Well soon Boxee will be on the shelves available to everyone.  Boxee attempts to bring the internet and your local network to your television or laptop in more suitable format for sitting on your couch.  This is via a small, strangely shaped, and quite frankly ugly box that will sit next to your tv I guess.  This little machine attempts to replace the mini computer or television computer like mac mini or Sony's tv computer with a more accessable interface with remote etc.

After the Boxee scans your media folders automatically, it will allow you to sort through your stuff using a remote not unlike Apple's frontrow only with more features.  It also allows you to see what your Boxee using friends are watching and listening to as if you've ever really cared!

It's too early to say what impact Boxee will have on the market so I'll just keep to the facts and some probable sticky points.  Let's start with some screen shots!

Boxee Front View

Looking at the front, you might think that's a rather modern shape and kind of cool looking.  But once you start thinking of practicality, I can't imagine a nice space that this weird shape would fit into.  Having said that, seems to me that X-Box lovers may dig the Boxee design, but it left me with a dry mouth.  Take take a look at the back.

Boxee Rear View

Hmm, Ninetendo!?  What's up with the analog outputs?  No optical?  No drive for playing dvd's?  So much for high fidelity sound. Good points are that it does indeed support full HD and has HDMI support.

Boxee Summary:

An open platform for Boxee that allows outside developers to create their own unique experiences for users is a step in the right direction.  But is the infrastructure there yet for true streaming HD?  No, I don't think so.  Also, the United States is so far behind in internet speed, devices like this are likely to be waiting for increased bandwidth and interenet connection speeds until  they can really shine. 

Yes, this is cheaper than having a full on computer under the the television, but I'm thinking it will likely fall short of what many people want to do on their televisions.  Namely, surf the net in an easy way.  Although this comes as a welcome surprise, I'm just not sure people or infrastructure is ready for it yet.  Perhaps in another 10 years or so we'll see devices like this in most living rooms, but while many Americans are still making due with 56kb Modems, we gotta long way to go before millions are using the Boxee.