Via Gizmodo and the N.Y. Times.

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In the Living Room, Hooked on Pay TV

These are confusing times in the living room. The proliferation of Internet video has led to much talk of “cord-cutting” — a term that has come to mean canceling traditional pay TV and replacing it with programming from a grab bag of online sources.

But so far Americans are not doing this in any meaningful numbers. “Nor is there any evidence of it emerging in the near future,” said Bruce Leichtman, the president of Leichtman Research Group, which studies consumer media habits.

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I’ve considered dumping my cable provider many times, in particular my crappy Cox service in San Diego, but sports is the hold up for me. Cox just happens to hold the exclusive right to all San Diego Padres games as well.

Look at that, someone agrees with me.

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But here’s the killer app: FaceTime.

Snark aside, although Apple is unbearably restrictive in how it allows anything to connect to iOS devices, it makes a metric frak-ton of sense for Apple to ship an iTV device that allows a webcam to be plugged into it.

At that point, you no longer just have little tiny screens talking to little tiny screens, like a modern day, incredibly annoying Dick Tracy. Instead, you can have Mom and Dad on the couch, talking to Muffy in college. Or grandma on the couch, talking to Baby Biff in his crib.

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Add one more voice to the pool of Apple TV predictions, all though I might add why not include an embedded webcam for Facetime over TV.

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Why will this change everything?

• iOS TV Applications: Expect to see an iPhone/Pad like marketplace for television applications. Video sharing/streaming/recording apps, interactive news apps, and of course games.

•The iPad will turn into one big badass remote control: The iPad will be the preferred input device for the iTV. You’ll be able to editing videos, control games, and extend the interactive television experience. Imagine watching monday night football on the TV while viewing/exploring other camera angles on the iPad.

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