MooPig Tech Coroner :: "Google TV Is Dead"

No, it's not Totally Dead...
Retrieved by Pat Darnell | Jan 12, 2014 | Bryan TX

[Picture LINK] In a post-Google TV era, Hisense takes a first stab at defining Android on TV

Before the turn of the century, some folks predicted that Television as it is would be totally gone by 2045. We may be on schedule for that. Television is still a huge conglomerate with the most subscribers of any media system. It is to me, an enigma, that is, a puzzle that keeps changing its outcome.

When Google started Google TV, it was ahead of its time. That is kind of typical of Google and its offerings. After three years Google TV is just really getting started:

" ... Google TV leverages many of Google’s existing products. Google TV’s operating system, a customized version of Android, provides the underlying foundation, allowing developers to create applications that extend the system’s functionality. Google’s Chrome browser provides a gateway to the Internet, allowing consumers to browse web sites and watch television, in tandem.

" ... Consumers can access HBO, CNBC, and content from other providers through the Chrome browser. Android and Apple smartphones and tablet computers may be used as remote controls for Google TV. Google TV products ship with wireless remote controls with a full QWERTY keypad. An update in November 2011, allowed access to Google Play and enabled search to find content from live TV, Netflix, YouTube, HBO GO, Amazon, and more. ... A future Google TV 4 update will have casting support from supported apps, the same as the Chromecast. (y ikki peed ya. LINK)..."

Google TV Is Dead, Long Live Google-Powered TV | Will Greenwald | PCMag.com: "These days, Google TV is all but forgotten, and surprisingly that signals not that Android is leaving home entertainment, but that it's finally starting to show up. HDTV manufacturers are turning to Android for their connected HDTV interfaces. I saw four different companies at CES 2014 with their own spins on Android to power their home entertainment devices. (Will Greenwald. January 10, 2014. LINK) ..."

"But Google TV was plagued with a long list of problems, one of them being the strict requirements Google put in place for its hardware partners. For example, the first generation of Google TV needed to include a full traditional QWERTY keyboard, leading to unwieldy and confusing remote controls. (Janko Roettgers. JAN. 15, 2014. LINK)."

'via Blog this'

But the customization nature of Android is a boon for HDTV manufacturers looking to move into the budget and midrange HDTV market as the more prominent names set their sights on big, expensive, advanced screens. As companies looking to get a foothold in the North American market explore ways to make their less expensive screens more feature-rich, we could finally see Android become a big force in home entertainment. It just won't be Google designing or tweaking it.

CONCLUSION
Google TV did not make much of a splash when it was introduced, but now it is on track as a suitable base for many companies who want to expand on the television experience. If you own an iPhone or an Android, you are already compatible with Google TV. You might want to look into the possibilities of linking up to streaming TV and other services.

[Picture LINK]

_____________________Reference
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2429393,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03079TX1K0000585
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster_(pay_service)
http://code.google.com/tv/faq.html#android
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/15/in-a-post-google-tv-era-hisense-takes-a-first-stab-at-defining-android-on-tv/
http://bgr.com/2010/05/20/google-tv-gets-official/
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/15/chromecast-porn/
https://plus.google.com/+GoogleTV/posts
http://googletv.blogspot.com/
http://www.lg.com/us/lggoogletv/index.jsp#page=qanda

MooPig Site Review :: "PC Magazine Tells All -- Only Four Big PLayers, Y'all!"

Retrieved for Ed Porpoises by Pat Darnell

[SOURCE]
Unless the government steps in, we'll see what the wireless carriers want us to see.
Google's deal with Verizon to give up on wireless net neutrality shows that the phone carriers want to have an absolute lock over the way the mobile Internet will run. And unless the government steps in, they'll run it for their benefit, not yours.
There's a ton of commentary on the Net about the Google/Verizon position on net neutrality, but let's just focus on wireless: basically, the two companies said that the wireless Internet is what carriers say it is. Carriers should be free to speed up, slow down or block any traffic they want. Implied in that, floating in its penumbra, is the desired right to lock phones, block applications, or install un-deletable bloatware on your phone.
This is a far cry from the utopian dream Google's Erick Tseng described to me back in January. The Google Nexus One Android phone, he said, was the beginning of a new era for U.S. wireless. You'd soon be able to get a Nexus One from any carrier, he said, and even switch them between carriers. Google would provide a retail channel to challenge the carriers. (For more on this see my column, "Nexus One: Google's First Step?") Android was freedom!

Google Acknowledges That Verizon Owns Your Internet

• email
• share

• print
• reprint

Share this page

---

By: Sascha Segan

• 08.11.2010

That was nonsense. Google realized it was more profitable to play along with the wireless carriers than annoy them, so they never really marketed the Nexus One and only sold a handful of phones. The announced Sprint and Verizon versions of the phones never appeared, and Google killed the whole project after less than a year. Meanwhile, Android is becoming every wireless carrier's operating system of choice for smartphones, largely because of its flexibility in creating completely carrier-customized phones. Tseng has left the company, and there will be no Nexus Two.

The wireless industry likes to say there's plenty of competition out there, and the four big players are cutthroat on some things - for instance, they're building 3G and 4G networks like maniacs. Problems arise when they start agreeing on things that aren't customer-friendly and acting like a cartel. As a consumer, I see that danger in fees for "preferential access" to their networks.

The Myth of the Unlocked iPhone
Yes, the Copyright Office recently said that you can unlock or jailbreak your phone, but that's a smokescreen, because the Copyright Office didn't say carriers have to support those phones. You could find yourself with a happily unlocked phone that no carrier will activate.

Once again, the specter of the iPhone floats in the air here, but in a slightly different way than it did in December 2009 when I said that "Google is not the messiah." Way back in 2007 when Apple introduced the iPhone, pundits speculated that Apple might start their own wireless carrier to show the industry how things should be done. They didn't - they signed a perfectly conventional contract with ATandT.

Yeah, yeah, sure, Google (or Apple) could have entered into a wholesale contract with a 3G provider to offer service under their own name, but don't fault them for not doing that. No wireless reseller has made money in U.S., because the spectrum-owning carriers structure the contracts to prevent wholesale customers from skimming off their most profitable users.

Because there are no requirements for reasonably-priced 3G roaming or wholesale contracts, companies like Apple, Google, and my "10 Small Carriers With Great Phones" can't jump into the national scene and challenge the big boys, and the big boys like it that way.

The biggest threat to the major wireless carriers' business models comes from mid-sized spectrum owners like Cricket, who last week declared a $55/month smartphone service plan. Since Cricket owns their own network, they're not beholden to the bigger guys. But even Cricket is now potentially in danger; to go national, they signed a wholesale agreement with Sprint that could potentially let Sprint turn the screws on them down the road.

Starting to Feel Marginalized?
Cricket is a renegade on pricing, but they stick with the party line in terms of freedom. They control your access to the Internet. Like all wireless carriers, they say they're doing that to protect their network from predatory users who might download more than Cricket is comfortable with. I don't want to single out Cricket, of course - everyone does this.

There are reasonable traffic concerns involved. Carriers seem to be spreading the idea that their networks are horribly fragile, gossamer things ready to collapse at any minute under the load of desperate Internet users. That's why Verizon overpriced the Microsoft Kin into oblivion and why ATandT has been lowering their data caps.

I think that after six years I can tell the difference between greed and fear, and the whole data-cap thing looks like fear. They're not price-gouging as much as they're just trying to keep their pathetically overburdened networks from collapsing. It's a sad statement about the inability of these companies to provide the Internet capacity Americans demand.

Epilogue
But there's a world of differences between purely traffic-related restrictions and content or hardware-related ones. The Google/Verizon proposal reserves to Verizon the right to define what gets to be seen on the Internet, who we can see it through, and for how much. If we want any kind of wireless freedom, we can't look to the carriers; the FCC has to step in.

Google Takes Over the World !!

FCC Gives Green Light To Google's Android Phone

The HTC Dream will run Google's operating system as well as sport Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G capabilities over T-Mobile's networks.

By Marin Perez
InformationWeek
August 19, 2008 03:01 PM

Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s Android operating system is one step closer to commercial availability as the first Android-powered handset has been given the green light by the Federal Communications Commission.

The handset is being made by High Tech Computer, and the documentation confirms that the device is being called the "Dream." Keeping in line with recent reports, the handset will support T-Mobile's 3G network.

In the documentation, there's mention of a "jog ball," which many expect to be similar to the trackball found on Research In Motion (NSDQ: RIMM) devices like the BlackBerry Bold. The documents also reveal the device will have 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, as well as Bluetooth capabilities.

The FCC documentation does not include pictures of the device, but it is expected to sport a large touch screen that will slide out to reveal a five-row QWERTY keyboard. While the device probably will have features like mobile e-mail, Web browsing, and calendaring, it may not have robust business features as Google is aiming the mobile platform at the broader consumer market.

Representatives from Android, HTC and T-Mobile are sticking to the previously announced fourth quarter 2008 time frame but reports suggest that the handset could hit the market as soon as October.

After months of speculation that Google was working on a mobile handset, the search giant announced last November it would develop a Linux-based operating system with the goal of creating an open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. An industry consortium known as the Open Handset Alliance was formed to advance this goal as well, and it includes members like Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Intel (NSDQ: INTC), Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM), and more.

The move will also allow Google to expand its lucrative digital advertising business into the mobile market. But the search company may be facing some stiff competition as users and developers may be drawn to the existing players like Windows Mobile, Apple, RIM, and Symbian.

_____________________

Google Updates Android SDK, Shows Off Brand New User Interface
Posted by Eric Zeman, Aug 19, 2008 02:59 PM

Google also has listed a timeline for Android development. Pertinent dates are:

• 12 November, 2007 - "Early Look" SDK released
  January to August, 2008 - Android Developer Challenge I
• 18 August, 2008 - Android 0.9 SDK beta released
• September 2008 - additional Android 1.0 (pre) SDK releases made available, as necessary
  
• Q3 - Q4 2008 - Android 1.0 SDK release 1 available (first actual 1.0-compatible SDK)
• Q4 2008 - Android 1.0 devices available at retail
• Q4 2008 - Source code released
• Q4 2008 - Key Announcement on Android Developer Challenge II

In all, these are exciting new developments on the Android front. With yesterday's approval of the HTC Dream, the dream that is Android is beginning to firm up. [Read more? clik HERE..]

____________________

As Google Android SDK Hits Street, Android Security Team Braces
Posted by George Hulme, Aug 19, 2008 08:44 PM

This version of the SDK, version 0.9, Google says, is very close to what the final SDK will look like. While this is all good news for anyone who has yet to buy an iPhone and sign up for a lengthy AT&T contract, it also means that more security researchers, if they haven't already started, will begin hammering away for any existing security-related vulnerabilities. It's what they do, and in the long run, their work improves the quality of software.

Google knows this, and already is bracing for the storm. This is from an e-mail the Android Security Team posted to the popular Full Disclosure mailing list yesterday:

As you may expect, building and maintaining a secure mobile platform is a difficult task. The Android platform team has put a great deal of work into trying to design a platform that balances our goal of open development and user choice with the unique challenges of securing a consumer-focused mobile system. While we have found and fixed many of our own bugs as well as flaws in other open source projects, we realize that the discovery of additional security issues in a system this large and complex is inevitable. That is why we would like to introduce ourselves today and let the security research community know how they can reach out and work with us. [Read More HERE...]