Broadband may kill cablebox one day....

Just twelve years ago, I was awed by the speed of my 56kbps modem. Today, I would complain about the latency of my 1.5Mbps data link from my cable modem. Through the bandwidth that we use to access the internet, we are seeing an ever increasing range of media that we can access. It started with static web pages, then comes Youtube, and now Hulu. Currently there is no widely adopted solution to put streaming video on your TV but an up and coming startup called Boxee have caught my attention. This startup makes an application that runs on Windows, Mac, Linux as well as AppleTV. This is a product that would bring the Internet to your TV. 

Boxee allows its users to enjoy all their digital media at home (e.g. TV shows, music and photos) and they also stream content from websites like Netflix (yes it can stream HD movies from Netflix is you are a subscriber), CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, flickr, and also Hulu. It also has a social networking aspect where you can add friends and share shows that you're watching with your friends. 

A number of Boxee users have already given up their cable subscription and rely on Boxee as their source of TV entertainment and I can foresee more people doing this in the midst of the current financial crisis. An AppleTV which cost $299 would pay for itself if the user stop subscribing to their cable for half a year (assuming that cable typically cost $50/month). From what it looks, the internet is soon going to invade a TV near you.