Google Moves to TVs With Help From Intel and Sony – NYTimes.com

I will never forget what William Dutton, now of Oxford Internet Institute Fame, one of my Annenberg School, USC professors, told me when I mentioned to him my belief that one day the set top cable box will be a computer and that the Internet and cable television will merge into one mega-network. ”Haven’t we heard this every year, for the last 10 years”? It was 1999…

Google recruited a solid lineup of high-tech companies on Thursday to help it introduce Google TV, a new service that merges the predictable world of television programming with the more chaotic expanse of the Web.

Now it has to persuade the TV audience to turn the living room television into the newest on-ramp to the Internet.

Google TV, which the company introduced at its annual developer conference here, lets people visit any Web site from their televisions and easily search for programs and Web video without scrolling through unwieldy on-screen TV directories.

The service will be built into high-definition TVs and Blu-ray players made by Sony and a set-top box made by Logitech, which also makes PC peripherals like keyboards. It is powered by Google’s Android software, originally developed for smartphones. The devices will go on sale in the fall.

via Google Moves to TVs With Help From Intel and Sony – NYTimes.com.

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