Hasta La Gadget!

Sony will be first out of the gate with a Google TV powered device, with its “Sony Internet TV” devices — in the form of either an HDTV or a set-top box with Blu-ray player — arriving on shelves this fall. The rest of the partners were just as the rumors indicated, with Logitech adding a QWERTY Harmony remote, “companion box” to bridge the gap to existing home theater equipment and eventually video chat capabilities, Intel providing the CE4100 Atom processor at the heart of the devices and an Android 2.1 OS with Chrome browser brings it all together. DISH Network and Google have admitted to their ongoing trials but there’s no word on any release date,(Update: We didn’t catch it onstage, but DISH just announced it will enable “advanced integration” via HDMI on all of its HD DVR receivers this fall, details after the break) while Best Buy is already on board to sell all of this and inevitably offer to hook up those IR blasters for a fee, while Adobe is just happy to see another device that runs Flash 10.1. The rest of the details are in press release and video form after the break, but you can sign up for updates at Google.com/tv (developers check in here) or check out our ongoing liveblog right from Google I/O.

Update: Vic Gundotra just confirmed in a post-keynote press conference that TV will go international next year.

Continue reading Sony Internet TV, DISH first with Google TV this fall; Adobe, Logitech and others along for the ride

Sony Internet TV, DISH first with Google TV this fall; Adobe, Logitech and others along for the ride originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 May 2010 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As expected, Google just announced Google TV at I/O. There’s four billion TV viewers worldwide, making it the biggest market in the world, and Google’s after it in a big way — it’s a $70 billion ad market in the US alone, after all. According to Google, “video should be consumed on the biggest, best, and brightest screen in your house, and that’s the TV.” The idea is to merge the web and TV without compromising on either the web experience or the video experience, with a focus on discovery and personalization. Of course, since it’s Google, the interface is search-driven, so you can just type in things like “30 Rock” or MSNBC” to find channels and content — including upcoming content to record and content from the internet. Yeah, it’s kind of like the TiVo Premiere’s swivel search, but prettier — and there’s a Hulu logo on the screen, which is extremely intriguing.

Google’s not sharing hardware specs, but we’re told Google TV devices will have WiFi, HDMI, the Intel CE4100 processor, and… some will have an IR blaster to tune your cable or satellite box, which is just sad. (Like, 1997 sad.) The input devices will all have keyboards, and you’ll also be able to use Android devices as a remote, including using voice search to find content and sending content from the phone to the TV. The software is based on Android with Chrome as the browser and full Flash 10.1 support. Since it’s Android, there’s a version of Android Market — any app that doesn’t require phone hardware can run on Google TV. There will also be a Google TV-specific Android SDK launching in “early” 2011, along with the Android Market for Google TV.

As for partners, it’s just as we heard: Sony will launch Sony Internet TVs and Blu-ray players with Google TV in the fall, and Logitech will introduce a set-top box with a Harmony remote and an HD camera for video chat at some point in the future. Dish Network will also launch a Google TV box at some point, while Best Buy will promote the platform as a whole in-store.

Make sure to keep up with the latest from I/O in our liveblog!

Continue reading Google TV turns on at I/O: runs Android and Flash, partnered with Sony, Logitech, and Intel

Google TV turns on at I/O: runs Android and Flash, partnered with Sony, Logitech, and Intel originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 May 2010 12:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interested to know how you were gonna fill up that Chrome OS app page? Google just announced its new online web app store at I/O. So far they’ve shown off Dark Room for image editing, a pretty slick version of TweetDeck, and yes, like every other platform known to man, there’s Plants. vs. Zombies and Lego Star Wars. Paid-for software will be offered — Dark Room is $4.99, if you want to go ahead and put that money aside. No word on a launch date, but we’ll keep pushing for more. We were just shown a demo of Sports Illustrated‘s interactive magazine, and we gotta say, it’s mighty impressive — embedded video, fully searchable, and some pretty clever tricks with geolocation that frankly exceed most anything we’ve seen on the iPad thus far. The web store — for Chrome and Chrome OS — will hit the dev channel “soon.”

Google unveils Chrome web store, Sports Illustrated app impresses originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The recent rumors of an forthcoming Verizon Android tablet prompt this question: Whatever happened to Google’s Chrome OS? Granted, Google never led us to believe that the Web-based OS would be available to consumers before the second half of the year, but it’s a bit surprising just how little we’ve heard coming out of the Chrome camp.

But now, it seems that the first Chrome OS-based device may actually hit shelves. According to a story over at Venture Beat, Acer is set to become the first company to launch a device running the operating system. The unnamed piece of hardware is rumored to be making its debut at Computex, held June 1st to June 5th.

There’s nothing official about the reports, however. Venture Beat hasn’t cited any of its “multiple sources,” but I guess we’ll all know the answer in a couple of weeks.

PC maker Acer has been saying for months that it will launch laptops loaded with Google’s Chrome OS in the second half of the year. Now, rumors say Acer Chrome OS gadgets will debut next month, much sooner than most industry watchers would have bet.

Acer is likely to introduce its Chrome OS products at the Computex trade show in Taiwan held June 1 to June 5, multiple sources told VentureBeat.

If true, the move will mark a significant step for Google in the PC industry. Google introduced Chrome OS in November as a lightweight, browser-based operating system that would boot up in seven seconds or less. Google said the first Chrome OS netbooks would be available late 2010.

Soon after, Acer’s president of IT products division Jim Wong said his company is “aggressively pursuing” to become one of the first PC makers to offer Chrome devices. Acer said it expects to launch its products in the second half of the year, and it expects to ship one million Chrome devices in 2010.

Acer hasn’t mentioned pricing for its Chrome OS netbooks. But recently Google CEO Eric Schmidt said he expects Chrome OS netbooks to cost between $300 and $400, coming in line with devices running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Acer might be the first to release Chrome laptops, but it probably won’t be long before companies such as Asus and Lenovo follow.

See Also:

• Acer Plans a Million Chrome OS Netbooks, New E-Reader
• Mock-ups Show a Google Chrome OS Tablet
• Chrome OS Netbooks For Under $400, Says Google
• Google Chrome OS: Ditch Your Hard Drives, the Future Is the Web …

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