YouTube Leanback – A Step Towards Google TV

YouTube has just released a preview of what is expected to be the interface for Google TV called YouTube Leanback.  When you go to the site, it immediately starts playing videos in fullscreen of the browser window.  YouTube elevates the idea of a friend feed by taking your subscriptions and connections through Google and other services you connect like Facebook, and finding out what is popular among your friends.  The videos are automatically served one after another but you can still navigate using the arrow keys and enter button of your keyboard.  It appears the interface is designed to be as simple as possible – it utilizes the same minimalist navigation concept as Boxee.

Could this be the ultimate time-waster?  If your friends are into watching and rating YouTube videos, then yes, your life now belongs to YouTube.