Posted on 05/20/2010 1:45:04 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google Inc. believes it has come up with the technology to unite Web surfing with channel surfing on televisions.
To reach the long-elusive goal, Google has joined forces with Sony Corp., Intel Corp. and Logitech International. The companies unveiled their much-anticipated plan for a "smart" TV on Thursday.
The TVs are expected to go on sale in the fall in Best Buy stores. Pricing won't be announced until later in the year. Sales of the TVs will be limited to the U.S. this year before expanding into other countries.
Google wants to turn televisions into giant monitors for Web surfing so it can make more money selling ads. The company generated nearly $24 billion in revenue last year, mostly from Internet ads displayed on computer screens. Although Google began selling ads for regular television programming three years ago, analysts say that has yielded paltry dividends so far.
"I think this is going to be the biggest improvement to television since color," Intel CEO Paul Otellini told The Associated Press.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
fyi
Google focuses on Web media at I/O
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Google officials proposed on Wednesday a standard video codec for the Web and again focused on the HTML5 specification as an advancement for Web-based media.
The company at its Google I/O conference also announced Google App Engine for Business, for business Web application deployment on the Google App Engine cloud platform. A cloud application portability partnership with VMware was revealed as well.
[ See InfoWorld's report on Adobe launching a version of its Dreamweaver HTML authoring tool featuring HTML5 support at the I/O conference. | Google also boosted availability of its Google Wave collaboration and communication tool. ]
"Make no mistake about it," said Vic Gundotra vice president of engineering. "The Web is the most important platform of our generation, and it's become a platform controlled by none of us. It's the only platform that truly belongs to all of us."
As it has been prone to do for the past year, Google pitched HTML5 as a way to move the Web forward, bringing onstage officials from Web properties using HTML5, such as Clicker, which lists Web-based programming. Google also launched a Web video codec initiative, WebM, featuring the open source VP8 video codec format offered under a royalty-free license.
HTML5 has lacked a video codec, and WebM is attempt to provide a standard Web codec, Google's David Glazer, director of engineering, acknowledged.
Way ahead of this - converged the net, home network and 9 foot projector screen with the Acer Aspire Revo for only $300. Best of all-all anon. No stupid monitoring by Google, etc.
See my write-up here on my PC-based HD player:
XP build and 1080p playback working perfectly
http://www.revouser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=655
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