Like most of you I travel a fair amount. Like most of you I have kids that are getting older and their schedules are challenging to keep up with. In essence, life is more complicated than ever with trying to juggle everything and ensure that everyone is where they need to be at the exact time.
Can’t the TV help with this? I think so, and this is what I am proposing.
A new TV channel that customizes your schedule on TV so everyone in the house can see what is going on and when. Almost Microsoft Outlook on TV. Think about it as an easy way to input all of the kids’ activities, travel schedule and many other things. How cool would it be if your eight-year-old got up and turned on the TV to see not only his schedule for the day but everyone else’s in the house?
I think pretty cool.
- Am I crazy?
- Do you think this is a good idea?
- Would you pay $10.00 month for this service?
- If not what would you pay?
- What other features would this new service have?
I look forward to reading your comments.
Fee Sepahi says:
Hi Merrill,
Sounds like a great idea and something similar to the gmail calendar, I already use and my daughter has access to.
Though I don’t technically own a TV, I can imagine my daughter can login onto her gmail account and see my calendar, from her TV that’s connected to the internet!
I should think the cost of putting it through a TV channel would be astronomical, unless it fell under a public service umbrella.
Best wishes to all for this Holiday season,
Fee
Ruthann Chesnoff says:
I think its a terrific idea for young families with lots of children with working parents. It would allow them to see what everyone is doing. Hopefully it would make everyone keep their appointments,and schedule their own around the families plans.
Lance Hoffman says:
Isn’t this what a computer is for? I like the idea, Merrill, but don’t see the real benefit of having this be TV-based versus Computer based.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Lance, It is for sure. But my thought was easy for everyone to share in the house. Kids turn on the TV at 6-8 years old see there schedule maybe make it interactive.
I don’t know just a thought.
Thanks.
Merrill
Sean J. Jordan says:
It’s an interesting idea, but would anyone pay for such a service? It’d be very easy to do this on your own:
Step 1) Hook up a cheap shuttle PC box to your HD-TV. (~$200-400)
Step 2) Set up a Google Calendar for everyone in the family and share with other family members so they can see them. (These can even be updated via your cell phone; they’re very flexible!)
Step 3) Set the PC linked to the PC to open to Google Calendar as its homepage.
Step 4) You can now see everyone’s calendar from the TV or from any web-capable computer (and even some cell phones).
Sean J. Jordan says:
Erm, Step 3 should read “Set the PC linked to the HD-TV to open…”
Bob Duthie says:
I’d pay $10 per year for a nice printed calendar with places to write each family members schedule. It doesn’t need a computer, TV, Internet or iPhone.
Tracy Sullivan says:
Sharing calendars leads to other questions. Are we completely over-scheduling ourselves and our kids?
Back when paper calendars were on the refrigerator, my son asked if we could change our last name to “Rush,” because he said that’s all we ever did – rush from one thing to the next.
My boys led such calendar-driven lives they now struggle with just being spontaneous and enjoying the moment. After years of calendars and schedules, it’s hard for them to accept an activity that isn’t planned down to the minute.
Is there ever any time to just be spontaneous or do nothing but relax and recharge together? Or do we now schedule “do nothing time,” too?