(the above image can be found at the home site of BackWeb, a company who helps other companies develop "personalized broadcast channels")
With the recent arrival of so-called "Push" technology the WWWeb moved a step closer to the realm of the television. No longer will one be restricted to pulling information from the web by visiting different sites and ordering one's server to "grab" the information desired. Now, one's server will grab the information for you, and push it onto your desktop.
Current technology (like the standard browser) is very static. With the exception of gif-animation or some Java programming, there is seldom any new information presented to a viewer once she loads up a page.
Imagine if each television channel was made up of but one picture, and you had to change channels if you wanted to see something different. The one picture could have a great deal of information, but what you saw was what you got. This would be unacceptable to most people. One of the reasons people are willing to give up a degree of control to television is because television always presents something new to a viewer, even if it is not something the viewer particularly wants to see. The viewer is taken along for a ride which she cannot control, yet there is always new scenery to behold. Why worry with a steering wheel when you can look out the window and see pretty new sights?
Imagine if each web page was no static, but rather dynamic. Instead of being forced to reload the page in order to see the latest scores the scores changed automatically. Imagine if you had the best of both worlds. You could make you preferences know to your browser which would, in return, do all the surfing for you, and push the results of its research onto your desktop, available for your perusal at the click of a button.
The above image represents currently available Push technology. Late breaking news is pushed onto your desktop, and is available for browsing by merely clicking on it. Now the mountains come to you, and the WWWeb come a step closer to the dynamic realm of television.
Although some loss of choice is lost when one decides to utilize these services, some people may find this a reasonable expense for the convenience it provides.