During a Digital Hollywood panel concerned with the future of the television as an internet video delivery device, one panelist rather glibly declared the problem already easily solved - via only a $10 DVI/VGA-HDMI cable.  Since another one of my other pet peeves is the tendency of us technical folks to disconnect entirely over the value of simplicity , I have to take my hat off to panelist JD Colaco of Hulu, who correctly pointed out that such a solution was beyond “95%” of the general population (I would further add that it would also still require the viewer to boot up the computer and administer everything from there – not the most elegant solution).

But perhaps JD’s point was best made only minutes later, as another panelist’s ‘brave new world’ powerpoint presentation was delayed for several minutes, as (and this is in a roomful of digital media professionals and with hotel A/V support on hand) there was a problem with his laptop and the flat screen:

…connecting the DVI/VGA -HDMI cable.