We’re following along as Google unveils Google TV. Refresh to update.
Google hopes to change your TV watching experience in the following ways.
(More on Techland: Google Brings the Web to TV with Google TV)
You can follow along with me here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diTpeYoqAhc]
So Google TV seems pretty interesting. Rather than going through your traditional provider listings, you can just input a search to find shows you want to watch. You can even add shows to your DVR through Search. Neat. Search result pulls in content from TV and on the Web. “All the content is immediately available for you.”
Seamless transition from Web to TV – same remote. You can buy episodes via Amazon or watch free trailers.
Browsing: Your Netflix queue is actually embedded into your homepage. Awesome. “It’s just as easy to go to any page on the Web as it is to go to any channel. It’s seamless.”
Bookmarking: Set your bookmarks to your favorite channels, TV web pages or shows.
Picture in Picture: They’re watching a game and checking sports scores. Picture in Picture with Web and TV. Pretty cool stuff.
Full Screen Photo Viewing: Access Flickr and Facebook photo albums for full screen photo viewing.
Hardware: Four key componants: Bulit in wifi and Ethernet. Your connect cable or satellite box to HDMI cable.
– Includes input devices, keyboard, pointing device
– Syncs with Android phone via wifi with voice recognition search. Watching a video on a phone and push it directly to the TV. (Makes a nice little ‘enabled with Flash’ quip.)
Apps: Android mobile apps (that don’t require specific hardware on the phone) will work on Google TV. You can download Android apps directly to the TV. Two platforms: Web apps and Android apps
New YouTube Leanback: It just starts playing a personalized video feed – videos that were ‘favorited’ by friends or suggestions from YouTube based on previous videos that you’ve liked. There are default channels (Sports, News, Comedy) or personalized channels (for example: Unicorns). Site will be in beta within a few weeks.
Google Listen: Google’s podcast app will be available for Google TV as well. Subscribe to video podcasts from your TV, or use new feature Explore that will recommend podcasts to you. All of our apps will sync on all Android devices. If you add a podcast to your queue via your phone, it will be added to your TV too.
Google Translate: Will automatically add subtitles in the language of your choice to the show you’re watching.
Google has partnered with Sony, Logitech and Intel.
Sony will launch a full line of integrated TVs. Logitech will create a companion box that will integrate the TV you already have. Intel will create a special processing chip. Available in Fall, 2010.
They’ve also partnered with The Dish Network to integrate your satellite TV channels with Google TV and with Best Buy to distribute products.
Google TVs from Sony will ship this fall.
Need more on Google TV? We’ve got more details here on Techland.