The Change Mariner

Digital Slide Slows on HDTV

New York Times:

Thanks to the wonders of technology, now you, too, can live like Bill Gates.

No, you can't suddenly afford to build a $50 million house overlooking Lake Washington. You will not have heated floors, sidewalks and driveways. And your monthly Citibank statement certainly won't show $46 billion on deposit.
You can, however, have a big, beautiful, high-definition screen on your wall that displays rotating collections of classic paintings, just as Bill does.

In fact, you may already have a high-definition TV; every month, thousands of Americans join the HDTV club. A young company called Roku has now come along with a simple question: What will appear on that $5,000 sheet of plasma when you're not watching TV?

Roku suggests a slide show of high-resolution photos, nature scenes or famous paintings. That's the point of the company's first product, a slim set-top box called the HD1000.

This machine has been around since November, selling - or, rather, not selling - for $500. Two things suddenly make it much more interesting: First, an important software upgrade, version 1.5 (a free download from rokulabs
.com) that adds essentials like the ability to play music with the slide shows.