weather updates
   • Headline news feeds
   • Flickr
2. Sony with its AppliCast feature has come up with similar stuff. Once an Ethernet cable connects a TV to a phone line, data from the web can also be accessed via the remote control.

What the future beholds

Till now, these TV sets are not equipped with full web browsers. Some sites involve lots of small writing that would be difficult to read from a distance. Many more widgets are on their way that can handle things like video streaming.

The content will be optimized for viewing on television and selected via a simple scrolling interface that you could access using a remote control.

(Source: bbc)