I just read an article in New York Times about Comcast and Skype teaming up for creating video calling system that would work over people’s TVs.
This is the news coming right after Microsoft and Skype earlier announced about Skype acquisition by Windows OS maker. It’s obvious that all three companies are trying to keep up with the rest when about Internet based services. More and more is being offered through the pipe that just few years ago was a tiny wire carrying data for Internet browsing only. I want go further back into dial-up and BBS time.
For the purpose of making video calls and having a chat over your TV, Comcast would provide the cameras. As already mentioned in the article, some TV devices are already Skype ready which means that the setup would be even easier with less clutter around your TV.
The idea is not only to have the ability of making video calls, but to have them active while watching your TV show or movie. I guess there would be few options like full screen video calling or picture-in-picture options so you don’t miss the puck getting into the net while commenting onto the game with your brother or best friend.
I thought bit further and figured that down the road, when such services get established and good in quality, many home based business people may start using this as a great way of video-conferencing with their business partners. I’m not sure how many parties would be able to talk at the time, but once we have the appropriate and reliable speed in place (no matter if it’s high speed Internet over fiber or copper, or something else), the remaining thing will be ensuring that applications that support this service work smoothly.
For the end, I can imagine some funny (or not so funny) videos popping up on the web from time to time. No more naked walk in front of your TV. :)