Are there are plans to allow internet video streams to be viewed through the VZ media manager in the same way we have internet radio streams now?  I want to be able to put in the stream address myself and not be locked in to youtube and others. Is this capability coming?

I know a very large number of FiOS subscribers in my area who have no clue about the Verizon Idea Exchange and the few who do find it too cumbersome to see if an idea they have has been submitted to add their votes to it.  So I propose a few things:

#1 - Add an announcement either in messages, widget spotlight, etc. letting more subscribers know that the Verizon Idea Exchange exists. The more subscribers using it, the more you can truly listen to your customers.

#2 - Create a Verizon Idea Exchange widget. 

         a) First part of the widget includes a programming vote board suggested by prisaz here: http://forums.verizon.com/t5/Share-Your-Ideas-with-Verizon/HD-Programming-or-Channel-Vote-Board/idi-... that would show a bar graph of the most wanted channels with each subscriber being able to place a priority vote.  So for example I may place one vote each for FSC HD, FSC+ HD, BBC-AM HD, CTN HD, TCM HD, and G4 HD, but that doesn't necessarily tell you which one I want the most and therefore would like to see added first.  That's where the priority vote comes into play, I can assign upto 5 stars to my single vote for the channel I most want, 4 stars for 2nd most wanted, 3 stars for 3rd, 2 stars for 4th, and then 1 star means I want the channel but I'm willing to wait until my other choices are added first.  Of course the priority vote would be able to be changed in case my preferences change and the channel has not been added yet.  By making this available on the TV screen in such a simple intuitive manner I think you'll hear the opinion of a much larger subscriber base, because out of everyone on my street, I'm the only one who uses the Verizon Idea Exchange since some people won't make use of something unless you pretty much spoon feed it to them.

         b) Second part of the widget lists other ideas that have been posted here on the web, and simply lets subscribers add their votes to them.  Again no comments allowed since I agree that text entry with the remote is cumbersome.  But this way there is greater potential for the more than 3 million subscribers to view some of the ideas, versus the few hundred or maybe thousand that actually view this board.

I see the benefits of this being two-fold. The customer benefits because they get a simple interface that let's them be heard and let's them know where to go to add their own ideas, and Verizon benefits because a customer that believes they can truly influence what content they can access or will be able to access in the future is bound to stick with Verizon versus jumping ship to another provider because they aren't aware of what's coming down the road. Also, Verizon can really see what their own subscribers want and how much they want it.

It would be cool if customers could create their own widgets.  Similar to how tech-savvy people can create apps for android.  The widget can then be submitted to Verizon for approval to distribute to other FiOS TV customers.  Since the STBs seem to have limited resources, initially the widgets could be limited to requiring the software run from PC (similar to media manager, youtube, etc.) Eventually custom created FiOSTV widgets could be targeted more towards tablets/ipad type devices.  This may even speed deployment of new widgets by using the collective knowledge and ability of the techies out there instead of just relying on in-house personnel or partners.