Now here’s an awesome picture for you.

Samsung’s recently announced that its Blu-Ray players will offer support for streaming video, like that of YouTube.  Now, that by itself may not mean a whole lot–is it really that great that we’ll be able to watch some moron take a header off his roof on a drunken dare while his equally drunken buddies film it?  But where it really shines is in its future implications.  As digital distribution increases, it’ll be nice to have one unit in the house that goes from Blu-ray, the current top standard, to streaming video, the EVENTUAL top standard.

However, what’s nice for the consumer is seldom nice for the corporation, and this is no difference.  It’s entirely possible Samsung may have hoisted itself by its own petard on this one.  See, they’ve basically handed over the entire next ten, twenty years of development or so to the consumer.  Who needs a new player when this one will do literally everything you’re likely to need for the next couple decades?

It’s a great idea for us, but it’s not so hot for Samsung–something I find myself unable to be that upset about.