The annoying thing is that this functionality with the Amazon API has been built into apps before, but Amazon decided they didn't want other apps to be able to use it and had those apps yanked from the App Store. (Delicious Monster)

@TheCrudMan: That's ok because phones suck.

@max11221: My comment wasn't about the hardware. When I was on a dial up connection, I'd spend 4 hours browsing the web. When I got on a faster DSL connection, I was able to browse faster. Do you know what happened? I still spent 4 hours browsing, I just browsed more.

As someone who worked a season stocking clothing, I greatly appreciate that they had people straighten up a display.

@IndustrialJones: The more I think about it, if it doesn't work it would likely be because the Apple TV is using HDMI encryption. I don't know if it does, but if it does, it probably won't like its partner device not being on an HDMI connector. TVs usually don't care if the HDMI connection is encrypted or not, but…

@crazypills77: The Mac Mini server comes with an HDMI to DVI adapter, and there are HDMI to DVI cables out there as well. While I haven't tried your specific case (set-top device to monitor), the computer to television configuration works well. The television is just another monitor.

@Matthew Kidd: As advertisers know, and usually try to factor in, people frequently fast-forward or mute ads. Or the ads get played on a TV in a public location with the sound turned down or inaudible. If removing the sound completely inverts the meaning of the ad, that's a problem with the ad.

@sereal: It's not the same. You really don't understand what I'm talking about. I suppose this isn't really Microsoft's doing at all, it's just a carrier service throwing a lot of money at a particular developer.

This isn't scientific, but looking over the responses to this post, the people who really like these ads also sound like they dislike how much people use smart phones. It would seem reasonable to guess that these are also people who either are not heavy users themselves, or do not have smart phones. So is this the…

Watch the commercial without sound. I did so and got the message that Windows Phone 7 will make you walk around like a distracted idiot.

@LeftClicker: It's probably more a factor of Apple not having to push security updates out as often because the Mac OS platform isn't as big of a target.

@sereal: That's platform exclusivity, not carrier exclusivity. Imagine if, when the Verizon iPhone comes out, it was announced that PvZ or Angry Birds wouldn't be available for iPhones on Verizon.

Did he say that one of the games demoed will be an AT&T exclusive? Leave it to Microsoft to introduce carrier-exclusive apps.

You could make your own iPad out of iPod Touches with this method!

Awesome! It'll only be a matter of time before someone figures out how to get the iPad to play animations itself.

Did Italy pave over the Mediterranean Ocean?

He should have gone Gizmodo on their asses and demanded that they request it be returned in writing.

@junior ghoul: It's Apple's IR remote for the AppleTV(#1) and older iMacs.

@OreoExplosion: There's also a point where you can start putting too much 'functionality' in that's not really functional at all.

I misread the title of Engadget's gallery as "Sony's Google TV Controller Nightmare". I guess that shows what my gut reaction is to seeing this thing.