To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

The reason why apps look the way they do or websites are laid out a certain way is because of places like Time Warner Inc's new MediaLab at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. Researchers at MediaLab are trying to figure out what consumers like — what content they prefer, how users like to watch, read or listen to devices and which devices they use for certain tasks.

The media giant can test its products and then tweak those products in MediaLab, to make them as appealing to consumers as possible.

"We have every possible testing scenario designed for here," says Van Riley of HBO.

Those scenarios mimic different everyday environments, from a living room to a computer room, a room with just tablets to a theater, outfitted with many of the technologies one might use during leisure time. The rooms also keep an eye and ear on the testers with high-definition cameras, microphones, and in some cases, even two-way glass, behind which are control rooms where reactions are monitored.

The lab can also use biometrics, sensors that can figure out people's emotional response through sometimes unconscious physical reactions.

"That is taking their own galvanic skin response. It's intended to understand blood pressure, heart rate, those sorts of things, and map that to the experience that they're seeing," says Riley. "This technology allows us to know truly are they feeling an emotional response to it."

On top of that, there is a station that tracks media users' eyes to check things like how well a webpage is designed.

"That gives a lot of information, not only what are they looking for to click but where does the eye go. And it really does uncover lots of cues in terms of where are the things we've designed that are perhaps creating confusion for a consumer," says Riley.

Before labs like MediaLab, big media companies had to test products piecemeal at different facilities around the country.

Time Warner says ultimately it, and any other company that wants to rent out MediaLab, now has one spot that can be easily upgraded with the latest consumer electronics, in order to fine-tune consumer experiences.