Hacker News Reader

Comment by saljam | Hacker News Reader

When I saw that video I immediately thought of what Sussman said about Haskell a year or so ago. “Haskell is the most advanced of the obsolete programming languages!” [1] I think Google TV is the most advanced form of an obsolete medium.

I don't have a TV, and all of my friends who do rarely use theirs. Added together, I'd say I watch about an hour a fortnight of TV material. And that's mostly on my phone or computer's screen.

This might be a generation thing. With tablets and smartphones everywhere I don't feel I'm missing out. On the other hand, my father needs the constant babble of the TV. It could also be that my circles and I are outliers against the norm, but I very much doubt it.

[1] http://www.infoq.com/presentations/We-Really-Dont-Know-How-T...

View on HN

It could also be that my circles and I are outliers against the norm, but I very much doubt it.

This seems likely. I personally don't know anyone who doesn't own a TV. In fact, I'm one of the rare few who doesn't have some form of cable or satellite service.

My household didn't contain a tv for 8 of the previous nine years. We ditched it after realizing we'd just turn it on in the evening an vegetate unproductively until bed time. Last year we bought a house that came with a TV and ended up purchasing a Roku for Netflix, Hulu, etc. That covers everything but live sports.

> I don't have a TV, and all of my friends who do rarely use theirs. Added together, I'd say I watch about an hour a fortnight of TV material. And that's mostly on my phone or computer's screen.

For watching sports TV is still the best option out-there. For the rest, I think you're spot on, I know it's anecdotical but I haven't watched a movie on TV for more than one year, and "entertainment" TV shows I avoid completely.

Disclaimer: I work at i.tv, makers of Nintendo TVii[0], so I have some vested interest in TV.

This is definitely a generational/demographics thing. The average person spends 4:35 a day watching live TV. This is declining, but it is compared to 46 minutes doing everything else on a TV, including watching DVDs, playing games, and DVR [1].

So while the amount of live TV being watched is declining, it still dwarfs other media consumption among the general public.

That said, I think the future is in things like Google TV or Nintendo TVii integrating with DVR or streaming video providers to provide better discovery and better interactive experience while you are actually watching something.

[0] http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57512253-221/nintendo-t... [1] http://nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downl...

Are you and your friends not terribly interested in sports? It's hard to catch CFB games on my tablet or PC (at least legally and with good quality, live).

This is probably the main reason my wife and I still use our TV regularly.

Ha. That's a good point. I don't really have much interest in spectator sports. Which brings another point to mind; I found following TdF on the web with all the interactive stats easily accessible very enjoyable. It's a shame there wasn't much live video coverage.

Then again, I'm not really the man to talk about sports.

I don't have TV, but I make due with sports by using a mixture of questionable streams, friends places, and sports bars.

I don't watch TV but I do use my TV quite a bit. I watch shows on Netflix, buy movies on iTunes (via Apple TV) and play games on the PS3.

As for your comment on tablets, they're best IMO when coupled with a big screen. Nothing is as cool as browsing show descriptions and reading reviews on the iPad before pressing the play button which starts playing it on the TV (via AirPlay - sadly the Apple TV's Netflix app and the iPad's Netflix app don't talk to each other so you end up streaming the content from Netflix to the iPad, then streaming it to the TV).

Out of topic but Sussman's talk just blew my mind. Thanks for this gem.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com