Slowly but surely, Wi-Fi is bridging the gap between TV and the Internet--or at least helping you watch YouTube on your tube. The newly refreshed Apple TV, Take Two ($229 for the 40GB model) lets you rent movies or buy TV episodes from iTunes, download YouTube videos or podcasts, and beam them directly over your network to your set, bypassing your computer entirely.
HP's MediaSmart HDTVs ($1900 to $2400) feature built-in Windows Media Extenders, so you can enjoy videos, photos, and music stored on your hard drive; rent or buy movies from CinemaNow; and dial up Internet radio stations--all without having to sit in the same room as your PC. Add a Wi-Fi adapter to your TiVo, and you can download shows from Amazon Unbox directly to your DVR, then shuttle recorded programs and other content between your computer and your set.
3. Surf the Web Without a Computer
You can already beam pictures from your PC to a Wi-Fi-enabled photo frame like Samsung's SPF-72V or PhotoVu's PV1750. Services like FrameChannel can turn these static frames into information portals, delivering RSS feeds, news, weather reports, NASA photos, cartoons, trivia, and (my personal favorite) the Beer Channel to your frame. Just create a free account online and pick the channels you want.
The Chumby personal Internet player does this and then some. The $180 gadget is about the size of an alarm clock; besides photos, news, and weather, it can display your POP e-mail, eBay auctions, Craigslist classifieds, Netflix queue, electronic greeting cards, and interactive games. Chumby units should be available in early spring.