Google TV Turns On at I/O ⇥ engadget.com
As expected, Google just announced Google TV at I/O. There’s four billion TV viewers worldwide, making it the biggest market in the world, and Google’s after it in a big way — it’s a $70 billion ad market in the US alone, after all. According to Google, “video should be consumed on the biggest, best, and brightest screen in your house, and that’s the TV.” The idea is to merge the web and TV without compromising on either the web experience or the video experience, with a focus on discovery and personalization.
About time they launched this thing; it’s been rumoured for so long and I wa— hang on a minute. Keep talking, Patel:
Since it’s Android, there’s a version of Android Market — any app that doesn’t require phone hardware can run on Google TV. There will also be a Google TV-specific Android SDK launching in “early” 2011, along with the Android Market for Google TV.
Huh? What’s the date line on this thing?
4 YEARS AGO
Oh.
Uhm, my mistake. How embarrassing.
Contrary to reports, Android TV isn’t a set-top box like Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV, but a software system that will be embedded into the smart TVs and other devices from third-party OEMs.
[…]
Android TV will play movies and TV shows, and users will be able to control it via mobiles phones and tablets. Google Engineering Director Dave Burke showed off how the system works to enable search and navigation either via text or voice.
This is, like, the same thing.