Waldstein: Cool on Google, Hot on Apple and Boxee

Posted by Arnold Waldstein in Writers on November 03, 2010  |  6 Comments More from this author  |    |  Follow Arnold Waldstein on: Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter |

"Google TV, as of right now, it’s a sad mixture of random functions loosely held together by a fustercluck user interface."

- From “Logitech Revue With Google TV: The Official TechCrunch Review” by Matt Burns.

I’ll admit that I haven’t bought and used GoogleTV… and I may not. I never thought Google could bridge the gap to the mass market and this review feeds that belief.

On the other hand, I’ve been using AppleTV for a few weeks, especially AirPlay to stream video from my laptop to the big screen. Although somewhat limited in functionality, it works perfectly. Beautiful interface… in fact, Apple’s interface to NetFlix is considerably better than the native NetFlix app. For $99, AppleTV is a deal…you get exactly what you pay for and a lot more. We want easy and seamless in our living rooms. This is that for certain.

I’m still very excited though to get my Boxee box. It’s on order and should arrive soon. I need webTV and Internet video on the big screen. Apple just doesn’t address that.  My bet is that between the perfect streaming of stored video from AirPlay and AppleTV and the web video innovation and social chops of Boxee, I may have the best of what’s available…at least for now

Maybe I won’t even need AppleTV post Boxee’s arrival. Not sure yet. But I just don’t see that I’ll need GoogleTV till they figure it out and finish it before they sell it.