Can We Say Convergence Again?

from the is-it-finally-happening? dept

Technology has a way of sneaking up on you after it's been written off. It's the natural evolution of things. Something comes along, people realize the possibilities and companies hype the hell out of it. When it fails to deliver, people point out that it's no good, and declare it dead. Then, once the attention is off, and the technology has some time to mature, it makes a "surprise" reappearance. Convergence is a term that seems to be avoided among techies these days, thanks to quite a bit of overhype not so long ago. However, as this article points out, PC/TV convergence has been sneaking in under the radar. The writer realized this when he was watching a streaming video news report from the BBC on his computer, while his wife was watching a stored video on their Sky+ box (a TiVo-like device in the UK). As he points out, many early PC/TV convergence predictions focused on accessing the web via your TV, but it seems to be the other way around. People can now watch TV programs on their PC, and computing technology is muscling its way next to the TV via TiVo and similar devices.

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