Customer Reviews

TV dot Com: The Future of Interactive Television

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

TV Dot Com is a funny, info-packed book about the future of television and the history of television. The book traces the origins of today's TV features, such as the VCR, and takes the reader by the hand to the present and into the future. It's very insightful and fun to read. The author often uses humor to make his point and although there are only 128 pages, there is more info here than most 328 page books.The coolest part of the book is the Predictions sections. At the end of each chapter, the author offers 10 or so predictions on that topic. I agree with most of his predictions. And I can hardly wait for them to start. One of the most interesting forecasts is that the Video on Demand will replace the local video store.All in all, this is the best book about the television and the culture I have ever read. I would recommend it to anyone.

The author, Phillip Swann, makes a compelling argument that Interactive TV will make our lives more fun and interesting. If you have heard of digital cable from your cable company or you have a satellite dish, you better get this book. He makes about 100 predictions in the book on how those things will change your life.

I read this book in 2005, approximately 5 years after printing, and found it a good overview of the possibilities of interactive televsion. One fault I found in the book that was somewhat distracting was his use of predictions at the end of many of the chapters. The predictions make the book very dated and don't make him look so bright since many of the predictions did not come true. (It isn't his fault.) However, the author still does a good job at showing what the world of TV will eventually look like.

Phillip Swann's TVdotCom provides a social survey of the future of interactive television, analyzing the new video and Internet-based options for communications via TV. Most importantly, consumers receive an easily-understood treatise on how interactive TV will change daily living.

I was tempted to buy just because of the catchy title. I'm glad that Amazon provided the excerpt. This would have been a great dissapointment. You get more information on interactive TV from reading the newspaper.

An enjoyable read, but Swann took a big risk trying to predict the future of technology, and people's reactions to it. Writing in the year 2000, he confidently predicted that interactive TV and internet on your TV would take over. Meanwhile, that PVRs' biggest contribution would be that you could pause your show and answer the phone.

Reading in 2009, what actually happened? ITV didn't take off yet. A PC in every home (even multiple laptops) did. PVRs are popular but people _still_ rent videos (DVDs not tapes).

But the big things Swann missed, and couldn't possibly have predicted:

- dot.com bust
- explosion of mobile phone use, where the phone is also a camera, a computer, a music player (compare also iPod and iPhone)

Why he missed predicting the huge drop in PC prices that took the pressure off computer-on-TV, I don't know. Moore's Law did that.

So all in all, the hot new platform for multimedia turned out not to be the TV, but the phone. That knowledge makes reading Swann's book much less attractive. Sorry.

This is a good book for getting a good lay of the land. There is a death of books out there on this subject. I found the book to be laid out in easy to understand and read structure.

I've been waiting for a book like this for a long time. TV Dot Com is a cool look at all the new technologies that will make our television more fun and more entertaining.

Hi, Phillip Swann can be reached at New2Losangeles@aol.com

trying to reach Phillip Swan to discuss a Tv show I am working on let me know if you can