Comments on: MIT Researcher: Widgets on TV Screens Don’t Work

By: TV apps, widgets and two-screen solutions: Augmenting TV experiencies | Agora Media Group Innovation Blog

Sun, 09 May 2010 11:19:19 +0000

[...] The other intersection is with regard to the emerging TV applications and widgets which will enhance the core content on one screen. there’s a learning curve though, simply cluttering the screen with additional information/widgets doesn’t work according to researcher Marie-José Montpetit at MIT’s Research Lab for Electronics on NewTeeVee. [...]

By: Will Google be able to open up the TV industry? | Agora Media Group Innovation Blog

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:53:37 +0000

[...] be enabled by Google Android TV, it will be interesting to see how this will develop and evolve. On NewTeeVee, researcher Marie-José Montpetit at MIT’s Research Lab for Electronics, says that Social TV [...]

By: Richard Kastelein

Richard Kastelein — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:24:10 +0000

That ‘twitter’ widget is on the bottom right hand side… of the lower toolbar created by Wibiya.

By: Richard Kastelein

Richard Kastelein — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:15:19 +0000

I am testing a new Samsung with Internet@TV and I must say, Twitter is rather cumbersome.

However, the NYT’s recently reported that Google TV is rumoured to be in the pipeline, and I think they will succeed with a single screen if done right. Seeing that Google is in talks with Logitech as well as Sony and Intel.

http://agoramedia.co.uk/blog/open-source-software/google-aims-at-the-tv-market-%E2%80%93-will-they-succeed-yes-and-here%E2%80%99s-why/

There’s more than enough landscape on the next generation of TV’s to allow for optional widgets to be popped in and out, and if sized correctly, I think would be fine in a single screen experience. The widgets, from a design perspective, can and should be optional and can and should be designed to be part of the overall TV experience, if planned well.

If they can get the Interactive Design down pat – I think I would be happy enough getting ‘social’ on one screen. There are many examples of websites that have this kind of alternative. On the link above, our blog has an optional widget for Twitter that can be pulled out and retracted quite nicely.

By: SR

SR — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 01:10:14 +0000

I agree. My laptop is a bit cumbersome to use while watching my LCD TV, though that didn’t stop me during the Oscars. My cell phone is too small and the battery life is better conserved for phone calls.

If I could have an iPad that I could use to run sync’ed apps while watching TV, I’d buy one in a heartbeat. Especially if I could use it to control what/how I was watching – all the usual TV remote stuff, of course, plus enter text via iPad keyboard to search listings, scrub back and forward on my DVR or VOD playback through the touch screen, instantly share clips/scenes on social networks, etc.

Steve Jobs, please make it so…!