
Announcing Google TV: TV meets web. Web meets TV. - Anon84
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/announcing-google-tv-tv-meets-web-web.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMKuf+%28Official+Google+Blog%29
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Saavedro
Baha! It'll be built INTO the TV.. Or the cable box, or the blu-ray player.

You get your TV home and connect it to your network, and have Hulu (because it
has a fully featured browser with flash) working out of the box.

Making your own TV channel is now pretty much as simple as writing an android
app.

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poppysan
You raise an interesting point... Google could potentially turn advertising on
it's head again if the popularity of these individual networks perk up!!!!

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patrickk
I hope XBMC gets support for Google TV. Rather than just watching your media
collection, being also to watch web TV would be an amazing bonus.

For those who are unfamiliar, XBMC is a media player with one of the best UIs
I've seen on any application, anywhere, ever. Seriously, it looks _gorgeous_ ,
particularly the "Aeon" skin with custom backdrops. XBMC isn't just a pretty
face though, it also handles pretty much any media format you can throw at it
(like VLC). And it's FREE. If you have a HTPC it's the media player of choice.
It even has an iPhone app that allows you control XBMC over WiFi.

Great XBMC Article:

[http://lifehacker.com/5536963/the-ultimate-start-to-
finish-g...](http://lifehacker.com/5536963/the-ultimate-start-to-finish-guide-
to-your-xbmc-media-center)

Aeon Skin for XBMC:

<http://www.aeonproject.com/>

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pragmatic
Or I can hook a pc to my tv like I did last month. Ta-da.

Seriously, this is a good idea, if executed correctly. I like the pc b/c i can
play Bluray, DVD, Youtube and Netflix streaming on the same device. And
there's only one device.

If you combined those into once device, that would be cool. Some Bluray
players are getting there. However, I like the ability to hack and play. I can
install my own codes, etc.

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WiseWeasel
Seriously, the PS3 is there already, but it's Sony, so obviously they didn't
execute the software capabilities. But just the bluray capabilities of the PS3
show me that they are very close despite themselves. The Netflix streaming
bluray disc that works on many network-connected bluray players is a perfect
example, and a beauty to use. It's a huge hassle to have to actually find and
insert a physical disc to use the thing, and it would be several orders of
magnitude better if the Netflix streaming bluray java app could be installed
to the hard drive, along with a bunch of others, but the capability is nearly
perfect. I could see a Youtube bluray disc being pretty popular as well. If
bluray players could store those network-streaming based apps locally, it
would be game over for FlashTV (aka Open Screen) and GoogleTV. Hell, Google
could probably implement the real meat of GoogleTV as a bluray disc.

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aidenn0
Did google just kill the boxee box? What about boxee in general?

@boxee says: watched the Google TV demo. more complementary than competitive.
we should start working on Boxee Android App for TV... :)

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michaelcampbell
And really, what else could they say? "Oh no, they just killed us! SNAP!"
Anything said by a corporation (or a manager (boom!)) is so "spun" these days
it's hardly worth listening to.

Perhaps, however, I am wrong.

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WiseWeasel
Well, you can always hold out hope that they'll pull an Adobe, and tell people
that the other guy is a big, fat meanie, and then have popcorn ready for the
ensuing epic flame war.

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paul9290
Soon you won't be able to watch Hulu through Chrome, but nevertheless this
some exciting and potentially big stuff here. I wonder how the cable and media
companies feel about this?

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derefr
I'm just going to leave this here: <http://derefr.co.cc/essays/why-television>

People don't (only) watch TV because it's a big screen with big speakers
attached to it, placed centrally in their houses. There's also a bit of a
sociological element going on, which this doesn't replicate.

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mey
You mention TV Web and Web TV, but not WebTV.

<http://www.webtv.com/>

Other systems, Boxee, MythTV, Microsoft Media Server, Apple TV

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joezydeco
I'm watching the live stream in bits and pieces. What is the "input device",
exactly? A wireless mouse? That's gonna be a real pain to use.

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tyweir
They showed controlling the TV with Android phones, in fact with multiple
phones.

No more fights for the controller. :)

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joezydeco
So the input controller is a $300 device with a $70/month use fee?

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pyre
I think that you're missing the point if you think people are supposed to (or
will) buy an Android phone for the sole purpose of using it as a controller...

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joezydeco
No, I fully understand the use of an Android phone as a controller. I consider
it an option that 10% of the user base will use.

I'll rephrase the question: _what input device am I supposed to hand to my
mother-in-law?_ A wireless mouse? A gyro-pointer? A mega-keyboard with a
teensy little trackpad on it? And she's supposed to focus this little 32x32
cursor on the correct place on the screen?

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look_lookatme
Right now, I don't know. But it's entirely possible that in the future, your
Google TV set-top or Google enabled TV comes with voice recognition and your
mother in law just tells it what she wants.

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joezydeco
I'll just call her from my flying car.

Seriously, this is a clear example where Apple thinks things out a little
better. We're now heading into an indefinite period of "OMG GOOGLE TV PWNS
APPLE TV"...but Apple at least took the time to think out their answer before
presenting it.

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schoudha
Nice, my first credit on hacker news :)

