Posts Tagged ‘Google TV’

Google has acquired SageTV for an undisclosed amount. The tech giant has plans to take SageTV’s media management software and technology to next level, according Google’s spokeswoman. SageTV is  an Inglewood-based company that provide DVR technology and streaming-video software for systems running Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Mac OS X.

AllFacebook Marketing Conference returns to San Francisco on June 28-29! Join us and get a how-to guide for marketing to Facebook’s 800 million users. A full agenda will be announced soon. Keep an eye on our event site for more information. Special early pricing is available for only $249 until this Wednesday, February 15, so register today.

What do you get when you combine personalized, curated video entertainment service Redux with Google TV? Redux founder and CEO David McIntosh answered that question with a post on the Google TV Blog.

According to Eric Berger of Sony Pictures Television, viewers spend about 50 minutes per visit to Crackle on connected TVs. Crackle can be found in the Channel Store on Roku, on the PlayStation 3 Internet Browser home screen and on all BRAVIA Internet Video devices. Crackle is partnered with Google TV and can be accessed via the Spotlight section.

Google TV announced that its Google TV Remote app is now available for the Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPods running iOs 3 or higher, joining the Android app, which debuted in December.

In addition to traditional remote-control functions such as changing channels or DVR access, users can search for their favorite shows via voice search.

Google TV added that the app currently does not support sharing Web pages from the Apple devices to TV screens.

Google TV released version 1.3 over this past weekend as an over-the-air update for its users.

Improvements include: support for more WMA audio files; better integration of Netflix and CNBC Real Time; improved transition between songs in Pandora; support for Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity on Sony devices; and support for more Blu-ray discs.

The commercial for Logitech Revue with Google TV in which an obsessed Kevin Bacon fan is played by none other than Bacon himself is now a documentary on YouTube, and the character Bacon portrays, Ivan Cobenk, “editor-in-chief of Bacon Quarterly,” posted about it on the YouTube Blog:

Hey, everyone, this is Ivan Cobenk — No. 1 Kevin Bacon fan in the world, and founder and solo member of The Other Bacon Brothers, Akron’s leading Bacon Brothers cover band. I’m also fairly well known amongst YouTubers because of the documentary that was made about me recently. You can even see how I use YouTube to find my favorite Kevin clips (or Bacon Bits, as I like to call them). The guys at Logitech used a few clips from the film to advertise their new Revue gizmo with Google TV. Nearly 2 million people have already watched it on YouTube. That’s almost 10 times the population of Akron, by gosh!

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Google will soon be launching Google TV Market, a market place for apps targeting Google TV, according to Ashish Arora, Vice President and General Manager at Logitech. In this present role at Logitech, Arora’s job is to oversee Google’s TV products for Logitech and ensure that Logitech products are compatible with Google’s offerings.

YouTube news manager Olivia Ma went to bat for corporate sibling Google TV with a post on the Google TV Blo (detailing the various news options available via the service. She wrote:

Television is still the main source for the daily news in the home, according to Pew research. Until lately, print and Web news content have been absent from the big screen. We’ve been working with developers to enhance your TV news experience, optimizing both traditional and innovative news sources for Google TV

The New York Times offers daily TimesCast video-news updates alongside video blogs and featurettes.

USA Today has improved reading for the big screen: You can browse through the day in photos, stay up to date on sports news, and track the world of business.

The CNBC News App lets you watch the latest Web videos in business news. Follow the markets as they happen and track your personal, customized stock portfolio.

The Huffington Post brings together the best of traditional news, the blogosphere, and opinion reporting in its sleek News Glide Web app.

The Onion covers “the important stories lesser outlets fail to report” through its comedic style.

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Samsung Electronics‘ cache of products unveiled at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show included a new Blu-ray player with a companion box that enables Google TV.

Users can surf the Web on their TV screens, including access to social networks, email, and fantasy sports, and Samsung said its special remote control will include a full QWERTY keypad and voice search supported through an internal microphone.

Google TV added another manufacturer to its roster, as product manager Rishi Chandra announced on the Google TV Blog that Vizio will incorporate the technology in its new line of TV sets and Blu-ray players, which will debut in 2011. Chandra wrote:

We’re back from the holidays and ready to get crackin’ on 2011. Last year, we launched the first version of Google TV with our partners, Sony and Logitech, and this year, we’ll continue to make the product even better for you. As we shared last month, we’re constantly iterating on Google TV, adding new features and content, improving the user experience, and fixing bugs. We are in the early stages, and the future is bright.

Today I’m excited to share that we’re kicking off the year with a new partner, Vizio, a leading TV maker in the United States. Vizio is making a new line of TVs and a Blu-ray player incorporating Google TV that will hit shelves later this year.

Also in 2011, we plan to bring developers tools for building applications specifically for the TV and living room, and we plan to bring Android Market to Google TV, so consumers can download thousands of applications to their TVs. Check back in with us periodically to see the latest from our team and partners.