Imagine the Square Footage

It's only a matter of time now....Apple lands another big fish in the small pond of commercial content. NBC lends 12 of their shows including hits like Monk, Law & Order, Conan, Leno and others to the iTunes Music Store. Would I buy each episode for $1.99? Hell no. Would I buy every
Conan episode with Triumph in it? Probably...

Now lets delve a little deeper here...in the beforetime:

People bought giant TVs that filled their living rooms (ie Projection TVs) just so they could get a large screen, theater like experience. This behemoth took about 20 to 30 sq ft of living space in your home. Not to mention dwarfed everything around it making everything feel like it was going to be eaten by the TV (don't believe me? you should see my dad's living room).

in the hereafter:

You can buy something that barely qualifies as a bump off of your wall to watch TV on. DVD players are flat just like your TV. Game consoles are flat (Xbox 360 almost gets it right, PS3 may). Tivos are flat...everything is flat. Everything comes in a vertical case that can be mounted to your wall. Better yet, they can be mounted BEHIND your flat TV so that it only extends about 2 inches more into your living space. Now you have extra space in your house.

Now take into account that TV will shift from big wall hanging thing to pocket thing and we'll need to start thinking about larger seats on the bus to accomodate our gear rather than bigger living rooms.

Maybe it will be the end fo the McMansions...but knowing America, probably not.