Does interactive TV need a new interface?

One of the bigger concerns about interactive TV is the user interface, and specifically how to enable consumers to navigate a growing volume of content and to interact with that content without making the process so complex that it generates more frustration than satisfaction. Efforts to add keyboards to the TV viewing experience have generally failed - remember WebTV? - and service providers such as Verizon and Cox Communications have specifically designed their interactive services so consumers only need their TV remote's four navigation buttons - -up, down, left, right - and the "okay" or "select" button generally found at the center of the remote. That's an approach that frustrates Dan Simpkins, founder and chief executive officer of Hillcrest Labs, which specifically designed a free-space mouse for interactive TV - similar to the Nintendo Wii device that it preceded and against which Hillcrest has filed patent infringement claims - to enable a new breed of TV services.