Smartware: Software for Smarter TV

by Jim Mikles
Spring 1998

Inergy Online

With the Internet on your TV, you can think of every Web page as a different channel. Some are good, some are bad and there are more than a million different choices. Now you can make your own channel shine with Inergy Online. While there are plenty of tools out there for Web designers, Inergy Online's WebSite Design Studio is the only one that caters to aspiring Web page designers using an Internet TV appliance. Design Studio operates in a complete server-sided software environment so the client system processor and memory requirements are minimal. This makes Inergy an ideal fit for Internet TV set-top (Net-top) boxes. Design Studio features substantial design power (although it does not support streaming audio or video), including easy point-and-click design tools, a detailed tutorial, a large multimedia library of images, sample sites for design ideas, free feature enhancements and individual URL maintenance. Design Studio initially launched in partnership with Sony and is free for one year to owners of Sony WebTV boxes, but Design Studio is platform independent and should be available to a broad-base of Net-top boxes in the coming months. So now all you people who know the benefits of Internet on the TV get out there and multiply. The more content that exists made for TV, the more fun we can all have.
Inergy Online
www.inergy.com

Essential Plug-Ins

"Plug-ins" are Web-browser-enhancing utilities that can expand your Internet experience exponentially. There are hundreds of them out there: Some are free, some cost money, some are great and some are garbage. Two products that fall in the "great" category and are important for maximum Internet-TV functionality are RealPlayer by Real Networks and Shockwave Director by Macromedia. RealPlayer, which is a combination of RealAudio and RealVideo, is the leading streaming audio and video plug-in on the Internet. The concept of "streaming" is critical for the development of TV-type Internet content because of its linear nature. RealPlayer allows you to watch and listen to the Web, something that greatly increases its depth, vitality and entertainment value. Streaming audio and video will change the Internet as we know it and accelerate its role as an entertainment medium in the living room. Similarly, Shockwave Director by Macromedia is an animation plug-in that allows full-motion, fast-frame animation and is being used by some of the most innovative and entertaining sites on the Net. Both of these software products have free versions that can be downloaded from their Web sites. Unfortunately, most Internet set-top (Net-top) boxes currently don't support full versions of either RealPlayer or Shockwave, which means you need a PC/TV to run them. This is testament to the need for greater processing power in the Net-top box category.
Real Networks
www.real.com
Shockwave
www.macromedia.com

Flecks and Fleckware

Flecks and Fleckware fall into the "things we'd like to see more of" product classification. A fleck is the word we use for a small infrared blaster that dangles on the end of a wire that plugs into a PC or Internet set-top (Net-top) box. Flecks sit near the VCR and serve as the conduits for communication between the Internet and the VCR. With flecks in place in your Internet TV configuration, program information from a Web-based TV listing service could be used to easily program a VCR. You select what you want to watch from a Web site, and the fleck either tunes the TV to that channel or tells the VCR to record it. Fleckware is our name for the software that controls the fleck, telling it when to send its infrared blasts to turn on the VCR and record the programs. Similar technology exists on a proprietary basis in some DBS satellite and cable boxes (such as the VCR Mouse available with some Sony DSS systems), but the time is not far away when an open standard will exist to allow open communication between any Web site that offers TV listings and any VCR. Once more fully developed, flecks and fleckware could be employed on a broader basis to create hyperlinks at Web sites to link users from sites of interest to related television programs or program listings.
Flecks and Fleckware
www.smarttvmag.com/edit/stannews/stanhome.htm