ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[david jordan <dmj726@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

With Ubuntu now being targeted toward TVs as well as smartphones and tablets, one thing that strikes me is that traditionally TVs have traditionally struggled to accept inputs that don't fit into either preset functions on the remote/controller or the equivalent of arrow keys + Select.  (Think of all the interfaces on set top boxes that require the user to enter text via an onscreen keyboard that can only be navigated via arrow keys.)
While it's probably good to have basic functions accessible via this standard remote  system, I think we can leverage Ubuntu on smartphones and tablets to provide a much richer input system.  By allowing smartphones and tablets to control the television, we could open up Ubuntu TVs for a wide range of collaborative activities.  
So you would have each of your group's tablets connect to the TV, start up the application you want to work with, and begin working together.  This could work differently depending on the use case.  Either everyone could be working/playing together on the big screen, or individuals could work with a network enabled application on their own tablet and then share their progress directly on the TV with the others as they each made their own adjustments.
In the case of a video editing project, say Novacut, each user would be cutting a given scene, doing color correction, etc on their own Ubuntu tablet, with the TV as a shared screen for showing progress, getting feedback from the rest of the group, and keeping tabs on the state of the edit as a whole.
I'm sure there are many other applications that could benefit from having a shared screen interfaced with many tiny ones, especially ones where people are trying to create and remix as a group as well as facilitating social games.
David Jordan