Brennan’s Blog

Sure the iTV is cool, but we have had the ability to watch recorded videos for decades now, so that is not a breakthrough in new technology. Sure it is wireless so it does garner some cool points. But I have thought about what you can do with this unique set of technologies and have come up with what Apple may be releasing just before the holidays.

For starters, you have a large TV screen and an attached stereo system. Then you have this new wireless hub which works with the TV and your computer to stream video to the TV. But what if you attached a camera and microphone to the TV and streamed the video and audio back to the computer and to a person over the internet? Your home entertainment system suddenly becomes a complete home communications system.

You can even take this quite a bit further. With a bluetooth enabled phone, or perhaps iPhone, you could control the home communications system and use the phone as the microphone. Finally, if you hook that into your personal photo archive and other media and make it easy to share with those in the video conference you suddenly have an amazing way to communicate which goes way beyond the typical phone call.

I can imagine families gathering in the living room over the holidays to link up with the rest of their family with such a system. And if it is just using a broadband internet connection, it could be left on for hours as each family member has a chat with someone on the other end. At this point HD has a whole new meaning. Would you rather see John Madden in great detail or your 3 year old niece on her birthday?

This home video conferencing system would instantly become a mainstream phenomenon as it would have a real tangible value for everyone involved. Sure the geeks would love it, but so would the rest of the family.

It would be great if Apple did release such a system. It is only a matter of time before this happens.