A Point of Sale Terminal in every dream home - A short primer

I started work when there was only a handful of analogue TV channels in thew UK- In those old analogue days Travel was a great extra you could explore on teletext services - the pictures of the resorts weren't great but there were some competitive offers.

Later in my career I spent some time at NDS where there was some thought being given to the possibility of interactivity allowing all sorts of purchases via the TV as it was a slightly geeky thought process the concept was for ordering a Domino's  pizza (other breaded product suppliers are available) during the commercial break by hitting one of the coloured buttons you'd trigger a purchase request.

A few years after I had worked at NDS  there was quite a buzz around new varieties of newer MPEGs (7 is  ringing bells here) the idea seemed to be that you could purchase Rachel from Friend's wardrobe (her clothes more than an Ikea flatpack) - this though presupposed something of either a PC experience or a complicated arrangement around a sophisticated remote control not slouching on the floor in the lounge.

Now what we have is the ipad or other tablet where if the programme you're watching is 'making' you want something you can follow a few Zeebox links and buy- it's a game changer and  it enables quasi advertising on Public service broadcasting. (And don't get me started on the Sport advertising the BBC already carries in shows like Match of the Day).
More consumption drives growth in our flagging economy why would any government object to what is an effective way of purchasing from the sofa?  As they say resistance is futile.
The question now is can Amazon steal the lead on Google with the possibility of using the Kindle Fire as a trojan horse - already there are said to be worries at Google Towers that potential purchasers gor direct to Amazon rather than face a barrage of  irrelevant 'suggestions' from google search- great article here.