TiVo Debuts TV-Powered Pizza Ordering -- So What's Next?

ByABC News
November 17, 2008, 4:38 PM

— -- TiVo has unveiled new technology that lets you order pizza over your TV. It has the potential to make us fatter, lazier, and more sedentary than ever -- and I couldn't be more excited.

Delivery Debut

The service, announced this week, is now available to anyone with a broadband-connected TiVo box, an active TiVo subscription, and a Domino's in the neighborhood. You'll find the option in the "Music, Photos, Products, & More" menu on the TiVo main screen. Pick your pizza, input your address, and your dinner (or snack?) is on the way. You have to pay cash when the driver arrives, as there's no credit card option available in the system yet.

Just the Beginning

The best part: This may just be the beginning of the "getting stuff without getting up" era. TiVo execs describe the Domino's deal as the "first step in the future of consumer interactions." Being that my general goal is to be able to spend an entire evening without having to so much as move my big toe, I'm pretty pumped.

What could come next, you might be thinking? My first thought is that we need an expanded remote with specific buttons for specific orders. Clicking through the menus is too much work for my leisure time -- I want to push a single pizza-shaped button and have my pie arrive.

Once the single-touch order system is established, the options are endless. Groceries in some parts of the country already offer delivery services, so how about connecting that? Think how sweet it'd be to able to press a jerky-shaped button and, 30 minutes later, have a friendly apron-wearing agent at your door with a bag of hickory-smoked snacks.

When we'll know we've really reached the pinnacle of our activity-free fantasy, though, is when electronics stores link their delivery services up. Why? Because we can then finally get a button to order a new TV from our TV, without having to ever take our eyes off the TV. Talk about effortless luxury.

The future, my friends, is here. The dream of having everything without moving anything has begun. Now, if you'll excuse me, my pizza should be arriving any minute, and I still have to figure out how to open the door from my seat.