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Browser Trends: Web-Enabled TVs

Is the television next in line for a big technology-driven overhaul as the transformation of mobile phones into miniature computers continues apace? A panoply of set-top boxes are vying to serve as the brains of the humble boob tube, from PVRs (TiVo and company) through game consoles (XBox, Playstation, Wii) to streaming media boxes (Apple TV, Slingbox, Windows Media Center). Even Google is getting into the game.

Some of these devices offer a set of custom-tailored applications, specially designed with big honking fonts to be used from across the room. Apple TV is a good example, with its sparsely slick interface for navigating through a library of films, TV shows and music. What we haven’t seen so many of are general-purpose web browsers that run on the television. The Wii is a notable exception, with its Opera-powered Internet Channel controlled using the motion-sensing Wiimote.

My Mac Pro is hooked up directly to my TV set. When I’m sprawled on the couch watching a video, I’m not keen to move for anything less than an urgent call of nature. So it’s a drag that I can’t stop the video and surf the web without all that tedious getting up, walking across the room and sitting in front of the screen like a grown up. As more people find themselves with a computer of one sort of another connected to their television, this problem is bound to become more prevalent.

What’s interesting is that the TV’s form factor is not so different from that of a cellphone. It might seem odd to draw a parallel between a 3″ and a 40″ screen, but it terms of space occupied in your field of vision, the comparison holds up. The implication is that a pan-and-zoom interface like that of the iPhone would port nicely onto the family set. In the longer term, the growing number of websites that offer a simplified interface for mobile devices should be relatively easy to adapt for the browsing pleasure of couch potatoes like myself.