It has been slowly happening in front of our eyes. The marrying of the television set and the pc has been tried a few times but is now set to explode into our living rooms.

Due to technological advancements in television sets they are now fully equipped to run Webpages and apps within the tv screen without the need for any settop boxes.

And while the tv manufacturers work on getting the hardware right, companies such as Yahoo and Adobe are bringing out the applications that will be run on this new generation of TV’s.

Patrick Barry, a senior executive at Yahoo commented:- “Five years ago people said they didn’t want email on their phones, now everyone uses dat. The television environment is going through the same transition.”

In the past the traditional TV lacked the processing power for the Web, but manufacturers like Sony, Samsung and Vizio are installing chips that can run more sophisticated and powerful computing apps.

Vizio, for example, will have Wi-Fi enabled TV sets with screens measuring 42 inches or bigger on the market by November. These models will feature Web applications and a remote control with a full keyboard, starting at about $1,200.

Research firm iSuppli has forecast that the total number of internet enabled sets will grow to between 88 million and 90 million worldwide by 2013, around 40% of the television market. There are around 90 models on the market that are internet connected.

There is still discussion over which kind of internet access users want on their TV’s, maybe a browser system as we have in our computers, or Web services that blend in with the content being watched.

“We don’t see the browser becoming the primary metaphor,” said Anup Murarka, a strategist for Adobe Systems Inc. Mr. Murarka said consumers favor applications like video and social networking on the television, as opposed to text-based pages, and like some preselection of content.

Yahoo has already designed its “widgets” web apps system that run in a ticker on the TV screen and can be expanded by pressing buttons on your controller. Yahoo’s widgets include versions of popular services such as Facebook, eBay and Twitter. One of Yahoo’s ideas would have consumers buy these widgets in a TV storefront.

But others argue that TVs should have full Internet access. Palo Alto, Personal Web Systems Inc. is developing a made for tv browser. Chief Executive Gordon Campbell believes consumers will chafe at having restrictions placed on the Web content they can get on a television.

Mr Campbell, a previous Intel exec, said several telecom operators are planning trials featuring his company’s technology, scheduled to run next year, but declined to disclose their identities.

Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe said TVs are still lacking is a compelling user interface for the Internet. “On the mobile phone it looked like it was never going to work until Apple’s iPhone took off. That needs to happen with the TV,” he said.

When they get it right though, it will be awesome. Imagine being able to catch up on your tv shows that you forgot to record by just switching on your tv and firing up the Hulu or iPlayer app.

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