The Official Google TV Blog

Sing, Share, and Play with Red Karaoke on your Google TV

2012-02-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

Guest to the Google TV Blog Miguel A. Díez Ferreira talks about taking karaoke to the next level with the new Red Karaoke Google TV app.

When you want to organize a party at home, karaoke can be a perfect choice to spice things up. Instead of installing a disco ball in your living room, download the free Red Karaoke Google TV app and get the party started.

Practice your favorite tunes from the 70s to now - you know, the songs you dance to at the club - but in the comfort of your living room. No need to feel shy, once you turn on your mic, we know you’ll be singing your heart out. Your television could become the best tool for singing thanks to Google TV.

Now, with our Red Karaoke Google TV app, we bring the largest karaoke machine in the world for singing to your big screen. There are more than 45,000 songs to choose from with new productions in different languages coming every week.

What makes Red Karaoke even more awesome is our exclusive Pitch Tool to change the pitch and adapt the music to your own voice - with this tool at your disposal there’s no song too high or too low that you can’t sing. Plus, if you’re on the go or want to impress your friends with your great voice, you can use your Red Karaoke account on your TV as well as on mobile apps, websites, etc.

But Red Karaoke isn't just for singing, its also for listening and finding new friends. We have the biggest karaoke community in the world, with singers from more than 150 countries, and you can listen to their recordings, vote for them in our fun ranking system, leave your comments, and even follow your favorite singers.

That's only the beginning... Stay tuned to our Red Karaoke app for Google TV, and you'll find more surprises soon. Sing, Share, Play! Download the app for free from Android Market.

Guest blogger Miguel A. Díez Ferreira, Founder and CEO of Red Karaoke

Able Remote Brings Voice Control, Remote Personalization, And More To Google TV

2012-02-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

Today’s guest post to the Google TV blog comes from Leon Nicholls, creator of the Able Remote app that turns your Android device into a customized remote.

Boss your TV around. Now you can use voice commands like "channel CNN" or “app Pandora.” Or launch channels and apps with the touch of a button. Yes, it’s that easy. Your new favorite remote may already be in your pocket.

Able Remote turns your Android smartphone or tablet into a remote control for your Google TV. Just as you can customize your phone with apps, Able Remote lets you create your own remote button layout and in your favorite color too. Now you can use easy voice commands or intuitive swiping gestures to control your TV. You can also create one-touch buttons to quickly launch Google TV apps, bring up favorite web sites or switch to your TV channels.

Mobile photos and videos on the big screen

It's so convenient to take photos with your smartphone, but what if you want to show your friends and family when they come to visit? Just beam it to your TV so everybody can see. Took a video with your phone that you want to look at on a bigger screen? Just beam that to your TV too.

Caller ID on TV

When you’re watching a really good movie on TV, you don't want to be interrupted. But you might still be curious when somebody sends you a text message or calls you. Now you can keep watching while the text message and Caller ID is displayed as a notification on your TV.

If you’re looking to have even more fun with your Google TV, create your own Able Remote. You can find Able Remote featured in the Android Market on your Google TV. Once you have installed the app on your Google TV, use a QR reader app like Google Goggles to scan the QR code displayed on your TV screen. When the QR code is scanned, click on the link for the code to install the app on your Android device.

Posted by Leon Nicholls, Able Remote Creator

A Dozen Ways Google TV Can Work For You This Valentine’s Day

2012-02-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

Can you feel it? Love is in the air. And just in case you forgot, today is Valentine’s Day. Don’t worry if it slipped your mind because things have been crazy at work or you were off saving the intergalactic federation from evil aliens, Google TV can add some fun to your night.

While a dozen long stemmed roses might be more romantic, here are a dozen ways Google TV can work for you this Valentine’s Day:

1. Create Some Ambiance with Classy Fireplace

To set the mood, download Classy Fireplace from Android Market. You can’t go wrong combining the warm glow of a crackling fire on the large screen in your living room with the melodic sound of pouring rain and a hint of soothing music in the background.

2. Cook Up Something Special

You’ve heard the phrase the way to someone’s heart is through their stomach? Chocolate covered strawberries are like a six lane super highway. Find recipes, cooking tips, and more in the Allrecipes app from Android Market.

3. Use The TV & Movies App To Find A Romantic Film

Snuggling up on the couch is always a great way to remind you of your first date. Use the TV and Movies app to find something great to watch, from classics like Casablanca to recent hits like Crazy, Stupid, Love.

4. Find The Perfect Gift On Google Chrome

If you’re too late for the flowers and candy this year, its okay. Go to the web to pick up a gift certificate to her favorite spa or get her some nice bling. Then present it to her on the Google TV Chrome browser in full HD.

5. Remember Great Memories With A Photo Album

Remember all those date nights? The trips to the amusement park or the strolls through the park where you captured some pictures? Create a Picasa album and view them with the Google TV Photos app while the two of you reminisce about great memories.

6. Create A Home Video On Youtube

Have you ever made a home movie? Here’s a quick tip - make a short video telling your loved one all the things you admire and adore about her. Login to your YouTube account, upload the video and when it comes time to show your special someone, open up the YouTube app on Google TV and voila... instant brownie points.

7. Set the Mood With Her Favorite Music

Make a Google Music Playlist of her favorite songs and have it playing on Google TV when she gets home. Create good vibes throughout the night.

8. Have Some Fun Playing A Game Together

You can also play a quick game of Sudoku while you wait for dinner in the oven. Just download the Sudoku Free app from Android Market and work together to crack the puzzle. It’s a great way to get creative.

9. Turn Your Living Room Into A Karaoke Bar

Singing and dancing in your living room? You bet. With Karaoke Channel you and your valentine can sing your hearts out from the comfort of your living room without having to shell out the money for those expensive private rooms.

10. Watch A Concert From The Comfort Of Your Couch

If you have a favorite band or artist that you two enjoy, install the Qello app on your Google TV. It has one of the largest libraries of HD concerts in the world. It might even bring back those memories from your teenage years.

11. Queue Up A Playlist In Pandora

If you don’t have time to make a playlist and still want to set the mood, create a Pandora station on your Google TV with her favorite song and let the Pandora app do the hard work. For added bonus, leave the Pandora app playing while you browse the photo album you made.

12. Find Even More With Google TV Search

If you’re craving even more ideas, use Google TV Search to find videos, websites, and other ideas for what you can do to celebrate the evening with your partner.

13. One More For A Bakers Dozen

Forget the two drink minimum and bring the comedy club to your TV when you share some laughs together using the ComedyTime app in the Spotlight folder on your Google TV.

Hopefully this post will help you make those last minute arrangements to really spice up this Valentine’s Day.

If you found this post helpful, please share with your friends. We would also like to hear what suggestions you used or other ideas that you have tried with your Google TV.

New Updates to YouTube for Google TV

2012-02-12T15:35:00.000-08:00

In the next few days we’re releasing an update to your YouTube experience on Google TV making it faster and easier to find great content, adding YouTube channel pages, and giving you more control over your experience.

You’ll be able to update your app through Android Market, and you’ll see some big improvements. First you’ll notice the app works faster with smoother navigation for a better experience. Next, we’ve added a new feature called Discover, which lets you browse YouTube channels by categories. Whether you’re looking for hilarious comedy, delectable cooking content, or the latest news, you can find great channels for any of your interests.

We’ve also updated the YouTube app with new channel pages. You can navigate through playlists and videos in your favorite channels, and you can subscribe to channels from the YouTube app with just a click.

We’ve made improvements to allow even more interaction with your favorite channels. You can now see related videos and more videos from the same user by pressing the up or down arrows on your remote.

Once you’ve found a great video, continue to use the up and down arrows on your remote to find the Info screen where you can give the video a thumbs up, add it to one of your YouTube playlists, or leave a comment for the YouTube community.

We hope these new features in the Google TV YouTube app help you discover even more entertainment you love!

Posted by Jurek Foryciarz, Product Manager

The Big Game, Acclaimed Movies and Twitter all on my Google TV with Social GTV!

2012-02-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

There are two live TV events that I never miss each year, the big football game coming up on Sunday and the Oscars. As for the latter, I haven't seen more than half of the nominated movies yet, but I still have a couple more weeks of movie cramming. Why do they save all the good ones until the end of the year and release them all at once?

I am excited because I think Woody Allen, who has never shown up to accept an award, deserves the best director win for Midnight in Paris. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend renting it in the Android Market. Who knows, maybe he'll actually show up this time and accept the Oscar in person. Anything can happen at the Oscars, right? Think of how the Twitter-verse would explode if Woody stepped to the podium to deliver his first ever Oscar acceptance speech. If it happens, I will have a front row seat because I have a Google TV, the Social GTV app installed, and a few spot-on hashtags specified.

What is Social GTV? It is an app that allows you to show in-the-moment, relevant tweets overlayed on top of whatever you are watching, and it works with any show or event on any channel. Specify keywords, trends, user names or hashtags, then sit back and see what the world is saying about what you are watching, in real time.

Note: I am using a stock photo here for illustration. Imagine Tweets like this over the big game!

Not only can it overlay live TV, Social GTV can enhance anything showing on your Google TV. It could be the latest trending videos on YouTube or a game you just can't stop playing on OnLive. You have complete control of how the Tweet displays, with the ability to make it appear on the top or bottom of the screen, control its duration, text size, typeface and other options. Social GTV lets you customize the Tweet appearance in any way you like. Also, many new social features are in the works. Our goal is to evolve TV watching to an immersive social experience.

You can find Social GTV in the Market on your Google TV.

Posted by Will Carter, Social GTV Creator

Funny or Die Brings the Best of Original Web Comedy to Google TV

2012-02-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

When you’re inthe need of your daily comedy fix, what better way to get it than from thecomfort of your couch? With our new appin the Google TV Spotlight folder, you can access all your favorite Funny or Die classics like Between Two Ferns, Drunk History, or the one that started itall off: The Landlord.

We’re proud to behelping to bring top-quality content to wherever people want to consume it, bethat on their desktop or laptop PC, tablet, smart phone or television.

Funny Or Dielaunched in April 2007 and has quickly become one of the top destinations forcomedy. At the 2011 Webby Awards Funny Or Die won nine awards, including BestHumor Site. More 12 million people watchFunny or Die every month and with over 3 million Twitter followers,approximately 4.5 million Facebook fans, and devoted followers on numeroussocial networking and sharing sites, Funny Or Die has become the “place to beseen” for comedic celebrities, and the obvious destination for a daily comedyfix.

Funny Or Die’sfounders are Gary Sanchez Productions (Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and ChrisHenchy), Sequoia and CAA. Judd Apatow is also a principal partner in Funny OrDie.

You can find the Funny or Die app in the Spotlight Folder under All Apps on your Google TV.

Posted by Patrick Starzan, VP of Marketing, Funny or Die

OnLive: Console-class Gaming Comes to Google TV

2012-01-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Videogames just took a huge leap into the future with OnLive cloud gaming on Google TV.

With Google TV, you take it for granted that you can stream just about any type of linear media—video, movies, music—on demand and experience it instantly. But, when it comes to the latest high-performance console-class games, you probably still need discs and big downloads to experience them, and gameplay is anything but instant.

With OnLive, the latest high-performance videogames stream just as instantly as videos or movies. It’s really cool.

Download the OnLive Viewer app, fire it up and check out my favorite place, the Arena. What you’ll see are gamers around the world playing top-tier videogames live, some of them approaching the visual realism of live action, and before long, you might even think you are watching a movie. Cheer (click thumbs-up) if you like what you see, and that cheer might appear on the screen of a gamer on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Try friending and striking up some chat. And, definitely watch some Brag Clip® videos, showing the best (and worst!) of OnLive gaming, with the most jaw-dropping and most hilarious moments captured from live gameplay.

As we do with most new platforms, OnLive is starting out with a Viewer on Google TV, so for now, you can just watch and use OnLive social features. But hang in there, OnLive is working closely with Google to enable full gameplay with OnLive gamers from around the world on Google TV. And more Google TV devices are coming, with OnLive built right in.

In fact, this week at the CES Show in Las Vegas, VIZIO will showcase the first-ever line of Google TV products with OnLive playability built in. With this next generation of VIZIO Internet Apps Plus (V.I.A. Plus) devices, equipped with Google TV 2.0, you can simply power on your HDTV, pick up your Universal OnLive Wireless Controller and play amazing games instantly on demand—no console necessary. Play the first 30 minutes of almost any of OnLive’s 200 games free and buy only what you like, or subscribe to the OnLive PlayPack Bundle for unlimited access to over 140 games. No discs, no big downloads … just like the instant media experience you’ve become accustomed to with Google TV.

Google TV gives you unprecedented choice and control of instant media on TV. With OnLive, you can now add top-tier videogames to the list of media available. I hope you have a great time with it!

Posted by Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO, OnLive

Where you’ll find Google and YouTube at CES 2012

2012-01-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

Cross posted from the Official Google Blog. Every year in the tech world, thousands of us pack a bag with all of our gadgets and head to Las Vegas for the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). It’s a tech lover’s paradise where you can check out new technologies and talk about the trends of the future with visionary members of the industry. If you’ll be joining us, here are a few places and dates where you can find Google and YouTube. We’ll kick things off at 3:00pm PT on Tuesday, January 10 with chairman Eric Schmidt speaking at CNET Presents - The Next Big Thing in CE, in Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) North Hall N255-257. On the following day, January 11, we have a bunch of events across topics:

Google’s senior policy counsel Rick Whitt will participate in the Innovation Policy Summit Session: Spectrum for Wireless Broadband: Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together in LVCC North Hall N264 at 10:15am PT.
On the education front, Angela Lin, manager of YouTube EDU, will present on “High Tech U”—digital tools and services that are changing the traditional ivory tower—at 3:00pm PT in LVCC North Hall N256.
End the day at 5:00pm PT with CNET's Women In Tech panel, featuring Marissa Mayer, VP of product management, in LVCC South Hall, Upper Level Lobby - CNET Stage.

On Thursday, January 12 at 10:00am PT, YouTube will be keynoting the Entertainment Matters program in the Las Vegas Hilton Theatre. Robert Kyncl, VP of global content, will share his thoughts on the evolution of the entertainment industry, and he’ll later be joined by partners and friends for a panel discussion. Don’t forget to check out Google TV around CES this year. Recently announced new partners LG, Marvell, MediaTek join Samsung, Sony and Vizio having new devices to play with at their booths. You can also find YouTube demos on TVs and devices around the LVCC show floor at LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba and other booths. For first-timers, here’s a video overview of the show from the Official CES Channel:Stay tuned for updates on our +YouTube page and on Twitter—pack your smartphones, tablets, laptops, netbooks, televisions, E-readers and of course, your battery chargers, and see you in Las Vegas!

Posted by Matt McLernon, Communications Manager, YouTube

From the Las Vegas Strip to your living room: Google TV partners at CES

2012-01-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

Last October, we launched an update to Google TV: a simpler interface, a new way to discover great web and TV content, a more TV-like YouTube experience, and Android Market. Since launching the update, we’ve seen our activation rates more than double. New features and new apps are coming to the living room via Google TV almost every day. We now have more than 150 apps which developers have specifically built for TV with thousands more Android apps from the mobile world available to deepen your living room TV experience. We’ve also been working with our hardware partners to bring new Google TV-powered devices to consumers. Next week is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Here are some of the Google TV partners to look out for at CES and throughout 2012:
LG - We’re thrilled to welcome global consumer electronics leader LG to the Google TV family. LG will showcase a new line of TVs powered by Google TV running on their own L9 chipset at CES.
Marvell - Also new to the Google TV family this year is Marvell, an innovative worldwide leader in chipsets. Marvell will be showcasing a new generation of Google TV solutions which will help bring more products across more price points to consumers.
MediaTek - We’re also excited to partner with MediaTek, the leading Taiwanese chipset designer. MediaTek chipsets will power yet another wave of Google TV devices.
Samsung - We’re excited to work closely with Samsung to bring Google-TV powered Samsung devices to market in 2012.
Sony - We’re happy to build on our partnership with Sony. At CES, Sony will unveil new devices for the US and plans to offer Google TV powered products in several countries around the world in 2012.
Vizio - Last year we announced our partnership with Vizio at CES. This year we’re excited to join Vizio as they hold private demos at CES showcasing their new line of Google TV-powered products.
As we’ve said before, Google TV is about bringing new entertainment and innovation from the Web to TV and our team along with our partners are pleased to bring more Google TV powered products to more people, across more devices in more countries in 2012.

Posted by Mickey Kim, Google TV Partnerships

CNBC Real-Time for Google TV – Serving market data your way, all day long.

2011-12-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

Guest post

CNBC’s sophisticated business and investor audience demands the financial news, real-time market data and analysis they care about when and where they want it, across multiple platforms. The Google TV platform allows the opportunity to provide our audience with a personalized experience directly on the TV screen.

The CNBC Real-Time App not only gives users access to real-time stock quotes – before, during and after market hours, directly from both the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Marketplace, but also uniquely allows them to personalize stock watch lists and view related news clips on their stocks.

This past Friday, for example, CNBC Real-Time App users were able to decide if they wanted to double-down or take a pass on Zynga’s highly anticipated IPO. They could keep track of ZNGA’s moment by moment moves whether using the App, GTV’s built-in Chrome browser to access CNBC.com or, with one click, watch live CNBC programming.

For investors not focused on the latest IPO, CNBC Real-Time App users could watch on demand CNBC's editors picks for the most important news videos of the day.

Your friends at CNBC

Qello: Bringing the concert experience to your big screen

2011-12-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

Guest post from Qello

I’m more stoked than ever for the little shindig I’m throwing at my apartment this Saturday night. I’ve got my Google TV loaded with the Qello app and I’m ready to create an intimate concert right in my pad. I think I’ll choose Widespread Panic at Red Rocks, but then again maybe we’ll kick it old school with RUN DMC Live at Montreaux. Nah, I’m going to create my own concert setlist.

So who’s this Qello anyway? Think of him as your friend who delivers the best live music experience whenever and wherever you want it.

From screens small to large, the Qello state-of-the-art streaming HD concerts films application is now available across the Google ecosystem, meaning, we’re on Android smartphones, Honeycomb tablets, and now for the best live music experience you can get us on your big screen with Google TV.

Whether you’re a little bit country or a little bit rock n roll, there’s something for everyone. We’ve got the largest library of HD concert films in the world, from the hottest new shows to an extensive vault of legendary concerts and amazing music documentaries.

And with Qello Setlists, you can build your own dream show from thousands of hours of HD concert footage. For my soiree this weekend, I’m might kick it off with a little Frank Zappa, followed by the Pixies, then maybe get our hip hop on with some tracks from the classic Up In Smoke tour.

Google TV is the ultimate platform for the Qello experience, whether you want to entertain guests with an HD concert or just chill out and watch one of our award-winning documentaries.

And we promise to keep on keeping on so we’re always adding new titles to our library. But in the words of Cheap Trick - I want you to want me – so please let us know what you think below.

You can find Qello in Android Market for Google TV.

Matt Carona, VP of Product, Qello

Buddy TV: Find what you want to watch in less than 20 seconds

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Guest post from Buddy TV
At BuddyTV, we know how hard it is to find what to watch with your cable provider and services like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and others. You know the problem, there are a million things to watch but there’s nothing to watch right now. After a long day, you don’t want to spend twenty minutes scrolling through hundreds of channels and multiple applications to find what to watch. That’s why we built the BuddyTV Guide.

We make it easy for you to find what you want to watch in 3 ways.

1) Favorite your channels. If you’re like us, you only watch 10-15 channels, have your channel lineup only display those channels and not the hundreds of other channels that you never watch.

2) See your personalized recommendations. Based on what you’ve watched before, your personalized guide shows you the shows you can watch right now that you’ll most likely want to watch.

3) See everything. Don’t worry, you can still view everything if you enjoy channel-surfing as some of us do. You’ll never miss any programs that are available to you.

We’re very excited to be on Google TV. If you have an iPhone, be sure to download the BuddyTV Guide app. We’ve built an incredible integration with Google TV that allows you to use your iPhone (soon on Android phones) as a remote to control your Google TV. You can use the phone to:

Turn on your TV, tune your set-top box, control your AV equipment.
Use Tap-to-Tune. You can select a show to watch on the app and it will immediately tune your set-top box or your Google TV to the program you want to watch.
Participate in viewing parties and see more detailed data on the shows you are watching.
Do everything that is available on the BuddyTV Guide app on the Google TV.

Personally, Google TV and the BuddyTV Guide app have transformed how I consume content in my living room. I hope that you’ll experience the same!

Download the BuddyTV Guide App here in the Android Market.

Andy Liu, CEO, BuddyTV.com

Crunchyroll: Watch Anime and Asian Drama on Google TV

2011-12-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Guest post from Crunchyroll

(A series highlighting the most interesting new apps available for Google TV)

For all the anime and Asian drama fans out there, our Crunchyroll app has been optimized for the TV. The app allows both free and premium members to watch their favorite shows on big screens powered by Google TV.

For those of you who are wondering what anime is, it is the Japanese abbreviation of animation. Different from Western-style cartoons mostly targeted to children, Japanese anime appeals to both younger audiences with light, G-rated content and to adults, with more complicated, mature themes.

Crunchyroll has hundreds of Japanese anime titles and Asian dramas, across a myriad of genres – from shonen to shojo; fantasy to slice-of-life drama. The app also has simulcast titles for the latest season (available usually an hour after first broadcast in Japan).

My personal favorite is Gosick, a series full of mystery, history, and romance. One of the biggest titles we have is Naruto Shippuden, which is the No. 1 anime series worldwide. Directed by Hayato Date and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo (who is also our strategic investor), you can watch new episodes every Thursday at 3:00 am PST right here on the Crunchyroll app on Google TV.

There is no other streaming site out there that airs this fantastic series before we do, and it is amazing to see how the truly dedicated stay up to be first in line to watch it.

We also have hundreds of Asian dramas licensed from Korean, Chinese, and Japanese publishers. We have plenty great series for guys, like Behind the White Tower and High Kick.

To find out why Boys Over Flowers and Naruto Shippuden are so popular, download the Crunchyroll app to your Google TV now and start watching.

A small prelude – we plan to provide 720p support early next year, so stay tuned…

Crunchyroll can be found in Android Market for Google TV.

Michelle Chen, Head of Product, Crunchyroll

Tips & Tricks for the Google TV Pro

2011-12-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

10 Tips and Tricks

If you own a Google TV, we’re a little hurt that you’re reading this instead of enjoying a movie, watching YouTube or enjoying music videos on TV (like you did in the 90s). Unless—of course—you are reading this on your Google TV. Don’t worry, though, we’ll get over it if you make us a promise: try all the tips & tricks and then pay it forward. (If you don’t know what we mean by pay it forward, your fabulous Search for Google TV will take you straight to the answer).

Get personalized viewing recommendations. Is "Glee" not your favorite show? Want to see shows you'll like, not just what everyone else watches? Use star ratings to configure the TV & Movies app to give you the shows and movies you're interested in.
→ Move the cursor over the show you want to rate and use number keys 1-5 to rate it.

Pro tip: customize Home. It’s up to you what appears on your Home -- any item in All Apps can be added. Put the apps you use every day here for easy access, or add TV channels or websites.
→ Press the Home key, then the Menu key, then select Customize home items. Select an item to move, remove or replace it.
→ Pro tip: add a TV channel or webpage to All Apps by pressing the Star key while viewing and selecting Add to home screen.
→ Pro shortcut: press the Home key then a number key (1-7) to open a Home item instantly.

Where are my bookmarks and favorite channels? They’ve got a new home. Press the Menu key or press and hold the Star key from Google Chrome or live TV to bring up your bookmarks and favorites. To bookmark a webpage or favorite a channel, just press the Star key on your controller.
→ Web bookmarks: in Google Chrome, press the Menu key and select Bookmarks.
→ Favorite TV channels: while watching TV, press the Menu key and select Favorite channels.
→ Pro shortcut: press and hold the Star key from Google Chrome or TV to access your bookmarks and favorites.

Pro tip: search your bookmarks and web history. Tell Google TV Search to access your browser history and bookmarks to give you another easy way to get to your favorite content. Explore other searchable items, including Google Music and Twitter.
→ Press the Home key, select All Apps, then select Settings. Scroll down to Search, then select Searchable items. Check the Browser box to include bookmarks and web history.

What channel number is CNN again? With thousands of channels, it’s a pain to flip through the entire guide to find CNN. Instead, just do a search on Google TV by channel name, be it CNN, FX, or CNBC.
→ Press the Search key and start typing.
→ Press the Star key to add a channel to your favorites or to All Apps.

Multitask!
→ Switching between apps is easy -- press and hold the Home key to bring up a list of open apps, then use the arrow keys to navigate.
→ If you’re using Google Chrome, press the Menu key and select Windows to switch between your open browser windows, or to open a new window.
→ Want to check some sports stats without missing a moment of the game? Press the Picture in Picture key. Click the Picture in Picture window to enlarge it or move it around the screen.

Follow your favorite actor. Next time Kevin Bacon makes a cameo on The Closer, just search for his name to see what else he’s in, even what’s on right now. Or, switch over to the IMDB app in Android Market to learn all you’d ever want to know.
→ Press the Search key and type ‘Kevin Bacon’ (it doesn’t have to be him, really) and select See all TV, Movie, and Video results. Select a movie icon to find out where the movie is available on the web, or if it’s coming on TV soon.

Just heard about a cool new show? Start with season 1, episode 1. TV & Movies identifies pretty much every episode of every TV show available and lets you know where you can watch it, whether it’s on live TV or the web.
→ Press the Home key and select TV & Movies.

Add a soundtrack to your slideshow. Start up Pandora, Google Music, or your other favorite music app and then hop over to the Photos app to show your friends your most recent bear wrestling and zephyr piloting adventures.
→ Press the Home key, select All Apps, then select Pandora.
→ Press the Home key, select All Apps, then select Photos.

Choose what happens when you turn on your TV. Go straight to Live TV, or launch TV & Movies or YouTube right at startup.
→ Press the Home key, select Home and All Apps settings, then select Startup application.

Visit our Help Center to learn more about the recent update. Happy surfing!

Daniel Pickens-Jones, Google TV User Support

The new and improved developer website

2011-12-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

We’re excited to announce that our new Google TV developer website launched this week. Check it out at developers.google.com/tv. The new site boasts a cleaner home page and easier navigation so that people like you can develop for Google TV more effortlessly.

Access to the big screen has never been easier. The website includes a demo video that walks through the basics of Google TV. It also provides all of the resources that you need to develop Android apps, web apps, multi-screen apps and submit video sitemaps at your fingertips. If you need some inspiration, visit the case studies section or read up on some of our recent blog posts.

We hope you enjoy our new developer website. Happy developing!

Catherine Liang, Google TV

The Big Picture from the Boston Globe

2011-12-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

Guest post from The Boston Globe

(A series highlighting the most interesting new apps available for Google TV)

Every day, there are hundreds and sometimes thousands ofphotographs available to newspaper companies. However, space allows only a small number to be displayed in print oronline so much of this amazing photography does not reach a largeaudience. Years ago, we at The BostonGlobe and Boston.com saw the value in these additional photographs -- and thestories that they told -- and created The Big Picture.

The Big Picture is our popular photo blog, which can befound online at www.boston.com/bigpicture.The Big Picture highlights news stories through photographs -- photographs thatare high in quality and large in size. The photos that appear on The BigPicture take advantage of the maximum amount of screen real estate that isavailable and allows every detail of the photograph to be seen.

We are now very excited to bring The Big Picture to Google TVand allow our content to be seen on the largest screens found in today’s households– the television.

Now available in Android Market for Google TV, The Big Picture will immerseyou in the middle of current news events from around the world. Now instead ofcrowding around a computer monitor or mobile device, the images from The BigPicture, which is updated multiple times per week, can be seen in all its gloryand shared with friends and family while sitting around the TV.

Domenic Vecchiarelli, Boston.com

Zynga goes ‘all in’ for Google TV

2011-12-08T03:45:00.001-08:00

Guest post from Zynga

Attention card sharks: Zynga is raising the stakes and announcing the availability of Zynga Poker, the world’s largest free-to-play online poker game, on Google TV.

Zynga Poker gives players the option to play at any table, meet others from around the world or join friends for a game, choosing from casual Hold ‘Em tables, tournament play or VIP tables. Players interact with others by chatting, completing challenges and sending and receiving gifts, including poker chips for a truly social experience.

Zynga Poker was Zynga’s very first game and it continues to evolve by enabling players to hit the jackpot across multiple platforms including Google+ and Android devices, which now includes Google TV.

Especially optimized for playing poker from the comfort of your own couch, Zynga Poker for Google TV features custom graphics and a new way to control the game with the Google TV remote. Up the ante and play Zynga Poker from just about anywhere, whether you’re commuting to work or taking a break to connect with friends. Connect and play with your friends today!

Your friends at Zynga

Google TV Update Comes to Logitech Revue™ Devices

2011-12-07T01:05:00.000-08:00

Google TV Update Comes to Logitech Revue™ Devices

As Logitech announced, starting today all units of the Logitech Revue™ will begin to receive an over-the-air (OTA) update of the new Google TV software. The update will include a simplified design and interface, an improved search functionality, a TV & Movies app for easily finding great shows and movies to watch, access to the Android Market with many apps optimized for Google TV, as well as an improved YouTube application. You can read more of the details of the update here.

We’re excited that starting today even more people will have access to an updated Google TV experience.

The Google TV Team

bConnected with Ball State University on Google TV

2011-12-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

Guest post from Ball State University

(A series highlighting the most interesting new apps available for Google TV)

College students love free stuff, whether it is pizza, t-shirts or gadgets. They also want things to be quick, easy, and available 24/7. When it comes to meaningful student services and the technology that power them, those desires seldom waiver. To meet those expectations, Ball State University’s office of information technology is working hard to develop cutting-edge apps to provide easy access to information, eliminate the hassle factor in finding that information, and offer a rich and immersive experience.

Enter bConnected, a free Android app for students to use on their mobile phones, tablets and most recently, Google TV. We’ve got all screens covered!

bConnected provides students real-time access to course schedules, student organizations, campus housing and upcoming events, with more features planned for release soon. More than a simple self-service app, bConnected helps students connect with everyone around them, including classmates, instructors, organization members, neighbors and advisors. Using our core data and integrated systems, we are able to create, and push to the forefront, relationships between the people they interact with every day - relationships they may not have known existed.

For instance, students sitting next to each other in BIO 100 might also be members of the same sport club. Or they both might live on the same floor in the residence hall. And that great professor for English Lit also teaches creative writing next semester and serves as a faculty advisor.

Google TV provides the perfect platform to showcase the social networking aspects of bConnected. To deliver this experience to students, Ball State just installed a stunning 46-inch Google TV in our brand new Tech Center, part of unified technology support. The display allows students to gather around and interact with the app as it was intended – with their peers making connections.
With help from our students, faculty and staff, we hope to find more inventive, inspiring and imaginative ways to incorporate Google TV in the classroom and other public spaces, enriching the campus experience and community.

In the spirit of the Android platform and because universities like free stuff too, bConnected is available through the Google Code project hosting site as an open source project. Everything to build the project is included - the code base, sample database schemas, XML layouts, and an overview of the various bits and pieces. We encourage other universities to explore the app and use it to jump start their own development efforts for Google TV. To discuss how to get the ball rolling, contact us at bconnected@bsu.edu.

bConnected for Google TV is available in the Android Market, and for those not enrolled at Ball State, we’ve set up a demo account to check it out. To access bConnected, just log in with bconnected as your username and demo for the password.

Kyle Parker, Senior Software Engineer, Ball State University

Droplets for Google TV – Time to Relax

2011-12-05T06:31:00.001-08:00

Guest post from Ximad

(A series highlighting the most interesting new apps available for Google TV)

We at XIMAD are incredibly excited about the potential of Google TV. We have extensive experience developing beautiful and useful applications for iOS, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Phone and other platforms, but we think that Android and Google TV have the greatest potential. With the recent addition of Android Market to Google TV, we can now develop one game that will work across all three screens.

Our Droplets app is already used by tens of thousands of Android phone users and we are really excited to get it onto TVs. The game will allow you to challenge your mind and wake your spirit even if you are in the heart of the city. Gather all the dew in one drop and relax to the sounds of a torrential forest.

You will be amazed by the graphics and the high definition; the objects on the screen come alive as you gathers droplets, while a ladybird seems to escape the screen when the level is accomplished.

With over 100 levels at increasing complexity, you will find hours of entertainment here. For those who tried their best but failed we implemented a series of hints.

Our company is dedicated to developing the very best Android apps. You can find Droplets, as long with all our other apps, in Android Market. Droplets is XIMAD’s first project on Google TV, so we are very interested in your opinion, feel free to comment below.

The Droplets app costs 99¢ and can be found here in Android Market

Alex Pridorozhny, XIMAD Marketing Manager

YouTube and Photos Updates for Your Google TV

2011-11-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

Google TV updates:

YouTube and Photos apps

A few weeks ago we announced a software update for Google TV, along with a commitment to deliver the best way for you to engage with more high-quality entertainment on your television. We said that we’d improve your Google TV on an ongoing basis, and today we’re introducing new experiences for your YouTube and Photos apps. These are just two of many updates to come from Google and from lots of app developers.

YouTube

The new Google TV YouTube experience introduces playlists to your living room. You can now easily watch your YouTube subscriptions on your HDTV and quickly access your other playlists like Watch Later and Favorites. If you have your own channel, you can now add videos to it from your Google TV. So whether you’re a newshound wanting a constant stream of world events or you’re a curator in search of an even more endless summer of content, you can sit back on your comfy couch and enjoy YouTube’s thousands of options in the High Definition brilliance of your Google TV.

Photos

Your Google TV Photos app already syncs with your online photo albums uploaded to Picasa & Flickr, and now we’ve added a great new feature called Discover to your Google TV Photos app. Discover creates an animated and constantly changing collage using photos from the albums you have uploaded online and synced with your Google TV. When you click on one of the photos in Discover, you go straight to the album where you can start a slideshow or simply view other photos in the album. With Discover you now have an even more fun way to rediscover your favorite memories caught on camera.

These are just a few of the many updates coming in the future, so stay tuned and enjoy your Google TV.

Posted by:

Wiktor Gworek, Software Engineer & Bartosz Leper, Software Engineer

Google Music is Here

2011-11-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

Google Music just arrived to Google TV

Yesterday, Google Music announced that their service is opening up to a broader audience and that it will integrate with the music store on Android Market to make music discovery, purchase, and sharing easy and fast.

Today, we’re excited to launch the Google Music App for Google TV.

The app syncs with your Google Music account in the cloud, so there is no need to stream from a computer or download songs to the TV. Simply download the Google Music app for Google TV from Android Market, login with your account, and enjoy your entire music library through your HDTV and home theater system.

Google Music for Google TV plays in the background while you enjoy other apps on your Google TV. You can add a custom soundtrack to slideshows from the Photos app, you can enjoy your favorite tunes while surfing the web, or you can just add some mood music while you peruse the latest news headlines, all from the comfort of your couch.

To get you started on Music, visit music.google.com on your computer, sign-up for the free service, upload your music to the cloud or buy music on the Android Market. Once finished, you can play all of your tracks on Google TV the same way as you can do on your computer, phone or tablet.

We’ll continue to improve your Google TV by bringing more entertainment all the time, so be on the lookout for future updates to the Google Music app along with other great apps coming to Google TV.

Posted by Jurek Foryciarz, Product Manager, Google TV

Watch only the best sports with Thuuz for Google TV

2011-11-16T08:23:00.001-08:00

Guest post from Thuuz

(A series highlighting the most interesting new apps available for Google TV)

The thrill of watching sports comes from experiencing the suspense and drama as it unfolds. At Thuuz, our mission has been to let sports fans know about great games they may be missing – and to get them into the game as often as possible. With its combination of live TV and online access, Google TV is kind of our Holy Grail. It gives us a platform to alert sports fans to great games, and provides more options than any other platform for actually watching those games.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1. Thuuz (as in “enthusiast”) monitors all the matches involving your favorite sports, leagues and teams. We process play-by-play feeds and other automated sources to generate an excitement rating between 0-100 for each game. Factors include parity, pace, novelty, momentum and context.

Step 2. We alert you to the truly exciting performances with on-screen notifications.

Step 3. You can click to jump to the appropriate TV channel or streaming source for both live games and replays.

That’s it. It’s designed to be simple.

We’ve got a Google TV box hooked up to a wall-mounted TV at the office, so we can QA our excitement ratings from the couch. It’s great for streaming ESPN3 games on the big screen instead of a laptop. We also catch the best European soccer and rugby matches from the night before using FoxSoccer.tv.

We currently cover MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA football and basketball, MLS and 5 European soccer leagues, cricket and rugby. There’s still plenty of work ahead to add more sports, features and content, plus individual athlete excitement alerts for your favorite players. We’ll also be building out the personal preferences, as we’ve learned that each fan has his/her own take on what makes a game exciting.

The Thuuz app can be found here in Android Market.

Bill Bradford, COO & Co-founder, Thuuz

NASCAR LIVE on Google TV

2011-11-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Guest post from NASCAR

(A series highlighting the most interesting new apps available for Google TV)

I am excited to announce the first official NASCAR application that has been optimized for the big screen experience – NASCAR.COM LIVE. When I found out that Google was planning to extend the successful Android Market onto Google TV, I was encouraged by the evolution of the product and began brainstorming on how to make a cool product that NASCAR fans would enjoy.

To me, NASCAR is a bold sport – its drivers are larger than life, the cars are faster than anything I can relate to, and the competitiveness is measured in milliseconds of granularity that is best viewed in HD. When we started, we realized that this platform is, first and foremost, about video and so we wanted to put as much video content as we could into the app. We then thought about how we would use the data we have to soothe some of the pain points of the live TV broadcast. NASCAR.COM LIVE brings fans the best on-demand HD video clips of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series.

When it comes to race day, the TV broadcasts do a great job but there are a number of ways that interactive features can add to the broadcast experience. The scrolling ticker graphics that are used on TV are a nice way to keep up with the standings in real time but sometimes I really want to know where my favorite driver is. And I want to know now, not wait until the ticker scrolls through all 43 drivers. So, we added Live Leaderboard to the “Live mode” of the app to allow fans to scroll through the leaderboard as they wish.

Another cool feature is our Lap-by-Lap text updates that build up into an archive throughout the race. This provides fans a great summary of the race and gives them a way to analyze on their own terms.

When you pair Live Leaderboard and Lap-by-Lap with Google TV’s built in picture-in-picture feature then you’ve got a really cool way to watch the race that’s the perfect complement to the TV broadcast.

Finally we realize that the family room is a personal place and often times a social gathering for race events. Perhaps half of the room has avid and loyal NASCAR fans but your other friends are new to the sport and want to learn more. That’s why we wanted to put in beautiful high resolution photos of drivers, cars, team information, and use the NASCAR 101 section to teach the basics of the sport. It’s a fun way to get hooked on racing.

I’m excited about Google TV and the app, but—as with any product—there are always opportunities to make it better. Check out NASCAR.COM LIVE and let us know how we can make the experience even better for you.

The NASCAR app can be found here in Android Market.

Jim Doeden, Associate Product Manager, NASCAR.COM

Engadget, Huffington Post, TechCrunch and more all in one shiny new AOL HD app

2011-11-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

Guest post from AOL
(A series highlighting the most interesting new apps available for Google TV)

AOL is a new entrant in the connected TV space, we launched our first apps on a handful of platforms over the summer and have been gaining momentum ever since. Our approach was to create an interactive environment that showcased our content and engaged users – yet was simple enough for a regular remote control.

Late this summer, we were invited to Google’s NY offices for a sneak peek at Google TV’s V2 and had the opportunity to test the upcoming release. The user experience was markedly improved and after playing around with it for a while, we knew that our friends in Mountain View had built a real contender in the connected TV space. So we enlisted the help of our crackerjack Android development team in Dulles to port our current release (with all the bells and whistles) to Google TV and in a matter of a few weeks, they delivered a shiny new experience for Google TV.

AOL HD on Google TV features three great channels of video content: Entertainment, Tech, and Home from some of the most trusted sources on the web like the Huffington Post, Engadget, Moviefone and TechCrunch. Each channel features HD videos with hundreds of videos with fresh new content being added every day, so there is always something new to watch.

If you watched the hundreds of hours of video on AOL HD and still need more entertainment, then sit back and find some new music on our CD Listening Party, a unique experience that allows users to listen to a weekly variety of 15-30 newly released albums for free!

You can find AOL HD in Android Market. If you’d like to learn more or want to contact us, go to http://hd.aol.com.

We look forward to entertaining you.

Rob Delacruz, General Manager, AOL HD

Allrecipes TV helps families tackle “what’s for dinner?” on the best screen in the house

2011-11-08T09:19:00.001-08:00

Guest post from Allrecipes
(A series highlighting the most interesting new apps available for Google TV)

All of us with a passion for cooking love it when everyone wants to know how we made it. Sharing our formula for a successful dish is one of the most gratifying experiences for any aspiring home cook. Even that secret recipe which eventually gets leaked, like my personally long held secret Coast-to-Coast Famous Wings recipe.

Nearing our 15th birthday, Allrecipes was started as a way to help people share their favorite recipes, and gather a community of home cooks passionate about practical, kitchen tested, everyday meals that lead to success at the dinner table.

Allrecipes TV showcases the passionate contributions of our members - you can see all of what our entire community of home cooks have been making and sharing, with tens of thousands of recipes, photos, reviews and everything you need to find the next winning meal for your family.

Allrecipes TV brings you “best of” collections - some of the favorite selections from our most popular categories of recipes. You are sure to find a winner among collections from Appetizers to Slow Cooker.

We also have a complete browse-by-category starting with Cuisine, Dish Type, Main Ingredient, Cooking Method, and Occasions.

Of course, every recipe comes packed with a photo gallery, member reviews and tips, and nutrition information. You can also share your favorite recipes via email, Facebook, Twitter or other avenues for social plug-ins you have installed on your Google TV.

Last, but not least, the most commonly requested “how to” videos for cooking techniques, entire recipes, as well as our growing library of web shows, including “What’s Cooking”. We’ll be adding more videos on a regular basis.

We hope you enjoy the app and find lots of great dishes to try, enjoy and share. We’re planning to continue to add new features and make the app even better, so please tell us what you’d like to see.

The Allrecipes app can be found here in Android Market.

Scott Scazafavo, VP Product Management, Allrecipes.com

An Update on Google TV

2011-10-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

In the 1970s, there were just a few networks on TV. Cable changed things by adding hundreds of new channels like HBO, ESPN, and MTV. The Internet marks a new chapter for television. This chapter is not about replacing broadcast or cable TV; it’s not about replicating what’s on TV to the Web. It’s about bringing millions of new channels to your TV from the next generation of creators, application developers, and networks. With over three billion views a day, sites like YouTube are proving the demand for Web entertainment is already big, and this entertainment is coming to the living room.

The Google TV platform contributes to this evolution by enabling new content creators to add to the programming you already enjoy on your TV. Given so much choice, we’re committed to delivering the best way to discover and engage with the high-quality entertainment on your television, whether that comes from your cable or satellite provider (DISH, Comcast, DIRECTV, etc.) or from the Web (YouTube, Netflix, and thousands more). The initial version of Google TV wasn’t perfect, but launching it gave us the opportunity to learn. These are still early days, and we’re working hard to move forward with each update.

Today, we’re announcing a software update for Google TV. In this release, we focused on four areas of user feedback:

1. Keep it simple
The interface is now much simpler. The new customizable home screen gets you to your favorite content quickly. And within “all apps” you can see all of your shortcuts, similar to your Android phone or tablet.

2. Make it easy to find something worth watching
We’ve improved search across the board for content from Live TV, Netflix, YouTube, HBO GO, and more. But what if you don’t know what to search for? There’s now an app called “TV & Movies” that let’s you easily browse through 80,000 movies and TV episodes across cable or satellite, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and many other sites. If you’ve opted in to recommendations, we can better predict what you want to watch next.

3. Make YouTube better on TV
We’re launching a new YouTube experience specifically built for Google TV. It is now fast and easy to get to your favorite HD-quality YouTube entertainment. And we’ve integrated YouTube more closely with Google TV search, so that you can turn virtually any topic – mountain biking, cooking, etc. – into a channel.

4. Bring more apps to TV
We are opening up the TV to the creativity of content creators large and small through Android Market. Android developers can now bring existing mobile apps or entirely new ones to TV. Initially, the number of apps won’t be large – apps requiring a touch screen, GPS, or telephony won’t show up – but 50 developers have seeded the Market with cool and useful apps for the TV. We’re excited to see the number of apps grow.

This software update will be coming to Sony devices starting early next week and Logitech devices soon thereafter. We look forward in the coming months to announcing new software updates as well as new devices on new chipsets from multiple hardware partners.

Posted by Mario Queiroz, Vice President Product Management, and Vincent Dureau, Director of Engineering

Google TV add-on for the Android SDK

2011-10-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back we released the preview of the Google TV add-on for Android SDK. Today, we’re releasing the final add-on for the upcoming release of Google TV software.
The differences in this version from the preview release are minor:

We heard your feedback, and the Action Bar now renders horizontally, in line with other Android devices. We’ve published code for a left-side navigation bar since that may work better for navigating with D-Pad when you have vertically scrolling lists. Check out an example app built using the sample code here.

There are additional keys on the screen for quick access, e.g., picture-in-picture, fast forward, channel up/down, etc. Please note that these keys will only work with the next Android SDK Tools, revision 14.

We’re very excited about the strong interest from the developer community in bringing their apps to TV, and we look forward to continuing to deliver powerful tools which enable innovative forms of entertainment for the living room.

Ambarish Kenghe (AK), Product Manager

Preview of Google TV add-on for the Android SDK

2011-08-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

At Google I/O, we announced that Android Market is coming to Google TV. Today, we are excited to announce a preview of the Google TV add-on for the Android SDK. With the upcoming OS update to Honeycomb, Google TV devices will be Android compatible. That means developers can build great new Android apps for TV, optimize existing mobile or tablet apps for TV, and distribute those apps through Android Market.

While the add-on does not contain all features of Google TV, it enables developers to emulate Google TV and build apps using standard Android SDK tools. It also provides new APIs for TV interaction, such as TV channel line-up. Google TV emulation is currently supported on Linux with KVM only, and we are working on support for other operating systems. We’re very happy that through KVM we’ve been able to create a fast Android emulator for TV.

Depending on the design and use case, an existing Android app may work well on Google TV as is, or it may require fixes. With the add-on you can test your apps to determine if they would be a good fit for TV and whether any tweaks are required. We are also publishing UI guidelines to help you with topics like optimizing for d-pad navigation, presenting information for 10-foot viewing, designing apps that work well across devices, etc. The guidelines include information on how certain UI elements on Google TV differ from other Android devices.

As with other devices, apps that require features not supported on Google TV won’t appear in Android Market on Google TV. For example, Google TV-based devices do not have a touchscreen; hence apps which require touchscreen will not appear. Conversely, if the manifest says touchscreen is not required, the app will appear. Please follow our guidelines carefully.

These are still early days for Google TV, and this release is another step in providing developer tools for the big screen. While the number of apps available on TV will initially be small, we expect that through this early release of the add-on you'll be able to bring optimized TV apps into the ecosystem more quickly. To start doing this, download the Google TV add-on today. Also, please continue to reach out to us on the Google TV Android Developer Community forum. We look forward to your contributions!

Ambarish Kenghe (AK), Google TV Product Manager

MeeGenius Transforms Your TV into an Educational Platform with Google TV

2011-08-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Guest post by MeeGenius!

It’s always hard to say no to your children - especially when they look at you with their pouting little faces. But it is always important to set limits, especially when it comes to reading vs. how much time they spend in front of the TV. Then it dawned on me, TV can be an educational tool. And when when reading can be done on the big screen, all my kids can participate at the same time. TV also expands the learning possibilities of a print book with additional interactive tools. To make this dream a reality, my husband and I built the MeeGenius! app for Google TV.

MeeGenius! brings books to life on the big screen with beautiful illustrations, narration, and word highlighting. The stories are narrated aloud while children follow along with pictures and highlighted text. The narration combined with the word-highlighting promotes early reading skills such as word recognition. The stories include old favorites such as The Gingerbread Man as well as newer titles.

MeeGenius came in handy one late afternoon when my kids were particularly restless and I was trying to get to the finish line on a project. With MeeGenius on Google TV, they could be occupied and educated at the same time! They read book after book, even reading some books multiple times. Later that evening, we read MeeGenius! together. It was the perfect bedtime reading companion.

My children now ask for the “MeeGenius! Channel” on our TV. With more educational apps available on TV, the TV has become an educational tool as well as an entertainment device. The educational opportunities for the TV are very exciting, and I can't wait to develop more of these experiences for the kids - mine and yours!

Wandy Yeap Hoh, Co-Founder

19 companies create innovative products with Google technologies

2011-06-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Code blog)

Every year at Google I/O, companies arrive excited to demo their coolest new products in the Developer Sandbox. In the past, these demos were only accessible to I/O attendees. This year, we wanted to help spread the love and knowledge from these innovative companies to developers who were unable to attend the conference and to attendees who want to relive the excitement or check out companies they missed.

In addition to the "Who’s at Google I/O" guest posts you may have seen from some of our developers on this blog, we’ve created video case studies from 19 of the companies that demoed their products in this year’s I/O Sandbox. These videos highlight innovations that span the entire range of Google product areas, including Google TV.

Watch the full playlist of videos here. As always, you can visit Google Code to learn about Google technologies you can use to build your own amazing new product.

Becky Chappell, Developer Marketing TeamPosted by Scott Knaster, Editor

MOVL Apps for Google TV - Connected devices and shared experiences

2011-06-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

Guest post by MOVL

If your household is anything like ours, you probably notice everyone tapping away on their phones with their attention bouncing back and forth between the TV and the phone or tablet. So we thought, wouldn’t it be great if we could create an experience that takes advantage of the fact that everyone uses their mobile device while crowded around the TV, and create something that brings people together into a shared social experience.

We come from a long background of developing web based apps that focus on real-time social experiences, and we’ve been watching the connected TV space anxiously waiting for a way to bring our ideas to the living room. When GoogleTV unleashed the web experience right on our TV, they did it in a way that blurs the lines in how we consume TV and web based content. That’s when we decided to jump in and start developing apps specifically for TV.

Our first app WeDraw.tv, is a drawing/guessing game where the TV acts as the game board and players use their Android and iOS devices as game controllers to draw pictures and guess secret words. You can find it in the GoogleTV Spotlight and it’s most fun when you get several people playing together in real time.

WeDraw is a big success and proved that people really like this shared experience around the TV. From a developer’s perspective, we were able to utilize the same techniques for building web based apps, and easily translate them to the TV experience.

Another app we are working on for GoogleTV is PokerFun.tv, which expands on this idea by providing a way to link multiple TVs in different households into one social experience. In PokerFun, the TV acts as the poker table, and players use their mobile devices to hold their cards and place their bets. Here’s a video overview of how it works.

The social and interactive nature of the web translates seamlessly to the TV living room experience, especially when combined with the power of using mobile devices as controllers and companions to the TV. We particularly like the Google TV platform for our apps because it gives us a way to link multiple devices to the TV, plus a full web browser to build on.

We think the future of TV apps will be one where mobile devices play a critical role, so we’ll be continuously updating our lineup of multi-device apps for Google TV. We’re just getting started and excited about where the platform is headed and there’s no doubt the connected TV space is heating up.

Alan Queen - CTO and Founder of MOVL

Redux for Google TV - Discover socially curated and leanback TV

2011-06-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

Guest post by Redux

When our Google TV arrived, we were giddy - the living room TV is one of the last digital screens in our lives to be connected to the Internet, and it’s the screen where we watch the most video. There are many great video repositories we use to watch video on Google TV such as YouTube, Vimeo and Netflix, but with millions of incredible videos available we didn’t know where to start. We liked that our cable provider programmed live TV into a manageable number of channels, and we envisioned a curated web video experience for the living room.
Redux for Google TV leverages the talents of your friends, interesting curators, and influencers to help you discover videos you’ll love. Redux feels like the traditional veg-out TV we’ve all come to love - videos play continuously, and you can flip between channels using the up/down arrow

As you discover channels or curators you like, add them and they’ll appear on your homepage for easy access. Once you start using Redux your homepage will quickly fill with your favorite channels and curators.

Looking for something new? Browse a guide of channels curated by passionate influencers and tastemakers:

We’ll continue to introduce brand new curated channels on a weekly basis and we’re excited to have Thrillist and GreeneStreet Films as launch partners. Both are incredible content creators as well as curators, and will help us realize our vision of using social curation to drive an incredible video discovery experience you can now enjoy from the convenience of your couch on Google TV in the Google TV Spotlight gallery.

We’re just getting started. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

David McIntosh, Redux founder and CEO

The Google TV Puzzle

2011-05-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

If you didn’t make it to the Building Android Apps for Google TV session at Google I/O or don’t follow our Twitter updates, you may not have seen the puzzle we posted.

We’re happy to announce that we have 3 winners, one for each Google TV device, who will be receiving the Honeycomb version of Google TV one week before we send it to all Google TV devices. Congratulations to Benji Hertel, Alecia Householder, and Jan Jorgensen on their quick wit in solving the puzzle! The winners will receive early access to Android 3.1 Honeycomb on Google TV.

We saw a lot of interesting methods being used in an attempt to solve the puzzle and were impressed by the creativity displayed (e.g. http://yfrog.com/z/h2s0sjhj). Our puzzle masters Rich Bragg and Erica Baker even planted a number of signposts with a few subtle hints along the way (http://goo.gl/bgyrygbrg, http://goo.gl/ygbgbrryg, http://goo.gl/ovtotrntv).

Ultimately, they designed the puzzle to be slightly easier to solve if you happen to own a Google TV device. Here’s how it worked:

Justin Koh, a Google TV engineer, hid an Easter Egg in the Google TV home screen. If you’ve ever clicked the white Google TV logo at the top left of the Home screen, you may have noticed that the little boxes change colors. What you may not have realized (unless you already solved the puzzle) is that the boxes flash in a specific timing pattern: Morse code!

The flashing boxes spell out two messages that Google TV fans may recognize:

Y O U H A V E S W I T C H E D T O T H E O T H E R B O X

I A M N O T A L O N E L Y T V

If you plug those letters into the puzzle, you get something that looks like this:

Y O U H A V E S W I T C H E D T O T H E O T H E R B O X

I A M N O T A L O N E L Y T V .

If you isolate the colored boxes on their own, you see the following:

O V T O T R N T V .

Do those colors look familiar? They should! The are the colors from our logo, which you can see below.

Of course the colored boxes in the puzzle are not in the same order as the colors in our logo. Re-arrange the boxes from the puzzle with the letters inside and this is what you’d find:

T V O .

R N O .

T T V .

Make it a bit easier to read and...

T V O R N O T T V .

TVorNotTV, that is the ques...er..solution. Ok, technically the solution was to visit http://goo.gl/tvornottv but that doesn’t roll off the tongue nearly as well.

Now that this cat’s out of the bag, we’ll be putting on our thinking caps to come up with something even trickier for Honeycomb.

Thanks for your participation!

New NHL Web App Brings Video Highlights and Hockey Stats to Google TV

2011-05-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

At Google TV we want to open the living room to the web, making all television content more relevant and engaging. This is especially true for sports content. Fans want to check the latest in their fantasy leagues, tune into highlights and watch the game that’s on right now, all from the comfort of their couch. Today, hockey fans have one more reason to cheer this playoff season. The NHL has released a TV optimized web app for Google TV that gives you access to on demand video highlights, up-to the-minute scores and in-depth statistics.

The NHL web app lets you sit back, relax, and enjoy highlights from recent games straight from your living room. If you missed the game over the weekend, using the NHL GameCenter Dashboard you can go back to previous days and view all video highlights, box scores, and match-up stats. You can also check out video highlights for some of the season’s most exciting games. Summary stats for leading players as well as league standings are also available. Check out the app in the Google TV Spotlight Gallery.

We’re excited that the NHL has released this web app and we’re looking forward to checking out the rest of the playoffs (and the 2011-2012 season) on Google TV. Game on!

Charlie Harding, Google TV Marketing

Google TV at I/O 2011

2011-05-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

For the past two days we’ve been demoing Google TV apps in the I/O sandbox and sharing how developers can create new engaging television experiences. Developers are already dreaming up big ideas for the big screen. With Google TV being upgraded to Android 3.1 and with the Android Market opening on Google TV later this summer, we hope to see more of these ideas come to the large screen in the living room.

To help developers get started, we hosted two educational sessions where we explained how to build Android and web applications for large screen viewing. Video recordings of both sessions will be available on the YouTube Developer Channel.

In "Building Web Apps for Google TV", we explored some of the opportunities offered by the TV space, and dove into the technical and practical factors of designing web apps for television. In the "Building Android Apps for Google TV" session, we explained how to optimize Android applications to run on Google TV. We provided an overview of the platform, and illustrated how Android developers can make sure their apps look and perform optimally on the big screen. You can view the detailed guidelines here.

We also previewed our Anymote protocol, which enables developers to create multi-screen experiences across phone, tablet, and television. We’ve published the Anymote documentation and remote app source code, so you can start creating your own remote experiences for Google TV.

Thank you to all the developers who attended our living room sandbox, sessions, and office hours at Google I/O. To learn more about developing for Google TV, visit our code site.

Ambarish (AK) Kenghe, Google TV Product Manager

Watch, Love, Shop

2011-05-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

NET-A-PORTER Brings an Interactive High Fashion Channel to Your Google TV

Ever find yourself watching the red carpet or runway, amazed by a tailored suit, or an incredible dress and wish you could shop for that exact outfit at that exact moment? Or have you ever longed for a TV channel entirely devoted to high fashion? NET-A-PORTER TV offers Google TV users the ability to just this from the comfort of your living room TV.

NET-A-PORTER.COM is a premier online luxury fashion retailer and is the first website to offer a unique shopping experience on Google TV. On NET-A-PORTER TV shoppers can watch a variety of designer-specific runway shows, interviews, and special features. Their eclectic collection showcased on their app includes items from premium designers like Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, Michael Kors, Erdem, and others.

Here’s how it works: A video plays showing models walk down the runway wearing different high-end articles of clothing and accessories. Alongside the video are the individual items currently worn by the model in a vertical reel for you to browse and add to your shopping cart. You can add that pair of knee-high boots and sleek top while finishing your transaction on the main site. Seamless!

To learn more about NET-A-PORTER TV and take a deeper dive into how it came to be, check out their article written by James Christian and Scott Seaward from the NET-A-PORTER Labs team.

Have fun shopping!

Posted by Daniels Lee, Google TV Developer Relations Team

Indian Premier League available on Google TV

2011-04-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

(cross posted on The Official YouTube blog)

Indian Premier League may only be four-years old, but it’s quickly become the hottest new addition to the world of cricket. And again this year, YouTube is bringing you all the action straight from the pitch of this superstar cricket extravaganza. With YouTube Leanback, you can watch IPL on Google TV.

In partnership with Indiatimes, fans can watch games as they happen, view entire past matches, and enjoy highlight clips of all 74 matches on Indiatimes’ YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/indiatimes). This fourth instalment of IPL should be even more exciting than last year as two new teams Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala have joined the fray to battle it out with the eight veteran squads for the title.

The 51-day tournament kicked off Friday night with the returning champion Chennai Super Kings besting the Kolkata Knight Riders at home. That very first match and every other game of the IPL season will be webcast globally on YouTube (Note: 5 minute delay in India, match-length delay in U.S.), and the full-length videos of each match will be made available soon after they pull up stumps and retired to the pavillion. And this year everyone can watch the catch-up videos and highlights on their mobile phones as well as their computers.

So tune in as the match is happening. And if you missed a match (or want to watch in a more friendly time zone), view the whole thing later in the Past Matches tab at www.youtube.com/indiatimes. And since this is YouTube, you can always share, rate, and comment on videos throughout the channel, or upload your own video responses to the action.

So get ready for another big season of bouncers, leg breaks, and sixes. It’s going to be a fun 51 days.

Amit Agrawal, Head of Content Partnerships in India, recently watched “I grew up dreaming of this: Sachin”

Google TV Remote for iPhone

2011-03-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

A very popular feature of Google TV to use your phone as a remote control. We released the Android version of the Google TV Remote app in December and I am happy to say that the app is now available for iPhones, iPads, and iPods running iOS 3 or higher.

Why would you want to use your phone as a remote control? We made this quick video tutorial1 when we released the app for Android, but the summary is:

Your phone improves standard TV remote activities like changing channels or accessing your DVR. I love using it at night, because the back light means I can see all the buttons in the dark and the buttons are easy to find. Watch
You can also interact with your TV in ways you never have before. For instance, try using the voice search to find your favorite shows and movies just by speaking into your phone. There should be less fighting over the remote, too, since multiple phones can work as remotes at the same time—you just need to agree on what to watch!

Download and try Google Search app today; it’s available free from the iTunes App Store. You can also scan the QR code below.

Ambarish Kenghe (AK), Google TV Product Manager

1Please note that the iOS remote does not currently support the sharing of web pages from phone to TV screen. Sorry.

Baseline to baseline, we’ve got the basketball games covered

2011-03-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

(Cross-posted on Official Google, LatLong and Student blogs)

Do you hear the dribble on the court and the chanting of the fans? Following an action-packed week of buzzer beaters, the 2011 NCAA® Championship here in the U.S. promises to be as exciting as ever.

As a college hoops fan, I often wish I could experience the games sitting in the arenas—and I’m sure I’m not alone. This year, our college basketball tournament map lets you get as close as you can to the games without leaving your desk thanks to 3D models of the tournament’s 14 arenas. Take a virtual tour of the venues by watching the video below.

Plus, we’ve created a special page for you to keep track of all the excitement during the next few weeks. You can see an up-to-date tournament schedule, explore the college campuses in Street View and click through to watch the actual games on NCAA® March Madness on Demand®.

And since there’s been a long-running debate over whether teams playing closer to their home court have an advantage, we added a “Distance Tool” on the map to make it easier to measure how far schools have to travel from game to game. We’ll see how things play out, but the defending champion Duke Blue Devils may have to travel more than 2,000 miles to Anaheim if they win their first two games.

As my friends always say when we can’t wait for the tournament to begin, “Send it in, Jerome!” May your favorite school reach the finals and we hope you enjoy all the basketball fun at www.google.com/collegebasketball2011.

Posted by Aaron Weissman, Google Maps Marketing (San Francisco King of the Rock winner)

Updates to Google TV

2011-03-15T16:57:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about Google TV is that we’re constantly making improvements to the platform. These updates arrive over-the-air, so your current system evolves and gets even better over time. Over the weekend v1.3 went live with some system improvements, as well as the following:

The media player now supports more WMA audio files
Netflix and CNBC Real Time are better integrated into Google TV
Improved transition between songs in Pandora
Support for Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity on Sony devices
Support for a broader range of Blu-ray discs on Sony devices

Larry Yang, Google TV Product Manager

Cricket World Cup

2011-03-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

Best of Google TV

As an English guy living in California, I have a lot to be thankful for—the weather, the food, the national parks—but one thing I really miss is watching my kind of sports like soccer, rugby, and cricket (not croquet, which a lot of my friends think I’m talking about).

Google TV is helping me get over that one last burden. Some matches are on TV, but used to be difficult to find: you had to scroll through the channels to look for your league, then scroll through all the games to see if your team was being broadcast; now I do a quick Google search for “Tottenham” (my favorite team) and find that the game immediately.

Photo by: Ryan Marshman

For the whole of March I will be in heaven, because the ICC Cricket World Cup is airing on willow.tv. As a DISH Network subscriber, I can also watch the games in full HD at their regular time, which I wasn’t expecting to be able to do in the US. Unfortunately, sometimes the games are in the middle of the night, but willow.tv also hosts every game (in full and in highlight form), so I can watch them whenever is convenient. They are even working to optimize the site for the 10-foot viewing experience.

When I get home tonight, I can use Google TV to watch the highlights from all today’s games on the best screen in the house. I can even use Dual View to read the analysis by my old friend Andrew Miller while I watch the game.

Posted by Peter Sherman, Google TV Marketing, Recently Watched "Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education"

My Kevin Bacon film is on YouTube!

2011-03-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, this is Ivan Cobenk – #1 Kevin Bacon fan in the world, and founder and solo member of The Other Bacon Brothers, Akron’s leading Bacon Brothers cover band. Just wanted to let you know there’s a new short film on YouTube now and it’s all about how much I love Kevin Bacon – the best actor in the universe. It’s not technically starring Kevin Bacon (I tried but he never answered my Facebook posts) but I’m in it and I know a lot about Kev. And by a lot, I mean everything.

When you watch it, if you’re really clever, you might be able to figure out how you can buy some of the items from my personal collection of Kevin Bacon memorabilia as seen in the film. You may even recognize the film because those guys at Logitech used an edited version of it to advertise their Revue gizmo with Google TV. For your own Kevin Bacon collection. I’m donating all the proceeds to Kev’s charity SixDegrees.org, and (fingers crossed!) hoping Kevin will actually get in touch with me if I donate enough.

Thanks,

Ivan Cobenk, editor in chief Bacon Quarterly.

C-SPAN video library in spotlight

2011-03-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

Best of Google TV Series

What did Fed Chairman Bernanke say about monetary policy to the congress on Capitol Hill? What did Secretary of State Hillary Clinton say about US Foreign Policy priorities? Using Google TV, you get to watch them up close and personal in C-SPAN Video Library featured on Google TV Spotlight.

If you are a history buff, American History TV channel intrigues you with videos of Historians Perspective of President Kennedy, Presidential Descendants, or 20th Anniversary of Persian Gulf War.

If you are a bookworm, you may want to dive into Book TV and watch authors Jessica Hughes to talk about her book Revolt, Brigitte Gabriel to talk about her book They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It, or Stephanie Coontz to talk about her book A Strange Stirring.

If you are a political junkie, you may want to jump straight into Washington Politics, start your morning with Morning Hour, move onto House Session and Senate Session, track White House daily briefing, and watch all-you-can-eat pundits.

There is more. In fact thanks to C-SPAN Video Library, there are over 160,000 hours of digital archives for your viewing pleasure, all available in Spotlight on the grand stage of Google TV.

Shawn Shen, Developer Relations, Google TV

An all-access pass to the Oscars

2011-02-25T11:29:00.000-08:00

This Sunday, millions of eyes will turn to the TV screen to watch to watch the 83rd Academy Awards, a ceremony celebrating Hollywood's best filmmakers. In order to make sure you're best prepared for the big event, we thought we'd list a few of our favorite Oscar-worthy sites, all of which are viewable from Google TV.

Educate yourself on the nominees. YouTube Trends has developed a lineup of the most viewed trailers from the list of nominees for this year's show. Not surprisingly, Toy Story 3 and Black Swan top the list.
Got an eye for fashion? Feast your eyes on last year's red carpet fashions from E! Online. It seems like ages ago that we saw Sandra Bullock in that glamorous gold dress. What will they wear this year?
Watch the hosts prepare for the big show on the official Youtube Oscars channel. Here's our favorite video of Anne Hathaway and James Franco preparing to take the stage.
No cable? No problem. With the Oscar All Access Pass, you can direct your own Oscars experience and get a behind the scenes look at everything from the red carpet to the Governor's Ball. Interested in the show only? Catch the livestream channels from both the Academy Awards and AP Live.
Make your bets! Oscar.com lets you review the full list of nominations and cast your votes for the winner. Send the link to your friends to see who gets the most right.

We'll certainly be tuning in for the entire event this Sunday, and hope you will follow along as well, whether its from TV or the web. Best of luck to the nominees!

Amazon Prime members now get free instant streaming

2011-02-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

Best of Google TV Series

I’ve been an Amazon Prime member for a while now and love the free two day shipping, especially when I’m keen to get my hands on the latest Google TV device as soon as possible.

Now there’s even more reason for Google TV users to love this service. Amazon currently has over 90,000 movies and TV shows that you can stream instantly on your Google TV device for a few dollars. Well, they have just announced that Amazon Prime members will also get unlimited, commercial-free access to more than 5,000 of those movies and TV shows, for no additional cost. Titles include “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Syriana,” “March of the Penguins,” and—my personal favorite—”Doctor Who.”

This will work immediately on all Google TV devices, so give it a whirl if you’re an Amazon Prime member. If you don’t already own a Google TV device, then here’s another reason to make the most of that Amazon Prime membership.

Posted by Peter Sherman, Google TV Marketing

Grammys recap

2011-02-17T13:51:00.000-08:00

Best of Google TV

If you missed the Grammys last weekend, you can still catch the memorable moments on Google TV.

If what you’re after is the red carpet fashion and interviews, head over to The Grammys YouTube page. Watch the highlights on YouTube leanback including Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine in haute couture and Mumford and Sons in stylish cravats. There you’ll also find acceptance speeches by The Arcade Fire, Lady Antebellum and Lady Gaga.

VEVO has curated a playlist of videos featuring the top 2011 Grammy Winners. Check out first time Grammy winners like Ryan Bingham and La Roux, as well multi-time winners like Buddy Guy & B.B. King. Check out these videos as well as recaps from past Grammys on VEVO’s spotlight site.

The full list of nominees and winners is available on the Grammys website where you can also watch the pre-telecast ceremony in its entirety.

Posted by Charlie Harding, Google TV Marketing

Al Jazeera on Google TV

2011-02-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

Best of Google TV Series

Over the past two weeks, Al Jazeera has carried 24/7 breaking news coverage of the protests in Egypt. Live video of the protests from Tahrir Square, streaming from AlJazeera.net and English.AlJazeera.net, have driven a 2500% traffic increase to their website. The majority of this traffic has come from the United States, as U.S. viewers can’t access Al Jazeera’s broadcast on television.

This week, Al Jazeera released their Al Jazeera spotlight site where you can watch breaking news clips, scan headline news and dive into the breadth of their web content -- all on the big screen.

For the latest coverage on the protests in Egypt you can also visit Al Jazeera’s YouTube channels in both Arabic and English for premium coverage and CitizenTube for on-the-ground citizen reports.

- Posted by Daniels Lee, Developer Relations

Rate your favorite Super Bowl ads from yesterday's game

2011-02-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

If you're an American, you probably know that there was a rather important sporting event that took place yesterday -- the Super Bowl.

Everyone knows that half the fun of watching the game is watching the commercials. That's why this year we've partnered with our friends at YouTube to optimize the infamous Ad Blitz site so that you can re-watch and rank all of your favorite ads right from your TV.

Just visit youtube.com/adblitz from the Google TV browser and follow the prompts to rate the best 30-second spots as you watch them in HD. May the best ad win!

- Posted by Brittany Bohnet, Google TV Product Marketing

Optimizing your site for TV is now easier

2011-02-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

As the Google TV platform continues to launch across more devices, developers are probably searching for an easy way to bring great content to Google TV users. We’re happy to announce that we have an answer.

Google TV enables developers to build powerful websites using the same technologies they already work with. These include HTML5, JavaScript, CSS and Flash. While existing websites can be displayed in Google TV, the user experience isn’t always ideal within the context of a living room. We previously provided a guide for optimizing websites for TV, and today we’re releasing several templates and a UI library to make it easier for developers to build optimized sites.

We’ve created two template designs that are focused on delivering video content, but equally suitable for photos or other multimedia. We recognize that some developers prefer using open web technologies, while others prefer Flash. So we’ve created two separate versions of each template.

All templates are open sourced under the Apache 2 license, so developers can make modifications to these templates and customize them to fit their brand and desired functionality.

One important optimization for browsing websites on TV is ensuring that D-pad navigation works well. The JavaScript-based templates utilizes a new library we’ve developed for this purpose-- the Google TV Web UI Library. This library has been open sourced as well.

To get started, you can download the template you want and visit our Google TV Web Developer Forum to get help. We look forward to seeing all the great sites developers will build using these templates.

By Steve Hines and Daniels Lee, Google TV Developer Relations Team

Getting your family on TV

2011-01-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

Best Of Google TV Series

As the holidays get into full swing, I am spending more and more time with my extended family, getting in to all kinds of hi-jinks. Like any self-respecting embarrassing dad, I find love capturing these precious moments by making tons of great little videos and taking even more photos. I no longer need any fancy equipment to do this – most smart-phones now take great photos and videos (I love my Nexus S, if you're interested.)

The best part is that we can all slump on the sofa and re-live the best moments on my TV whenever we want, because it's powered by Google TV. In the not-so-distant past, your family would only get on TV if they were (un)lucky enough to get onto a TV show. More recently, you would have to find the right lead, plug your high-end camera into your TV and navigate though impossible menus and settings.

Now, you don't need any fancy equipment to do this, either – the media player app can play most media files that are plugged into the device (on a thumb-drive, for example) or streamed across the local network from a DLNA device like a PC or smart-phone.

My preference is to do a little editing, then save the best photos and videos to a Picasa Web Album, which I can do straight from my phone. Using the Gallery app on my TV, which syncs to Picasa, I immediately have a slide-show on a 46" photo-frame right in the living room. We've had a lot of fun using Picnik to add silly effects to our photos, which can be done from TV, phone, or anywhere.

I tend to upload the very best videos to YouTube, so that the world can share my family inanity. Watching these in Leanback mode on TV makes it feel like we've almost got our own TV channel – it's even in HD, which is pretty incredible for something recorded on a phone.

The most important point is that you don't need to use the same services I do. Because Google TV has a full web browser, it can access any website you want to use. For example Flickr looks great on the big screen and Vimeo Couch Mode is optimized for viewing on Google TV.

It's not just limited to the family member who happen to be on my sofa at that time. If you have the Logitech TV Cam, you can video chat with friends and family on the big screen (no more huddling around a tiny laptop screen). Next, I'm going to try using Qik to live stream from my phone to a TV - kind of like a live broadcast, right?

Posted by Larry Yang, Google TV Product Team

News from any source

2011-01-21T13:36:00.000-08:00

Best of Google TV Series

Television is stil 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 their sleek News Glide web-app.
The Onion covers “the important stories lesser outlets fail to report” through their comedic style.

Video journalism has also proliferated across YouTube. On YouTube Leanback, viewers have access to rich content from channels like the Associated Press, Al-Jazeera English, and NPR. Alongside traditional news sources, YouTube has built a thriving community of citizen reporters. The News & Politics channel, CitizenTube, aggregates video news from across the YouTube community, providing raw footage from the scene of breaking news and unique perspectives from people and places around the world.

On Google TV you can get breaking news from many sources: cable broadcast, the web, blogs, and even citizen journalists.

Posted by Olivia Ma, YouTube News Manager, recently watched Google TV Entry - Stop Motion Animation

Google TV On campus

2011-01-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

(Cross-posted on the Google Student Blog)

Google TV has been popping up on college campuses across the country. We’re coordinating with the Google Student Ambassador Program and University Programs to share Google TV with students and faculty.

This initiative began last semester when Google Student Ambassadors hosted Google TV study breaks on over thirty campuses. The ambassadors had students compete to win Sony Internet TVs for their friends and school. They hosted pizza breaks, tech challenges, YouTube marathons and of course, college football viewing parties. The top seven most creative study breaks won two Sony Internet TVs to give back to their college as a reward for their school spirit and enthusiasm for Google TV.

The momentum from the Google TV study breaks has carried over into the classroom. Already, the web on TV has proven itself as a great platform for for early education and reading skills with web apps like PBS Kids and Meegenius. However, professors have expressed interest in expanding these opportunities to all levels of learning.

That is why we are announcing Google TV for EDU, a seeding program to support university research. Google TV for EDU asks campuses around the country: how can educators enhance the Web on TV for the classroom. Specifically, we’re asking faculty how their research could:

Generate new interest in television engineering

Make computer science tangible for students

Help in the development of smart TV curricula and new educational tools

Contribute to in-classroom and distance learning over television

Reach a wide audience

We officially launched the program yesterday to select university faculty with experience and leadership in television. These select faculty will receive a Logitech Revue to carry out their research in the classroom. Over the next few months we’ll be posting outcomes of their research as well as information on new educational web-apps.

Posted by Miriam Schneider, Product Marketing Manager