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iPad TV Guide / Remote Control

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With the iPad scheduled to be released in a few days, you can bet developers have been working overtime to have their apps ready in time for the launch.  BRIC Entertainment on the other hand, we're shooting to release an update for our first iPhone app Photo Eye-Q which will include a much needed UI redesign bringing us into the 21st Apple century.  This update should set the app up for an easy transition to the iPad platform.  Let's just hope the folks at Merit Entertainment (the original creators of Photo Hunt / Megatouch) don't hand us another C&D.  Might I add that us being on their radars was fucking awesome!

Anyways back to the topic at hand.  Brian and I have been thinking about a good utility app to release as our next app.  We've given up on the game apps arena seeing how all the major game studios are already on the platform.  If you know me personally, you know I spew ideas for businesses left and right.  This one came as I was getting ready to leave the house and saw the 10+ year old 60inch rear projection TV in my living room.  We have Verizon FIOS (Thank the Lord!) and the one thing I hate about it is the on-screen program guide that comes with it.  There's always a delay between the remote and the on-screen guide.  There's never enough information displayed so I have to navigate the cursor to the show, press on the show and then press Page Down to see the rest of the listing.  At that moment, I realized we needed to create a TV Guide app for the iPad. Navigating through the listings in an app would be so much easier than navigating through the on-screen guide.  If you could somehow link the iPad to the TV so that is becomes a remote control...CASH MONEY! 

And to take it to the next level since I have always loved the concept of Social - Interactive TV, we could create rooms for each show/listing that would be accessible through the app.  In these rooms we could ask relevant trivia questions during the show, offer a real-time chat room for users to discuss what's happening or what's going to happen next, and provide the ability for users to create private rooms for their friends.  I know CBS already has this on their website for episodes that have already aired.  All the other major networks need to catch up because it's the future.  If we were able to get in early on the game and build up a large enough user base, we could probably get bought out by a major TV network. Anyways...I'll revisit this idea after I work on items 1-5 on my list of things to do.  I would love to hear any feedback or comments about the idea. Thank you in advance!