Content area
Full Text
AT SPOTLIGHT, A RECENT InfoWorld conference on interactive media, we played with prototypes of three new Web television boxes, promised in volume before Christmas. Reluctantly, I have decided to call these boxes Web converters for TVs. They are more exciting than that sounds, but let's be careful not to confuse them with what they are not. These converter boxes are not TV on the Web, nor are they the Web on TV.
Having TV truly on the Web would be streaming NBC's Olympics coverage from Web servers through Internet service providers (ISPs) for viewing on PC screens. However, like PCs, these converter boxes don't display video that anyone outside the computer industry would mistake for TV.
Having the Web truly on TV would be downloading Web pages into PCs at megabits per second through TV modems. I'm hoping these converters will be available with cable modems eventuallybut I'm not holding my breath.
In short, Spotlight's three Web converter boxes connect to ISPs through a telephone modem, display downloaded Web pages on TVs, and...