Greg
22nd May 2010, 05:29 AM
Watch "Google TV IO 2010 Google TV Keynote - Introducing Google TV" on Realty Tube Australia - Real Estate Video Tours (http://realtytube.com.au/play.php?vid=500)
Yesterday, Google announced the Google TV Platform. So what is Google TV? What can it do? What are the drawbacks?
Google TV is best described as a search platform, based on it's Android OS and Chrome browser. This platform will be made available on a stand-alone box that will plug into your TV or it will be built into many new products being made available through 3rd party vendors.
The goal is to provide full search of available programs on your network, TiVo device, the web and any other network enabled device. You'll be able to look for programs across the net from places like Hulu, NBC and Netflix as well as programs on any networked device in your home. And because the platform includes a full Android OS and Browser you'll have full web access and the ability to run other Android Apps on the system. Flash 10.1 from Adobe will be part of the package as well, giving you the ability to play any flash video on your TV. You can even control your TV using your Android smartphone.
A diverse group of manufacturers have signed on to build equipment that will include the Google TV functionality -- Sony, Intel, Logitech and Dish Network will be early adopters and Best Buy will provide the retail leverage. Televisions, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, etc. will be enabled with the platform within a year.
Lessons not learned.
AppleTv has been around for a while now. It's functionality is limited, but the system works really well. Google, like Microsoft before it, may be missing an important lesson here. Apple has always understood that to get a really great product you need to control the hardware and the software. By releasing the Google TV API to many vendors while having no control over the hardware is a significant risk. Google should have learned this from it's smartphone experiments. A few bad vendors can kill a product in a hurry.
Bottom Line.
Network search functionality is a great addition to any entertainment experience. This could be a television revolution or it could be a "here today, gone tomorrow" product. The idea is sound, but execution will be everything. Google will need to use a heavy hand with it's hardware vendors to prevent a disaster. This will be worth keeping an eye on over the next several months.
For more in depth information see the following:
http://bit.ly/aaGyrm
(http://bit.ly/aaGyrm)
http://www.google.com/tv/
(http://www.google.com/tv/)
Yesterday, Google announced the Google TV Platform. So what is Google TV? What can it do? What are the drawbacks?
Google TV is best described as a search platform, based on it's Android OS and Chrome browser. This platform will be made available on a stand-alone box that will plug into your TV or it will be built into many new products being made available through 3rd party vendors.
The goal is to provide full search of available programs on your network, TiVo device, the web and any other network enabled device. You'll be able to look for programs across the net from places like Hulu, NBC and Netflix as well as programs on any networked device in your home. And because the platform includes a full Android OS and Browser you'll have full web access and the ability to run other Android Apps on the system. Flash 10.1 from Adobe will be part of the package as well, giving you the ability to play any flash video on your TV. You can even control your TV using your Android smartphone.
A diverse group of manufacturers have signed on to build equipment that will include the Google TV functionality -- Sony, Intel, Logitech and Dish Network will be early adopters and Best Buy will provide the retail leverage. Televisions, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, etc. will be enabled with the platform within a year.
Lessons not learned.
AppleTv has been around for a while now. It's functionality is limited, but the system works really well. Google, like Microsoft before it, may be missing an important lesson here. Apple has always understood that to get a really great product you need to control the hardware and the software. By releasing the Google TV API to many vendors while having no control over the hardware is a significant risk. Google should have learned this from it's smartphone experiments. A few bad vendors can kill a product in a hurry.
Bottom Line.
Network search functionality is a great addition to any entertainment experience. This could be a television revolution or it could be a "here today, gone tomorrow" product. The idea is sound, but execution will be everything. Google will need to use a heavy hand with it's hardware vendors to prevent a disaster. This will be worth keeping an eye on over the next several months.
For more in depth information see the following:
http://bit.ly/aaGyrm
(http://bit.ly/aaGyrm)
http://www.google.com/tv/
(http://www.google.com/tv/)