The Journal looks at Web2TV technology ... Lawsuit over video-on-demand technology

- The Wall Street Journal asks, in advance of next week's Consumer Electronics Show and Macworld conference:

A more capable crop of gadgets is emerging to bring video from the Internet to television sets. The question is -- will consumers care?

The article looks at the different strategies companies like Apple, HP, Cisco, Motorola, Microsoft, TiVo, and Sony are taking to bring video from the Web onto the TV.

- The Journal, the LA Times, and the NY Times all report on a lawsuit filed against Apple, Napster, and Google by a company called Intertainer. John Markoff and Miguel Helft of the Times write:

In 1997, Jonathan T. Taplin, a veteran film and television producer, stood up at a cable industry convention and asserted that in the future all movies would be distributed over the Internet. He recalls being laughed out of the room.



Mr. Taplin may laugh last. Online distribution of movies has arrived, at places like Apple Computer’s iTunes Store. And even though Mr. Taplin’s own video-on-demand company, Intertainer, shut down operations five years ago, it says it deserves some credit — and cash.



Last week, Intertainer filed a broad lawsuit asserting that Apple, Google and Napster are infringing on a 2005 patent that covers the commercial distribution of audio and video over the Internet.