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Intel To Launch Paid Web TV Service With Set-Top Box
New submitter kdryer39 writes "In an unexpected but kind-of-makes-sense move, chip-maker Intel has decided to delve into the TV world by creating a set-top box and a paid Internet television service. The box will contain an HD camera and microphone for various 'novel applications.' Intel expects to provide various live and on-demand content, as well as re-inventing the wheel by changing the way people search for content. How will they do this, and where will they get the content from? Unfortunately, we don't know...and apparently neither does Intel. Erik Hugger, head of the newly-created Intel Media group, has stated that negotiations with content providers are in process, but gave no specific details. Is this an effort for the company to re-invent itself? Perhaps, but either way, it'll be one of those things that will be interesting to follow as it develops."
The "novel applications" for the on-board camera include identifying who's watching the TV and providing programming it thinks they'll like. At one point, Huggers said, "There's a scenario where the TV recognizes that it's you and says 'Hey, I know what you like. I know what you want to watch', versus the environment we're in today where the TV literally is not interested in you at all.' Maybe I'm getting old, but I like that my appliances aren't particularly interested in me. (Haven't they seen Maximum Overdrive?!)
Let me start off by predicting failure.
Look, itâ(TM)s been tried. Apple, Microsoft, others⦠The Cable Giants have the real estate, mind share, contracts with entertainment producers, and they are not giving it up. Indeed, many of the cable giants OWN the content producersâ¦
Not going to happen.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Camera is so there is a constant feed to Chat Roulette.
"Hi there! This is Bippy, your personal interactive video helper! I see you have your pants off! Shall I show you what's on Cinemax?"
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
LOL, i wonder, what kind of idiot would fall in this trap.....wait a minute, but, but, they are EVERYWHERE!!!
Products which provide something you didn't know you needed create successful new markets. Products which provide something you know you don't want, don't. This is the latter (for me, anyway).
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Listen, Corporate Overlords, you know that little buzzer or dinger that goes off incessantly whenever I leave the lights on or don't buckle up and you think it's a "feature"? The first week of every car I've ever owned is spent taking apart the dashboard and removing that feature, and then pulverizing it with a hammer and throwing the remains on a base of burning coals. I shit you not, I'm serious about that crap.
Try putting cameras and microphones in things, and you'll find them equally under-appreciated in my household. That is, assuming I feel there are no better choices on the market... if even one of your competitors opts out, that's where my dollars go. Don't tempt me.
Signed, Interested Customer
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
I found the statement "TV that is interested in you" to be delusional. TV is slowly declining among the average viewer, but the the media or press seems to be obsessed with a lot of the crap they show anymore. I question the ratings numbers anymore due to the many outlets of media that watch then write reports.
This open us up to a whole new way of stalking!
No more will we be going through people's garbage to find out about them. We will pint out pictures of their faces, wear them as masks and see what they like watching when they are alone.
Hmm its 6 o'clock, I wonder what Natalie Portman would like to watch?
. .
"There's a camera pointing at me? I'm on television? I'm the center of attention? Where do I sign?"
I don't know if people have recently become more narcissistic than previously, or if it's just that there are more tools available to help people indulge their narcissistic side, but the fact is almost everyone in the west now seems desperate to be a celebrity.
So don't go writing-off this idea just yet.
ISP can just data cap to jam this up also why there own box and not just a software that can be loaded on to any pc?
If they talked to each other they could play your preferences wherever you are. Think of the fun when you are visiting family and the TV starts playing.
"Is that yours?"
"Nope, not mine. Dad?"
"Never seen it before"
"Uncle Fred have you been watching this stuff?"
"Uh-uh, not me, I don't like midgets"
All together : "GRAAAANDMAAAA!!! "
I'm guessing that wasn't on their radar screen...
All this device needs now is for it to be impossible to shut it off, and for the audio volume to be possible to reduce slightly, but never fully silenced,
I know I will be looking for that corner of the room that the lens can't see.
Jinni is a semantic search and recommendation engine, it would be interesting to see this integrated into a set-top box.
I am getting irritated with Youtube , and other services lately, that are making recommendations to me based on what I looked at in the past.
Just because it caught my interest once, does NOT mean I'm looking for a steady diet of it. So a 'cute cat' video caught my attention once... I DO NOT want to see a list of 100 'cute cat' videos staring me in my face the next time I go into YouTube!!
Well that's fun until you sit down to watch with the teenager and you hear - 'hey johnny! I know you like lesbian decaptation tentacle porn - got it queued up and ready to go!"
All kidding aside - let's not kid ourselves by saying this is anything more than a lead in to the "this content is only licensed for one person, or X Person"
"You need to purchase more licenses" or "you; Person Y are not authorized to watch this"
Does that mean that when I walk into a room with a suitably equipped TV, it will turn off?
because Intel is so entrepreneurial!
Great idea- wish I had thought of that!
(I am being sarcastic in case anyone didnt figure that out)
Look. We all have flat panel televisions now. Exactly how are we supposed to put these boxes on top of them?
You need to call these something else.
Under set box?
Accessory box?
Smart TV box?
Or start building a shelf on top of the TV.
Intel is kind of a no compromise company. They want the power..and the margins. Look at the rest of their businesses:
They own a huge chunk of the margins on PCs and servers, and basically dictate to OEMs what their products will be.
They kicked Nvidia out of the chipset/motherboard market because, y'know, can't have that.
They wouldn't budge on prices for chips in the original Xbox, which doomed it to failure and havn't sniffed the console market since.
They're in and out of mobile, mostly because they can't line up any partners.
And now they're going to play nice with the content/distribution cartels? The path to their door it littered with the corpses of start-ups and wunderkinds that only needed the Ace of Content for the staight flush.
Don't blame me if I don't hold my breath there.
FUNK!
These would be features that PS3, Wii or Xbox would be sporting in this or the next generation.
I mean honestly, what century are we in? Who pays for internet content anymore? Who wants the content created and distributed by the media cartels? The cartels are becoming less and less relevant and Intel is really swinging at shit in the dirt with this device.
.. it's a flooded market and Intel isn't even near entering it yet.
.. but there are some people who would really love having a plug-in box with video chat on the television (and perhaps some interactive games). That's the only thing which is going to make this device work .. and it sounds like that's not what Intel installed the camera for!
Even if Intel manages the impossible and talks the media cartels into playing nicely with it, who would want to care about 'Intel Inside' set top boxes? Especially with cameras and microphones in them (that's some stupid and scary shit). Every ISP has a cheap, viable, simple alternative
This isn't a problem you can just 'throw money at' and make it work. If you gave these boxes away, people wouldn't pay the subscription. The cameras are the only thing which makes this device different and (possibly) interesting to a small market. Sure, every parent in the world is going to be suspicious and just about anyone who walks around their house naked or sleeps on the couch won't want one
The whole project screams as a great idea for 1965 and a scary implementation of big brother idiocy from a company flailing and panicing about what? ONLY being the largest chip manufacturer in the world?
Mr Hugger, find yourself a new job while the getting is good!
I once calculated that an advertiser paid some small part of a penny per watcher to play a 30 second ad. Multiplying up, this should mean that a watcher could pay maybe 10 cents to see a 1/2 hour sitcom and that would cover all the costs and profits to deliver a show from production to me seeing on my TV via cable or over-the-air.
That's not the price I see for downloadable single episodes of ANYTHING. I'd happily pay (say) $0.50 to watch 2 hours of TV without commercials. I'm not paying $4.99 or $8.99 to watch a 1/2 hour sitcom ONCE with DRM to make sure I don't watch it again.
So I'm back to ignoring the commercials.
We've all got flat panel TV sets now. There's no more 'top' to put the box on.
Have gnu, will travel.
They gotta be kidding, I don't want my damn tv watching me.
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
The entire reason I ever watch TV at all anymore is for something unexpected, even sometimes to watch the latest commercials. If i know what I want ahead of time, I'll watch it on netflix or something. If I want some random entertainment I sit in front of the TV, please don't take that away from me.
http://interserver.net/
"Maybe I'm getting old, but I like that my appliances aren't particularly interested in me."
Well, I'm not old, but I still don't like such trends. I could settle with something like optional voice-based identification (i.e. on demand, when you explicitely say you want to be identified), but other than that, thanks but no thanks. And, maybe I'm weird that way, but I don't like to have a device in my home that has a hd camera, is enabled to automatically identify me, and be internet-connected. Such a device can be hacked, used for other purposes (e.g. is anyone home?), and is basically untrustable. And if I can't trust it, there's no way I'm buying it.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
...and you want me to pay for the hardware?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
You can keep your camera and mics.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.