I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set I go into the other room and read a book.
Groucho Marx
The World Wide Web has hit home. People are giving up their midnight rendezvous with the leftovers in their refrigerators for a cruise to the Microsoft/NBC Web site. They're forsaking their beds to cradle their keyboards and send off e-mail messages until the wee hours of the morning. Beds and refrigerators all over town are getting lonely, but the TV set is the hardest hit household appliance—hands down.
Internet hobbyists and addicts found a new elixir for their cravings, and the Web has them hooked. Even former TV-heads aren't suffering withdrawal symptoms from missing Seinfeld episodes and The Late Show with David Letterman. Should we declare the race a landslide and haul our television sets out to the dumpsters?
Not so fast. WebTV, from WebTV Networks Inc., has pumped some muscles in the good ol' standard television. With less than $400 and a telephone line, you can buy a tiny black box that enables you to view the Web on your television screen from the comfort of your couch. You can read the New York Times CyberTimes sitting in your LazyBoy chair or even send e-mail lying on your waterbed.
WebTV is spinning something nifty into your television set, but unlike those nasty spider webs hanging from the ceiling, you won't need a dust rag to catch the Web in WebTV. In fact, WebTV is quick, but not dirty. It's the cleanest and simplest way to get connected to the Web thus far. Even the company's Web site gives crisp answers to tangled questions.
HREF="http://webtv.net">http://webtv.net), you can read about the company's history, get the low-down on WebTV features, and check out the latest press releases.
WebTV Networks was founded in the spring of 1995 by three techies—Steve Perlman, Bruce Leak, and Phil Goldman—who previously worked for Apple Computing. But WebTV went quickly undercover. Like Superman posing as Clark Kent, the three super geeks chose the code name Artemis Research, and they conducted business out of a BMW garage in Palo Alto, California. At the speed of light, Artemis created the technology that makes cruising the Web on your television a piece of cake, and the company unveiled the WebTV in July 1996.
Keeping in line with the Superman image, WebTV Networks has a dual personality. The WebTV Reference Design is a set of standards that makes WebTV workable. The technology, constructed by Steve Perlman and Co., is licensed to the electronics companies Sony (Sony WebTV Internet Terminal) and Philips (Philips Magnavox Internet TV Terminal). The set-top boxes, which are about the size of cable television boxes, come out of the package ready to roll out the Web carpet for users.
In a nutshell, the box converts Web pages into standard television signals, so you can sit back, relax, and ride the Web waves like you would any other television channel. The WebTV box includes a 33.6 kilobyte-per-second (Kbps) V.34 modem and a 16-bit stereo audio for CD-like sound. Unlike a PC-compatible computer, which often uses an Intel processor, WebTV comes equipped with a 112 Megahertz 64-bit RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) chip designed by MIPS, a Silicon Graphics Inc. subsidiary.
The second component of WebTV Networks is the WebTV Network. Like any other online service, the Network is the limousine that escorts you to the Web in style. You pay $19.95 per month, and you can Web site-see until your gas runs out.
If you're sitting on the couch, yawning, with your feet propped on a pillow, and clicking the remote control absent-mindedly to the beat of your wristwatch, it's time to make a break for something new. You might think that you've exhausted all your entertainment options, since you've eaten the last tortilla chip, read the fine print on the credit card applications that cluttered your mailbox over the past month, and cleaned the cat's litterbox for the second time in one day. Your mind flickers at the possibility of renting Silence of the Lambs for the third time, but before you rush out to the neighborhood Blockbuster, WebTV may be the medicine to cure you of old habits.
Laura and Greg Holladay are a husband and wife Web team living in Nevada. They used the WWW for the first time in December 1996, when they received the WebTV set-top box as a gift. So far, they're having a blast Web browsing and e-mailing friends.
If you need to work with databases, spreadsheets, and word processors, however, WebTV gets you nowhere fast. The box enables you to search for Web sites, send messages, and visit chat rooms, but WebTV is not a computer. That's just fine for the Holladay's. They're content to seek out their favorite sites, like Federal Express, USA Today's sports page, and the plethora of ski resorts on the Web. "It's fun," Laura said. "I like going into the chat rooms. Yesterday, I was talking to someone from Australia."
<"It's fun. I like going into the chat rooms. Yesterday, I was talking to someone from Australia."
A.J. Mast, general manager at Kiva Networking in Bloomington, Indiana, expected to get serious with his WebTV set-top box. "I purchased WebTV to evaluate it for business purposes," he said. Many customers of Kiva Networking see the WebTV commercials or hear a news peg on the radio. They want to know what WebTV can do for them.
Laura Holladay, for example, found a fringe benefit of having the WebTV appliance. Purchasing the WebTV box takes a wad from your wallet, but in the long run, the Holladay's anticipate saving a few pennies on their long-distance service. "We do a lot of e-mail," Laura said. "It cuts down on the phone bill."
"We do a lot of e-mail. It cuts down on the phone bill."
Personal computers may take a licking with WebTV's entrance into the interactive world. The content is the same, but the ride is like the difference between eating a Twix candy bar on the steps of La Louvre or the bleachers of the Indy 500. The following section looks at the ways WebTV changes your Web browsing experience.
If you're the type of person who looks for red tags and sale racks, WebTV will be your guardian angel. For less than $400, you can have a connection to the Internet and a new toy to show off to friends. The Holladay's spent most of New Year's Eve sipping the bubbly at Web sites and chat rooms. Greg thinks that the price is just right for the product. He said, "It's good for people who can't afford to buy a $1500 or $2000 computer."
"It's good for people who can't afford to buy a $1,500 or $2,000 computer."
Of course, if you already connect to the Web through your home computer, WebTV may turn out to be another gadget that does little more than clutter your shelf. A.J. Mast would hate to see home computer users waste their hard-earned money. "If you have a modem and hardware, you've already made the investment," he said.
The simple things in life can be the perfect answer to a world complicated by wires and sockets. WebTV makes life simple for newbie Internet users. As A.J. Mast puts it, "It's a better way for grandma to interface with the Web."
"It's a better way for Grandma to interface with the Web."
Grab a blanket and hop into your slippers because WebTV lets even the slouchiest television viewers get more comfortable. It makes sense because no one wants to slip and slide through Web sites sitting in a stiff chair at an uptight desk. Take it from A.J. Mast, WebTV is snuggly. He even surfs the Web from his bed on Sunday mornings.
You may be able to sprawl out on your living room floor to surf the Web with WebTV, but you won't be able to flip channels to computer applications and fill your hard drive with the freeware at many Web sites. A.J. prefers to use his computer to do serious Web business. "With a personal computer, you have a lot more flexibility," A.J. said.
Even so, WebTV users can jump through some hoops like animals at three-ringed circuses. Unlike television programs, which run on a set schedule, you choose the Web program, as well as the day and time to watch it. And you don't have to worry about setting your VCR timer, if you work at odd hours. The Web site probably won't go anywhere soon. You can tap into it whenever you're available.
If you've ever sat in the bleacher seats at a football game and had the clouds block your view, then you know what watching the WWW from the couch can be like. Developers created Web pages to be viewed from about a foot away—the distance you sit from a computer—rather than the yards you sit away from the screen when you watch television.
WebTV Networks tries to bring the bleacher seats onto the playing field. Through algorithms, Web pages are modified at the WebTV Networks' server. The pages come to the WebTV set-top box in a form fit for television. WebTV also uses a TVLens image enhancement to eliminate screen flickers, so Web browsing isn't like bringing a strobe light into the living room.
In case you are contriving ways to hook up WebTV to your wristwatch television, think again. A.J. Mast thinks large television screens make or break the Web experience. "I wouldn't recommend using it on anything less than a 19-inch screen," he said. If you do, you may risk losing Web site image quality, not to mention your eyesight.
If you've found a hot site that you'd like to print out and show off to your friends, you'll have to wait. At the moment, WebTV doesn't offer a built-in printer feature. If you're desperate to preserve some Web sites on paper, you can add a printer via a PC card slot in the WebTV.
Geek Speak: Untangling the Terms
Surf You hop on your Web browser board and ride to Web sites like a surfer riding the ocean's waves. In other words, you're surfing the Web.
Newbie They're the fresh faces of the cyber-community, who are still learning the Internet tricks and lingo.
Freeware Freeware applications are like the prizes you dig out of the clown's pockets. The software is free, and you can download from Web or FTP sites to your computer hard drive.
URL The acronym stands for Uniform Resource Locator. An URL is the address for a Web site.
Making the Web appealing on a television screen hasn't been easy. For users, it's like driving a stick shift car for the first time. Until you get used to the bucket seats and shifting gears, you feel a little stiff and out of place. But once you sit comfortably, you'll be cruising to places that will send your imagination whirling. Use this section to get in deep with the differences between Web browsing and television program viewing.
Flipping the Channels to Television Stations on the Web
Before the Web became the newest TV star, television stations started making cameo appearances left and right on the World Wide Web. If you'd like to check out the sites for your favorite stations, you can find them at the following addresses.
| NBC | http://www.msn.com |
| CBS | http://www.cbs.com |
| ABC | http://abctv.com |
| CNN Interactive | http://cnn.com |
| ESPNet Sportszone | http://espnet.sportszone.com |
| MTV | http://mtv.com |
| Weather Channel | http://www.weather.com |
| Discovery Channel | http://www.discovery.com |
Producers create television programs to entertain the whole family. Imagine writing in your diary with your husband staring over your shoulder, or letting your brother read the letter you wrote to your best friend. Displaying your private e-mail on the television screen in front of the whole family can make the hair of even the most open individuals stand on end.
Remember how sisters fought over the remote control, and how they called for mom to keep their brother from channel flipping at every commercial break? The same scenario is bound to happen with WebTV. A.J. Mast said, "In a family situation in the living room, not everyone wants to view the same Web page."
Even so, some users, such as Laura and Greg Holladay, think WebTV is a social event. Neither of them like to get connected alone, and they often stay up late with friends to check out sites and talk with their online comrades.
As Web developers adapt their designs to television, users can listen up for fresh sounds. WebTV has HTML tags that enable you to add background music to your Web page, so users feel like they're watching television, rather than a silent movie. Although Greg Holladay yearns for more graphics and less text, he's happy without the additional noise pollution. "The lack of sound doesn't bother me," he said.
Web Developers Get Stage Directions for Producing Television Sites
If you're a budding WebTV site producer who needs to learn the tricks of the WebTV trade, the WebTV Networks site offers some handy tips. Because the Web looks best at VGA or higher resolutions, television screens, which have lower resolutions and color depths, can make a mess of even well-designed sites. At the WebTV site (http://webtv.net), you'll learn how to create forms, color, and sound that dazzle a television screen as much as a computer monitor.
WebTV set-top boxes are popping up at electronics stores like kernels jumping out of a popcorn popper. Many stores already have the boxes made by Sony and Philips. Others are planning to hop on the WebTV wagon soon. If you like to pick and choose, you don't have to settle just for WebTV. ViewCall offers an interactive TV channel that's wrapped in Internet televisions, such as Sega NetLink, which plugs into the cartridge slot of Sega's Saturn game machine. Diba's NetVision is a television that comes ready to surf the Web, and Teknema sells a network computer called Easy Rider for Web browsing. Teknema's design could also display on television, as well as a computer screen, whereas Bandai's Pippin is a stripped-down Macintosh that comes equipped with a CD-ROM drive, infrared keyboard, and printer and modem serial ports.
Regardless of where you get the boxes, you can count on a real deal. The following list indicates the prices of WebTV set-top boxes.
Akai
12-14 Higashi-Koyiya, 2-Chome
Ohta-ku, Tokyo 144
Phone: 03 (3745) 9880
Fax: 03 (3745) 9560
Less than $300
Bandai's Pippin@World
1421 E Firestone Blvd., Suite 210
La Mirada, CA 90638
Phone: (310) 404-1600
Fax: (310) 404-1900
$599
Diba's Internet Information Appliance
3355 Edison Way
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Fax: (415) 482-3400
Less than $300, available in the second quarter of 1997 through Mitsubishi.
Sega's NetLink
P.O. Box 8097
Redwood City, CA 94065
$199 for NetLink and less than $499 for NetLink and Saturn.
Teknema's Easy Rider Internet Appliance
535 Middlefield Road, Suite 220
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone: (415) 833-7910
Fax: (415) 833-7919
Less than $500
WebTV Networks
305 Lytton Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Phone: (800) GOWEBTV
Fax: (415) 326-5277
Less than $400
WebTV is similar to the stir and serve boxed dinners that require you to add water and oil to the recipe. In other words, you probably have the additional ingredients lying around your house. The following section tells you what you need.
Like your cable television box, WebTV hooks into the back of your television. If your television lacks a video input port, you'll need to purchase a RF adapter. The adapter enables you to get connected to the WebTV box in a snap. You'll shift gears and drive through the Web at a race car speed.
WebTV uses telephone lines to connect to the Web, just like a computer dials into an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Unlike a computer, however, the process is invisible and as easy as pressing a button.
If you plan to cruise a lot of miles on the Web, consider getting a second phone line. You can use one line for personal calls and the other to make the most of your cyber-hobby. Even new users like Laura and Greg Holladay are thinking about adding a dedicated line. With a single line, they often have to cut their Web travels short. "We don't stay on for hours and hours because our phone line is busy," Laura said.
If you've ever tried to bathe yourself in a shower stall, you have an idea of what it's like to use the WebTV remote control and onscreen keyboard. You can get the job done, but it's a tight fit and making quick maneuvers is awkward. To get herself some elbow room, Laura Holladay purchased a cordless infrared keyboard for around $50. Laura knew that the infrared keyboard saved her, when she read the instructions for how to navigate through the Web with the remote control and on-screen keyboard. "Without the cordless keyboard, I would get frustrated and give up," she said.
Connecting your computer to the World Wide Web is like making bread from scratch. You have to choose the right ingredients, sift them together, wait and punch and hope that it will rise into a light and tasty connection. Hooking up the WebTV set-top box, on the other hand, is akin to the no-brainer bread machines. With automatic bread makers, the contraption does most of the work for you. You simply plug it in and turn it on. The WebTV makers had a similar minimalist approach to their product. The hook-up is easier than setting up your VCR, and you'll be picking delicacies from the World Wide Web bakery in fifteen minutes or less.
You just connect the video output from the WebTV box to video input on your TV set or VCR, connect audio output to the VCR or TV and plug in the cord to the telephone jack. With a press of the Web button, you'll take off to the Web sites like a runner sprinting the final leg of an Olympic race.
Before your mouth starts watering for the Web sites you've been craving, you've got to take care of a few administrative details. Luckily, WebTV doesn't let you get bored for too long. They guide you through the path in a jiffy, and then you're free spirit ready to roam the Web.
Web-browsing features aren't just the icing on the cake. They're the baking powder that makes your Web experience rise or fall. Get the low-down on features in the following section.
WebTV Channels to Surf until the Tide Comes In
The first stop on the ride through WebTV is the WebTV Home Page. Whether you want to make a pit stop or ride on by, the WebTV buttons make your journey quick and safe.
Mail—The place to send and receive electronic mail. When you've got a new message, you'll see a blinking red light.
Favorites—Every Web cruiser is addicted to at least one Web site. If you find a Web page that's good enough to visit twice, you don't have to memorize the URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Just save it as a Favorite, and WebTV can get you connected to the site anytime you feel the urge to satisfy the craving.
Explore—If you like to get the big picture, this is the button to push. Explore connects you to WebTV's directory of the Web sites the company thinks rule.
Search—Just like searching on public libraries' online catalogs, you type a word and the you'll get connected to Web sites on the topic. WebTV's search mode is powered by the Excite search engine.
Around Town—If you want information on a specific town or city, Around Town will give you a tour of the Web sites that fit your needs.
Without the navigational tools, the WebTV interface will take you nowhere fast. You won't have to steer your way through the Web waves without a paddle. Sony and Philips are making a splash with more goodies to transform your Web adventure into a trip as satisfying as a ride on Carnival Cruise Lines.
WebTV Networks also provides onscreen help for users, and Laura Holladay even received a personalized explanation of how to send e-mail. "We sent an e-mail to someone and left a space in the address, and it came back with an explanation of what was wrong," she said.
The World Wide Web can be spontaneous and unpredictable, but you can count on one thing. With WebTV, you'll never be bored. Even after a month of use, Greg and Laura Holladay still feel like kids at a carnival. "We've barely touched on it." Greg "The more we learn, the more we'll expand and the more time we'll spend on it." Now it's your turn!
