TV Snapshot
Satellite TV customers in Europe who use their PCs to watch TV (Gee, why can't US satellite companies do that yet?) will have that experience enhanced by a new app called TV Snapshot.

TV Snapshot extracts supplemental data from the satellite transmission and saves it for the user on their PC. So satellite companies could send additional information about the shows or movies (director, actors, etc.) that users could display and use.

One of the most compelling uses is the ability to link up with e-commerce sites. For example, if you are watching MTV (when they are actually showing a music video) and want to buy the CD for the band in the video, TV Snapshot could allow you to link to an online retailer. And since the data is stored on the PCs hard drive, the info is available to users who are viewing a show that they recorded earlier.

I would like to see it go even farther. For example, if you are watching a show and you like an actor's shirt or the cellphone they are using, you should have the ability to see more information about the product and actually purchase it.

Something like that could replace the 2 minute blocks of commercials that currently interrupt programming. Of course, knowing how thoughtful most TV execs are, we would probably end up with something that looked like "The Truman Show" where characters stop to discuss the merits of their brand of coffee.

Here is the demo of TV Snapshot. Also, they have a list of things that TV Snapshot won't do (to ease broadcaster fears of piracy).