Videoconferencing specialist, Baraka Intracom Inc has announced a new consumer device called WavTV to bring the Internet to the user’s television set. Due to be released worldwide at the end of April, the box is priced at 550 pounds and is designed to undercut the multimedia PC in price. But it does not include a CD-ROM drive, which if bought separately would push the price closer to the 1000 pounds mark. The device lets the user access the internet, carry out videoconferencing using the companyÆs own Vidcall 32 conferencing product, send video mail and email and play computer games, as well as watch television channels. The software comes pre-loaded. For internet access the consumer needs to set up his own internet account. The company said its secret is in the compression technology that it is using, but did not provide any details. The box will be based on a Pentium 233, although the demo was running on a chip from Cyrix. The company has gone so far as to say it reckons it will sell a staggering 800 million of the devices by the year 2000, capturing 8% of the home user market.
