Print Page 3/19/2010

Sony, Intel and the search giant develop tube surfing

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF.:Google, Intel and Sony are creating a custom TV browser, so say emerging reports about the triad. The New York Times said this week the three are developing Google TV, an Internet-connected television platform based on its Android operating system. As the Times notes, several TV makers have integrated various ’Net connectivity into their sets, but most are limited to specific services like NetFlix or YouTube or Amazon or some combination thereof. The Google TV system aims to be reach farther into applications like Twitter and Google’s photo site, Picasa.

The Google platform would also reportedly be opened to software developers for further egalitarian tweaking. The geek squad is supposed to be getting the toolkit within the next two months. Logitech is said to be making the peripheral devices. None of the companies confirmed the Google TV initiative, though The Wall Street Journal reported similar leakage from the Silicon Valley giant last week, saying Google and Dish Network were working on an Android-powered set-top box. (See “Google Tests TV Search on Dish Network.”) The alliance builds on one Dish and Google struck up in 2007 for an automated TV ad-buying platform.

( Image by Gorka Roldan)
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