Google TV hasn’t exactly set the world on fire, and while we could argue all day about what exactly prevented it from achieving greatness, the expensive hardware has to at least be part of the discussion. Logitech bit the bullet two weeks ago and lowered the price of their Revue from $250 to $99 — and it seems Sony has decided they might take a bit of that medicine too. → Read More
I’ll just say it: Google TV is sinking and taking its crew down with her. The service promised to bring new life to HDTVs when it launched last October. But it didn’t. Big media made sure of it by blocking access to their online streaming, seemingly taking away Google TV’s most novel feature. Without online streaming, Google TV’s awesome search tool is crippled and the system is just an overpriced DLNA client and Netflix streamer.
Logitech somewhat signaled the end of the platform’s life today but slashing the price of the Revue unit down to $100. This comes just months after the CEO stated with its 2010 Q4 earnings that they are enthusiastic about Google TV even with just 5 million in sales during last the last holiday season. Today’s price cut states loud and clear that Google TV is on its last leg and one of its launch partners are trying everything to get rid of back inventory. → Read More
Looking for a good deal on the Logitech Revue? Amazon has you covered. While I’d caution most from going the Google TV route — especially with the new GTV hardware and changes on tap — there’s no questioning a 33% price drop is huge. Amazon’s new price, assuming it’s not a limited time sale, puts the Revue at the same price point as the Boxee Box. The two are fundamentally different, though, as the Boxee Box is designed to be a cable replacement where Google TV works best with cable. If you want to browse the Internet on your HDTV, go with the Google TV — or a HTPC and a wireless mouse. The Boxee box is a much safer bet if you want to watch local or web videos, though. → Read More
Google announced yesterday that Google TV would be expanding and getting Android 3.1, but aside from some new manufacturers, there wasn’t much to show. Today, though, during another GTV-related developer talk, they showed off the new interface (above) and noted that the remote app API was being open-sourced. That’s nice — hopefully we’ll see more support in universal remote apps and so on now. I like the new look, but what really matters is how it performs, of course. It won’t be rolling out until a bit later this year (no dates were mentioned, though summer is a possibility), but expect a preview before then. [via Engadget] → Read More
Google’s mantra of launching products early and often didn’t exactly work with Google TV. It hit the ground with a gimped feature set and limited hardware options. The analogy of Android simply hasn’t held true as hardware makers and retail vendors alike simply haven’t picked up the devices. Today, at Google I/O, new hardware partners were announced as well as an updated OS. Google TV might finally be off the starting line. → Read More
It’s just about that time again. Google I/O is happening next week and just as in year’s past, the company is expected to announce some big things on stage during their two keynotes on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. But what will those things be? Jason and I delve into some predictions for the event, which we’ll both be covering.
But first we take some time to look back at last year’s I/O which made a big splash at the time — and can now probably be best described as a big flop. Google TV, Google Music, Chrome OS. Etc, etc, etc… Will this year’s be more of the same, or will Google’s mouth actually be able to write checks that their body can cash this time around? Stay tuned… → Read More
Logitech reported making $5 million on the Revue Google TV device. The device, which allows users to browse TV shows in a unique, Android-esque interface, is still a priority at Logitech and, according to their CEO, they are “enthusiastic about Google TV.” → Read More
Back in October of last year, I got my first glance at the Sony Google TV remote. I immediately broke out into a cold sweat and hives. I mean, just look at the thing. Our collective living rooms are already a nightmare of boxes and cords — Sony and Google managed to translate that nightmare into remote control form as well. And now that nightmare is going virtual.
Earlier today, Google announced the Google TV Remote app for the iPhone. On one hand, it’s great that they’re willing to release this on a rival platform. On the other, ahhhhhhhhh! → Read More
The Google TV platform is alive and well. The dev team pushed through an updated to the Logitech Revue and Sony Internet TV products earlier in the week that squashed bugs and updated several features. But the big news is that the updated did not include Android Market. That’s not surprising. I spoke to the Google TV product lead a few weeks back and the official timetable response to Android Market’s Google TV debut is “Sometime in 2011.” So yeah, that probably means it’s not coming anytime soon. → Read More
The extended cut of the Kevin Bacon Logitech Revue commercial. Yep, 3:33 minutes of Kevin Bacon hawking Google TV. Enjoy. It’s my gift to you. → Read More
The FCC proposed something called AllVid last year, a device that would help deliver “multichannel video programming and Internet content” to whatever it’s connected to. The cable companies freaked out, calling AllVid a one-way ticket to “ignor[ing] copyright, patent, trademark, contract privity, licensing, and other legal rights and limitations that have been thoroughly documented.” Since real life works by pro-wrestling rules, the proponents of AllVid, seven companies ranging from Best Buy to Sony to Tivo, have taken offense to these allegations, and have subsequently formed an alliance, or stable, to fight back against these misrepresentations and half-truths. Cable companies versus the AllVid Tech Company Alliance will headline WrestleMania this year. → Read More
Here’s more evidence that regular people have zero time for things like Google TV, Boxee, and Roku, if only because they’re too complicated for their own good. Hill Holiday, a “caffeine-fueled ad agency,” asked five Boston-area families to participate in a cord-cutting experiment. For one week each family was asked to forgo traditional cable TV in favor of one of the following devices: Apple TV, Google TV, Boxee Box, Xbox 360, and Roku. These devices, of course, are the premier devices for people looking to break free of their cable company while still being able to enjoy television. And how did it turn out for these five families? → Read More
“Well dreams, they feel real while we’re in them, right? It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.”
Cobb’s quote from Inception reminds me of something. Something going on right now, seemingly all around us. It doesn’t feel like a dream, but increasingly, I’m not so sure. Something just isn’t right. And I believe it’s Google that is doing the dreaming.
Yesterday brought news that Google was asking partners to delay large-scale unveilings of Google TV products at the upcoming CES due to concerns about the overall reaction to the current products already on the market. Obviously, despite some Sony spin, that’s not good news. → Read More
Editor’s note: Online video is going through many changes as people begin to connect their TVs to the Internet and social sharing over Facebook and Twitter influence what people watch as much as search. In this guest post, Jeremy Allaire, founder and CEO of online video platform Brightcove, gives his view of where online video is going next year. Allaire’s last guest post for us was on the standards war in mobile video formats.
Web video is just getting started, and 2011 promises to be yet another year of transformation in the online video landscape. The stage is set for mainstream connected TVs, Over-the-top adoption, and even more videos watched directly streamed from website. Here are the five biggest trends in online video that will play out in significant ways for end-users and publishers alike.
1. Connected TV Platform Wars
The past year saw the definitive emergence of platform wars in the handheld computing landscape. This year will see those wars expand into new territory, the Connected TV platform market. Input 1 on the TV is the new homepage or start screen. We should expect that the battles will look incredibly similar to the market that emerged for smartphones over the past several years, but with some other entrenched players. Google vs. Apple vs. the dominant TV brands. In fact, these platforms will largely be based on a similar architecture, offering app and content publishers a common model for creating device-oriented applications and Web experiences.
Apple will ship an iOS-based Apple TV display and will open up Apple TV to third-party apps beyond Netflix. Developers will have a common model for building apps across the phone, tablet and TV, as well as a suite of new APIs for phone and tablet apps to interact with TV apps (think remote control type activities, gestures for games, etc.). Its platform will also support HTML5 with a set of design standards for TV Web 10-foot experiences. → Read More
Google TV launched to a storm of piss-poor reviews and first impressions. It feels like a beta product and not something ready for living rooms. But that’s Google’s way. Two months have passed since the Logitech Revue and Sony Internet TV line launched and Google just rolled out the first major software update that at least seems to address some of the early concerns while bringing some new features to the platform like searching by voice.
Content discovery is one of Google TV’s strong points, but while the system can find just about any TV show online, big media blocked access. The updated Netflix app nearly solves this little problem by allowing access to the entire Netflix library. Now you can search, browse, and watch any of the shows in Netflix’s catalog without interaction from a PC. You can even select titles to be snail-mailed to you.
Dual-view was one of our favorite launch features. It’s basically PIP, but where one of the pictures is an internet browser. The new mode allows users to change the size and move around the smaller window. Yeah, Google TV finally has the same capability as your ’90s era Sony Trinitron. → Read More
Google TV launched to a storm of piss-poor reviews and first impressions. It feels like a beta product and not something ready for living rooms. But that’s Google’s way. Two months have passed since the Logitech Revue and Sony Internet TV line launched and Google just rolled out the first major software update that at least seems to address some of the early concerns while bringing some new features to the platform like searching by voice.
Content discovery is one of Google TV’s strong points, but while the system can find just about any TV show online, big media blocked access. The updated Netflix app nearly solves this little problem by allowing access to the entire Netflix library. Now you can search, browse, and watch any of the shows in Netflix’s catalog without interaction from a PC. You can even select titles to be snail-mailed to you.
Dual-view was one of our favorite launch features. It’s basically PIP, but where one of the pictures is an internet browser. The new mode allows users to change the size and move around the smaller window. Yeah, Google TV finally has the same capability as your ’90s era Sony Trinitron. → Read More
And there it is: Americans now spend as much time on the Internet as they do watching TV. So says a new study released by Forrester Research, which says that people now spend 121 percent more time online than they did only five years ago. What’s probably most significant is that these stats now include people in the 30+ age group; it’s not just college student insomniacs who spend their time online these days. → Read More
It has now been two months since TechCrunch started seeing browsing traffic coming from the Google TV devices. Not surprisingly, this was just about the time of the Logitech Revue launch, the first official Google TV device. Google TV was going to be the device that finally heralded an age of browsing the web in your living room. So how’s it doing? Well, if browsing traffic to TechCrunch is any indication, not so hot.
We’ve already gone over why quick massive price cuts probably aren’t a good early sign for the platform. But the browsing stats we’re seeing are actually much more grim. Specifically, since the first devices started showing up in our logs two months ago, they’re coming in at number 18 on the list of top devices visiting TechCrunch. That’s one spot behind the Danger Hiptop, aka the Sidekick — a device that’s roughly eight years old. → Read More
ESPN has just released a study that sheds some light on people’s cord cutting habits—or lack thereof. Using Nielsen data, ESPN has determined that a paltry 0.11 percent of U.S. households have dropped cable and/or satellite TV over the past three months. That rounds down to essentially nobody in my estimation. Even more interesting is exactly who these cord-cutters are, and they’re not who you’d most likely suspect. → Read More
If anyone can save Google TV, it’s Kevin Bacon playing Kevin Bacon’s biggest fan. Enjoy. → Read More
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