Boxee

Is it just me, or does this seem like an incredibly good idea?  And with D-link coming out with an actual box, isn't it time we all gave a giant FU to the cable companies?  I mean shit we PAY through the nose for cable tv, we pay more for internet.  Why not cut out that waste?  I watch most of the tv shows I watch on the internet... and that includes the ones that are on regular tv (Pro tip: 30 second commercials on Hulu go quicker than 2.5 minute commercials on TV).  And we PAY too much for how slow our internet is, so we might as well get as much out of it as we can!    (Bonus material:  if you actually read that graphic, you'll notice that Japan has internet that is about 13 times faster than ours, but they pay 1/12 the price... NEATO)

So here's my thing:  Boxee seems like a pretty good solution (as is XMBC if you're on a PC) to what we all thought AppleTV was going to be (may in the future be?).  You can stream all the content (except the DRM-ed stuff that you better not fucking have, because if you do, you're probably an idiot, and idiots shouldn't read my blog, because they're dumb... you're not dumb, are you?) that you have on your harddrive.  So all of your music, movies and tv shows that you've downloaded (read: torrented), can be watched in crystal clear high-def on your plasma (you rich fuck, why don't you just pay for cable?)  And there's some pretty good integration with twitter and other social sites, and it streams hulu and such.  Great.  And you can install it on Mac OS X, Tiger, Windows, Linux, even this thing.  Neat.  And it's super user friendly and it's designed to use a remote so your ass can stay planted on your couch!  OK... so what's holding us back?

Well, the whole non-drm thing for one (read: no Itunes movies), and the fact that there's no browser on the D-link box for another.  That means you have to have all the content ON the computer you want.  I know a guy who watches tv shows online, sometimes even sports, which are live feeds from tv (I believe it's the "without express written permission" type of rebroadcasting that the major sports have been warning us about for eons).  He even watches shows from television that are redistributed via the intertron.  Now, in order for this to be streamed to the tv, the computer he's watching on would have to be hooked up to the plasma (you rich FUCK).  Anyways, not a deal breaker, but obviously it's a little more complicated than just plug and play.  Oh, and according to this NY Times article, it's actually pretty sweet and liberating.  And they were paying $140 a month for cable!!!!  What the SHIT kind of cable did they have?  I want that.  But I don't wanna pay for it.

So in summation, I think we're about ready for that paradigm shift folks.  Get your buzzwords ready.  The "ditch your cable bill" movement is poised... and I think the software and the hardware is good enough.  I don't KNOW if the infrastructure is there yet... I mean, I know that I don't REALLY mind watching poorer quality video on my computer.  But if it's blown WAY the hell up on my imaginary giant tv (read: mine = very much not flatscreen, and low-mid-def) I might see more of the artifacts.  SO..... dear internets: please make more tv better good.  Thanks.

Read up.  Maybe we should all make it so...