LG announced (via The Verge) a new proprietary chipset dubbed “L9” that will be powering Google TV devices from OEMs in 2012. There are not many details regarding the new chipset, which will also be used in LG’s 3D television lineup, but you can expect “enhanced 3D” and much faster performance thanks to support for quad-core GPU and dual-core CPUs.

The company is also showing off its new lineup of Google TV-powered smart televisions at 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. LG did not specify plans for pricing and release, but to Venture Beat the TVs are expected sometime in the first half of 2012.

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Did you think Google TV was only going to be in-style for 2011? That is not the case. Google outlined some of its plans for this year’s CES, where it will show off the next Google TVs to come out this year. Most notably, Google announced that LG would be added as a hardware partner. In LG’s press release (available after the break), the company said it would use the new Cinema 3D FPR technology, along with the new Magic Remote QWERTY in its Google TV lineup.

LG Google TV’s most attractive feature is its ease of use, thanks to the combination of its Android-based user interface and the Magic Remote Qwerty designed by LG. LG Google TV’s user interface and main screen have been designed for convenient browsing and content selection. Multi-tasking is also possible, as the search, social networking and TV functions can be run simultaneously. The user interface can be accessed using the Magic Remote Qwerty which combines the user-friendly benefits of LG’s Magic Remote with a QWERTY keyboard.

Equipped with LG’s own CINEMA 3D technology, LG Google TV provides a home entertainment experience that is immersive, comfortable and convenient. Based on LG’s own Film Patterned Retarder (FPR) technology, CINEMA 3D glasses are battery-free and lightweight.

Google also said that along with LG, both Sony and Vizio would demonstrate new hardware at CES. We are looking forward to next week, where we will be live on the show floor. Stay tuned! (via Engadget)

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Marvell could not quite wait for Consumer Electronics Show 2012 to spill the beans this on its huge GoogleTV win. The ARM-based processor company will have its Armada 1500 chipset at the heart of upcoming GoogleTV 2.0 solutions.

Most of the processor details are below, but the big news is that Google is going with low cost/low heat ARM processors for its next-generation set top boxes rather than Intel, who dropped out of the set top box market.  With Marvell, Google should be able to compete on price with Roku, AppleTV and the other players in the market, and more importantly, it should be able to persuade TV manufacturers to include the low cost chips into hardware designs.

Marvell boasts that the Armada 1500 does 1080P 3D, as well as Flash – even though Adobe’s long-term plans outside of the desktop market are murky at best.

It does not appear that Google will build its own devices (although, the image above makes for interesting conversation), but it will continue to OEM out Google software. In a statement, Mario Queiroz, VP, Product Management Google TV said: “The Google and Marvell teams have been working closely together to bring our combined software and chipset technologies to market to grow the Google TV ecosystem of manufacturers and devices. Marvell-powered Google TV solutions will enable powerful products to be brought to market at attractive prices.”

Eric Schmidt recently said Google hopes to have GoogleTV embedded in the majority of SmartTVs by the summer of 2012, so this is a very aggressive rollout plan.  We expect to hear much more at CES, where most consumer electronics companies release product plans for the upcoming year.

Another interesting tidbit: GoogleTV appears to be fully underneath its YouTube wing with media contacts listed for YouTube press people. The full press release is available below.
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Set-top box maker Roku -one of Google TV and Apple TV’s biggest competitors- unveiled a new iteration of its award-winning Smart TV solution today. However, this time, they shrunk it down to the size of a USB stick that allows you to plug it right into your TVs MHL-enabled HDMI port. The device, called the Roku Streaming Stick, packs in built-in Wi-Fi, a processor, and memory, and includes all of the features currently available in their current set-top box.

According to Roku’s press release, the new cable-free, smaller form factor is ideal for delivering smart TV capabilities to consumers who typically do not replace their TVs often. That model differs from both Apple and Google, especially with Apple expected to launch an HDTV and Google pushing the GoogleTV platform built-in to TVs from vendors like Sony:

Today’s Smart TVs become outdated in just a couple of years because as software evolves the hardware needs to be upgraded to keep pace. While short hardware product cycles are expected with mobile devices such as smart phones, consumers generally keep their TVs for six to eight years. By moving the streaming platform to a stick that’s easily replaceable, consumers no longer have to worry about their large-screen Smart TV becoming obsolete before its time.

Official pricing has not been announced, but CEO Anthony Wood told All Things D the device would be available in the second half of 2012 for between $50 and $100. Roku also plans to have TV vendors bundle the Roku Streaming Stick with new TVs.

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A report today from USA Today claimed the “big buzz” leading up to Consumer Electronics Show 2012 is smart TVs, specifically due to the biggest TV vendors anticipating the launch of an Apple branded HDTV. On the Google TV side of things, Sony TV Vice President Brian Siegel cleared up some misconceptions and said HDTVs integrated with Google TV are among their best-selling TVs.

Google TV has come under criticism since its launch for having a clunky user interface and meager app offerings, among other issues, but that has not hindered sales of Sony TVs incorporating it. “They’re among the best-selling TVs we have. Media has done a real good job of beating it up,” says Brian Siegel, Sony TV vice president.

However, Siegel noted there are “lots of opportunities” to improve their Google TV offerings, but said built-in Google search is providing them with “good insight” on user behavior for the latest run of new smart TVs. He declined to comment on whether we would be seeing new Google TV-powered products or updates from Sony during CES.

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A new application in the Android Market available for GoogleTVs running 3.0 and up will allow users to stream content from the iPad or iPhone using Airplay, Apple’s wireless streaming feature built into iOS.

After downloading the 99-cent app called “Airtight” to Google TV, users will be able to stream videos and pictures by selecting a device from within the Airplay UI on the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (pictured above). Unfortunately, mirroring, DRM protected video, and music is not supported. Users will of course need the latest Google TV update to access the Android Market.

Apple has nothing to do with the app, and the developers said they are looking into methods of including music and the rest of Airplay’s functionality in a future update. We will keep you posted.

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…and just like that, the GoogleTV suddenly becomes interesting again.

SlingPlayer for Logitech Revue

SlingPlayer for Logitech Revue now works with the Slingbox to extend your complete living room HDTV experience to another TV in your home, or wherever you want to watch. Access the SlingPlayer app from Google Spotlight and change channels, navigate the program guide, or watch and schedule recordings on your DVR – all on the big screen. Now you can enjoy your programming in crystal-clear HD on a TV in your ski condo, beach house, or let your college student watch in the dorm.

Strangely, no support yet for Sony GoogleTVs. In any case, the GoogleTV just got put in our vacation trip bag (not kidding).  Now, where is Hulu?
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[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t02iJn5Ypio#t=2349s”]

(39:20 mark)

While speaking at Le Web today, Google’s Chairman Eric Schmidt made comment that “Google TV will be embedded in the majority of new TVs by summer of 2012.” While some of you might scoff at that, seeing as Google TV’s current performance is subpar, but perhaps with the rumored Samsung partnership and switch to ARM based processors Google could have something up their sleeves. Schmidt reassured that Google TV will continued to be offered like Android is — free and open sourced. At the upcoming 2012 CES in January, we should be seeing a large amount of Google TVs being announced. Stay tuned!  (via Engadget)

Related articles

• Eric Schmidt and French President Nicolas Sarkozy open new Google HQ in Paris (9to5google.com)
• Eric Schmidt: Developers will prefer ICS to iOS within 6 months (9to5google.com)
• Eric Schmidt to meet European antitrust chief over accusations of search abuse (9to5google.com)
• Logitech Revue Google TV Receiver, TV Cam for $130 + free shipping (9to5toys.com)
• Eric Schmidt says Motorola Mobility won’t receive special treatment (9to5google.com)

The day after Google Music was announced at an event in LA, Google has unveiled a new Music app for Google TV. The new app streams music directly from your music locker, getting rid of the need to download music or stream it from your computer. The app is as simple as signing in with your Google account and even works in the background as you use other apps.

As long as you have Android 3.1 installed on your Google TV, the Music app is available on the Android Market. Besides streaming music you can also purchase it directly from your TV.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7pE9UTTfy4]

Bloomberg reports that not everyone is down on GoogleTV.  Even after the backhand Google got from one time partner Logitech, Korean LG is prepping some GoogleTVs for CES.

Google Inc. and LG Electronics Inc. may unveil a television using the search giant’s software at the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, according to two people with knowledge of the project. The product would be LG’s first model with Google TV, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions aren’t public.

Samsung and Vizio have also been rumored to be working on GoogleTVs and might unveil one at CES in January.  However, with Google’s purchase of Motorola, Google no longer really needs a set-top box partner.  Motorola makes them.  Even without Motorola, it isn’t hard to put GoogleTV on an OEM box.

Google’s other current partner Sony is also slashing prices as low as $180 for their GoogleTV/BluRay combos.

At a meeting with investors yesterday, Logitech’s CEO Guerrino De Luca didn’t hold back while talking about how Google TV has affected their business. Luca said that Google TV ‘cost us dearly’, and that developing the set-top box was a mistake. He also dropped the bomb that Logitech will be letting their supply of Revues run out this quarter and won’t develop any more or be manufacturing a follow-up device either. Ouch.

Luca does believe, however, Google TV has a chance sometime in the future, but said it needs some work. He went as far as saying Google TV is currently like a beta.

Even with the recent 3.1 update, we’re going to have to side with Luca on this one. Google TV is still missing many key features to disrupt the television industry. It’s going to take more innovation, content deals, and devices to get the ball rolling. (via The Verge)

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From 9to5toys.com:

PC Connection offers the Sony GoogleTV BluRay Player NSZ-GT1 for $199.  9to5 coupon code 9to5Blu10 drops it $20 to $179.99, the lowest price we’ve seen.  Google just updated its TV line to 2.0 which has applications, an easier menu system, HBO co and more. It features support for the Android-based Google TV service, 1080p upscaling, 8GB of built-in storage, 802.11n wireless and Ethernet connectivity, four USB ports, HDMI output, and more.

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You have to wonder if someone is playing a a joke on the Verge.  Someone sent in a box cover that purports to hide a 6-inch Android 2.3 tablet that does double time as a remote control for your cable box.  If this isn’t a Punk’d-ing, the device is with cable company testers right now and will be used to control the cable box, GoogleTV be damned.

 The box calls it a “dedicated controller,” but it also seems to show the tablet wirelessly displaying its entire UI on the TV, so we’re guessing it can be used to watch and stream content in addition to serving as a remote control for one of Motorola’s cable boxes. (That would also explain the hardware power and volume buttons next to the display.)

We don’t know much specs-wise, but the box says the design is “optimized for low cost,” so we wouldn’t expect anything high-end inside. It also looks like it says something “OS” in the upper left, so it seems like a fairly custom version of Android. There’s also IR control and RF4CE, which is a ZigBee-based RF control protocol, as well as a high-capacity 4,000mAH battery

Of course “Corvair” is also a car that Chevy built in the early 60s that makes every “worst car ever” list and was the subject of the Ralph Nadar book, Unsafe at Any Speed.  We’re hoping that Motorola’s naming/branding department is playing a joke on us in this case.

Also, as Motorola gets folded into Google, this will likely get folded into GoogleTV, which is to say, cancelled…just like its namesake.

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From 9to5toys.com:

PC Connection Express offers the Sony Internet TV Blu-ray Disc Player with Google TV, model no. NSZ-GT1, for $199.99. Coupon code “Deal10Blu” cuts it to $179.99. With free shipping, that’s $20 under our mention from two weeks ago and the lowest total price we could find by $9, although most merchants charge $200 or more. It features support for the Android-based Google TV service, 1080p upscaling, 8GB of built-in storage, 802.11n wireless and Ethernet connectivity, four USB ports, HDMI output, and more. This device is currently being updated to the new GoogleTV 2.0 with Apps and more.

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Google is looking into offering a paid cable subscription model WSJ reported today. The move would put Google at competition with cable providers, and bring new technology to the Google TV. In September, Google brought on former cable-TV executive, Jeremy Stern, to look into adding the subscription model to the platform.

The report says that Google has already begun talking to Walt Disney, Time Warner, and Discovery Communications — but no final decisions have been made. Besides Google TV, Google also has the opportunity to incorporate cable streaming into YouTube, but that is not on the table right now says the report. Google’s fiber network would help with the delivery of the content, which is expected to roll out in Kansas in 2012. We look forward to seeing this story develop.

With the rollout of the Google TV 2.0 update bringing access to Android Market apps, Google’s Android-powered set-top box is starting to get more and more attention. GigaOM’s Janko Roettgers recently published a story regarding the potential for Kindle-fire like versions of the Google TV. In other words, the same way Amazon’s Android-powered Kindle UI and experience doesn’t resemble your typical Android device, perhaps companies will manufacture similar experiences for Google TV.

“I predict that we will eventually see one of the WDs or Netgears of the connected TV space switch to an Android code base, but without access to the Google TV ecosystem. It will be a box with a full browser, plenty of apps and access to a separate app market – the Kindle Fire of the living room.”

There is good reason to believe this might happen– the latest update brings the ability to install non-Android Market apps on Google TV (the same as Android smartphones and tablets). In fact, generic set-top boxes running Android (typically branded as Android TV) are already available on sites like Alibaba for around $100 on average.  Most claim to run Android 2.2 and offer preinstalled apps, but obviously don’t have Market access.

Google is obviously fully aware of this possibility and Mario Queiroz, Google TV vice president of product, told Roettgers, “The most important thing is to prevent fragmentation”. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to imagine companies like Samsung and others producing Android-powered set-top boxes, especially when, unlike the tablet space, they aren’t facing an Apple dominated market, yet.  More likely, according to Roettgers, is the possibility companies like Roku and Boxee drop their current development platform and adopt an Android code base, but lacking Android Market and the native Google experience, of course. There’s also always the chance for more reputable companies to take a cue from the mostly China-based manufacturers already selling unofficial Google TV devices on Alibaba.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y7pE9UTTfy4]

GoogleTV updates should be happening any second now.  We’ve just got the following email from Google:
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Engadget reports that the Logitech Revue has begun to ship with a new sticker touting Honeycomb preinstalled.  Honeycomb has been highly anticipated and will bring the Android Market to Google TV. We’re not sure if Honeycomb is actually under the box, or if Logitech is just prepping for an OTA coming out soon.

Google TV has been considered pretty bland without featuring apps. Now with the Market included, users will now be able to download the “optimized for Google TV” apps we spotted last month.

In Logitech’s quarterly earnings last night the company touted $7.9 million in sales of the Revue since it was introduced with its $99 price tag. If our math is correct that’s roughly 79,000 devices or more on the market being enjoyed by users. At any rate, we’re sure they’re ready for the Honeycomb update. We’ll let you know when it goes live.

Google TV might not have received a Honeycomb update as of yet, but Android developers can now at least begin porting their Android apps with the final release of the Google TV add-on for the Android SDK.

While the impending Honeycomb update will essentially run Android apps with little or no tweaking, the Google TV add-on allows devs to access to TV specific APIs such as accessing channel guides. However, as Android Community notes, the majority of apps won’t be displayed in the watered down version of the Market which will land on Google TV with Honeycomb. The scaled back Google TV Android Market will filter out any apps that rely on touchscreen controls.

As of yet there is only an emulator for Google TV available to developers running Linux, but OS X and Windows support is said to be coming. You can download the finished Google TV add-on for the Android SDK here.

A couple weeks back Google TV’s director of Content, Donagh O’Malley, claimed the update Honeycomb could come “within the next three or four weeks”.

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Citing the obligatory “people familiar with the matter”, the Wall Street Journal in a story this morning reports that Google is finalizing contracts for upcoming YouTube channels that will stream premium entertainment content on a regular basis. Google CEO Larry Page apparently wants to give people a good reason to tune into YouTube instead of television. Content owners are being “encouraged” to create schedules of programming much like traditional TV, the paper noted.

YouTube has requested some content for the channels within the next 60 days, according to one of these people, as it considers a launch in early 2012. YouTube, which media companies have long griped is too stingy cutting content deals, is paying from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million to content creators to create and curate videos for a channel, according to these people. Google recoups the original payment through ad revenue, and Google and the partner share ad revenue after that.

This could be viewed as part of Google’s broader push towards providing high-quality Hollywood entertainment on YouTube. The timely strategy ties nicely with the Google TV project, which is also about to be updated with a new software release soon. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Google’s plans to spend a hundred million dollars on premium YouTube content back in April. Google is reportedly in talks with Creative Artists Agency, William Morris Endeavor and International Creative Management over professionally produced programming on broad themes, including arts, fashion and sports.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYS8mfgiw8I]

The official announcement by Google regarding Honeycomb for Google TV is just around the corner, and more and more leaks of the OS running on Google TVs are popping up. Today’s leak (seen in the video above) even includes video of the Netflix app optimized for the big screen — score!

You’ll also notice that besides Netflix, other Honeycomb optimized apps are appearing on the Market. A search in the Market for Google TV will return results like, “Fox News for Google TV”.

If you’re feeling adventurous, instructions for installing this latest build on a Logitech Revue are posted over at GTVHacker, but please be aware that this could brick your device. But at $69, it doesn’t seem like as big of a deal. The official announcement should be coming any day now..

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