In an article at Slate, Paul Boutin muses about the lack of television/computer convergence. While his final conclusion — keep your television close, but keep your laptop even closer — makes sense, he doesn’t seem to consider the way our homes work in his analysis.
In order for a hybrid television/computer to work effectively, we will need a solid broadband connection to the spot where the television works. Cable companies will need to be able to deliver programming and the Internet to the same device. Phone companies will need to do the same — TiVo users generally have a phone line nearby for those nightly calls home. Satellite users will need to either figure out how to Google via DirecTV (not likely at this time) or install a second input method (more likely). Then the television will need to converge all this stuff.