As Apple readies the release of its Apple TV, iTV is its likely name.

From what Steve Jobs reputedly averred on his deathbed, Apple has finally ‘solved it’ – it being the marriage of internet and television. It’s about time since we’ve all been waiting for such a product for a long, long time and when it finally does occur, perhaps the days of having a rat’s nest of cords all over the place will finally be ending.

More than twenty years ago a brilliant creative mind and very good friend of mine referred to the tangle of cords that sometimes looks like a rat’s nest as ‘Spaghetti City’. I admit that I’ve been living in Spaghetti City at home and in the office ever since.

Like so many people there are ties holding some of the cords together but there are always a few that are scattered about loosely and get caught on everything. Going behind the television and audio system is a scary prospect.

Leaving Spaghetti City goes way beyond cutting the cord. The ability to have your home (and office) technology devices communicate with one another without the tethering of a maze of power, Cat-5 and other various cords will have our children’s children snickering about the old days where people had wires and cables all over the place.

But leaving Spaghetti City has much greater implications than the elimination of cords. The world is heading for a level of technology interconnectivity that is the stuff of science fiction lore. And it appears that at the core of it all is the iPad itself and its ability to control a multitude of devices with a swipe of your finger. Other tablets are also going to be designed to offer wireless manipulation of any number of home appliances and devices but Apple (as usual) has a substantial lead.

As I noted it’s been far too long in development but finally I can see a day when we won’t have tape and color coded labels on cords going every which way. And that day cannot come soon enough.
How about you – have you a replica of Spaghetti City at home or in your office (or both)?