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Google is going retro! Now the screen of choice is none other than our telly set, due to become the newest kid on the digital display block what with Android technology giving it a pretty cool makeover. Google TV is coming our way!

Google, the baddest broadcaster in the whole damn town? It is official, no hoax/fake hoax this time, but the next thing the California-based company is throwing our way; when New York Times says it...

Pairing with Sony and Intel, Google is planning on bringing the Android platform to televisions in a move to render Web surfing much more accessible, with the little help of a set-top box.

Nick Bilton of the NYT writes: "Google has built a prototype set-top box, but the technology may be incorporated directly into TVs or other devices.

The Google TV software will present users with a new interface for TVs that lets them perform Internet functions like search while also pulling down Web programming like YouTube videos or TV shows from Hulu.com. The technology will also allow downloadable Web applications, like games and social networks, to run on the devices."

The logical course of events would then see a burst of creativity in the offering innovative applications, much like it has been the case with the Android mobile phone platform.

Technically it wouldn't be Google's first foray into the broacasting world; Google TV Ads has been a discreet but strong presence on the television sets for a couple of years now.

 

Twitter et al. are already on our computer monitors, on our phones, in our ears and in our eyes... Do we really need it on our television screens? Obsolete as it may have become to some, for others it is a pleasantly old-fashioned way to escape the cyberness all around and to not be a slave to the little red notification flag or the new e-mail ping - at least for a few hours.

Then there are the persistent voices highlighting Google's tendency to global domination; some say Google equals the Internet, others will reply it is big because it is good... Either way there is more than a little hint of monopoly about Google's omnipresence in the search engine and other departments of the digital world. Might it just be that Google is just more of an innovator? Beyond the original product which let's face it has become as essential to our everyday lives as loo roll, the company has persistenly provided us with simple but great services... Google Mail anyone?

So perhaps Google TV is just that; yet another simple innovation to make our lives easier and keep us connected... The first signs of Google TV might appear on our screens as soon as this summer so get adjusting those sets!

 

Aurelie Bellavigna

 

Source: New York Times

Photo credits: Television Rules the Nation illustration by Alex Cherry

TAGS: google tv intel google sony google tv ads twitter android social media television