My father is soon to be purchasing a new TV, so I've spent some time today reading the various CES-related press releases. Every vendor is looking at integrating a wide variety of Internet features into their TVs. Since my dad could truly care less about that stuff, I'm suggesting he buy a 2010 higher-end model once the new ones come out and put price pressure on the old ones.

What really kills me with the Xbox is that it's a relatively open platform, in that third parties can write apps for it, but yet where's my Pandora app? Where's my Apple Walled Garden Compatibility app? Microsoft seems to be acting as a gatekeeper to prevent such things.

Conversely, we have the Boxee/AppleTV/Google TV/etc. aftermarket purpose-built boxes, to which you must also add the various Blu-ray players with also seem to have gotten Internet widget mania. Of all those, Boxee appears to be the only vendor who's genuinely trying to create a third-party app market. The others are just looking to get their Pandora checkmark and move on with life.