LG Walled Gardens on Radar

Every time I’m at a trade show where Consumer Electronics are displayed, I like look around the back of the television sets and video monitors to see what kind of connectors are available for input and output.  This may sound like a silly or overly technical thing to do, but I assure you it is not the “geek in me” that is curious and it is far from silly.

Input and output connectors can tell you a great deal about what the manufacturer is thinking.  And, more importantly, how they foresee their place in the future.

At the past NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) and CES (Consumer Electronics Show) events, I noticed that almost every LG television and monitor had an RJ45 jack (suitable for Broadband Internet or Local Area Network ‘LAN’ Connections).  So, the sets are as Internet-ready as they are Cable-ready.  Which begs the questions: Why and When?

So, at the Digital Media Conference on June 17, 2005 in McLean, Virginia I took the opportunity to ask John I. Taylor, Vice President, Public Affairs, LG Electronics USA when we might see a walled garden or at least a start-up splash page from LG?

BTW: A walled garden is a graphical user interface (GUI pronounced goo-ey) that is a window to a closed environment.  Remember when you couldn’t access the Internet using AOL or, more currently, tried to get a distant satellite television picture through your Comcast Cable Box?  Both of these systems are “walled gardens.”

Mr. Taylor said that both walled gardens and start pages are in the plans, but he cautioned that it could take as long a three to five years before you will see them.  Let your mind go for a minute and think about a television that wakes up at a start page from the manufacturer with features like local news, traffic and weather; email, Internet access and all of the downloadable files in the universe at your fingertips.  It sort of takes content to a different place, doesn’t it?