Has the TV Become a Personal Entertainment Device?

I saw that Google annouced Google TV. The idea of searching my recorded shows and other sources to find programs to watch is kind of interesting except I have enough trouble keeping track of the 2 remotes and now I have to keep a keyboard laying around to watch TV? The final pitch was an integrated full browser where you could check the web and update your status. So this was the kiss of death in my mind. TV is a common experience and the web is an individual one. If I try to update my status on the TV while my wife is watching American Idol I’m a deadman. That’s how TV works at our house. We have one TV and we watch it as a family.

But I’m starting to wonder if we are an outlier. I mean I’ve heard of people that have no TV’s and they certainly are unusual, but could the 1 TV family be almost as rare? If the TV is a personal device, then Google TV has a shot. If TV is still a shared experience, then it’ll suffer the same fate as WebTV and similar attempts at combining the TV and the Internet.

Tagged as: Google TV