Google Tv

Google is releasing an update to YouTube for Google TV over the next few days, aiming to make it easier to navigate the video service on its connected sets. On Saturday, the company promised that it would release "big announcements" about Google TV on Monday. Oddly enough, the company posted the notice on its Facebook page before publishing the post about YouTube on its blog. The new service will also have a big focus on channels , making it easier for users to navigate between related videos and find content from the...

The Washington Post plans to significantly expand its offerings of online video content through a dedicated political channel providing at least 30 hours of programming a month, company officials said Thursday. Post officials hope the channel, expected to launch this summer, will allow the newsroom to extend its traditional strength in political and governmental coverage to the fast-growing area of online videos, which are increasingly popular with users and advertisers. "We see it as an area of...

Google announced the next big update for Google TV Wednesday, bringing advanced voice control, a new programming guide app and all kinds of smarts derived from Google's Knowledge Graph to the platform. Google TV Product Lead Rishi Chandra told me during a briefing in Mountain View Tuesday that this time around, the focus has been all about removing friction and bringing a Google Now-like experience to the TV. Voice as an extension of the remote The most important new feature of the update, which has internally been...

The annual Consumer Electronics Show , when tech companies gather in Las Vegas to show off their biggest, boldest ideas of the year, is set to open the second week of January. The show has lost some of its cachet in recent years, particularly with former headliner Microsoft opting to stop its traditional keynotes . But it is still a key place to see what smartphone makers, television companies and automakers are forecasting for the future of technology. Here are five trends to watch at this year's Consumer Electronics Show.

The future of television is always a hot topic of speculation at the Consumer Electronics Show. Though hype over 3D televisions cooled quickly after the show last year, this year's TV's trend taps into a movement that's become the watchword of the consumer electronics industry: convergence. Companies are scrambling to be the one-stop shop for Web, media consumption, social networking and gaming. It's a great dream, but somehow the smart TV industry as a whole has failed to break into the mainstream.

Google TV's attempted resurgence here at CES just got another push as Google has officially announced that OnLive will be coming to the platform as an app. The news confirms news we'd heard last month  and frankly it was probably inevitable once  Google got apps going on its TV platform . The OnLive Viewer app is available now, actually, but sadly all it will let you do is watch other gamers play games in the "Arena" and engage in a few...

Vizio's here at CES 2012 with its riff on Google TV — and it's something. The company has totally skinned Google's smart TV OS with a skin just like the one on its tablets, and it's built in a layer of DLNA-based content sharing services. (Think AirPlay, but compatible with anything DLNA and made smoother when sharing from Vizio tablets and PCs to the new smart TV.) There's still Android Market, of course, and Vizio's staying up to date with the platform as it develops — they told me they talk to Google "every...

It's been a long while since we've heard anything about Google TV, but the platform just got  its big promised upgrade to Android 3.1 , complete with an overhauled UI and support for apps from Android Market. Google says the new, more realistic goal for its TV efforts is to complement traditional TV services like cable and satellite with alternative internet viewing options, and to that end the company is bundling in a new TV and Movies app that functions as an integrated program guide with the ability...

There have been some trickles of information coming out about what Apple may be planning for the television, set off by comments late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs made to biographer Walter Isaacson about a television that would let users throw out the old, complicated and frustrating remote control. "I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use," Jobs told Isaacson, according to the "Steve Jobs" biography. "It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with...

Eric Schmidt predicted last month that  the "majority" of TVs sold by summer 2012  would have Google TV, and the company's certainly signing up the partners to make that a reality: Google just announced that LG, Sony, and Vizio will be showing off Google TV devices at CES 2012, with additional devices from Samsung coming later in the year. Google's also partnering with MediaTek and Marvell to provide the next generation of ARM-based chipsets for Google TV — Marvell already announced that its  new...

Google announced the next big update for Google TV Wednesday, bringing advanced voice control, a new programming guide app and all kinds of smarts derived from Google's Knowledge Graph to the platform. Google TV Product Lead Rishi Chandra told me during a briefing in Mountain View Tuesday that this time around, the focus has been all about removing friction and bringing a Google Now-like experience to the TV. Voice as an extension of the remote The most important new feature of the update, which has internally been...

YouTube is going to launch VOD-style movie rentals on TVs and connected devices later this year. The Google-owned video service will add a premium component to its TV application on various Smart TV platforms, according to an announcement by YouTube hardware partner TPVision . The company, which is better known for its Philips-branded TV sets, said that it will be offering YouTube rentals in "select European countries" later this year....

The latest news on Apple's plans for the future of television is that the company is in talks with big pay TV operators to carry their live programming . This would turn a future Apple TV product into a kind of set-top box, reported the Wall Street Journal Wednesday . Negotiations with cable companies are ongoing, with no deal in sight, and operators are wary of Apple's quest for control, according to the paper. But the sad truth is that even winning a contract like this would be a defeat...

Google launched its fiber to the home network Thursday and the biggest surprise is probably that the gigabit speeds are aimed at consumers only. The search giant's fiber network, which will cost $70 for Internet only and $120 for fiber plus TV, is a killer wrapper for Google's cloud, consumer and tablet products, some of which will be included in the fiber and TV package. The pricing details There will be three packages available to Kansas City residents, all of which will require a $300...

Vizio announced its first Google TV set-top box product called the Co-Star today, which offers access to the Google Play App Store, live gaming, a slick remote and much more. Vizio first made its intentions to produce a Google TV box at CES 2012 , where the company showed off an unnamed prototype device. The device announced today has 802.11n support, one USB port, HDMI in/out ports, and an option to use a wired Ethernet cable. The Co-Star box...

Google is releasing an update to YouTube for Google TV over the next few days, aiming to make it easier to navigate the video service on its connected sets. On Saturday, the company promised that it would release "big announcements" about Google TV on Monday. Oddly enough, the company posted the notice on its Facebook page before publishing the post about YouTube on its blog. The new service will also have a big focus on channels , making it easier for users to navigate between related videos and find...

Vizio announced its first Google TV set-top box product called the Co-Star today, which offers access to the Google Play App Store, live gaming, a slick remote and much more. Vizio first made its intentions to produce a Google TV box at CES 2012 , where the company showed off an unnamed prototype device. The device announced today has 802.11n support, one USB port, HDMI in/out ports, and an option to use a wired Ethernet cable. The Co-Star box will come preloaded with Netflix,...

The Washington Post plans to significantly expand its offerings of online video content through a dedicated political channel providing at least 30 hours of programming a month, company officials said Thursday. Post officials hope the channel, expected to launch this summer, will allow the newsroom to extend its traditional strength in political and governmental coverage to the fast-growing area of online videos, which are increasingly popular with users and advertisers. "We see it...

AOL is planning to launch a new streaming video network branded under its Huffington Post web news site, the company announced Thursday. The new network will feature live streaming video content 12 hours a day during the week from 9 a.m to 9 p.m. ET, according to a THR report. Founding Huffington Post editor Roy Sekoff will head up the new network, which will be produced in AOL's New York City and LA studios by a staff of 100 employees. AOL said the new network will be available on a variety of streaming...

The International Consumer Electronics Show is a huge festival of gadgetry, but there's no better place to get a bead on where technology is going in the coming year. Among the 153,000 attendees at the show in Las Vegas last week were five VentureBeat staffers who were sniffing out the big trends. This story is our list of the most evident trends among the rows and rows of gadgets at CES. The convention is like a step into the future, with many companies showing off the TVs,...