Everyone knows television is close to my heart. I went into TV straight from school and had an awesome 10 year ride finishing in the commissioning of TV shows. I left that industry for the world of interactive (almost 15 years ago) about a nano second after I first heard of interactive - I was wowed by the potential of putting the audience in control.

I was therefore easily drawn to Peter Hirshberg's recent TED talk on the "sibling rivalry" between the web and TV. It covers a fascinating history of both computing and television, and their many common intersections. It includes a delightful interview with kids who no longer "rate" tv, and when asked "Would you want to be the president of a TV network?", they reply "Oh no!... they're going to lose all their money". Out of the mouths of babes!

(We've done a lot of work with, and for, children and we know from extensive research that, despite what they say, television is still an important influence, and in terms of finding out where to go on the web, it's their number one source of URLs - especially younger kids). 

Peter is a knowledgable speaker and this talk is long (31 minutes), but it does contain some gems: the first interactive TV = drawing on your TV screen with crayons; how Peter first "missed" the internet by taking a while to understand it (let's be honest didn't we all?); and the cross fertilisation of content across mediums.

It's not for everyone, but if this area of history is your cup of tea, put the kettle on - you might enjoy it.