Command Your TV

choi

My comment: Section B in New York Times is business. (1) may be practical, especially if you own Xbox Live, but (2) is more futuristic. My suggestion is to read (2) first.

(1) Nick Wingfield and Brian Stelter, Xbox Live Challenges Cable Box; Technology moves a step closer to ditching the cable set-top box. New York Times, at page B1, Dec 5, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/0 ... ;sq=xbox&st=cse

Quote:

(a) "With the update coming this week to the Xbox, all of the video available to users over the Xbox Live service from all of Microsoft’s media partners will be indexed, so people can search for programs using their voices and the company’s Bing search engine, instead of awkwardly tapping out search terms through remote controls pointed at cable set-top boxes.

"In a demonstration of the technology last week at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., Michael Suraci, director of marketing for Xbox Live, told an Xbox to 'Bing Sandra Bullock,' which promptly found 'The Blind Side,' 'Crash' and several other movies starring the actress that were available through various sources of video on Xbox Live.

(b) "For now, the TV apps on the Xbox are not functional enough to fully replace set-top boxes.


(2) Nick Bilton, Building TVs as smart as the Family Dog. New York Times, at page B5, Dec 5, 2011 (title in print)
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/20 ... n%20siri&st=cse
("As I wrote last month on the Bits blog, Apple is planning to adapt its Siri voice command software, which has made the iPhone 4S a hit, to an Apple-branded TV. Microsoft beat it to the punch, but by the time Apple TVs show up, probably in 2013, both Siri and Microsoft’s voice commands will be far more sophisticated")